Oestara 2020

On Friday it was Oestara (more commonly known as Ostara) aka the Spring Equinox. (At least in the UK, as I mentioned in the Oestara + Spring Celebration post, by US time it was Thursday). I celebrated by baking, which I usually do for Oestara and Easter too! Well, this year I made a white chocolate tiffin, so it was technically "no bake", lol. The recipe is by Jo Wheatley and you can find it here: https://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/jo-wheatley-s-white-chocolate-tiffin

I hadn't made tiffin before but I had a look for a recipe a few months ago because a cafe at my local park makes really nice ones! This recipe uses cherries but I left them out because I'm not that into cherries. It has coconut in though. I put Cadbury's Mini Eggs on top, like I normally do for Oestara, to fit the theme of spring and fertility/new beginnings. Here's a pic:

It was quite nice. Kind of similar to the Birdies Perch Maltseser slice (one of my favourites to make) and the Malteser fridge squares I made last Oestara, except this one doesn't have any Maltesers in, lol.

The day after I went to the park and took a few sunset pics. That's something I like to do for sabbats but I haven't been much over the winter, plus I've been having family car problems and it's harder to get to my favourite park without a car. I went to another one though. I couldn't see the sunset that well because there wasn't such a good view there, but here's a photo:

I'm glad I managed to get to the park because with all the social distancing and isolation due to the coronavirus,  parks have been closing in some places.

So now we're officially in spring. I usually find this an optimistic time of year with winter ending and  (hopefully) the start of better weather. I have depression and anxiety and also Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) so I feel worse during the winter/colder months. So I'm happy to see the longer days, especially since the clocks are due to go forward next weekend. But it's a difficult time for everyone with the coronavirus, everything is so uncertain. I just thought I would share this post from She Sweats Diamonds about taking a more positive attitude on this (although it is hard to think positively about this situation, I know) and what to do during quarantine: http://www.shesweatsdiamonds.com/covid19-silver-lining-corona-virus-what-to-do-during-quarantine/*

Also this is a good post from Lemon Stripes about helping your anxiety during this time: https://lemonstripes.com/lifestyle/coronavirus/

Hope you had a good Oestara/Spring Equinox. Happy Spring! (To those in the Southern Hemisphere, I hope you had a good Madron/Mabon/Autumn Equinox and Happy Autumn!). :) Hope everyone is staying safe. If you'd like some spring inspiration check out these posts:

Preparing for Spring + Spring Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/03/preparing-for-spring-spring-inspiration.html

Oestara + Spring Celebration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/03/oestara-spring-inspiration.html


*2/4/20: Page currently unavilable.