Spring-Summer Update (2023)

We're already more than halfway through the year, so it's time for my spring-summer update! You can see my first update of the year (winter-spring) here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/04/winter-spring-update-2023-happy-beltane.html

Easter Sunday was 8th April this year. I baked the frosted white Easter chocolate cake (James Martin recipe) that I've made quite a few times. I also had a meal at home and got a couple of chocolate eggs, lol. 

At the beginning of May I celebrated Beltane. You can see my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/05/beltane-2023.html

In mid-June I went to Nando's for a (very) belated birthday meal! (I wasn't able to go around my birthday in March due to various circumstances.) I had my usual chicken butterfly (plain-ish) and chips (fries). I had peri-salted chips for a change. Also some garlic bread. I normally have coleslaw but they didn't have any. And I had strawberry frozen yoghurt for pudding (dessert).

The food was nice. Here's a picture: 

Litha 2023

The Wednesday before last was Litha aka Midsummer/the Summer Solstice. I celebrated by making a tomato and onion salad and lemonade (my main celebrations for sabbats are making food and drink). 

The salad recipe is from Soraya's book The Kitchen Witch, although I used both red and white onion for a change. I was going to have some avocado as well to make it similar to the kachumbari (Kenyan tomato and onion salad) that I sometimes make for Beltane), but there wasn't any at the supermarket.

I had the salad for my lunch with ciabatta bread, chicken, cheese and pickle, gherkins, Doritos and dip. The lemonade is "Hello Kitty lemonade (the recipe is from a Hello Kitty book).

The food was quite nice. Here's a picture:  

Shifting into Summer

Summer is starting, so I thought I'd write about shifting into the new season! This post is in a similar style to my previous ones from last year on Saying Goodbye to Winter, Moving into Spring and Saying Goodbye to Summer, Moving into Autumn.

Note: If winter is starting where you are, you might like this post: 

Getting Ready for Winter: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/12/getting-ready-for-winter.html

While the shift from winter to spring is more optimistic for me, I find the one from summer to autumn a bit depressing (although autumn is a beautiful season). Going from spring to summer feels the most inspiring to me. 

Back in 2018 I wrote a post about getting ready for summer. You can read that here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/06/getting-ready-for-summer_3.html 

In that post I mentioned that are two "official" starts to summer- 1st June and around 20th June, the day of the Summer Solstice (also known as Litha; see below) which varies slightly each year. Some years it feels like summer starts sooner than others.

This year spring has been quite cold, although we had some nicer, warmer weather. It's only in the past week or so that I've really felt the shift towards summer.

Beltane 2023

Last Monday (1st May) it was Beltane. My main celebration for sabbats is making food and drink, and I usually make salad for Beltane. This time I made kachumbari (a Kenyan tomato and onion salad) again. The recipe is from Precious Core: https://www.preciouscore.com/kachumbari/

I've made it several times and it's always nice. Precious' version also has avocado in. I had it for my lunch along with ciabatta bread, grilled chicken, shop bought guacamole (some years I make my own) and crisps (chips). Here's a picture: 

Winter-Spring Update (2023) + Happy Beltane!

For the past couple of years, I've written quarterly updates (from "season to season"). I found it a bit easier than the monthly and "two monthly" (every couple of months) ones that I wrote in previous years. So I'm doing the same for 2023. :)

Note: I'm later posting this than I planned because I'm currently having computer problems. I am able to still blog on my phone which I'm grateful for, but it is a bit harder to do it on here.

You can see my autumn to winter 2022 update here if you like: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/01/autumn-winter-update-2022.html

I went through a bit of a difficult time at the beginning of the year, due to personal issues. I didn't really do much in the first couple of months but I did go to Starbucks in Hove in late January. 

At the beginning of February, I celebrated Imbolg. You can see my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/02/imbolg-2023.html

I also went to a belly dance workshop with Lianna Greene in February and to Starbucks again afterwards!

At the beginning of March, it was my birthday. I celebrated at home on the day and got some nice presents. I'd planned to go to Nando's but wasn't able to get there due to certain circumstances. I hope to go soon for a belated birthday meal though! 

Later in March it was Oestara/the Spring Equinox. You can read about my celebration in this post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/03/oestara-2023.html

Easter was in early-mid April (Easter Sunday was the 9th). I'll cover it in the spring-summer update, like I have the last few years. :)

Last autumn I started going to Action for Happiness Happy Café meetups again (I used to go before the pandemic) and I carried on going this winter. I went to Creams Café in Brighton afterwards a couple of times too, since it's in the same area as the meetups.  The meetups moved to a pub over the winter.

I haven't been doing my weekly park walks due to having family car problems, but I did go to the park a few times, mainly for Imbolg and Oestara. I miss seeing the blossom trees in my favourite Hove Park (it's a bit of a hassle getting there by bus), but here's a pic of some local daffodils that I took in early April: 

Daffodils outside the Co-op, Shoreham.

 

 

 

Oestara 2023

Last Monday (20th March) it was Oestara (more commonly called Ostara) aka the Spring Equinox. As I said in my Celebrating Oestara! post, I usually bake for this sabbat (or "no-bake" sometimes!). This year I made spicy carrot cake cupcakes using this recipe from Natalie Mason: https://natalie-mason.com/spicy-carrot-cake-cupcakes/

They have a cream cheese icing. You can make a big cake or cupcakes, and I decided to go with the cupcakes. They were quite nice. I've made carrot, zucchini and apple muffins before (Don't Waste the Crumbs recipe) and they didn't come out that well, but the carrot blended in nicely with these cakes. I've also made chocolate zucchini (courgette) cupcakes several times and really like those.

I'd planned to put Cadbury Mini Eggs on the top to fit the spring theme, but they were sold out in the supermarket, so I got Smarties Mini Eggs instead. Here's a pic:

 

 

Celebrating Oestara!

It's almost time for Oestara (more commonly known as Ostara) aka the Spring Equinox! This year it's on Monday 20th March. 

Note: For those in the Southern Hemisphere it's nearly time for Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox. You might like these posts:

Madron Round-up + Autumn Baking: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/09/madron-round-up-autumn-baking.html

Celebrating Madron!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/09/happy-madron.html

 

For the past few years, I've written posts sharing celebration ideas for the sabbats and last year I did a post rounding them up. During 2022 I also started writing a series of posts sharing some ideas and inspiration for celebrating and links to other sites, rather than in-depth posts and have continued that into 2023. As I said in my Yule 2022 one, I feel that I've pretty much covered them all now, since each festival has several posts. 

This Oestara post completes my current round of sabbat ones (which I started last Beltane), so going forward I will probably just write about my celebrations and maybe write short posts before the sabbats. I do appreciate everyone who has read them and plan to continue blogging about seasonal festivals here. I just don't want to keep rehashing the same thing. :) (As with my most recent Madron post, I've previously written a post called Happy Oestara!, so that's why this title is a bit different.)

Oestara (often spelt as "Ostara" but I first heard about it with the alternative spelling) is the 2nd of 3 spring festivals on the Wheel of the Year, coming after Imbolg/Imbolc (which marks the transition from winter to spring) at the start of February and before Beltane (mid-spring) in late April/early May. It's also the Spring Equinox, which is often seen as the "official" start of spring. 

The Spring Equinox is an astrological event where day and night are fairly equal, due to the position of the Earth moving around the sun. It's the opposite to the Autumn Equinox (also known as Madron/Mabon) in September. After this time the days will continue to get longer until the Summer Solstice (known as Litha to some pagans). I wrote a bit about it in my 2019 Oestara Celebration Ideas post.