hot like the sun
wet like the rain
green like the leaves
life is a game

stars in my head
shine Moon shine
everything's cool
and I feel fine!

can you touch the root that feeds us?
can you hear the words that I say?
can you feel the music move you?
can you feel alive today?

omnia
"be glad, my merry friends, and let the warm sunlight heat now heart and limb! cast off these cold rags! run naked on the grass, while Tom goes a-hunting!"

Tom Bombadil

~continuing searching the depths of solsticedreamer ~

and now for the 'multiple intelligences'...


90% *naturalist intelligence*
'The Naturalist intelligence has to do with how we relate to our surroundings and where we fit into it. People with Naturalist intelligence have a sensitivity to and appreciation for nature. They are gifted at nurturing and growing things as well as the ability to care for and interact with animals. They can easily distinguish patterns in nature.'common characteristics~bothered by pollution, enjoys having pets, likes to learn about nature, enjoys gardening, appreciates scenic places, feels alive when in contact with nature, likes to camp, hike, walk and climb, notices nature above all other things, conscious of changes in weather.


i feel as if i have been spied upon...need i say anything about this nature-loving pagan that i am!


80% Visual/Spatial
People with Visual intelligence are artistic. They are very aware of their surroundings and are good at remembering images. They have a great sense of direction. They like to draw, paint and read maps. They learn best through drawings and visual aids. common characteristics~good at drawing, can visualise pictures in head, notices colors and shapes, enjoys photography, good with directions.


okay where's the hidden camera? give me a map and i can amuse myself for hours, picking out sacred sites. even when we know where we are going i tend to have the map on my lap, pointing out points of interest and following our path.

70% Musical
People with musical intelligence love music. They appreciate rhythm and composition. They are gifted with the ability to compose, sing and/or play instrument(s). Able to recognize sounds, tones and rhythm, they have a "good ear" for music. They learn best through lectures and often use rhythm and music as a way to memorize things.
common characteristics~often have a song running through their head, have an unquenchable passion for music.


this is crazy, swmapy must have been secretly monitoring me...i have my ipod and wind-up radio beside my bed each night, if the radio gets too boring (especially sunday night...the bbc and christianity) on comes the ipod. at times the songs in my head do drive me a little crazy, especially when i a m trying to get to sleep. generally i wake to the same song.

70% Intrapersonal
People with intrapersonal intelligence are adept at looking inward and figuring out their own feelings, motivations and goals. They are introspective and seek understanding. They are intuitive and typically introverted. They learn best independently. common characteristics~introverted, prefers working alone,often thinks of self-employment, enjoys journaling, intuitive, independent, spends time thinking and reflecting.


and who did he pass the information onto? i am an introvert who looks extrovert

*~*~*~

this has been quite an interesting experience and not like the usual fun quizes that do the rounds. all of this is me, random words that i would have picked out of a dictionary, if asked to describe myself.

~searching the depths of solsticedreamer~



well now, i took the personality profile that mel over at the wonderful clutter to shine has taken and i too am in the 1%~ an 'INFJ, Confidant, Visionary, Naturalist, Visual'~so shall we see if this is me and what does it tell me?

100% *introverted*
'Introversion is a preference to focus on the world inside the self. Introverts tend to be quiet, peaceful and deliberate and are not attracted to social interactions. They prefer activities they can do alone or with one other close friend, activities such as reading, writing, thinking, and inventing. Introverts find social gatherings draining'~ craftsman, artist, dreamer.
i would say this is me to a tee. when i say i am a 'solitary solitary' i am not joking. social gatherings scare me to death even when i know the people there. i adore being drawn into my books, which lead me into thinking, my thoughts spreading like a cobweb, joining real and imaginary. becoming so drawn in i am there, a character in the book. i have to say people and society make me tired, not all people i would like to add, but people in general. i find i have no time for the attitudes of many within society of today that i am forced to live in, the keeping up with the jones, the disrespect directed at everything. in the absence of not living in my own little utopia with like minded people i delve into my books and my imagination~which is vast.

68% *intuition*
'Intuition refers to how people process data. Intuitive people focus on the future and the possibilities. They process information through patterns and impressions. They read between the lines, they are abstract thinkers'~ imaginitive, deep, abstract,idealistic, complicated.

again i would say this is me, given what i have just written my imagination is always at that 'def con 1' stage~wild. i am not really 'present in the present' and cannot see things for what they are. i think i go deeply into everything, which is not a bad thing!

68% *feeling*
'Feeling refers to how people make decisions. Feeling people are subjective and make decisions based on principles and values. They are ruled by their heart instead of their head. Feeling people judge situations and others based on feelings and extenuating circumstances'~decides with heart, dislikes conflict, driven by emotion, easily hurt,empathetic, caring of others, warm.

yes...everything goes on in my head and i definately am ruled by my heart, although i would say my solitary nature masks how i feel about others, obscuring the 'caring of others and warm' of my *feeling*

63% *judging*
'Judging is the preference outwardly displayed. Judging does not mean "judgmental". Judging people like order, organization and think sequentially. They like to have things planned and settled. Judging people seek closure.'~organised, structured, quick at tasks, responsible, likes closure, makes plans.

oh yes...order and organisation, structured~i think thats why i enjoy doing my degree so much and have the willpower to sit and do the work. makes plans~does that include making lists i wonder?!

i love the 'famous INFJ people', which includes Aristophanes, Chaucer, Goethe,Nelson Mandela and Robert Burns (as well as modern day actors etc)and i love the idea that Dr.Yuri Zhivago, Amelie Poulain and Luke Skywalker are also INFJ!
as for career matches...social worker~good grief! i worked for social services for many years, as well as working for a homeless charity with addicts/ex-prisoners and schedule one offenders.
but would love to be a librarian, writer,artist~my dad is an artist and although i love to draw and paint, i so wish i had half of his talent.

more to follow...

~Fabio Casartelli-August 16, 1970 – July 18, 1995~



fourteen years ago today the Italian cyclist Fabio Casartelli was killed decending the col de portet d'aspet in the Pyrannes, France during the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France.


~random shots of a day~

let me loose with a camera and i take random shots of anything









the last few days have been a bit 'random' here in the roundhouse.
painting of the living room has started, so we have moved everything out, leaving just the sofa and an armchair and the tv, so swmapy can watch baseball as he paints~i have been providing food, moral support and cups of tea.
there is a fine coating of dust over everything and swampy is speckled with a sheen of chalky white/grey and green (sounds a horrid color combination but it looks good honest!
i really hate such disorder around me~order around me helps to balance out the disorder in my head!



so here i sit in my study/library surrounded by folded curtains, bookshelf, piles of books, plants, lamps, and the wooden fireplace surround~listening to Omnia on my ipod~probably too loud...just made swampy another tea and in an hour i am going to be really lazy and watch the Tour de France live.

today is a 200km route from Vittel to Colmar, classed as 'medium mountain route', a mountain stage with two category 3, two category 2 and one one category 1 climb, which is high, really high...above 1 there is 'unclassified'~can you imagine cycling so high?

~now i have evangeline swmapy and i joke about me taking her on the Tour~
i have visions of me, with supplies in the basket, pushing her up the mountains, stopping for civilised cups of tea and a picnic and arriving at the finishing line weeks after the race has finished!

~awake~


i have been awake since about 4 this morning, as i always sleep with the window open the sound of a howling wind rushing through the trees woke me.

today is like winter and the sky a dark grey

on a good note i managed to go shopping with swampy yesterday and did not need to lay down to recover when i got back home!
also we finally bought the paint to decorate our living room, it has taken nearly a year to get this far and we still have the bedroom to do.
still, as i always say, its our forever home so whats the rush?

i guess my rush is to obliterate all traces of the previous occupants~of course that would be viable if we didn't keep having 'money collectors' sending them letters all the time!
at first i would post any letters for them as 'not known at this address', however when a letter came from a law court with the name obscured, i opened it, fearing my bank robbing days were over and mentally sending my swag bag to a charity shop (joke honest!).
i found it was for so-and-so, requesting the pleasure of their company in court for unpaid whatever. so i started to open all the letters, is that wrong do you think?
oh so many letters from oh so many companies requesting money...lots of money...running into four figures kind of money.

needless to say i phone all of these companies whenever a letter falls through my letter box, explaining why it was not so-and-so phoning with offers of payment and how they have not lived here for nearly a year.
i think that has solved it for we have had no letters for a while now.
it just felt horrible and intrusive, so you can see why i have this need to paint over my home's past.

*marking my moleskine*





i started writing in my moleskine~throughout my love affair with notebooks i have always been loath to write in them, to mark the lovely clean pages.
but i did it, i started...

and still i spend time~probably too much time~what is wrong with me?!~pondering as to what i will put in it, in what ways will i mark it?

as always i think of the altered garden book that janet over at the lavender loft was given.
i just love the idea of this and it makes me think that in a hundred years time someone finds my book and opens it up
~what will they find?~

~a night garden & a bookcase~






swampy was out taking photos of the garden in the dark last night~and calling into me how amazing the nicotiana was smelling~the white ones shown here i grew from seed, never imaginging how large they would grow. they seemed to just grow and grow, and many times i would wonder if they really were going to be what was excepcted. now standing about 4-5 foot high~while the smaller ones i bought at the farm shop to fill in some gaps stand at a dainty 5-6 inches.

as yet i have not been out at dusk and smelt them~its only today my nose is feeling unblocked, so tonight i will.

also yesterday, well into my moontime, but feeling ambitious as well as a little stir-crazy, i suggested we go to look at paint, wood, stone slabs and then maybe go to ikea~so i ended up sitting outside of ikea, on a bookcase, hunched over, desperately trying not to be sick, while swampy hurried off to the car park to drive round and load both me and bookcase into pippin. we hurried home and my lovely swampy made me a hot water bottle while i pulled on my pyjamas and collapsed on the sofa.
i have found the older i get the worse i become each month.
is it wrong to wish to become a crone early?

returning to my bookcase~we had not planned on going out to buy one, the original idea had been paint for our living room. but the paint colors i had chosen from my 'forever house' scrapbook, were not listed and so i have had to bring home new charts and start again. typical.
our old bookcase has been slowly falling apart~it was one that we picked up from outside a house back in dorset~they had obviously just bought some new stuff, because one day driving down the lane we saw a pile of goodies with a sign 'please help yourself' so we did and it has served us well but on its last legs.
so yesterday when faced with a larger, much sturdier one that had been reduced in price to £39 from £70 we dived in and treated ourselves.



...looking at that photo made me realise how glad it will be to get it painted! when we moved in every wall of the house had dried tea/coffee stains and crayon marks on them! my ideas for color for this room are a chalky white/grey with the main wall and wall with chimney in a muted green color
~what do you think?~

~it smells so good~



look what piece of loveliness thumped through my post box this morning!

it felt like christmas as i pulled apart the cardboard packaging and touched the cover, opened it to smell the pages~yes i did.
don't you smell pages of new books when you get them?

it feels so good~soft, with no harsh edges and i am already wondering what the first words will be to grace the first pages. will they be important, significant or just inane mutterings?

i wonder how it will evolve as the days pass?
~some people keep different journals for different aspects of their life, a bit like with blogging. i like to think that it will be a mish-mash of everything for me~so one day, when looking back through it i can see how much my normal, everyday path was merged with my pagan path in one single meandering path that is my life.

*full moon*


to those following the ever wonderful miss*r's earth healing, i hope you all had wonderful full moon rituals and lets hope we spread some positivity around the globe.

this full moon was the first i was able to go into my developing sacred garden for my ritual and was lucky enough to have the moon rising clear of the hedges~although as we live in a dip in the landscape we can never actually see the moon until it clears the edge of our dip. its like living in a big green bowl with its very own little eco-system.

i did take some photos as it was rising but our camera never takes a good photo of it~i have used the flash on and off but still it takes a rubbish photo~so please dont click on the photos as it will look even worse!




~my temporary outside alter~



you can see i used my single antler here, it curves nicely around the edge of my dish~this is what it looks like in daylight...



i also took the opportunity to re-dedicate my moonstone and the chrysocolla that miss*r sent me



~although i could not stay out as long as i wanted it did feel good~

Song of Amergin


I am a stag of seven tines,
I am a flood across a plain,
I am a wind on a deep lake,
I am a tear the sun lets fall,
I am a hawk above the cliff,
I am a thorn beneath the nail,
I am a wonder among flowers,
I am a wizard: who but I
sets the cool head aflame with smoke?

I am a spear that roars for blood,
I am a salmon in a pool,
I am a lure from paradise,
I am a hill where poets walk,
I am a boar, ruthless and red,
I am a breaker threatening doom,
I am a tide that drags to death,
I am an infant: who but I
peeps from the unhewn dolmen arch?

I am the womb of every holt,
I am the blaze on every hill,
I am the queen of every hive,
I am the shield for every head,
I am the tomb of every hope.

All things share the same breath~the beast, the tree, the man, the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.

Chief Seattle

Johney Gaul~1915

Johney Gaul~1915
1890-17 september 1918~France


The beauty of the trees,the softness of the air,the fragrance of the grass,speaks to me.

The summit of the mountain,the thunder of the sky,the rhythm of the sea,speaks to me.

The strength of the fire,the taste of salmon,the trail of the sun,and the life that never goes away,they speak to me.

And my heart soars."

Chief Dan George