TSL's 10th (Belated) Birthday + Fave Posts

At the end of July, The Seasonal Life celebrated its 10th birthday! I thought it was in August but then realised it was July, so that's why this post is late, lol. 

I wrote my first and second posts on 25th July 2013, an intro post and another one sharing my favourite things about summer. You can read them here:

 

https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2013/07/welcome-to-seasonal-life.html 

 

 https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2013/07/favourite-things-about-summer.html

 

TSL was the 3rd blog I started, the others being Star Sparkle Blog in April 2011 and Falling Petals in February 2013.  The other two are entertainment and spiritual/self-help blogs and I thought it would be good to have one about seasonal events and living.  

I started out writing about summer related things and posting recipes. In October and November 2013, I did my first post about a seasonal event (Hallowe'en drinks and then about my Hallowe'en). Then that December I did my first post about a sabbat (Yule).

As well as sharing recipes (seasonal and just ones I like), I started posting more about my sabbat celebrations. And later on, I did a series of posts sharing ideas for celebrating the sabbats. I really enjoyed that but decided to stop doing them earlier this year because I felt I had covered them all. They each have multiple posts and I didn't want to repeat myself.

I still post about my celebrations though and may do more inspiration posts in future if I feel inspired. :) I did share a few links with ideas for celebrating Beltane at the end of my winter-spring update post.

 

Lammas 2023

Last Tuesday (1st August) it was Lammas, my favourite sabbat apart from Samhain! Some people may celebrate on 31st July or 2nd August though. My main celebration for this festival is baking (usually gingerbread) and this year I made Cornish style pasties as well. (You're not supposed to call it a Cornish pasty unless you're from Cornwall!)

Although I made a pasty the first time I celebrated Lammas, I don't make them that often. The last time was in 2020. The recipe is from Kate West's book The Real Witches' Kitchen. I can't post it online but I did link to a couple of similar recipes in my first Lammas post on the blog: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2014/08/lammas.html

I used Jus Roll pastry which makes it a bit easier, lol. The pasties (I made one for myself and one for my mum) ended up being a bit hard and the carrots could have been cooked more, but apart from that they were ok, lol. Here's a picture of one of them: 

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.