At Home With Rowena

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Same blog - different name!

Decided to change blog name to Gramarye. After all, that is what I have named our house, and the main focus of my blogging is to do with what it says under the title: Magic, Nature, and Spirituality!

The word itself has its origin in medieval English, where the word 'grammar' was often used instead of 'latin'. Thus, a grammar school was a place you went to learn Latin. Seeing as the priests of the time, who were obviously well-learned, undertook their rituals in Latin, ordinary folk, unable to read or write, linked the rituals and the language with unearthly power. Therefore, 'gramarye' meant both 'grammar' as in the formation of sentences and learning, while also carrying the idea of occult knowledge.

As I've said before, I came across the name in James Herbert's book 'The Magic Cottage', and it was from that moment that I yearned for a magic cottage of my own! I never expected to get my wish, but when the wish became a reality I knew that for the first time ever, my home would have it's own name - Gramarye.

There's nothing wrong with having dreams, however unrealistic they may seem to others. Our dreams are the power behind every action we take to attempt to fill our ideals. And if we hold on tight to those dreams, no matter how difficult the terrain, sometimes, just sometimes, they come true!

Love and blessings,

Ro

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Sunday, August 16, 2009

Into the Wilderness

We have a front and a back garden - the front was okay, but the back, well, it looked more like a tip than a garden!
The former tenants son used to plough it - yes, you read that right! - there's lots of ooo aar farming people round here! - but failed to tidy up before he moved out!
It was full of deep holes, so the bambini couldn't play in it, in case they broke an ankle, and the ground also housed annoying slabs of concrete, house bricks, and tractor parts!
We did our best, but after the fourth lawnmower, and second strimmer died a death, we gave up and told the council to come and sort it out! Everyone we knew said we'd never get the council to deal with the garden, but we eventually did. The council tried to say that we took it on as seen when we accepted the tenancy, but we argued that because it was so overgrown, the extent of the horrors lurking beneath had remained unseen until the first mowing! I also pointed out that the average council tenant is not expected to be in possession of the agricultural equipment to rectify a garden in such need! Our then 14 yr old daughter wrote a letter to them, begging them to do something so that her and her younger brother would have somewhere to play. And the rest is history - they came, they rotivated, they levelled, they seeded, they went away!
All this just goes to prove that sometimes, if you stand your (rocky!) ground, refuse to take any crap from any 'authority', and fight your corner - that you can indeed emerge victorious!
Well, that's all for now,
Keep on keeping on!
Blessings,
Ro
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