well met, well met cried she
Hello, denizens of Eljay! My holiday was lovely, just the sort of magical sojourn one needs to have at least once an October. The only downside was that the star-watching was not ideal. It has been far, far too long since I have been to a place far away enough from electric lights that one can see real stars, when you feel as though you are turning in time with the universe.
We stayed in a yurt, our housing of choice for the colder months -- they're sort of a New Thing in the camping world, I suppose, yes, inspired by the Monogolian yurts, except that these ones are not at all portable. Also they have electricity, most of the time -- a couple of outlets, a refrigerator, and a stove, as well as lights and a heater. But round and canvasy, yes! Very cosy, and there was just enough room for everyone (although my sixteen-year-old brother stayed home, as he is the only one of us ever to attend public school and didn't want to take off and have to deal with make-up work -- he's been going to a local tech school and doing things on big fancy computers and suchlike). We went on a long woodsy hike -- me in a dress, because that is how I roll -- and collected a lot of things: berries, all the acorns, leaves to press, and at the very end there was a small explosion of what Dad thinks were pheasant feathers on the path: very dramatic orange-and-black-and-grey speckle-y feathers. I have been collecting duck feathers from the park and putting them in a mason jar on my desk, along with a few other rather more exciting feathers I've found over the years (I cannot resist a feather), and these lovely colourful ones make it perfect. (I am very italicsy tonight. Perhaps it is the coffee. I am at the local coffee shop, because it is Friday, and they ~expect~ me for open mic night now, oh dear.)
We also saw some waterfalls, and almost saw Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, but they were charging a great deal of admission and also it was closed. And I found a sacrificial stone in the woods which I am appropriating for the NaNo (more on the NaNo later -- tomorrow? -- because help). Mum made some rather excellent dinners -- including chili -- and Leandra made everyone's day approximately five times per day.
Pictures! Because I am far too wired from the coffee and the HELP PEOPLE EVERYWHERE warning signals of my brain to talk about how lovely and magical things were.
I am a wizard! This stick staff chose me, it really did. And I did, in fact, bring it home with me.
I am not, however, a Good Wizard, as you can see: I have imprisoned Leandra and Dad inside of a tree.
We girls all swung on the Tarzan vines. Heidi tried to be Too Cool For This Nonsense, because she is that age. I... have no cool. None.
Berries! (No, I did not eat them. I'm still here, aren't I?)
I am an Adventuring Girl. (And also a wizard. Off to find my destiny.)
Sacrificial stone! (CLEARLY.)
This tree trunk had a tiny moon-faced owl in it! There is magic!
One of the few photographs of the waterfall I managed to get -- all of the cameras were running on dead batteries. Such a pity, as there was so much pretty there.
In front of our yurt: a star tree!
The view through our skylight.
I read The Last Unicorn for the very first time perched on a flat rock by the yurt, surrounded by autumnal bracken, with a cup of Earl Grey perched on my knee. So! I have had at least one Magical Autumn Book this year! (I always have at least one book deeply connected to each year's autumn.) Also: why did nobody make me read this years ago? It is a delicious, heady feast of phantasmagorical words, in just the sort of way I like them. (Also: I only read the first three chapters or so on the rock. It got dark and cold and I had to go in for dinner anyway, so I finished it in my bunk.)
Tea! The most important of all the things.
And we drove home without incident, and my little Willow-cat bounded to meet us, but remembered her dignity before we got out of the car, so that she could greet us with violent indifference and then wander off, in true cat form. (She tries to be heartless.) And I had a letter from a Tumblr friend! There are good things in the world, I tell you.
Unfortunately, some of them have closing times. Like this coffee shop. It is fast approaching, so I really must go. <3
We stayed in a yurt, our housing of choice for the colder months -- they're sort of a New Thing in the camping world, I suppose, yes, inspired by the Monogolian yurts, except that these ones are not at all portable. Also they have electricity, most of the time -- a couple of outlets, a refrigerator, and a stove, as well as lights and a heater. But round and canvasy, yes! Very cosy, and there was just enough room for everyone (although my sixteen-year-old brother stayed home, as he is the only one of us ever to attend public school and didn't want to take off and have to deal with make-up work -- he's been going to a local tech school and doing things on big fancy computers and suchlike). We went on a long woodsy hike -- me in a dress, because that is how I roll -- and collected a lot of things: berries, all the acorns, leaves to press, and at the very end there was a small explosion of what Dad thinks were pheasant feathers on the path: very dramatic orange-and-black-and-grey speckle-y feathers. I have been collecting duck feathers from the park and putting them in a mason jar on my desk, along with a few other rather more exciting feathers I've found over the years (I cannot resist a feather), and these lovely colourful ones make it perfect. (I am very italicsy tonight. Perhaps it is the coffee. I am at the local coffee shop, because it is Friday, and they ~expect~ me for open mic night now, oh dear.)
We also saw some waterfalls, and almost saw Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, but they were charging a great deal of admission and also it was closed. And I found a sacrificial stone in the woods which I am appropriating for the NaNo (more on the NaNo later -- tomorrow? -- because help). Mum made some rather excellent dinners -- including chili -- and Leandra made everyone's day approximately five times per day.
Pictures! Because I am far too wired from the coffee and the HELP PEOPLE EVERYWHERE warning signals of my brain to talk about how lovely and magical things were.
I am a wizard! This stick staff chose me, it really did. And I did, in fact, bring it home with me.
I am not, however, a Good Wizard, as you can see: I have imprisoned Leandra and Dad inside of a tree.
We girls all swung on the Tarzan vines. Heidi tried to be Too Cool For This Nonsense, because she is that age. I... have no cool. None.
Berries! (No, I did not eat them. I'm still here, aren't I?)
I am an Adventuring Girl. (And also a wizard. Off to find my destiny.)
Sacrificial stone! (CLEARLY.)
This tree trunk had a tiny moon-faced owl in it! There is magic!
One of the few photographs of the waterfall I managed to get -- all of the cameras were running on dead batteries. Such a pity, as there was so much pretty there.
In front of our yurt: a star tree!
The view through our skylight.
I read The Last Unicorn for the very first time perched on a flat rock by the yurt, surrounded by autumnal bracken, with a cup of Earl Grey perched on my knee. So! I have had at least one Magical Autumn Book this year! (I always have at least one book deeply connected to each year's autumn.) Also: why did nobody make me read this years ago? It is a delicious, heady feast of phantasmagorical words, in just the sort of way I like them. (Also: I only read the first three chapters or so on the rock. It got dark and cold and I had to go in for dinner anyway, so I finished it in my bunk.)
Tea! The most important of all the things.
And we drove home without incident, and my little Willow-cat bounded to meet us, but remembered her dignity before we got out of the car, so that she could greet us with violent indifference and then wander off, in true cat form. (She tries to be heartless.) And I had a letter from a Tumblr friend! There are good things in the world, I tell you.
Unfortunately, some of them have closing times. Like this coffee shop. It is fast approaching, so I really must go. <3