"Let us wage a glorious struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism. Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are the most powerful weapons."
---Malala Yousafzai, who survived a Taliban assassination attempt and gave an amazing speech at the U.N. on her 16th birthday-and won a Nobel Prize.

"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

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

December Moons  4, 1st Qtr;  12 Full ; 18 Last Qtr; 26 New Winter begins the 21st

January Moons  2, 1st Qtr;  10 Full ; 17 Last Qtr; 24 New Happy New Year!

Updated Thursday, November  30, 2019|

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

Shows: Macsherry Library Holiday Show & Sale Dec 7.  Macsherry Library Alex Bay NY
12/14 MAC Nature Center Holiday Extravaganza --Always a pleasant afternoon with vendors, food and music. If nice out you can enjoy a hike, if not enjoy the entertainment while watching the bird feeders and watching for eagles out on Eel Bay


 Unfortunately, we've had to raise price of incense to $6.00 per dozen. The Price of Dreamtime oil and spritz has gone up to $15, Sanctuary oil to $15.00, and White Sage to $4.00.

November was not kind. We had a terrible windstorm with insanely high water driven by 60+ MPH winds that trashed hundreds of docks, boathouses, boats and shorelines, and also took down hundreds of trees here on the Island. Several places Steve takes care of sustained damage. Those rock-piles in the picture at left are what remain of a 60 foot dock.  The nest picture below is looking to the right, at the big tree that came down, smashing a deck, pump house, a a boat house. Those big things beside and in front of the boathouse? Those are parts of the missing dock.
Then, later in the month we got a long hard blast of January weather; a 10 or so days of ner-zero nights, days barely getting above freezing--or not. It was brutal. In the midst of that, in about the third week, Sue-Ryn got sick--sick enough  she had to cancel out on a show.

As the month ends Sue-Ryn is feeling some better. We managed to get the new mail-order catalog in the mail Friday. Those who get will notice that it has slimmed down considerably; she's trying to cut costs and wasted paper.

There is an update on Bay House hours and activities down a little bit,

Only one critter in rehab at the moment, a ratty crow with PTSD. This year we took in 113 birds....everyone from tiny naked babies to full grown adults, but mostly babies and juveniles. About nine of those were raptors who got transferred to Kindred Kingdoms. A couple of the raptors didn't make it to transfer because they were in such rough shape upon arrival.We also had some who needed humane euthanasia. This year our number of survivors released back to the wild was negatively affected by bad weather. We saw a lot of hypothermia in the cold wet of early spring. We also had a lot of total emaciation and dehydration deaths during those "heat domes". The parents can fly elsewhere to find food and hydration, the youngsters usually can't and it's heartbreaking.
We took in 48 mammals & marsupials. Most of them were released back to the wild. Most of the mammals were squirrels and even though some came in so cold we weren't sure we could bring them around, 35 made it to soft release sites around the island, When mammals come in cold or dehydrated, they are hard to bring back from the edge, but not as difficult as birds are...there's just a little more to work with physically. We rehabbed our first litter of 11 Opossums this year - fascinating little guys. They were released in three groups off the Island, because i felt they would just be prey to the assorted predators that reside here.We also had one singleton Opossum show up who seemed to have been mauled by a canine and did not survive his injuries. I won't be doing another huge litter, though I may split a litter with another rehabber if our schedules allow it.
We took in two amphibians this year. One was the tiny Snapping turtle who showed up in a cellar in mid-winter. The other was a totally shell fractured painted turtle who did not survive his injuries.
So thank you to everyone who helped us out in oh so many ways - we really could not do this work without your support.

In other news, we had to put our beloved 2006 Ford Escape--"Old Blue"--out to pasture; she was two months past inspection and could not pass another one. So late September we signed up for  (sigh) another payment book, and now have a copper colored 2017 Escape with about 21k miles on it--and a whole bunch of controls to learn. Our 2012 Escape has become our spare vehicle, dump load hauler, and Steve's alternative work vehicle when it's too snowy/icy/muddy for his giant van, "the Beast'. Sue-Ryn has done her first show in it, a sort of baptism by cardboard boxes.

Bay House Artisans open through Christmas, 10-8 Friday and Saturday, 10-6 Sunday, with Special Shop Local Evenings Thursday Dec, 5, 12, and 19 7-9:30 PM. Featuring Door Prizes and light refreshment. Last Minute Shopping 7-9:30 December 23 & 24

Our new mail order catalog hit the mail  the day after Thanksgiving, so if you ordered in the last year you should  have gotten one.  There are a few changes, which are being incorporated here on the site. There is a new Aromatherapy Blend, Dream Time, available as both oil and spritz. We now offer two sizes of T Sacs, tea bags you can fill your self. These can be found on the revived Tea Page, along with some tea tools. That page may soon offer Sue-Ryn's handmade felted wool Tea Cozies--when they turn up you'll hear about it here first.  We also post here on the site the text of Sue-Ryn's annual catalog letter, some thoughts and musings on the year past--and the year to come.

From Sue-Ryn:
The artisans' co-op I helped establish six seasons ago decided to purchase a building this year. After a late season closing, many hands pitched in and 8 days after closing the front room of the former “Brass Tacks” restaurant and bar was transformed into a gallery space. The kitchen took a few weeks more–there was a lot of machinery to sell off and move, and then a lot of serious deep cleaning to do.  We're still open, 10-6 Thursday-Sunday until Christmas. Just look online for Bay House Artisans--or call--for more info.

-From Sue-Ryn:
A while back we had  to raise the price of incense Again.  The pure essential oils I use to make incense continue to rise in price, and after the last order I felt like I had two choices: raise prices or go to cheaper oils.  Going cheap was not an option. I know my customers have come to expect a certain level of quality and consistency in the scents I blend, and that includes the incense. I'm hoping to hold my price at 40 cents per stick. That means folks who order a dozen on an old or unadjusted  order form will be getting 9 sticks for $3.60 instead of twelve. The order form here has been changed to reflect the rise in price to $4.80 per dozen. I apologize for the sudden change, but this is the only way I can continue to produce the incense so many of you love.  I appreciate your understanding and support. Also up in price are Catnip Mousies and a couple oils. Some things like books, spritz kits, Bath Salts, and Soaps have been dropped--though some may end up at shows. But if you go to the Body and Bath page now you will find instructions on how to make your own bath salts!

You can get more timely wildlife updates by visiting the Wellesley Island Wildlife page on Facebook.

Our Bug Repellent Oil and Spray now contain Geranium and Lemon Eucalyptus to help repel ticks. These oils have not been added to Bug Stix.

Blame it on the animals....
        The testimonial contest that started some time last winter took off like a lead balloon. Then, baby season hit with a vengeance. Between feeding, cleaning, transporting and releasing critters, doing elder care and trying to keep Bay House Artisans stocked, things got a bit chaotic. The One and only testimonial we received was a friend of Corbie Mitleid who lives in England and raises main coon cats...so she is the winner
One thing of note. A few years ago we were called on to ship corn warmers to Antarctica. Yes, Antarctica. Well, earlier this month we heard from one of the recipients of those warmers. Here's what she had to say:

Hi Sue Ryn,

I received one of your corn warmers while working for 6 mos in Antarctica.  The endless nights that I crawled into a nice warm bed because of your lovely handmade gift brought me endless *SMILES* on the coldest continent on earth!!!  I will continue to buy corn warmers for all of my friends!!  You're a master of your craft!  THANK YOU!!!

Need 'therapeutic quality' pure essential oils at reasonable prices without climbing a MLM pyramid? Check out http://www.rockymountainoils.com
We will 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. Or more nuts. Also bad news for some fans: the incense blend Rendezvous is now  extinct--but  stay tuned for a new scent going  on sale later this month.


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

He has a new Kindle eBook novel available for your reading at Amazon. Like the cover says, it's death and danger at a Renaissance Faire--and a nudist camp, investigated by one of the oddest law officers to ever pin on a badge, the one and only Sheriff Abe Van Wynk. It's funny, fairly mysterious, and only $2.99! Available soon is a Kindle edition of his novel Call From A Distant Shore

 






Or you can try his bent fantasy novel Festivael. Want to know more? Click on the cover or the earlier link. It is available from Amazon for $2.99.





A third novel of Amazon resurgence titled Blood and Bread is out there.
A most unlikely woman becomes the first Amazon warrior in over 2000 years--and ends up in the middle of a war with the men who wiped out the Amazons the last time around.

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

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.                 

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.