Obviously, sweet bugger all got done in those two weeks... although the couch cushion in my favourite spot was well warmed... and the pantry was emptied of chicken soup... and I consumed ALL the garlic & horseradish capsules. Also much codral cold & flu was consumed, because fuck feeling miserable, give me codeine and lots of nuclear powered stuff to make me feel better is my strategy after a couple of days of the death..
I've got nothing to say for myself for being awol for 2 solid weeks... except that I'm lucky I called in sick & not dead lol. A few days after my last post, the FLU struck... I've never had the honest to goodness flu before. Most people get a tummy bug & call it the flu, but it's not (a point which always annoys me ;) I've been at it for 10 days now, and finally can say I think I'm going to live.
Obviously, sweet bugger all got done in those two weeks... although the couch cushion in my favourite spot was well warmed... and the pantry was emptied of chicken soup... and I consumed ALL the garlic & horseradish capsules. Also much codral cold & flu was consumed, because fuck feeling miserable, give me codeine and lots of nuclear powered stuff to make me feel better is my strategy after a couple of days of the death.. In the middle of me dying, my 11yo Frodo most inconveniently required some urgent dental work for a sneaky abscess that was hanging out without causing pain or anything... we just thought his filling fell out (which it did, but the ouchie was underneath it apparently). Luckily it was on hubby's day off, so I could lay on the couch and continue dying lol. Weird child got a little upset when they TOOK the teeth (they took 2 because an adult tooth couldn't get in) he had no pain afterwards hardly at all... my son the freak of nature. I got a call a couple of days ago offering us a spot for his tonsillectomy... NEXT WEEK. He's been on a wait list so we're taking it... but holy no friggin time to plan batman!?!? Chaos shall ensue. I will make an attempt to pop in on occasion chatter on about whatever happens to wander through my mind :) but no promises... because it's gonna be a long couple of weeks! For him, organizing a new 3ds game to give him something to take his mind off his misery, a couple of books, and a hospital bag with new pj's, a bathrobe & slippers and such :) For me... books to read while he sleeps in hospital (we'll be there at least 24hrs), a cross stitch project to work on, and a lovely friend who's offered to pop over and hang out for a while with a coffee while we're on lock-down in the ward! Now, if you'll pardon me, this witchy chick has a fair bit of REAL sleep to catch up on, so it's off to snuggle up with my dear kitty
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Hola from the Gold Coast!
My little guys just returned to school after a 2 week winter holiday.... I am finding it eerily quiet around the house now... and I may be the only mum at school that could have gone for another 2 weeks! My boys enjoy school over all, and them being there gives me time to do ME things ( like this blog, crafting, coffee dates, etc) but I miss them. We had a great holiday together, although we stayed home and just did a few day activities. The boys loved that hubby took 2 weeks holidays as well t spend with us. Family time is a win all around. One of my favourite places ever is the beach, I just find it does amazing things for my spirit. It was a spectacular day... winter? not so much really lol. It was a balmy 22C the day we went down, and the surf was glorious to walk in. We drew pictures in the sand, collected some gorgeous shells (a pristine half of a scallop shell that's going to live on our altar to represent Water), and wrote wishes in the sand to be carried away by the sea. That one, admittedly, would have worked out better if the tide were going OUT lol... but I figure they'll get there eventually! Not my feet... but life IS good! We really had fun with it... unfortunately I was on camera patrol, but I was busy writing & drawing with the kids! So no pics really got taken, as the surf ambushed us & took our dreams for the future out to sea with it :) The boys wrote lots of stuff that you'd expect from kids... xbox/3ds games, new lego sets, and such. But they also dug a big heart shaped 'pool' and waited for the surf to fill it up :) I drew a pretty mermaid Goddess in the sand and surrounded Her with my wishes. Things like happiness, peace at home (there's been a bit of stress with the oldest spawn lately), direction for my future career, financial stability, and a home of our very own, were all scribbled in the sand and have been sent on their way to the Universe. We also played a hilarious round of mini golf at King Tutt's Putt Putt... much to my dismay the children chose the Jurassic course instead of the Egyptian tomb one *pout* but they wouldn't have let us get in the sarcophagus anyway, so I guess it isn't a total loss. Hubby says to report that he kicked my ass (which he did not, he won by 7 strokes... that is not an ass kicking!) and Frodo got the ONLY hole in one on the entire course. It was a spectacular, and really funny, hole too... he putted... couldn't find where the ball went, then thought it was lost. We cracked UP when he found it IN the hole lol. It was a great moment. Helloooo in there??? The course gave plenty of opportunities for silliness too ;) I wish I'd have gotten a good pic of the T-Rex head that is 'crashing though the roof' attacking the golfers! (it doesn't move, but was pretty funny when I told Hubby to look UP as he stood directly under it lol. The pic came out too dark though dammit!) We had our picnic lunch overlooking the beach on the esplanade to finish off a terrific day out. On the way home, we stopped off at the monster mall to hit our favourite coffee shop for an iced coffee (or iced chocolate if you were a back seat passenger ;) for the road. I think the kids MIGHT have made it until we got to the highway before they crashed out. After we got home, it was pronounced the best day ever... Mission accomplished :) Blessings! Caz & family
My favourite site evar! (affiliate linkage)
So, after mumbling a bit about clutter in my space the other day, I was on my favouritest site ever and saw that the perfect cure for that was starting right *NOW*! Leonie Dawson has some of the coolest, most fun & energizing, e- courses I've taken! I've been a member of her Goddess Circle for 3 years now and I'm working my way through all of her courses :D (If you want to check out some of her FREE goodies, go ~here~ . I adore the sacred silliness that Leonie brings to things, and the pretty watercolours of her worksheets make me smile! A lot of this course focuses on de-cluttering, which I am TOTALLY down with. But, *most* of my house is fairy well de-cluttered, and even reasonably organized... not perfect, but not bad either. Most of that was done the first time I went through this course, which was last year, so I've decided to run through it again and fine tune things a bit. Get rid of a bit more STUFF, organize what is left (i'm a total organizing geek <3 ) and then the biggie... make it truly feel like a sacred, cozy space that can REALLY be my Haven! This week is all about seeing where you are starting from, and deciding what your goals are for your space. So where am I ?? my space is reasonably ‘stuff’ free but it doesn’t inspire me. I don’t feel like the space reflects who I really am. Yep, that's pretty much it Leonie... how well you know me ;) My home is currently decorated in primary school children lol! It's comfy, but it's boring... which I am really not. See? BORING... just utterly boring *sigh* So, my goal for the 6 week course (although there is no requirement that you really finish it in 6 weeks... and many of us on the forums meander through at a slower pace) is to make it FEEL like me. So that when a friend walks in they go 'wow, this space is SO you!' My 3 big goals are:
Our 'assignment' this week is create an altar somewhere in our home hehehe... I am an altar queen, so I'm going to give mine a tidy up and redecorate and I am making some things to create my kitchen altar. top left shelf... cutest pumpkin ever!! See those sweet little shelves on either side of the kitchen window? If those don't scream to be all decked out kitchen altar style, I dunno what does! Currently they house, well whatever lands on them honestly. One has crap... one has a pumpkin <3, and the other two have coffee paraphernalia and a non functioning pepper mill (wtf is that still even DOING in my house?? it doesn't work!!!*runs to toss it in the bin*) OK, back now :) I don't even harbour any delusions that the shelves will remain free of stuff... but I'll keep it to a minimum. I'm a fan of symmetry, so I'm thinking my coffee stuff (lower right shelf) will move up a shelf and the lower two will be altar-ish. Off to get to work on my lurvely worksheets & planning pages for the week! I'm a list making fool, lists making me happy & I find it uber satisfying to tick things off as I complete them :) If anyone needs me, I'm at the printer. Blessings, Caz **disclaimer** I am an affiliate for this site :) There may be small financial rewards to me for purchases made through this link... but the rewards to you would be much better than $$. It's something I love love love! and thought I'd share!
It's always coffee o'clock in my kitchen.
It's a dreary day outside, but on the upside, we've just had 30 hours sans children thanks to my delightful mother in law! We delivered our three boys (Frodo is 11, Sam is 9, Merry is 7 ... my hobbitses) to her yesterday morning and hubby I ran quickly ran away for a posh coffee & sushi for lunch. We also had a wander through my very favourite home-wares shop (the Oxfam store!) and I'm kicking myself for NOT having my camera on me. They had the CUTEST owl oven mitts (which are far too cute to actually dirty up and would totally adorn my kitchen walls instead) and the most spectacular, hand painted, cupboard. All furniture was 25% off... but when the price tag is $895 to begin with, it's sadly not coming home with me. I am definitely a homebody though, and it shows because after that we came straight home lol. I suppose it doesn't help that I was awake at 245 am and unable to go back to sleep, not to mention had no real money to spend on a proper 'date' anyway? So what else did I do with 24 hours without kids? I had a positively decadent nap, watched movies while cuddling on the couch with my hubby, a minky blanket, and a bowl of popcorn and just generally vegged out enjoying the Peace & Quiet. Yes, those words need to be capitalized... if you are a parent, you completely understand this! I also took it as an opportunity to do a little domestic goddessing around the house, without kids underfoot (although the cats rose to the challenge admirably). I'm a bit of a feng shui fan, not that I follow Chinese spirituality at all... but I do find that when my space is clear & clean, the serenity that creates seems to reflect in other areas of my life as well. I guess that stagnant stuff equals stagnant energy and I feel it. I can totally tell when I'm due for a bit of divine decluttering when I start to feel cranky and irritable at home, but fine elsewhere. When I look in a corner and there's a pile accumulating, and the dining room table has one too, I know it's time to get some shit OUT of my house. Boring ole dining room ;) Like this. The table has turned into a drop zone, the corner (which you can't see clearly, thank Goddess lol) has a of something, with a plastic bin of other stuff... which I plan to offer for sale on a Facebook list, as well as school backpacks & library bags. The OTHER corner has a big ass bag of clothing that I have just culled from my own closet, mostly stuff I never wore anyway but is in decent shape. I know this is not Hoarders material or anything, but crap in corners and on flat surfaces irritates me to no end. I feel SO much better once I clear out the clutter and do a space clearing run through...some delicious incense, bell ringing to get the energy flowing again, and it's like a whole new house! Also, that beautiful blue hutch is intended to be our family altar (not that anyone really cares except me lol, although they do leave gifts there) and it has turned into a homework storage station for the kids. My altars have been sorely neglected since we moved in here in January... what can I say, I've had a bit on my plate. That is something I shall have to work on (will share after I do!) (BTW that pentagram on top of the hutch is something the boys & I made with twigs from our backyard, some 5 years ago :) I have one more week of everyone home and we have tons planned, lots of school holiday programs at the library (preteen minecraft lan party anyone? lol), a trip to the planetarium and a trip into Brisbane CBD to go see Superman... but I'm going to make myself a list here so I can come back to it later (I like lists :) My space clearing goals are:
I have a budding chef that wishes to help me make a cheesy cauliflower bake now, so if you'll pardon me... it's off to the kitchen! Blessings Caz Because otherwise, there is just no damn good reason for flour, butter, sugar, eggs and dates boiled with a bit of bicarb, to turn into the magical creation that is in my oven at this moment. Seriously, the smell alone is just killing me. I do NOT often bake this evil concoction, quite simply because it tastes too bloody good! I am on a weight loss journey, and am really trying hard to eat much healthier... doing terrific so far, 6kilos gone! just 28kilos to go. Desserts like this, on a regular basis, would not be very helpful. I'm going to be an awful person and share this recipe with you... you can thank me (or curse me lol) later. And keep in mind a 'pudding' is not the same thing here in Australia as what Americans think of it as... no fluffy mousse/custard stuff here. It's a soft, gooey, cakey mix that is absolutely TO DIE FOR! Sticky Date Pudding
Caramel sauce (like I said... REALLY sorry about this lol)
*preheat oven to 180c/350F
Freakin' HEAVEN in a bowl.
I'm a devotee of the Goddess Caffeinia!
Today a lady I know casually online asked if anyone in our group cross stitched as a hobby... I'm sure the stitch witches are coming out of the woodwork after that. I am a complete craft-a-holic and I admit this freely! I love to cross stitch, to do wood craft, folk art painting, and beaded jewelry making are some of my favourites... although I haven't done much of those last two for a long time. Beading is fiddly and difficult to do with small boys around ;) and now that my boys are old enough to leave it alone? I have devilish little felines who will never be that old lol. Of all my crafts, I think cross stitch & bead weaving are my faves... there is something meditative about the steady up & down, in & out, of the movement of needle through fabric. It's good for the soul :) I do love my crafting though, and have been making a lot more time for it now that all of my little boybarians are in school. I'm currently all about the cross stitching ... <--- this is my most recently completed project, it's a beaded kit that I bought... along with it's partner the cappuccino which is still in progress... off ebay :) These will soon be framed & grace the little shelves on either side of my kitchen sink with their cuteness. I plan to make them into my whimsical little Coffee Goddess altar. Something you'll learn about me on this blog, is that I have a seriously, almost religious, relationship with coffee lol. It almost reaches the point of diagnose-able OCD (obsessive Coffee Disorder ;) Nature Goddess... isn't she beautimous?? Anyway, after my other little lovely is completed, the next project to tackle is the *nearly* done Goddess that I have been working on for ... well nearly forever lol. She's a large piece, and I got fairly fed right the fuck up with stitching on her after many weeks of work ;) So she's been hanging out in the cupboard, awaiting the day when I was ready to dive back in & finish her off. She is going to be really gorgeous! She's looking a little dingy at the moment, but once I finish of the little bit that is left, a nice bath in woolwash will spruce Her right up! Once upon a time, I was part of a yahoo group for cross stitchers and I had saved a set of designs for Sabbat charm bags, done in cross stitch of course. Sadly those patterns were lost in a computer death several years ago, so I am planning on creating my own sabbat designs... not sure if I'll go with charm bags, or if I'll get waste canvas & find some beautiful fabric & make altar cloths for the holidays/seasons. I like to sit near my altar to stitch, especially when it's something I'm stitching with *intent* and have a candle lit, either some incense or a lovely smelling melt going to create a mood of specialness.. of magicalness even (apparently those are not words, according to spell check. Bite me spell check, I'm leaving them to spite you!) while I stitch. If I'm making something magical, like the cute little charm bags (which I made 3 of before losing the patterns, ARGH... a partial set! I may try to create the other holidays in the same style to match so it doesn't make me crazy lol) it goes without saying that I do all of this at a time when I will be free of distraction... like after the children are in bed and well & truly ASLEEP. Because, if I'm up half a dozen times 'gently reminding' (read, yelling at lol) the boys to go to sleep... the energy going into my work is so totally not going to be what I as aiming for lmao. And, on top of that...I'll for sure have to do a whole lotta 'frog stitching'... you know... rippit ripppppit out ;) And there would likely be alcohol involved after all of that. Just sayin'. As I sit here, looking out my office window (actually, my office is ALL windows, it's the sunroom!) I can near those aforementioned boybarians going a bit mental. Alas, the pizza will arrive shortly, and a fun movie will be enjoyed, and just hopefully... I will get a few hours of blissful peace & quiet to stitch the night away! Blessings, Caz
Part of my winter solstice altar!
Happy Yule my friends! Tonight is the longest night (for those of us in the southern hemisphere anyway :) and here in not so sunny Queensland, we are really feeling it this year. It's been SO cold (ok, for us lol) and today the sun was appropriately tucked into bed for the day, beneath a hefty blanket of cloud. The 'actual' date is tomorrow, the 21st of June, but I tend to go with the Celtic (and Jewish too) tradition that the holiday begins at sundown on the night before. Tomorrow is the boys' last day of school before two glorious weeks of winter holiday time, so they'll come home uber excited and I'll have a special pressie for them (my little tradition, a new pair of cozy winter pajamas :D and we'll have our Yule feast before hubby has to jet off to work for the night! He'll be joining us for the two week holiday break this time, but his vacation doesn't start until Sunday morning, so our feast will be pretty short lived this year! My PLAN (we all know how THOSE go, right??) was to tuck the lovely little angels that are my sons into bed, and then light some candles on my bedroom altar to coax the sun back, and pop on a headset & attempt a guided meditation. But yeah, that's gone right out the window as the boybarians went completely MENTAL at bedtime and Frodo, (the boys were Frodo, Merry, & Sam on my former blog, lol) who has ADHD & hovers on the edges of Asperger's syndrome, went into complete meltdown mode *sigh* Needless to say, I have NOT covered myself in parental glory this evening. Thankfully I have no alcohol with which to ruin my weight loss efforts at least, right? :/ So, maybe I'll give that a second try tomorrow night... because this night is just royally buggered! Sometimes real life just does not particularly give a shit that I'm trying to be all spiritual I guess lol. Yule (or Litha!) blessings friends. Caz Pottering in my garden is one of my favourite ways to connect with the Divine. This is my little veggie patch just yesterday morning :) I love to walk out with a coffee (all hail the Goddess Caffienia!) and see what little wonders have appeared in the morning. This time it was two tiny (as yet un-pollinated) golden zucchini and a few little flowers on the cherry tomatoes. This morning I had a seat in the garden bed just past the tomato stakes and just let the beauty of the day wash over me. I love listening to the breeze rustle through the trees, and blow through my hair. It's like the Goddess Herself is speaking to me and enjoying the morning in the garden along with me :) My 'take' on divinity is not typical... I'm not a hard polytheist at all (meaning all god/desses are distinct individuals), I am more a pantheist or maybe panentheist (pantheist believes god IS the material universe... panentheist believes the divine is present in everything in the material universe, but also exists beyond it). I see Goddess as being that tiny spark of the divine in everything around us... whether 'it' goes beyond that or not, no idea. I sometimes use Goddess names from the Avalonian pantheon, as I'm a member of the Sisterhood of Avalon, but the use of names/personas is really for my benefit because I doubt the Divine really cares what little old me calls it ;) I think humans created these personas to embody little slivers of divinity that they saw in their every day lives... and while *I* don't see them as individuals, I DO see them as aspects of God/Goddess/Whatever you choose to call it. My favourite Gardeny Goddess is Demeter (yeah really original Caz lol) as she just embodies how I feel when I'm digging about, weeding, planting,and best of all... harvesting :D things from my garden. There's a crazy, almost maternal, feeling that I get when in my garden. OMG holes in my broccoli... ok you can have a few bites but if this gets outta hand I'm going to have to whip out the derris dust mister bug! or ARGH.. possums/fruit bats/mystery critter has stolen yet more delicious mangoes from the tree *sadface* I also love the Demeter/Persephone story, although it really doesn't apply much here in the subtropics (as evidenced by the above picture being taken a week before winter solstice lol) as Demeter is still showering us with growth and abundance in the veggie patch here, and that doesn't really change no matter what time of year it is for us. Although, I suppose she does tend to go not nana nap mode after the December holidays a bit! Just too hot for her I guess, and I'd have to agree :) But at this time of year my little subtropical garden is happily growing sugar snap peas, various lettuce, silverbeet (chard), bok choi, bush beans, tomatoes, golden zukes, and a handful of different culinary herbs! We are currently (we because I have shanghai'd my beloved into helping me lol) weeding the good sized front garden bed along the house to put in more herbs & veggies. I dream of putting in something cool, like a pentacle herb garden ( ala Magical Gardens by Patricia Monaghan) or even better, the mystical secret garden she lays out plans for in that same book! Alas, that will have to wait until we buy our very own witches' cottage in a few years. For now, I content myself with carving out space for veggies and attempting to nurse sad looking roses (came with the house we rent) back to some semblance of help, pruning the massive hedges that make our home feel a little secluded & surround us with hibiscus and other lovely flowers :) Here is a gorgeous little garden blessing, intended for spring planting... but I use it year round when a new pile of plants/seeds go in. Garden Blessing Blessings & dirty gardening hands to you :)
Caz
Yeah, our winter solstice looks nothing like this.
Is coming up in about 10 days here… except it’s really not. According to our calendar, our winter allegedly starts June 1, so while June 21ish might be solstice… it’s most assuredly not midwinter! (Winter solstice being the shortest day/longest night of the yea,r for non Pagan friends!) Not that we really HAVE much of a winter compared to most sane places :D Queensland is not sane though. It’s actually the weirdest place I’ve come across to live, from a Pagan perspective… there are no damn seasons! Well, that’s a lie …. There is summer, not quite summer, and just past summer… rinse and repeat as required. Today, 10 days before the winter solstice, the high was a balmy 20C (68F). It’ll be a little chilly tonight I guess… about 11C (a bone chilling, or not, 52F) lol. It’s pretty hard to really get into celebrating something that really doesn’t exist, except on a calendar, but I persevere! So, I just make a big deal about the ‘longest night’ instead. We are pretty laid back Pagans and we don’t really ‘do’ the group thing, but I DO like to make a super special meal for the day with foods traditional to the season (me doing something the traditional way… that’s a rarity lol). And while I like the idea of honouring the Aboriginal heritage of this land (and indeed, of my hubby, who has Aboriginal ancestry)… I won’t be adding witchetty grubs to the feast table! I’ve done well to rearrange my internal sabbat clock from the Northern hemisphere schedule; bush tucker is just a bridge too far lol. (Honestly? I would have be friggin starving, literally, to nosh out on those *shudders*) I should add that I particularly enjoy making this big meal because, when the rest of the world is having a big holiday dinner in December? There is no way in hell I am turning my oven on, it’s likely to be 35C here, and we would all die. (Since you are probably curious, we do a big seafood feast instead… prawns, lobster, smoked salmon… various salads, fancy breads, dip & snack platters... and Pavlova for dessert ;) But I digress; this is about the only time of the year that I will entertain the idea of roast dinners. So far the menu for winter solstice 2013 for the Whimsical household will be: · Roast leg of lamb with balsamic vinegar and pomegranate (divine, trust me) · Mashed potato (although the 11yo is trying to talk me into sweet potato instead) · Green beans (NOT in that horrid mushroom soup casserole!) · Silver beet casserole (totally fattening, recipe to come later) · Posh bread rolls (that will be purchased, because I’m not June Cleaver unfortunately) · Yule log for dessert … if I don’t fuck it up lol There will also be posh coffee for the grown-ups, and fancy hot choccies (chocolate) for the kids so they can pretend it’s coffee lol. Obviously, being how it’s JUNE, we don’t sit around watching typical Yule movies… that’d be kind of bizarre. But I’ll light a special candle (in a safe holder) to leave burning throughout the night, to coax the sun to come back to us (although WHY, I have no idea... I’m really not in a hurry to return to 4am sunrises!!! But ok I AM over the sun seeming to just fall out of the sky like a dropped rock in the late afternoon) So, my northern friends, think of me while you bask in gorgeousness as I sit here in dreary old soggy winter that really isn’t. ;) Blessings Hola! Welcome to my little corner of the web :) I am Cari the Whimsical Witch. Pull up a cozy floor cushion by the fire and let's get to know each other! As you can see, by looking at me you really would never guess I'm a witch... I'm about as soccer mom looking as they come! I'm also about as soccer mom as they come in most other areas of my life. I'm not overly 'woo woo' when it comes to my spirituality... I'm pretty down to earth. I am a mum of 5 sons (holy hell, I'm old!) who tends toward the irreverent ;) and even naughty on occasion. I've pottered with the idea of starting my own small business for a long time, as I feel I have a lot to share with you! This little site is still in it's infancy, and will grow and change (probably many times... I am a Gemini after all lol.) and hopefully become something truly awesome! What will you find here? All sorts of shit honestly! (and yep, swearing will occur... I am me, and make no apologies for that!) You can find a butt ton of websites & blogs about gardening, cooking and being a domestic Goddess .... but many of them are from a Christian viewpoint, which is great if you are Christian ;) On the other extreme, you can find a bazillion witchy/pagan websites with shiny, flashing, sparkly pentacles coming out their ears practically... which is fabulous if you are a very 'out, loud, and proud' pagan type. But I'm somewhere in the middle, and I anticipate a lot of you are as well. I am not big into ceremonial magic, instead I do candle magic with simple, self composed verses... I am often witchin' in the kitchen, cooking up something delish that's full of my love & energy, or out in the garden with my hands in the dirt being part of the circle of life. I try to make my spirituality a matter of fact part of my day that doesn't require hoopla and flash, because that's just not me! I love creating beautiful things, and hope to share many of them with you in the future! I am a Beading, stitching, painting goddess and pour myself into the treasures I am inspired to create. I think that creating gorgeous things from the heart honours the divine spark inside each of us and it makes me feel utterly amazing. However, one can only have so much Stuff (no matter how much you adore something lol) so I am hoping to release some of my creations into the lives of others in hopes that they bring joy there as well. Look forward to getting this show on the road! Blessings, Caz |
AuthorI'm Caz, the Whimsical Witch. I'm a 40 something Pagan mum, gardener, crafter, and cape-less super hero. Archives
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