Hi! I’m Blythe – aka the site name. 😉 In olde English, blithe means happy or joyful (and is said so much nicer than the American pronunciation, tbh) so when that’s what you’re tagged with for life, I guess you need to figure out just what makes you those things, right?

But.

I’ve hated my name my whole life.

There. I said it.

Which is crazy, because I get compliments on it all the time – people say it is a beautiful name, they love it, etc. But I don’t hear it – I just hear the sound of a word I hated as a child because it made me “different”. Oh, how I would have loved to have been Jenny or Kate or Michelle.

However – as I got older, I began to like (okay, like is a strong word – I accepted 😅) that it was different.

Now?

I’m all about it. My middle name is Regina, which means queen – so if being a “Happy Queen” is my destiny, then I’ve chosen to embrace it!

✨To quote Aunt Frances in Practical Magic:✨

Don’t we all need an Aunt Frances?!?

Back to the name thing – I also love the play Blithe Spirit (if you don’t know it, it’s about a man who’s deceased wife comes back to haunt him – not going to lie, I can get down with that. 👻) and so – here we are.

My blog, my name, my wanderings – all while I try to navigate this adventure called life.

Who am I, besides a Happy Queen?

Wow… so many things. Mom, wife, nurse are all things that readily pop into my head.  But they are not all that I am, and like most of us, it changes on a daily basis.

So who am I really?

A traveller. If I could, I’d wander endlessly & am always happiest by the sea. I’m a writer, fiddle player, lover of books, witch… gardener, foodie & total whisky girl. I also love the taste of a European beer (or cider, if I’m honest – Europe just KNOWS how to do cider 😉), I love to cook & have an herb garden to supplement all the flavours I crave, as well as drying medicinal & witchy ones for use in my practice. I love to create & am constantly trying to figure out new ways to put what I love into tangible form.

(And yes, you read that right – I’m a witch. Of the nicest, most normal sort. Not going to lie, typing that sentence was not one I think I could have typed 4 years ago – I’ve come a long way. But that’s a story for a different post. ✨️)