In which 2022 begins to take shape

Hello dear friends,

After an amorphous first week, the new year is now beginning to take shape. We were snowed in and a power outage cut off our water. When the power came back, the water didn’t. We had to learn more about the mysteries of this house and its workings, finally finding the reset switch for the water pump with the help of a neighbour. Rural living. Water is life!

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Let Scent Bring us Closer to Spring

Rose and Dirt

Today I mixed these two scents to bring me a little closer to a feeling of springtime. On its own, “Dirt” is a bit of a novelty scent, but layered with others, its earthy authenticity dampens the florals, brings them out of the ladies’ powder room and back to the garden. It seems that any floral mixed with any dark scent can remind us of digging in the soil to make way for the flowers to come.

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Recommended and Enthralling

***Recommended: Becoming Duchess Goldblatt - I’m years late to Her Grace’s party, and have only recently followed her on Twitter, so I was thrilled to get a full overview of all things Duchess through the book. The power of social media done right! I listened on Audible. The book has been around for over a year now, and DG in the twittersphere is going strong.

***Enthralling: Station Eleven - such a strong 10-part HBO series, based on the novel by Emily St. John Mandel. With only a couple more episodes to go I won’t leap to conclusions here, except to say WOW. Must watch. Lots of info if you google the title to find out more about the book or the series.

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Catching up?

Amuse-bouches 1-7

I miss writing you those frequent postings that took us through December to New Year's. They’re here in case you didn’t catch them all:

1. Czech It Out

2. Old Man Winter

3. Horses and Hoodeners

4. Warm Wishes, Bright Stars

5. Present

6. Betwixtmas

7. 2022 and You

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Here are a few bits I’ve been collecting to share with you. One from archeology Twitter, which features #TombTuesday!

Frenchpostcardsofmegaliths @PhilWat09037421

La Pierre Césée in Soucelles (Maine-et-Loire) is a dolmen angevin with a 7x3m chamber covered by a single capstone now broken in two, traditionally due to a lightning strike. Remains of the portal entrance were only found during an attempt at restoration. #TombTuesday

and also a New Year greeting from the Iron Age ancient farm:

Butser Ancient Farm @butserfarm

A beautiful sunrise captured appearing behind our Moel Y Gerddi Iron Age Roundhouse. The camera lens picked up these rather funky colours in the sun's rays!

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Let’s Review!

Past New Year Articles - plus ça change…

• 2021 Strange Stirrings

• 2020 Everything a Year Can Bring

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See you next week - or sooner if there’s something extra to share with you. In the spirit of not holding back, I may be sending more frequent messages. Open them if you like, or save them for later. If they’re too much, too many, don’t unsubscribe - just let me know.

Thanks so much for reading, commenting, and subscribing. It means a lot to me. 

I also edit the Shamcher Bulletin, a publication dedicated to the work of 20th century mystic, Shamcher Bryn Beorse. Find it HERE.

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