The Big Freeze - it's still one of nature's wonders

With all the disruption it brings it's hard sometimes to see the natural wonder that winter can bring.

 Take time to marvel in it's beauty and power, feel the unique excitment from children building their first snowman. It will be gone as quick as it came, so enjoy it if and while you can!

Just Do it! don't just daydream - create the dream

That's a very grand title isn't it?! This is going to be a very self indulgent collection of witterings. I'm writing this as a kind of motivational tool to get myself actually writing again but really I'm telling myself off.

I haven't contributed anything to this project for weeks and then I wonder why i can't get people interested in it? If I can't muster up the energy to look at my own blog, how on earth can i expect any one else too? You see there is a direct correlation between action and effort - to put it another way, the longer you leave things the harder it gets and the more effort you put in stuff actually becomes easier. So with that in mind I am going to put in a little burst of effort into my blog.

So why the renewed energy I here you ask? well two reasons. One - Demand Media have just excepted my other blog for distribution through their network. My other blog, which can be found at blog.stocksigns.co.uk, is for my other job. When I'm not trying to be "Supermum" or an "Eco warrior" I actually have a proper job. The writing for that is going rather well, and lovely people from all round the world tune in to read my hints and tips on safety signs for the workplace. (did you see what I did there? all part of my link building campaign - a bit of self promotion never hurt any one!). My second reason is that I have a very dear friend that has been subtly telling me to get on with it. She's not being pushy at all you understand, just a gentle couple of words every now and then at the end of our general chit chat emails.Just a teeny weeny reminder to start writing again just enough to shame me into action!

Actually I have a third reason - I like doing it and I have so much to say! Not because I love hearing my own voice or that I think that what I have to say is of great importance to all that read it but because I have learnt so much from others. I like most people, well those that are honest with themselves anyway, struggle. I struggle with working full time, with trying to be a good Mum, with trying to make all my relationships work, in essence I struggle with life. Friends, family and the good old Internet have all passed on valuable information to me that have made my struggles easier to deal with or at the very least made them a bit more fun, all survival tips for the modern age which I want to share with other strugglers.

So witterings over with for now. I am going to stop daydreaming about the life I want to live and start creating it.

We love Halloween Tat! -why we can enjoy witches, bats and pumpkins

All Hallows Eve, Halloween, Festival of the Dead, Samhain and All Saints Day what ever you call it the 31st October is an excellent excuse for celebration. Generally, Halloween is considered to be one of the oldest holidays that is celebrated by majority of the countries around the world. In times such as they are, with the economic downturn and newspapers full of gloom, the thought of months of cold and dark ahead we really need something to cheer us up. Halloween is the perfect excuse.

Widely thought of as a festival with its roots in pagan beliefs that was then adopted by the christian faith. Actually Halloween originated from different cultural influences over thousands of years. No matter how each culture celebrates Halloween, it is still apparent that this holiday is being commemorated every year by people all over the world. I have had a little delve into the Internet to uncover the different rituals and ways that have developed over the years.

In the western countries such as the United States, Canada and the UK, they are celebrating Halloween by displaying carved pumpkins and corn stalks. Children go trick or treating and even wear scary costumes which depict scary creatures as they roam door to door for treats. These are the common practices in the western countries.

In Ireland, where the trick or treating originated, they celebrate their Halloween by anxiously pursuing sweet treats. Children wearing ghoulish costumes knock on the doors of every house asking for sweets. This has been a long time tradition that is still practiced every year. Aside from that, the houses are also decorated with numerous Halloween decorations and lights.

As for the Spanish people, they are known to enjoy numerous kinds of feasts and other celebrations and they celebrate their Halloween similarly to the western countries wherein children receive sweets from their neighbors while adults enjoy Halloween parties at clubs. They also tend to hold numerous Halloween parades as part of the celebration.

In the Pagan and Wiccan traditions the festival of Samhain represents the time when the veil between this world and the afterlife is at its thinnest allowing ancestral visitors to return and visit the earth plane. It is also the "witches" New Year and represents the moons triumph over the sun as winter progresses before being defeated again when the sun regains power at Yule - the Winter Solstice. Modern day practicing Pagans will celebrate by holding a dummy supper, were an extra place is laid at the dinner table for ancestral visitors. Being the new year they also use the occasion to make their New Year's resolutions just as is done at the beginning of the calendar year.

On the other hand, Asian cultures have a slightly different manner of celebrating Halloween. In China, people offer food and water while they light their lanterns so that the spirits of their deceased loved ones will be guided in travel during the night of Halloween. Aside from that, pilgrims are also visiting Buddhist temples and they create paper boats which they regard as the symbols of the spirits of the dead. It is also not uncommon for whole families to hold picnics in cemeteries, their way of remembering their loved ones.  These are regarded as a places to celebrate and remember not just to mourn.

In Japan, Halloween is celebrated as the Obon Festival wherein special dishes are made and bright red lanterns are hung in each house. These lanterns are lit with light to serve as a guide to show the spirits where their loved ones are. The Japanese families also clean the memorial stones of their deceased loved ones because they believe that their spirits come and visit during the festival.In Japan however,  the Obon festival is celebrated at some time in July or August.

So fill your house with Halloween Tat, carve your pumpkins, hang bats from your lampshades, play silly games and dress up in ever more outrageous costumes, celebrate and let your hair down . Then when all the trick or treators have gone and you collapse at the end of the night, still bathed in candlelight, catch your breath and take a moment to reflect on memories of your loved ones.