Omorka's Lair

A hurricane is resurrecting itself from its remnants specifically to screw with (a) Pagan Pride Day and (b) the first day of school.

How many signs before the augurs declare that our leadership has lost the Mandate of Heaven, again?

Oh, look. Flash flood warnings. Again. In early August, of all times.

First cicada was about four days ago; I just keep forgetting to make note of it.

I mentioned back in the spring that the marmalade thing had spread into trying out other forms of jam. This, um, this developed into a hobby for a while. And like all my hobbies, I got a little obsessive about it until I felt like I had it down. I currently have something like 80 jars of jam and/or marmalade in various flavors sitting on my dining room table, plus one jar of each flavor safely stored in the pantry. No regrets - I learned a lot making all that jam, all but one batch came out significantly better than store-bought, and I ended up with a number of flavors you can't buy in stores (I am particularly proud of the strawberry-fig and the peach-pecan-amaretto jams). But that's a lot of jam to either store or give away.

On the bright side, plain Greek yogurt with jam is a mighty tasty breakfast. So there's that.

"Send ya mama marmalade" is one of those things that sounds like it should mean something specific and slightly dodgy in southern dialect.

Looks like I'm going to be celebrating Autumnal Equinox/Akitu/Mabon by myself this year - Equinox proper is in the middle of the week, and half my social circle, including most of my circlemates as well as the Spouse, are going to a con in Dallas this coming weekend.

Having said that, I have some new deity images from this summer that need to be dedicated, and the altar certainly needs cleaning/purifying/re-consecrating. It's not that there isn't plenty of Akitu-related stuff to do; I just won't have anyone to do it with. I'll probably see my circle elders the night before Equinox proper, but that's more a monthly dinner thing than a ritual occasion.

I did buy some new altarware - plain white ceramic this time, since the local feral cats and the organized crime mob of raccoons and squirrels keep drinking out of the water and wine cups when I leave the altar alone for an hour and occasionally knocking them off. I also got new, less-easy-to-knock-over candles for deity calls and the ancestors, in the hopes that they'll last until decorating the altar for Samhain is truly appropriate.

Just got an object lesson in why I need to use the walking stick and yes, I really am mildly mobility-impaired even if I just look fat.

I was trying to walk quickly around the block to catch an Arbok when my left foot came down where the sidewalk suddenly wasn't. I felt the momentary shock of there was supposed to be pavement there followed by the slightly sick sensation of that ankle starting to turn as only one part of the edge of the foot hit dirt, and then the foot of the stick hit the ground right where it was supposed to and I got my foot right back out of the hole. Didn't fall, didn't turn the ankle; probably would have done both if I hadn't had the stick for stability. I can feel that I stretched a ligament on one side of the ankle a little further than it really wanted to be stretched, but it's not painful, just a little uncomfortable.

So yeah. Whatever damage the gout did to both feet and ankles is still bad enough I need to be a tripod, and the likelihood of that ever really going away is pretty low. And that sucks.

Also I managed to catch a rhinovirus from the instructor for my AP Calculus training this week, but fortunately it's not a bad one - I just need to stay away from people for another couple of days so as not to get anyone else sick.

Good gods almighty, Self, did we really need a new Internet Personality crush so soon after the last set? *sigh*

Still working on what proper private practice looks like for me, given the limitations of the space I have. Poured libations at dawn (technically that would have been 15 Simanu) and at as close to local lunar noon as I could figure, for Shapshu and Shamash in the first place and for Yarikhu, Nanna-Sin, and Selune in the second. In the second case, ended up getting effectively a gesa to finish the organizational work I've already been tasked with; I guess the lunar gods think it's a good idea.

Have mostly been focusing my practice around my two primary matrons lately. Not that I'm any less interested in doing broader, cross-pantheonic work, just that this has felt more like time for deepening existing relationships rather than forming new ones.

The Syrio-Levantine and Mesopotamian deities seem to be oddly fond of cheap red wine. This is fine with me; it means libations won't ever break the bank. (In one instance Hadad asked for a shot of Jack, but that was a special case.) I need to work on proper incenses, though.

I technically have two more report days plus the graduation ceremony, but for all practical purposes I'm pretty much finished with grading - there's just the requisite end-of-year paperwork to do, and getting everything stored away for summer.

It's a good batch of kids we're graduating this year. Should be a nice ceremony.

My brain is already overflowing with plot bunnies to write. I have banged out just under 2500 words on a fic I didn't even think of until yesterday, with two other WIPs open and glaring at me. *sigh*