So I didn't get called in for any relief teaching work yesterday or today but did I let that get me down? No! Did I spend my time worrying about how I will pay the bills? N... ok maybe a bit. But did I choose to see this freed up time as an opportunity? Yes! Apart from looking for jobs, which is pretty much a daily occurrence in my life at the moment, I've spent the past couple of days being quite productive, sorting things out and getting to some of those 'I'll do that when I've got some spare time' jobs. It is so satisfying!
My mum recently gave me her old sewing machine and I am so excited and touched by this. She has had this machine my whole life, and it is the one she taught me to sew on when I was a child. I'm a very sentimental person so this sewing machine is something that is very special to me. I am so so excited to have it as my very own, and my mind is buzzing with all the projects I could make.
I have had this idea in my head for a while now, to make a different tablecloth for each Pagan festival. Then I could put the tablecloths on for dinner that night to really make it feel like a special celebration, and a reminder of the moment of the year that we are in. So yesterday I decided to christen my new sewing machine by making the first of my tablecloths. I made this one for Mabon, which is the upcoming festival celebrating the Autumn Equinox.
It was actually quite difficult to find fabric that really suited the Adelaide Autumn feel that I was going for. I wanted something which was Autumn coloured, but not dark or reminiscent of cold weather and snugliness, as Mabon falls in March in the Southern hemisphere and in Adelaide it is still very hot in March. After about an hour spent looking at every roll of fabric in Spotlight (not that I'm complaining, it was heaven!) I managed to find one that I think suits the feel. I'm still not quite sure though. But anyway, it was the best I could do! Hopefully I can save my pennies and make another one for Samhain in May, the festival celebrating the halfway point between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice. It's the origin of Halloween and one of my favourite festivals (because there is a feeling of cold weather and snugliness!).
My project today was to make my life a little more organised and stress-free. I don't know about you, but clutter and disorganisation make me feel stressed, and an organised environment where everything has a properly allocated (and labelled) place makes me feel peaceful and relaxed. Being a teacher, I have a lot of teaching resources and organising and storing these is a nightmare, particularly when you don't have a permanent job so you have to store them all at your house! I have one particular shelf in one of my wardrobes, where I had a whole heap of really great resources, but they were just all shoved in there so they were not accessible or usable. This was the shelf when I started:
This was the shelf when I finished:
It's still not quite done to the standard I would like, I still need to buy a couple of things next time I go shopping and borrow my mum's label maker, but looking at that shelf now makes me feel happy and satisfied, rather than panicked! Also, look at all the extra space for new resources! Yay!
Happy living! :)
As some of you may know, and others may have picked up, I am Pagan. For me, this means observing the movement of our amazing planet as it travels through space, the seasons which result from this, and the feelings we inherently associate with these seasons. I've always celebrated the Pagan festivals by having a special dinner that reflects the moment in time we are celebrating.
Shortly before we split up, Jeff and I observed Samhain, which is the festival from which Halloween was created. Samhain marks the halfway point between the Autumn Equinox (Mabon) and the Winter Solstice (Yule. Ah, I see you making the historical connections to another popular festival celebrated around the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere...). Samhain is the final festival of the Pagan calendar and represents death and dying in the circle of life, before the spark of life is reignited at Yule when the days begin to lengthen once more and the sun begins to return. It seems fitting then that this would be the last festival that Jeff and I would spend together. This is also a very fitting time for me to be grieving for this loss and spending my time healing, consolidating, and refocusing for a new beginning in the coming months, because that's what this time of year symbolizes.
However, Samhain, with its background of death, is not a time of sorrow. It is a time of acceptance, of love, and of appreciation for what you have, and what you will have. I like to make something for dinner on that night that reflects that feeling you get around this time of year, that you just want to curl up in the warmth with a hearty meal and those you love, and hibernate through the Winter. This year I made something I've been wanting to make for years, Woolton Pie.
Woolton Pie has its roots in WWII England when rations meant that there wasn't a whole lot to eat besides a few vegetables and a bit of flour. I found my recipe many years ago and cut it out of a magazine, the name of which I have long since forgotten, and have been saving it for a festival such as Samhain. It was a bit more effort than I like to take when making dinner, so I think it'll stay as a 'special occassions' meal only, though I must say the pasty was very yummy!
Woolton Pie
Serves 4
For the filling
450g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
900g carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 leek, thinly sliced
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
Pinch of nutmeg
Chopped parsley
Nuttelex
Vegetable stock or water
Salt and pepper to taste
For the pastry
50g Nuttelex
22g plain wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Fry the potatoes and carrot separately in Nuttelex until soft. Set aside.
3. Fry the spring onions, celery, and leek in Nuttelex until soft.
4. Mix all the cooked vegetables together with the dried thyme, and salt, pepper, nutmeg, and chopped parsley to taste. Fill a pie dish with this mixture, bury the bay leaf in the middle, and moisten with a little vegetable stock or water. Set aside to cool.
5. To make the pastry crust, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Rub in the Nuttelex, then add enough water to make a rolling consistency, although one that is slightly softer than when making pastry with white flour. Roll out and use to cover the pie.
6. Bake for 1 1/2 hours.
Happy eating! :)
