The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

Elona_2

My arms are definitely flabby but it is too hot to bear sleeves just now so any onlooker will just have to put up with me.

I opened my Marks and Spencer parcel last night which should have been a cotton nightie to find a pair of size 8 jogging shorts!!!!!
Looks as if I might have to get on the bus to return them which is annoying.

I usually prefer cooler weather and darker evenings and getting all cosy with a book and a hot drink but got a shock when there was a power cut last night from before ten p.m. till nearly two a.m.. So glad I had a couple of torches within reach so I could find my way to a cold glass of water, the loo and my bed.

Shanks

I have an epillator which I use when I remember and am wearing cool midi dresses in this heat but usually prefer trousers as my legs are no longer a thing of beauty to put it mildly.

I have a steak in the fridge which needs cooking and eating tonight  but can't face the kitchen for a while.

Wave or hug to all

ivyleaf

Same here with the vein-stripping Florenceem - done in 1990, look awful again now, so it's trousers or a long skirt for me.

As for sleeves/lack thereof - I once sang in the choir at a church wedding where the bride, who was Greek, turned up in a very low-cut strapless gown    Her mother, in a beautiful and decorous long-sleeved evening dress, glared at her throughout!  We suspected the wedding dress had a matching stole which the bride had refused to wear....

Floss

LameWolf said:

VJsmum said:

LW - so glad you're getting a new doggy guest.  COuld you say a bit more about Lughnasadh? IS it pagan?  I love the idea of festivals that are in tune with nature but know so little about them...

Thanks for asking, @VJsmum   Lughnassadh (aka the Saxon name Lammas or "loaf-mass" - I like the Celtic name personally) is indeed part of the Pagan wheel of the year. It's the First Harvest, and traditionally, the first corn harvested would be baked into a loaf in the shape of a sheaf of wheat; but any home-baked goodies are perfectly acceptable. The bread is often accompanied by cider - the proper stuff, not $trongbow or any of that sort of rubbish. ...

When is that @LameWolf? We always had a wheatsheaf loaf at my primary Harvest Festival pre 1975 😁

MrsCD

Happy birthday, VJS' DD Here's another cake for you. 🎂

My arms are more flabby at the top than they used to be, but since I already have quite a few summer tops that are sleeveless, I'll be wearing them until they wear out, and then I'll buy short sleeved.
We also have a blackbird who starts singing around 4am, and pigeons nesting in the ivy in the hawthorn hedge. Sometimes they are nice to listen to, other times, well......
I find it fascinating how things from various religions have found their way into other religious ceremonies, such as corn dollies etc. turning up in harvest festivals.

silvasava

Evening all - been rather tardy posting on here lately. 

It's quite surprising how many 'pagan' things have been incorporated into Christianity. The 'old' ways definitely appeal to me, celebrating the seasons and their bounties. 
Don't talk to me about the birds, we often have blackbirds nesting in the wisteria at the back of our house and we're treated to his beautiful song. We also have jackdaws nesting in the chimney, they've been there for years and make quite bit of noise but lately we've had a lone magpie, think he's a youngster who's encroaching on the territory of a pair of them - the noise is worse than seagulls! There are frequent stand offs and shouting matches with the three of them and the jackdaws  shout at them cos they've got fledglings in the chimney.  It's like a soap opera at times!

I'm an ectomorph - so tall and slim, it's genetics. My arms arnt too bad but I tend to be sleeveless in more casual settings. I also feel the cold so often muffled up, not at the moment though.

Hav'n't shaved anything for ages, think it's part of getting older - it seems to have migrated to my chin and upper lip lol.

Elona_2

silva

I used to be an ectomorph but now resemble a balloon and not in a good way. Strangely enough my wrists and ankles have always been large (bone not fat).

About forty years ago I bought Ancient Christmas cards from a Private eye seller which explained what the carols and hymns actually meant  and their origin.

Florenceem

ivyleaf - Oh the sights I saw at Baptisms - women ready for the party!
silvasava - I am getting the odd chin whisker. You wouldn't be able to tell that my legs haven't been shaved/had hair removed for 23 years.

MingVase

I'm not into any religion at all, but I love the old Celtic way of setting out the year, it makes a lot of sense. I could never be a pagan, I'd never remember all the names of the festivals and goddesses 

Nargleblast

I find I am losing hair as I get older, I have an epilator but only use it very occasionally.

Lammas/ Lugnasahd is the First Harvest festival celebrated on August 1st. The height of summer but with the promise of cooler evenings to come. We first start to notice nights drawing in around then.

After that is Mabon, the Second Harvest festival at the time of the Autumn Equinox, around September 22nd. Day and night are of equal length, as we go into the darker half of the year. Note that Michaelmas (St Michael's Mass) is also celebrated around then.

The Third (and final) Harvest festival is the big one of the year, Samhain on October 31st. It's the Pagan and Wiccan New Year. The last of the crops are harvested and enjoyed with feasting and preparation to hunker down for the dark winter days ahead. On a more serious note, it is also a time to remember and honour those who are no longer with us. It is believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is at its thinnest, and some will feel the presence of those who have died. Note the Christian church has adopted November 1st as All Souls Day, with the similar intention of honouring the dead. All Souls Eve, otherwise known as All Hallows Eve  has become Halloween, one of those manufactured, commercialised retail opportunities in the year. The whole trick or treating thing has its roots in history, but it's all a pale imitation of Blessed Samhain, which is part of the Wheel of the Year.

ivyleaf

Thank you for that, Nargle 

silva Ssshhh! Don't mention the upper lip! 🤐