After several hectic weeks, I am back on my regular Sunday blog schedule. One more weekend trip this month, and I'm home until next year.
Salem was interesting, a bucket list trip. I visited witchcraft shops, took a pirate tour, went through the cemetery, took a witch tour, ate some amazing food, and drove 15 hours to get home after the debacle with Frontier Airlines and their unpublished exorbitant bag check charges. Cheaper to drive than it was to check bags. The shopping was absolutely worth the trip. Especially Coven's Cottage on Essex Street and Enchanted where I picked up a pretty cool set of supplies for a spell I'd been wanting to do. What wasn't so great...driving...I'm not sure how people in the Boston/Salem/Peabody area handle the horrific traffic. And people are freaking rude AF.
New Orleans was the next trip. After an evening on Bourbon Street and feasting on gator po'boys at Vampire Cafe we took a walk around the French Quarter and Jackson Square. St Louis Cathedral was a beautiful church and I took the time to light a couple candles. St Louis Cemetery tour wasn't what I thought it would be since you weren't allowed to venture off on your own and the guide told stories that I had already heard or read about in my research for my vampire series. Had a reading from the lovely lady at Hex.
We were off then to the swamp for a pontoon tour of the Pearl River and surrounding swamp. Gators came up to the boat expecting their treats from our guide. There were wild hogs and raccoons who also were waiting patiently for their treats. It was a beautiful piece of nature that I had never seen before.
After the swamp, we went on to our cottage on Bay St. Louis. Our hostess was excellent and gave me a lesson in making goat milk soap. The beach was nice and the water warm. I grabbed a piece of driftwood to hold the hank of Spanish Moss we got on the swamp tour.
On the way home, we stopped for gas and sandwiches at Buccees in Huntsville, Alabama. If you haven't been to one, you should definitely take the time to stop if you come across one. It can't be classified as a gas station or a convenience store...but I'm not sure what to call it.
This weekend it's home sweet home. Worked outside today a little bit. Cut out the volunteer mulberry tree which I can't seem to kill no matter how I try...and it keeps choking out my clematis vines. I collected seeds from my clematis and am going to try to propagate some more to fill that entire end of the porch with clematis. Then I went out and cut the wild grapes out of my rose bush and used the vines to make a wreath and fed the rest to the goats and the sheep. I collected sage from my herb bed and used some to start a container of sage tincture and laid the rest out to dry for cooking.
This evening, I am going to do some catch up on advertising, write a little bit, and finish reading Experimental Magic by Iris Beaglehole. It's the second of the Myrtlewood Mysteries and I loved the first one. I could also start reading one of the many witchcraft books I got in Salem. Who knows...
Well, I hope you are all having a lovely start of autumn and are looking forward to Halloween. I know I am! Have a wonderful week and check back next week! Fall Blessings to All!
