April is a tease!

I promise that I have some of my useful recipes, foraging, and other sorts of regular Pixie’s Pocket posts ready to roll, but life has been full of personal flows and where I flow, the blog tends to go!

Martha and Richard Canon, aka Memaw and Grandad…and I *think* that’s my father or his elder brother as a baby.

A few weeks ago, I got the sad telephone call that my paternal grandmother had passed away. My Memaw (and Granddad) helped to raise me when my parents were handling their separation and I needed a stable home from which to attend school. Those few years were like a bubble of 1960s suburbia in the early 1980s, shag carpet, gold velvet couches, and all! She tirelessly worked – and I mean it, she was a triple Virgo – driving me to piano practice and summer camps, cooking, cleaning, playing piano, fussing with doilies…she always had something to do except for those few sweet hours of alone time in the afternoon when she’d relax with her feet up and watch her shows.

Eric and I made the long drive to the coast of Virginia and spent a 24-hour emotional rollercoaster with my family. I laughed with joy as my mom and the rest of my kin got to giggle over my belly for the first time since I became pregnant. I cried at the sweetness and poignancy of the beautiful and light-hearted graveside service for Memaw, and we all laughed and cried as we sang together at the wake afterward. Music is the glue that has kept my family together. There is a power in raising voices together in harmony, weaving around and seeking pleasant tones, and not judging each other’s occasional harsh notes cruelly – I realize now just how I have learned to communicate from making music together.

After the wake, we rushed down to the Festival of Legends in Apex, NC.  This event is one where we both run the tarot & herb booth and also act as directors and help put together the hospitality services for the performers and vendors on site. It was a lovely Saturday with one of the biggest crowds we’d ever seen, which makes for happy patrons and shopkeepers! Things took a turn on Sunday when the event had to close down a few hours early for a tornado warning. Everyone packed out just in time for the storm to hit, and while we had devastating winds that wrecked many of the pop up 10×10 canopies, no one was hurt and no real damage was done, thank goodness.

When we left the wind-blown site of Festival of Legends the next morning, we drove through a bright day. Our drive was overlooked by a blue sky studded with fast-moving clouds. The sweet, fresh smell of the air reminded me of the beautiful weather that follows the day after a hurricane. As the overloaded car climbed the mountains back up towards home we noticed the temperature dropping dramatically until we were greeted with gusts of blowing snow as we pulled into the driveway! We unpacked what we absolutely had to and left the rest for the next day.

We were very lucky and the cold snap left our freshly-leafing peach, apples, and blueberries in good shape. It’s already warmed up again and everything is putting out flowers – the strawberries, lilac, and our family irises are all making a dramatic presentation! The yo-yo spring weather doesn’t seem to be hurting them like it is hurting us…our sinuses and muscles are having a hard time keeping up with these barometric pressure and temperature shifts.

I’m also…QUITE pregnant now. I’m still a month or so from the due date, but my hips, back, and tight growing tummy are a definite distraction from daily responsibilities and duties, like this blog, for example! We are so grateful to the many friends and family who have passed down their baby gear or bought gifts from the registry – while we want to try to do this simply, it seems that babies have all kinds of nifty gear that comes along with them these days.

As the pregnancy progresses, you’ll be seeing a few more guest blogger posts appearing on Pixie’s Pocket. The lovely writers are helping me fill in while I get ready for one of the most laborious and transformative experiences in my entire life. I’ll be sure to update as I can, but I want the freedom to get lost in the world of baby and hide away for a while.