Lammas

a few days late.. but gee, I have been enjoying the time of first harvest. The days have been delightful ~ there is a real going inward feeling. The afternoons have a stillness and slowing down. My heart soars!!

I am the prayer

There are no rules

At the beginning of this year, I promised that I would be kind to MYSELF, I planted that seed.
I am not sure if this is coming to fruition as yet but I am finding, that I am catching my self more when the inner critic steps in. And I am remembering to remind myself, always begin again. To begin again at the moment I realize that I have been harsh on myself.

FROM MY JOURNAL:
I can praise my perseverance in facing the demons of my past and while there is still a lot to uncover and heal, I have come a very long way. It's been difficult and at times I never thought I would find my way from the black abyss but I have and now I sit in my beautiful garden and give thanks to that bounty of healing that I have received through herbs.

During this past season since Midsummer, I have harvested blueberries, raspberries, plums. Apples, tomatoes and parsley. And I have picked bunches of roses, yarrow and lavender. Heartsease was used in salads. I made vinegars and tinctures. So yes, a very fruitful season.
There are plums still to be harvested.

I had my friend Marion call in last week and she squealed with glee as she gathered buckets of plums to make jam. She keeps ringing me on the phone to tell me how  many jars she has made and that the jam is setting wonderfully. She will bring me some jars up when she visits next. Home made plum jam, delicious! Billy my neighbour swapped me a pumpkin for a bucket of plums and she too will pass a jar over the fence when she makes her batch.

On the weekend, I went to a spiritual reflection day and the Community markets.
sitting in the garden at the reflection day ~ I pondered Lammas and from my journal:
"I sit in the garden, a warm, late summers day. Hydrangeas nearing the end of their flowering season, zucchini flowers, corn coming into flowering, apples.. a lazy day with butterflies slowly flittering hither. And although it is still summer, there is definitely f feeling of waning, a slight breeze ruffles the pages and my hair. A stillness as if the season of summer is taking a pause before beginning the journey inward towards autumn equinox and further onto Winter Solstice.
I feel as if I also, am coming to a point of stillness, at times. I ponder what it is that I need to let go of at this point, what am I  to harvest for this part of my journey? Over the past months, what have I sown that I can now harvest? Seeds of contemplation, of mindfulness, of stillness, of letting go, of HOPE.

On Sunday, Joe and I went foraging for blackberries, just up the road..

then to a community market later that morning - so much on offer for harvest. we had a wonderful time. browsing and purchasing. sitting and drinking coffee. slowing down.