Samhain.

With all my focus on "November! November!", I almost forgot that today is Samhain. I had some things I'd put off last year and the year before...maybe I put it off, or maybe the time just wasn't right until now. Maybe I just wasn't ready. Tonight, I lit a candle, got myself a bucket of water, and brought out The Box. The Box has been sitting in my closet for over two years now. It moved from Green Lane to Downingtown with me. In a lot of ways, it moved farther than that. The Box held remnants of my last relationship, pre-Mer, pre-hospital, pre-meds. It held notes, a grocery list, a t-shirt, some stickers, hard copies of emails, and other various detritus that accumulated during that particular two years in my life. They were my first female lovers, my intro to bdsm, a two-year whirlwind of love and anger and sex and tears and....just a lot. Things I've been holding on to, not just physically.

So tonight, in true "Dani celebrates a holiday" fashion, I set it on fire.

I remembered the good and the bad. I gave thanks for everything I learned, and for all the love that was there. I went over each piece of that life and the memories that went with it. And as I watched it burn, I let it all go with the smoke.

I read a blessing from my Celtic Devotional, and read my personal Samhain piece, which was (rather ironically) originally written for what became our last Samhain together. Then I asked Mer to come in, and I re-read a shorter version of that same Samhain piece. I blew out the candle, we dumped the water and ashes into The Box on top of everything that couldn't safely be burned, and Mer took it out of the house for me.

I have a headache (I always do after ritual), and I can feel the irritation in my lungs from all the smoke, but it's done, and I feel good.

( For those who celebrate, and those who don't - Blessed Samhain. )

inspiration

After much muddling about, and with no time to spare, I've got my topic. As kylakae pointed out to me, why try to choose between food and sex? Why not do food and sex?

*ding ding ding* ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.

Food as erotica. The sexual nature of food, and cooking, and eating. Food porn. Or rather, Food Porn.

Two bonuses to this twist on my topic:
1, if I'm running short on words towards the end of the month, I can back-fill with pornolicious recipes
2, it gives me a great excuse to use my "cue the porn jazz" icon.

thanks, kylakae!

stick a fork in me

I'm done for the night.