Yoga With Kelly

Hello and greetings from my homestead where I am busy preparing not only for Christmas, but also for Winter Solstice. This year winter solstice or Yule falls on Monday December 21, 2020.  In the northern hemisphere Winter Solstice happens to be the shortest day and longest night of the year; when we move from the season of fall into the season of winter. When we all hunker down into our own homesteads to live out the winter months bundled up inside our warm homes, maybe even in front of the fire. This is a time for everything to slow down and take a break. I have been feeling sleepier lately, it’s been hard to get up in the morning and I long for my midday nap everyday… And then I remind myself that even the trees, plants, flowers, and most of nature takes this time for rest and I should do the same. It's time for everything to take a rest, that includes you. Yes, even you need to make time to take a break for yourself.  Winter solstice is a time to celebrate nature; whereas...

Last week I spent the Thanksgiving holiday with my immediate family, at my parent's homestead out in the sticks. It is a quiet place to get away for the weekend to. It was spent with family, engorged in good food, then falling in and out of naps followed by movies. It was a lovely time. As the holiday passed I began to get more into the Christmas spirit... As I watched everyone else put up their decorations and trees, I longed for getting my own decorations in order. The Christmas tree was up, but bare because the garland did fit around it. This year I have a new tree and it's taller than my old one, so the garland was too short... I had plans to get more garland this weekend, but for a whole week my bare tree stood half decorated and mocking me. However it is now decorated and looks grand in my living room, surrounded by the other decorations. The smell of Christmas trees filled my living room as I spent time placing each decoration and ornament in the perfect position, moving...

It has been a busy time for me over at my homestead. The past couple of weeks I have slowly been preparing my home for winter. Last week I prepared a large batch of chicken and vegetable soup. I also did an in-depth clean of my apartment and put away the Halloween decorations. However my Christmas decorations are not up yet, but the fall decorations remain. I got out my stuffed turkey and he sits perched on top of my bookshelf. I organized and cleaned up a bit as I cleaned and at the end of the day I collapsed into bed for a nap and wind down for the evening. I worked on some drawings for projects, ate two big bowls of chicken and vegetable soup and watched The Haunting of Bly Manor on Netflix, which was just spooky enough to give me nightmares. In the morning I did my herbal studies, worked on my drawings some more and then made a trip to the craft store and book store. Sunday evening I celebrated the November new moon with a moon bath for my crystals and a refreshing yoga sequence. ...

Outside the snow is coming down, the first snow of the season. All day I could tell something was brewing. I could see it in the sky and feel it in the air. "Something is brewing," I said to myself. And boy was it brewing the snow was falling so much it was basically a white out. What a great time to be inside with the warmth of the oven to keep me cozy. In the oven curry and tarragon pumpkin seeds are roasting. The bounty from yesterday's work in carving the pumpkin, to keep away the evil spirits. <Grin> I bought a pumpkin carving kit at the store and it was totally worth the four dollars I spent on it. The instructions said to carve a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin, guess that's the way to do them now and I actually like it. After I cleaned out the pumpkin and carved it, I thoroughly washed the seeds and separated all of the gunk. I spread the seeds on clean dry flour sack towel to dry. In the morning they were ready to roast.  I drizzled them with olive oi...