Happy All Hallows Eve

The Witches’ Spell


Act IV, Scene 1 from Macbeth (1606) by William Shakespeare


A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.

Enter the three Witches.

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.

2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin’d.

3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—’tis time! ’tis time!

1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;

In the poison’d entrails throw.—

Toad, that under cold stone,

Days and nights has thirty-one;

Swelter’d venom sleeping got,

Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot!

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,

Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,—

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;

Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf

Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark;

Root of hemlock digg’d i the dark;

Liver of blaspheming Jew;

Gall of goat, and slips of yew

Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse;

Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;

Finger of birth-strangled babe

Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,—

Make the gruel thick and slab:

Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,

For the ingrediants of our caldron.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon’s blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.

Neglecting my blog

Does not mean that I neglect other aspects of my life!

Quite the opposite actually!

We are back into the full swing of Autumn, school has started my SK kid is right back into the routine of school.  It's different this year, he has HOMEWORK!  That dreaded word that makes parents and kids alike shiver with dread.  It's not that intense, but I can see it coming down the road.

The focus right now seems to be developing printing skills, working on letters, colours, lots more focus on French, on chante beaucoup en français, and to my surprise, safety!  Safety rules at school, fire safety, our family has now talked about a safety plan in terms of having a fire in the home, J does not quite understand about not stopping to put shoes on if there is a real emergency, but we're working on it!  He knows where all the smoke alarms are and also what the CO detector is for.

Work is work, it's busy busy and going to be more so over the next few months.  My boss is retiring, happily for her and sadly for the rest of us.  Her work will have to be absorbed partly by us and partly by other management.  It's not looking like they will replace her.  C'est la vie.

We are back into swimming lessons.  I have a front crawler!  His skills are coming along so well!  Seeing lots more of his head in the water which was always really challenging for him, but he's realizing now that he can swim much faster with his face in the water.  He's bringing his arms out of the water and starting to resemble more of a fish than a boy!  

Halloween is on the horizon and then shortly after it will be Christmas.  Where the heck does the time go?  Life is moving way too fast. 

"Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen." Mark Twain