Where has the time gone?! I started a new job the day before Beltane and I’ve been struggling to focus on things that aren’t work. I’m awfully pleased about the new job—both the opportunity and the work I’m doing—but it’s taking some time to adjust. I’m starting to feel more mentally settled now, so here at last is my Beltane post.
Beltane is when spring really gets going around here. The snowdrops and crocuses have been replaced by daffodils, tulips, and flowering trees. It’s still pretty cold—May 1 is our earliest possible last frost date and it was snowing as recently as the last week of April!—but warm weather is on its way.
My garden is starting to come to life. The small handful of daffodils and tulips that were here when I moved in are in bloom; the daffodils actually opened on Beltane! I’d love to plant many more spring bulbs this fall.
All the plants I planted last year are native perennials. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s grown and spread this year. The coneflowers were the first to pop up. Their leaves started out red and are getting greener and bushier by the day.
The ferns are fun to watch: the ostrich ferns, maidenhair ferns, and Christmas ferns are all making cute little fiddleheads that seem to double in size and number every couple days. The ostrich fern fiddleheads, pictured here, are edible. I want them all to grow but if they start to spread out of control someday, perhaps they can be part of a Beltane feast.
Last year I planted the ferns along my front walkway and transplanted the former occupants of the garden bed, a bunch of hostas, to a shady corner of the “common element” (please don’t tell the condo association). The hostas are breaking ground and looking healthy. Sadly, the lawn service chopped the tops off several plants a couple days after I took this picture. I guess the workers mistook the hostas for weeds? I’ll try to keep my complaints about the lawn service to a minimum but they get on my nerves because a lot of what they do is bad for the environment and actively destructive: they spray pesticides everywhere, weed-whack carelessly, and break things on my patio with their leaf blowers. It’s mostly not the workers’ fault; I blame the condo association for their lawn maintenance standards. (I can’t do anything about it because I rent. I love where I live but it would be nice to own a home someday; you can bet it won’t be somewhere with a condo association or HOA if I can help it.)
The patio is newly tidied, trimmed, and cleaned for spring. Sunday was sunny and warm and we spent much of the day throwing out random patio garbage, weeding, pruning the shrub, training the wisteria, sweeping up leaves, hosing away dirt, and hanging up a new wind chime. It looks really inviting now and I can’t wait until it’s warm enough to work and eat outside.
I meant to make a fabric bunting like I’ve been doing for the other sabbats. I have the Beltane one cut out but I don’t have the right thread on a bobbin and I’m all out of bobbins! I need to order more. The Ostara bunting will have to hang up for a while longer. Luckily, there’s a lot of beauty decorating the natural world at Beltane. This is a flowering tree across the street; I was playing around with the camera and liked this effect that reminds me of light-damaged film.
We’re still unable to get many food items but luckily we had everything we needed to make kosherie. Kosherie (with endless spelling variations) is a popular Egyptian dish of rice, lentils, and elbow macaroni topped with spicy tomato sauce and crispy fried onions. It’s one of my favorite meals. As you can see, it’s necessary to juggle many components cooking at once, but it’s not hard to make. I use the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics recipe (listed as “Middle Eastern pasta & lentils”).
Here’s the kosherie all cooked and served. I like to keep my rice, lentils, and macaroni mostly separate but you could mix them together if you prefer.
I made chocolate cream pie for dessert, as was the plan since my A Pie for Every Sabbat post. It wasn’t complicated; in fact, it’s the same recipe as Imbolc’s banana cream pie. This version also calls for merengue but I don’t like merengue enough to bother. I wanted to top the pie with whipped cream but I didn’t have any cream. It was delicious anyway.
Finally and most importantly, I attended my first (social) Pagan ritual! It was online, of course; I’m definitely looking forward to the opportunity to attend in-person events but the online format was a nice way to ease into something I feel a bit shy about. The ritual was led by John Beckett over Facebook Live. It felt really meaningful and special. I hope I’ll be able to attend events and rituals more in the future; practicing alone can get pretty lonely. I’m grateful to John for offering this opportunity.
Does anyone else feel like time is passing shockingly quickly? I think it’s probably because there are far fewer noteworthy events to distinguish one day from another. I hope Midsummer doesn’t come too soon!
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