Everyone Got Pixy-Led Last Week

Happy Thursday. Help yourself to Pimms and take your place in front of the fan. The village fete is on the green, and the Plotted Out Pub regulars are betting on the World Cup. So far, the Tartan Army has drunk Boston dry. We’re waiting to see if another set of fans can top that level of partying.

Sadly, last week’s episodes went offline — family events and the recipe/magic book pulled me sideways (details below). I’m batching audio and writing together now to get ahead of it.

🎧 Next Mundane Magecraft (Episode 21): Friday 9th July
Listen to the series here

Next Sticky Witch episode (Chapter Thirty): Monday 13th
Catch up here.

The Novel Trenches: Heavy-Duty Marketing: August 1st
New tool coming soon for everyone who owns a Substack

The mini-recipe book for free subscribers is written! Three easy-to-follow recipes, ideas on how to make them magical, plus a few historical facts. I’m commissioning character art for the layout too. The theme is health, wealth and happiness, using ingredients you can find in a supermarket - in one case, the bits you would usually throw away.

For my paid subscribers - you heroes! - I’m building a larger bank of Cornish recipes you can use for parties, feasting and gifting across the year. There’s also household blessing and protection, and a few ideas on how you can reclaim that “ahhh!” feeling of home when you cross the threshold. Especially if you have been away from home, too sick or tired to do housework, or you’ve been through a life event that’s sucked up all your energy.

I’ll open a paid subscriber thread for future updates, partly for accountability and mostly so you can enjoy the behind-the-scenes shenanigans. I’ll be over here, crafting your spellbook as you watch.

Upgrade for only £10 a year

Which leads me to…

This happens to tourists All The Time. And school trips.

The last two weeks of the summer term in England are considered “the wind-down stage” of school. Exams are over. Grades given out. But there’s still 10 days of school left to fill, leading to the dreaded End Of Term Excursion.

Everyone is grumpy, everyone is hot, and the best thing you can do is get the kids out of the classroom - because they are going to forget anything you teach at this stage - and get through the day with the minimum of stress.

Well. For the kids.

For the parent helpers, trying to keep the kids on track, on the pavement - “no, you can’t stop to look at the fluffy ducklings!” - and on task is impossible. With most schools, the choice is a museum. Where I live, it’s the beach. A Surf & SUP day. That means the morning in the waves, with surfboards, then an afternoon on the canal (or in the canal) playing paddleboard pirates before sending them home.

In Cornwall, if someone says “You’re full of pixies”, it means you’re full of mischief, and they can see it. When someone gets pixy-led, it means they’ve strayed off their path without realising, and they need to turn their coat inside-out to break the spell and find their way again. Naturally, if you are drunk, the pixies love you. Likewise, foraging the hedgerows in August, when you are being led astray by that last luscious blackberry. The same goes for writing - you research house blessings and emerge from a book coma on the floor, an hour later. That's where the last ten days went.

And the kids? Put it this way: we had people swimming up the canal when it was time to get out.

.

Either that or partying with the fairies

Being British means poking fun at the establishment. For my American readers, Farage is our cut-price Trump, right down to the dodgy crypto money. Right now, he’s fighting a trash can. Who might win.

I did consider buying a sword for Father’s Day this year. Except Dad already has one, and my husband prefers recurved bows. I’m not sure if this is a First World problem or if we just belong in the 1400s.

Well worth the read. Even in tales of the devil, there’s a touch of happy-ever-after.

Have a great Thursday

Nat x