A Long, Long Time Ago....

Yeah, I'm still alive. XP  Life is kicking me in the butt so haven't been able to make it back to the blogosphere.

Updates in my life:

Grendal and I are the proud parents of a furry baby. We got her from an animal shelter about an hour away. Fuyuko (roughly translated as 'winter child') is a 1 year old mix of, what we think, is Pitbull, Shiba Inu, and possibly German Shepard.  She's a hell of a dog and getting along decently with Tinker.  We do get a little nervous about Yuko's play with Tinker.  Yuko like to mouth and use her paws, plus she's bigger than Tinker so we have to keep an eye on them.  Nothing bad has happened so that's a good thing.  We've been taking Yuko everywhere with us.  We've even had play dates with my older sister's dogs.  So far, after two weeks, things couldn't be better.

Grendal has been hired as seasonal help at a local Bergner's store.  While normal chances of staying on after the holiday season is low, he's been trained as both a cashier and a dock worker so we're keeping our fingers crossed!

After the previous holiday I decided it was time to dust off my altar and spruce it up a bit.  Everything is a little tidier now, which makes me and the altar happier.  What's nice is that I've found two crow feathers in lovely condition, both right in my path on my walks home from work.  I had them on my altar as well and since Halloween has passed I was able to purchase two crow figures to place on the altar as well.  I had my eye on them for a while so when they were still there when the sale started I figured that it was time to snag 'em.  Besides, with my recently formed connect with Odin what better way to represent him!

What else.....I can't think of anything new and exciting that has been happening in my life.  I've managed to write a little on my novel in progress but still nothing significant.  With autumn slowly giving way to winter I've felt that familiar intimacy with the night and the earth.  I can't really explain it.  While the world is alive in spring and summer all I want to do is nap in the sun like a cat.  In the colder months, though, I feel at peace.  I want nothing more than to stay inside and make it feel like home through baking and soup making.  The nights are blissful despite the eerie silence thanks to the snow.  Even with the house being near a busy street it feels like we are far away from the hub bub of the city and in the middle of the countryside.  I think I'll wait until the deep parts of winter to make an 'official' connection with the All Father.  For some reason it feels right, and that's what matters the most with these types of things.