"Too many of our countrymen rejoice in stupidity, look upon ignorance as a badge of honor. They condemn everything they don't understand."
 Tallulah Bankhead, TALLULAH  (1952)

"We must be careful that the people who make $5000 a year are not pitted against those who make $25,000 a year by those who make $900,000 a year."
Barbara Milkulski,  in a speech, 1974

 "There are no persons capable of stooping so low as those who desire to rise in the world."
Countess of Blessington, DESULTORY THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS  (1839)

"The freedom of man,  I contend, is the freedom to eat." Eleanor Roosevelt
PLEASE HELP SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FOOD PANTRIES

May Moons  2, Last Qtr;  10, New; 18, 1st Qtr; 25, Full; 31 Last Qtr  Mother's Day 12th

June Moons     8, New; 16, 1st Qtr;  23, Full; 30 Last Qtr; Solstice is the 21st!

Updated Tuesday, April 31, 2013
Easy access to show listings in Northern and central NY, along with the
occasional article by Sue-Ryn: The Metaphysical Times

 

April has been . . . interesting.

It came in mean teased us with a couple nice days, and has been miserable the rest of the time. Like about three weeks ago when we got a quarter inch of freezing rain-as pictured at left. Or two weeks ago when it snowed.

But we seem to have finally taken a turn for the better, with warming days and nights when it doesn't go down below freezing.

Of course that means we are getting even busier. There's yard work--acres of it. New trees and shrubs to plant. Leaves to clear. Spring demands a higher gear--and liniment.

Now we have some new baby chicks to, when grown, add to the laying flock. Cute little guys, about a week old. They're in the rehab shed, with the other critters.

Rehab has been busy, with some things coming and going. We released one mourning dove, got another. Released two pigeons. Got a seagull  recovering from a wing injury. A robin that got mauled by a cat. We had one baby squirrel, barely a day old, suffering from malnutrition and exposure. We kept him going for five days, but lost him in the end. Then there were the three squirrels rescued from someone who had rescued them. When we got them one was already dead from malnutrition and exposure, and a second died that night. But the third one is hanging in there--shown at left. About 5 weeks old, and cute as hell.

Then tonight we got in a domestic duck recovering from a broken leg. Seems like a sweetheart, and we have a feeling he will be living in our back yard for much of the summer.

Mail order remains steady, and we'll once again mention here something you will find elsewhere on the site, and as a sticker on order forms. There is now a limit of 5 bundles per scent on incense orders. We have some real fans out there, and that's great, but every so often we get orders so crazy big it wipes our entire stock all at once, and makes it so no one else can get any. Our incense is made by hand in small batches, and can take well over a week to cure enough to be salable or shippable. You can still order 5 bundles each of your favorites, and we hope you do. But orders of 10 and 20 or more bundles of one scent had to stop before we went nuts.


Longtime Hill Woman friends and customers know that Sue-Ryn's husband, the Computer & Incense Troll, is a writer with to novels and dozens of short stories to his credit. Now he has begun putting out some of his unpublished novels as Kindle ebooks.

First out is the bent fantasy novel Festivael. Want to know more? Click on the cover or the earlier link. It is available from Amazon for $2.99.

Also now available at Amazon for a measly $2.99 is another Stephen L. Burns Kindle e-book, the rollicking, satirical SF novel Zero Day Baby.

A third novel just came out, a novel of Amazon resurgence titled Blood and Bread.


A brief aside: we love the US Post Office and depend on the mail. We ship our orders via mail, get many orders via mail, and even some of Hill Woman's suppliers send what has been ordered via mail. We pay our bills via mail, We have been through periods--once three weeks long--when there was no power and sporadic phone, but dammit we got mail long before any of that came back.  The mail system was created when this country was created, and attempts to kill it off or 'privatize' it are ill-considered, short-sighted, and just plain evil. So below are a couple links to Post Office saving sites, and one to an op-ed piece by Bernie Sanders, one of the more vocal and tireless defenders of the USPS.
www.saveamericaspostalservice.org
www.savethepostoffice.com
www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73508.html

A note for those herbal tea lovers out there! We discovered a lost stash of copies of 'Herbal Teas-101 Nourishing Blends' by Kathleen Brown and Jeanine Pollak. $14.00 a copy plus $1 S&H if ordered alone, or make it part of your order and regular S&H charges will apply. Supplies are limited!

Sue-Ryn's upcoming shows are below; click here for the full listing.

Sue-Ryn's book is here! It has over 30 recipes for cooking, tea-sipping and bathing blends, from Apple Spices and Baba Yaga's Tea, to Vapor Bath and Venison Blend.
For more about the book, along with pricing,  check the page about it.

From Time to time I have needed an Animal Communicator. I first met Sally Gewinner at a small event in Fulton. At that time our old kitty Belle was showing some odd behaviors. Sally helped confirm my suspicions and figure out ways to help deal with belle's transition.         Since then I have called upon Sally for help with domestic pets and Wildlife too. Her gentle healing wisdom has always proved supportive of the animals in our care.         Sally still works full time as a teacher, but you can often find her at weekend psychic and holistic fairs in the central NY region. You can find her on line at http://www.energy-light.com or call her at 315.458.2430 if you need faster help or an appointment.                 

And now available, Kitty Magic Carpets in extra heavy-duty fabric--what we call the 'Sherman the Shredder' edition.  Want to check them out? Go to the Catnip Goodies Page There are also some new pictures of cats with their Party Animals  and Mr. Sardini Snakes on the Party Animals page.

Worth visiting is the Pets Page, a listing of tips and resources and books and links for the owner of animals  of every stripe, including information on fostering animals for people in the service.
If you are looking for a pet, be it a dog or cat or whatever, you will find a link on that page to http://www.petfinder.org
a place that can be  a world of help. That's how we found our Chloe.
Give an animal in need a home! 
What we really want is help making the page (pages, actually) even more useful. Got useful info? Regular mail it to us or email it to troll@hillwoman.com for possible inclusion.

Some more of the Troll's fiction is now available as downloadable versions
(for a modest price) online at Fictionwise. For more info, visit the Stephen L. Burns page.

A personal note from Sue-Ryn:
I frequently joke with customers, saying,  "Accept no substitutes," when asked if I am the Hill Womanwho has been around and selling herbs and scents for over two decades. Last summer a few people asked if I knew a few different people who claimed to be 'apprentices' or 'students' of mine.
While I know I have inspired and empowered many along their own herbal and spiritual paths, I have no apprentices, students (or acolytes, or subjugated minions, for that matter).
Anyone who claims to a student or apprentice is not being completely honest with you.

Feeling a bit isolated? Having a hard time finding things to help feed your spiritual side?
Desperately Seeking Serenity is a page listing some sources for books, music and more.
Check it out for a listing of catalogs and newsletters. Got suggestions for listings? Drop
us a line and let us know, please. Knowledge is best when it's shared.

As always, I'm grateful to the many folks who help keep Hill Woman grounded and growing;
the family and friends, the helpers both hired and volunteer.
I count such fine companions and co-conspirators as treasure.
Special thanks are due to each and every one of you who visits this site or reads my
brochure and accords me the honor and pleasure of serving you. Your encouragement,
kindness, and continuing support mean more to me than you will ever know.  And to
those who've visited, used, and  complimented this site, the Computer & Incense Troll
thanks you from the rubbly bottom of his black little heart.