Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

Maybe I should have titled this 'I Saw the Sign' ?

Life has been rather uneventful here as of late. It's the same tune: wake up, go to work, cook, clean, sleep, and repeat. Grendal and I have been wearing out due to it.  He's having trouble with work due to some racism.  It isn't directed at him in the slightest but it's remarks that have been upsetting him and the company he works for hasn't done a thing about it.  There isn't a day he comes home that he comments he nearly walked out.  Luckily he's in the process of throwing applications at the business world and we're crossing our fingers that something positive happens.

As for me, work is work.  Nothing spectacular in the Deli world of major super markets.  As a peon I have little say in what happens, and when I do point things out the higher ups in the store look at me like I'm a loon.  Unfortunately my job out look is less impressive than Grendal's.  I am some what limited to what's within reasonable walking distance of the home, especially with winter slowly creeping in.  For now I have to suck it up and hope that I don't insult one of said higher ups.

What about the title of this post? Ah, yes.  Recently I've been wanting to do something more with my tarot cards and possibly expanding other things through that.  This thought has kinda been put out in the universe and I've asked Odin and any other deity for some help or the like.  I had an old friend contact me through facebook asking if I still do readings.  I said yes and explained that we'll set something up.  It never happened, more my fault than anything else.  There went that chance.  Nothing else happened and, to be honest, I kinda forgot about what I had wanted.

Last weekend when Grendal picked me up from work he seemed a little frantic.  He told me 'Get in the car, we gotta go.'  This was strange because we didn't have anything happening that day so there was no need to be in any sort of hurry, plus earlier he wanted me to remind him that there was something we had to talk about.  Apparently what ever was happening superseded that talk.  When we drove down to the bank(approximately a block from the house) he was looking over the trees and grumbling.  Saying something about not being able to see anything.  Grendal wouldn't tell me what was going on and there I was trying to see if there was some nifty clouds floating along.  There wasn't.

The closer we got to our street the more I noticed some swallows flying about.  We usually don't have swallows hanging around the area, especially so early in the day.  So we pull into the driveway and over the property there was damn near 20 swallows swooping about and countless HUGE dragonflies doing their thing.  Grendal explained that there had been a whole lot more than what I was seeing, dragonfly wise.  It was pretty amazing, even if I didn't see the whole shebang.

What did Grendal need to talk to me about, though?  Turns out his mother and father's church is in desperate need of mediums, fortune tellers, etc.  They belong to the Spiritual Church, which is neat in it's own right but nothing for Grendal and I.  His mother was wondering if I'd be interested in doing readings.  I was a little nervous with the thought.  I mean, first and foremost I am a Heathen.  My gods are many and they are dear to me.  With the Spiritualist Church, they believe in Spirit/God.  A single deity has never sat well with me, something that I've trace back to my childhood without any explanation.  I don't want to anger my deities and enter a place of worship where I might upset the followers there due to my own path.

Grendal's mother said our differing faiths wouldn't matter.  All I would be there for would be expanding my ability to read and other things.  The only time they had to be particular about their beliefs was during their sermons or whatever they call them.  I was still leery with the idea, but I was beginning to remember that I wanted this chance.  Maybe it was another push?  N'aw.  Besides, there are times when I hear Grendal's parents and elder sister talk about their faith and it seems rather hokey.  Not to mention, too close to the Christian faith for my own comfort.

I told her I'd think about it, which she was thankful for.  A little while later I went to our computer and decided to see who/what was connected to dragonflies.  I don't know why I did so.  Maybe it was due to the fact that there had been so many of them around and that throughout my time in this home, as well as Grendal's, there has never been anything like what had been seen.

Turns out dragonflies are associated with Freyja.  She is very much associated with Seiðr, and for teaching Odin in those ways.  I think I was given one hel of a sign that I can't ignore.

And I didn't.

And the Count Down.....It Begins

So, I've hit the two months left time for the wedding. June 21/22 is coming quicker than I had imagined. I'm a bundle of nerves over many things. Food is already in order, invitations are slowly coming together, addresses are needed, and my dress is still being made. While I know everything will fall into place and this will be a day to remember, for what ever reason, I'm still nervous as hell.

A lot of people think that being married suddenly changes everything somehow. For Grendal and I it's not going to change a thing. Seriously. We've been together for nearly 9 years, living together for nearly that long. We've had our wedding jewelry for nearly a year now, wearing it every day. The only thing that is going to change between us is the legality of it all. That and we will refer to each other as 'husband' and 'wife' ala Futurama(think Hermes and LaBarbara). We are happy with each other, accept our differences, and know that our arguments/disagreements are all perfectly natural and work things out when its needed.

I've been attempting to write some more but something isn't clicking. Makes me sad but I think I have to put my writing aside for a while. My muse and inspiration is just kinda not there anymore.

Also I've been attempting to get closer to Odin. Talking with Him, using my tarots, and what not. My cards are rather good and while I don't read as often as I want to, nor have people to do readings for, it's a little rocky. Things seem to be clearing up when communicating with Him. I don't know if it has any connection but I've been getting restful sleep as well! One big thing that I asked Odin was what should I do to really show my devotion. Should I create something? Perhaps take on a new craft or work on one that I have. The cards pretty much pointed to my wedding with Grendal as a show of devotion. I do know that I am setting aside some food for both the gods and the Wights, so perhaps that has something to do with it. Either way, there is some connection to my wedding! Happy day.

One last thing: the weather here is ridiculous. I had ONE WEEK to walk/bike to work since the changing of the season and ever since then it's been rainy. From the drive way I can still peer through the trees and peep through the trees across the highway to see the river. People had to evacuate houses and some houses are mostly underwater. Never understood why people really want homes along the river. While it is bad that peoples' homes have been flooded, we need(ed) the rain. Last year we were in drought conditions and this is a good start. While we're still dry (kinda hard to wrap my head around that with all this freakin' rain) it's a step in the right direction. Maybe a garden will be doable this year.

-Djarfskald

Of Wights, Mead, and Bike Rides

I had my first bike ride of the season/year yesterday. Rather than burden someone for a ride to work I had Grendal look over the bike the night before to make sure everything was good. After decking myself out in a backpack, a leather jacket, gloves, and a scarf, I was off. While it's only a 15 minute-ish ride it is still kinda chilly in the mornings, so that sort of bundling up was needed.  It was nice to ride again. My legs disagreed with me by the end of the day but I loved it. Set me off to a good start too. Healthy sort of breakfast, after ride munch, and a nice salad with an avocado(with a side of yogurt and some blah bread pudding) for lunch! While I may not need to drop any fat, I do need to tone up in general.  Though, I don't think my legs need the work. A couple years of martial arts and hula mixed kinda does that to the legs. It's my stomach and upper body that need to shape up. So, it looks like yoga and what not for that.

The mead should be reaching the point of racking. This also means that Grendal and I need to figure out what fruits we're putting in for half the batch. He knows he wants blackberry and cherry, while I'm kinda leaning towards apples and strawberries. If we stick with those, that just leaves two more that are undecided. Who knows. The book I have (The Compleat Meadmaker) suggests a couple of different fruits to use so I may stick with that.

I've been bothering Grendal with the idea of coming up with names for our different meads because, well, I'm hoping we continue to make it and possibly make it for others. I suggested 'Allfather' for the classic mead, which he responded with 'The Allfather's Eye Drops'.  I think I can compromise with 'The Allfather's Eye' and we both can be happy. I also had the idea of doing a mixed berry version in hopes that it's yummy and call it 'The Bifrost'.  And while Grendal doesn't like carbonation, I think he liked the idea of a sparkling mead to be known as 'Mimir's Well.'  I do know the apple version will have some reference to Idunna and we joked about a really red mead being a reference to Tyr, though I wonder if that would be in bad taste.

Speaking of the happenings of the past few days, Grendal and I had a little 'spook' moment the other night. Now, we have a tendency to misplace our combs. He blames it on me and while I misplace it more often then he does, I'm not the only one to blame. Anyway, we had lost our good one a few weeks ago and no amount of cleaning seemed to help. Hell, we cleaned rather well because we had a friend showing up and NOTHING! Well, the other day I came home to find our combs lying together on the bed. Of course I figured this meant Grendal had found it and was showing me as such while he was at work. So, I just put it over with the brush we had and left it at that. Later that night he goes to brush his hair with the comb and the following happened:

Grendal- Where did you find the good comb?
Me- It was just laying next to your pillow. I thought you put it there.
Grendal- Uh, no.
Me- What? *skeptical stare* You're not shitting me, are you?
Grendal- You're not shitting me?
Me- *stare*
Grendal- *stare*

Usually by this point one of us would confess to the other if we had been fooling around. I have a tendency to be easily duped in certain situations and was honestly expecting Grendal to be all 'Haha, fooled you'  yet there wasn't such a response.  He just had an uneasy look on his face and I went downstairs to do whatever it was I was going to do.

We've had spirits (both nice and grumpy) in the house before, but they seemed to either have quieted down or moved on over the years. While I do believe in the little folk, we've never had an indication of them being around. With my increased work in the world of Asatru I've begun offering foods to the Land Wights in the area. It made me wonder if I have a House Wight and they're making themselves known by doing such a thing. I'll set up another offering dish for the House Wight on the off chance we have one. Maybe that will make the atmosphere in the house a little more happy.