Bramble's Rambles

The National Parks: American's Best Idea

2009-09-30T00:19:58Z

"When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty" ~ John Muir

Desperately, madly, astoundingly, obsessively, passionately, enjoying the new series. This series, is about what I love best, and few things fill me with as much joy and happiness as wild places.

Sound & Spirit by Ellen Kushner.

2009-09-08T18:20:24Z

One of my favorites, amongst many, by Ellen Kushner. Her show, Sound & Spirit is one of the best things happening on public radio, in my humble opinion. This episode was about the music inspired by Lord of the Rings, and the wonderful worlds created by J.R.R. Tolkien. It wraps up with an amazing song by Brooks Williams, from his 1992 album, Back To Mercy, featuring the song, All That Is Gold. I hope to learn to sing this song.

I record and listen to Ellen's shows while in my workshop, spraying masks, drilling bubble wand handles, etc. The work is loud, hot, and repetitive, so it helps to have good words flowing into my brain. Take an hour sometime and listen to this, you Tolkien fans out there. Very nice.

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

New York Faerie Festival...better late than never...

2009-08-25T17:51:19Z

Let's turn on the Way Back Machine and set it for June 26-28, 2009 at the New York Fairie Festival. A first year festival with a whole lot of spirit...and a ~~little rain~~...make that a lot of rain!

But the site, the land, the location...oh goodness...it made up for the weather.

The site was just outside of Binghamton, New York. Located in the tiny hamlet of Ouaquaga. And I mean tiny. Sort of one lane, some houses, that is about it. A really gorgeous setting of rivers and streams and rocks, with the falls....oh my. That will have to wait, but until then that picture is sized as a desktop image, so clicking on it will open a large size.

All the pictures here are either my own, or friends or acquaintances from the festival. Most are hosted on my Photo Gallery, some are linked in from Facebook, and some I pulled off of Facebook and may not remember exactly from where. I usually better about this, so if you see an image of yours and don't want me to use it, or need accreditation, please let me know.

The event was hosted by a group of friends, and artists, with the infamous Billy Bardo of the Bardo Brothers leading the charge, with his business partner Glen, both of them master jewelers of Future Relics. Now, I call Billy infamous, because...well...he is. In a fashion. Billy has a cult of personality that tends to proceed him, which he and I both find funny, as I tend to have the same thing. Folks know me, who..well...I don't know! So we are a lot alike. The land for the site actually belonged to Glen, and has been in his family for years. Their group of friends have been camping and gathering on it in Celebratory Spirituality for some time now, and being inspired by the other Faerie Festivals, and New York lacking a Faerie Fest, they decided it was time.

The drive up was very nice, a great trip through some beautiful scenery of Pennsylvania. Of course there was a long section through the urban areas of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, which was still interesting. At one point, we went through Frackville, PA, which those of you who are Battlestar Galactica fans will understand, we found amazingly funny!

This is the first time that our family has visited New York state together, and only Leah had been there before. So when we crossed the state line, we had to stop at the rest area and take the requisite tourist picture.

Finding the site was a bit of trick. Did I mention that the village is tiny? Oh yeah, and coming in after dark, I wasn't expecting a simple turn off just between to houses. Sort of surreal, as the this opened into a field, which went on into a river bottom, into forests and so on...

Arriving as darkness fell, we found a parking place and some friends. We learned that we had come in just after a massive thunder and hail storm, capping a week of regular rains, on a site would have some trouble with rain. So we weren't sure what the dawn would bring as we put up our tent in the drizzle and slosh.

The morning brought a bit more rain and a site that was long and stretch along the river bed. A road of hard packed stone and gravel base, however, either side was thick with mud and many cars got stuck loading in. We managed to make it in and out although there was a frightening moment or two and set up across from our proposed site, as it was several inches deep in water.

Here is our booth in the muck.

Those two pictures were actually taken after a long wet Friday with very little customers and more rain.

Next to where we were supposed to set up, our friends, Robert and Rebecca Turk of Goblin Road, leather artisans, goblin makers, and fellow maskers. There site was several inches deep in water, only they were already set up, so moving was possible. Robert, a fellow BOG Brother, and ever industrious, took on the challenge with aplomb. He leveled the area, went to the local lumber store, bought plywood and 2X4 and built a floor and gangway. On either side of the entry ramp, where the water would stand, Robert started moving stones and longs to create a bit of drainage and make it interesting. Later, he found where several ferns, etc. had been uprooted to prep the site, so he brought that back to help create the little garden area.

Here is Robert and some greenery.

And here is the front of the booth, not really doing it justice.

By Saturday, things really had started to dry out, and I took this picture, which shows just how clever and lovely his little garden was. It meant that won best decorated booth, and their fee for next year is comp.

Friday really was a miserably wet day. The rain just kept coming down. The handful of patrons who came in were greeting cheers and applause. The organizers were confronted with numerous micro emergencies all day. Vehicles tried to come in along the one road, and sometimes sliding off and almost into booths. Luckily, by the time the day had ended, there were no major injuries, and we had even made a sale or two. However, the prospect of lugging all our camping gear up a hill, as there was no way we could drive into the camping area with our vehicle, was daunting to say the least. We broke tradition in our family and headed into town, found dinner and lodging and a got a goods nights sleep. Staying in hotels, with the expense isn't something we normally do, but this felt well worth it. Dry beds, hot showers and food, can do wonders.

Saturday dawned with more rain, but calling for lightening off. Which it did, and before we knew, a Faerie Festival happened. It still was a hard day, with intermediate showers, but the folks came out and the Green Men Marched!

The site really was something else, and you've already seen a great picture of those waterfalls. Here is another from the trail.

Across from there was the Faerie Garden, a paved interlude between the trees, with crystals, standing stones, and a throne for the Faerie Queen. The pictures really can't do it any justice, and other folks took better ones than me.

I feel madly in love with the rocks there. I know that sounds odd, but as a stone stacker, landscaper, and rock worker, it makes sense to me. Despite our property have 2+ acres of field stones, I still bring rocks home. The stones of that part of New York are a sedimentary mudstone, with lots of of micro-fossils. It forms these beautiful slabs of flagstones and spears of rock. I don't have the best of flagstones on my property and the stone there stacked and locked together so well. Suffice it say, that it was a good thing I didn't have any room in the van, other wise....

The long extended road into the site was lined with vendors and artisans for much of it's length, which actually was an excellent lay out. A slow descent into Faerie Land. First the markets, where Faerie and Mortal overlapped. Here and there along the road were excellent little nooks and benches for Minstrels. This is Billy Bardo and Klaus of Medieval Moccasins, who I learned is apparently a Bardo.

Here is the remarkable EJ, formerly of the Rogues, and now with the wonderful medieval influenced band, Teribus. They were wonderful.

The festival volunteers were certainly a range of fascinating faerie folk.

One of the more popular and interesting characters on the site was a stilt walker and balloon artist. Now there are lots of folks out there tie balloons up into twisted little poodles and such. This guy was fascinating. Plenty of odd and simple things, bows and arrows, etc. Occasionally the absolutely surreal. Like when I saw a girl going by with an flying octopus on a leash. He truly approached it with a sense of whimsy and art. One of my favorite things he did was created balloon sculptures. Filling them with helium and twisting them together into installations to be flown from one of the tents. I told several folks that they reminded me of the remarkable glass artistry of Dale Chihuly. You can judge this for yourself.

Here is a lovely cluster of characters, and our intrepid balloon artists is the one with the very long legs. This pictures is filled with talent. Seated with her back to us is Noelle Stone, known ever so appropriately as The Pretty Juggler. Seriously, go look at her pictures. You'll see. Then there is her sometimes partner and always amazing Trinket, aka: Lisa Oberg. Lastly, but not leastly, is Trinket's companion, Dave, a capable and awesome organizer and friend of many.

Oddly enough, I am in that picture as well, but I am down in the river and you can only see the top of my hat.

The site organizer and vendor coordinator was Marianne, a talented jewelry artist in her own, apprenticed with Billy Bardo and Gene, the owner of the land. Now all weekend, there was LOTS of issues and the three of them ran around like crazy. Gene spent most of the weekend on the tractor, pulling stuck vehicles and laying stones on the paths. Billy spent it handling major logistics and the off site issues with neighbors, etc. This meant that all the vendor issues and 100's of little things were left to Marianne, who, at times, was the only promoter able to be found. This had a little bit of effect on her, although she handled it with aplomb and pluck. However, by the end of Saturday, she was getting a little weird and turning a bit blue.

At one point in the weekend, I was witness to a monumental moment in the history of the Faerie Realms. A rare moment when two true Celebrafaeries met for the first time and find a kindred soul of such intense silliness, that they thought it never possible. This was when Noobler, The Tinker Gnome met Wedju TuCheeks, the TransFaerie Goblin. Here they are, meeting on the cross roads.

Let me say, that these are two of the wittiest and clever performers, able to launch off in to goofiness at a moments notice. Noobler performs mostly in song and story, and Wedji is mostly just mad...or Mab, just Mab. Standing there, talking with Noobler, when up walks Wedji, asks who he is, and off they went, twenty minutes or so of interaction that drew a small audience and had me laughing with tears down my face. I can really in no way accurately describe the characters of these two, so it is my wish that you get to experience it for yourself someday.

Wedji is always a hit and here she is showing her pet giant cockroach, Fluffy, to Ellawyn and her friend Trinity.

Here is a better shot of Noobler, serenading us in our booth.

That long road, through the vendors, ultimately opened out into a largest meadow. Performance stages, a coffee/tea lounge tent, and this remarkable structure. This is the Bardo Booth and Ancient Relics. It was used that weekend for the performers and souvenir sales. It was always filled with musicians jamming together and chatting. At first glance, you may think it a permanent structure. Actually, looking close, you will note the canvas roof and that the walls are panels that bolt together. There is even an interior loft space supported on post. This sort of thing won't be surprising to my friends who attend Pennsic, which is where it is assembled every year, but I found it amazing.

From there, it was a walk down a long trail with out booths. A faerie woodland, bordering the stream. Hung along the trail were empty picture frames.

Coming along towards me is the Faerie Queen of the festival, Kate Hopkins of Roundtable Production, the jousting troop of the festival. Yes, we had a joust at a Faerie Fest, but more on that later.

Kate was a remarkable queen, a stunning beauty. Here she is up close and personal.

And just to further illustrate how lovely of a Queen Kate was, and the remarkable quality of the site, this picture was taken by David Windham of Faerie Wind Studios. Although David is a Photoshop artist, and makes his living at manipulating images to appear other worldly, this one hasn't been. Kate washing the mud from her dress when David captured her on film. He did some awesome work to it later, but this is the original.

At the end of the trail it opened out again into another meadow with a performance stage and a small stone circle. This is where The BOG Brothers dressed for our Green Man March. A very nice March indeed, with a couple of new Brothers joining, and one old one.

I was please to have Jared along for this, as he doesn't do so very much, and I love this picture of him.

The only problem with having a Bog March at a Faerie Festival is the place is often infested with Blue Goblins. Here is evidence.

I only got the one picture of Leah all weekend, which was a shame, as we she was as beautiful as always. We were very busy with the weather and dealing with it.

Ellawyn had a HUGE fun time. Here good friend Trinity was just down the row from us, and they were joined at the hip for the weekend. Later, we all made new friends in the Greene family. The mother, a talented singer, Jenna Greene of Greene Lady Music, dad quickly became a BOGie, and the daughter, Saris, was like a little mirror of Ellawyn. Here are the three girls in a picture that a friend commented about, "This will be great to show them in 20 years!"

Ellawyn and I provided some entertainment of our own, doing the Little Red Riding Hood bit.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention our immediate neighboring booth, the awesome and talented fantasy artist Jane Starr Weils. It was great being next to her and Jane's talent is hard to describe. She is truly one of the best fantasy artists in the industry. I was especially pleased and surprised by something she created. Jane was asked to do the T-Shirt and poster for the event. She used a picture of me during a BOG March for her inspiration. It wasn't supposed to be precisely me, but every time someone who knew me saw it, they said, "Hey, is that Shane?". It was a little odd seeing my face on the T-Shirts, and oddly enough, I never got around to getting one.

The weekend had two major highlights for Jared and I. The first was the joust. I was pleased to learn that Kate's companion and lead Knight of the jousting troop was my old friend Rob Earhart, whom I haven't seen in a long time. Rob wasn't aware that he was a BOG Brother, as he Marched with us at MDRF before BOG was officially formed. We reconnected and I watched them joust in the slippery mud on Saturday. We learned that they didn't have enough squires or assistance and the ground conditions were alarming. Needing more squires on the field, and crowd control, I rounded up a bunch of BOG Brothers and myself to help on the lists. This was a awesome flash of the past for me. I have lots of horse experience, worked with them at some RennFests, on Farms, etc. Additionally, I was a squire for several years at Medieval Times in Dallas. Of course, that was 18+ years ago! Here are some pictures from the joust.

Our Lady Faerie Queen and Mistress of the Lists, offering instructions to some of the squires, including a bemasked Jared. I told him to remove it before the joust as you need all your peripheral vision when hooves, and steel are flying. I was VERY glad that he got this experience.

Kate and Rob's friend, Stephanie, being incredibly brave and holding rings for the games part of the show. I am not sure if I would do this, as Knights aren't perfect and horses are unpredictable. She was rock solid.

A few more of squire Shane, directing traffic, and wondering which lance is next for a show he doesn't know. My darling wife, Leah took these, at long range, because she knew I was positively giddy about getting to squire. Man, that was fun. Can't wait till next year.

As fun as all that was, the rock were my favorite thing. You saw the first picture on this, of rock balances and waterfalls. Jared had done a couple few balances on Saturday. Here he is.

With this, we realized the potentiality for an large installation at the site. He and I love balances, and he is often better than I. We planned to return on Sunday and spend several hours out of garb in the water creating a lot of big ones. We did. It was wonderful. Folks gathered along the shore to photography and to watch and we saw several little children trying out tiny balances. I planned it so the installation would embrace the falls, and I focused on large ones, many with prows of stone cutting into the current. For these it was often necessary to build a buttressed foundation under the water. I am not afraid to try big things, and some of the stones I moved weighed upwards of a hundred pounds or so, with one weighing several hundred and being the anchor work of the display. Jared focused on intricate and complicated balances along a gravel bar, which made for an excellent accent. I will let most of the pictures speak for themselves, and those that look like computer desktops were taken just for that and are linked, so click them if you like it.

My Wish For You Is, May You Always Find Balance....

Kubiando

My favorite artist capturing the spirit of the bay.

2009-08-13T00:06:21Z

I love the Chesapeake Bay. I miss living near it, but I love our mountains as well. Wish I could have both, maybe someday, if not the bay, then another water's edge. It is where the land and the water meet, that I love best. The shores, marshes, bogs, and streams. I think we, human beings, are like that. A synthesis of water and organic material, active, swampy, and full of life.

Marcy Dunn Ramsey is an artist who captures this.

http://marcydunnramsey.com/

I have only experienced her work in person a couple of times. Just tonight, Maryland Public Television ran their Art Works This Week special with her segment. The third time I have seen it and love it every time. Mrs. Ramsey captures the edge, the abstract, where water, light, plants, and shore interact to become these remarkable vignettes of pattern. I thought I would share her with all of you. Here is one image, from one of the galleries that carries her work.
www.massoniart.com

Remberances...

2009-08-11T00:58:54Z

"To absent friends, lost loves, old gods and the seasons of mists. And may each and everyone of us always give the devil his due."

Tonight I am raising my mug to Hoss, an old and dear friend, BOG Brother, who seems to have passed away during Pennsic. Hoss was the Keeper of the Tree Booth, Dragon and Unicorn Leather Mugs at MDRF. Wanted to pass on the news to any on my friends list who may not have heard, and take a moment to remember him. Hoss was a pretty special guy. Irreverent always, and kind hearted to all who deserved it. Quite famous for installing a fart noise maker behind a garden gnome in his booth, with a remote control. Loved to get patrons with it. Put up with BOG every year, stomping about behind scenes and making a fuss, I think he really enjoyed being an honorary BOG Brother. Had depths to him that I never got to fully know, but I knew they were there. Thanks Hoss.

Hoof & Horn, Hoof & Horn, All that dies shall be reborn, Corn & Grain, Corn & Grain, all that falls shall rise again.

It is always sunrise somewhere

2009-08-08T06:02:29Z

"This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls."
- John Muir

Catching up requires a time machine...Potomac Celtic Festival...

2009-08-03T15:07:45Z

The Potomac Celtic Festival happened way back on June 13-14. Luckily, the weather was MUCH better than Last Year and ultimately the show was much less eventful, which is like a weird pun for an event write up. Any way, here is a nice picture of our booth and the grounds to warm things up...which is what we actually were glad didn't happen!

Potomac is nice and flat, which makes setting up and display easy. We felt we looked very good and took this picture for our portfolio. It is necessary to have booth shots in applications sometimes.

That is our bubble bowl stand out in front, which we have only had out at Potomac the past couple of years. Lots of fun being the bubble folks at an event like that, as they really attracted a lot of attention and many people had never seen us doing bubble tricks. The weather was very bubbly, with a nice mix of humidity and breeze, and the bubbles floated off over the booths around us and up into the tree tops.

It is also nice not having to wear costume yet still have fine sales and fitting in at the event. We wish we could do more Celtic events like this. It is like a low key show, that still has an excellent return for us. With the previous month of May having been such a frantic and intense series of shows, coupled with bad weather, we needed a break. We even did something unheard of in our show experience. We stayed in a hotel. I know, the universe won't come crashing asunder or anything, but it was very out of character for us. We could have camped on the grounds, but really just needed a nice night. We got it, and I think that hotels are a slippery slope for future festivals. We proved this at the next one, but that is a different post.

Ellawyn has fun at the show, as there is a nice storytelling tent and kids activities area. Jared ran her around a lot, which was good for Leah and I as we got to be in the booth together alone. Sort of like old times. Ellawyn was around enough to work one sale very closely. She knows the routine in the booth and likes to help out the little kids her age. Takes down masks and lets them know they can try them on. This little girl's parents liked it so much that they got her a wee fairy. Here are the pair of them.

Lots of good neighbors at that show. The event has an excellent level of craft, and is low key enough that we get to socialize a bit. Now, one thing about vendors and artisans is that we often look at the other folks displays as much as their art. It is where we get ideas and inspiration for our own booths from. This is Michael Hayman, an amazing Celtic jeweler. However, this picture was to illustrate his banners, which were a masterful piece of painting. Michael cursed them a bit, as they had been a ridiculous amount of work, as you can imagine. He said he has been considering how to create them as products since they get almost as much attention as the jewelry. I would like to create something along these lines for our booth, but in an Art Nouveau/Wild Wood style.

Another nice thing about other artists. They often go home with masks and we come home with jewelry. Barter is a wonderful thing.

Here is our dear friend and actual neighbor in our town, Jeanie Gibbons of Echo & Wild Jewelry. Nope, she doesn't have a website yet, which is a shame, as her work is exquisite. You'll have to take our word for it, or come to the Maryland Renaissance Festival this fall to see for yourself.

Another vendor on our row was the The Bee Folks, also of the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Here is Lori, the mother of the clan and Queen Bee.

Not the best picture, but I felt it important. You see, if you read my entry about last year's festival, you will remember that I mentioned they were expecting natural triplets. Yep, you read it right. That women is one of my heroes. Runs a BIG business, has an older daughter, her husband, Dave, had a stroke a couple of years ago, and now, triplets. Amazing. Must be all the honey. Please go visit their website or come see them at the RenFest and buy some honey. They could use it! Here is Dave with the brood. When you need a stroller that big...well..!

Another MDRF artisans and friends are also the vendor coordinators. Potomac Leather and Wolfstone Kilts, run by the amazingly talented Bill and Virgina Watson. Here is an example of their collaboration, an absolutely stunning bag of the Green Man image. I told Bill I would tease all my BOG Brothers with this.

Here is a close up some of that detail.

In all it was a remarkably nice and enjoyable weekend, more than making up for the rough time we had last year. Such is the variance of the outdoor entertainment industry. I do have one major regret from the weekend. I didn't buy this....

It seems the master smith of Badger Blades is getting out of the traveling show circuit. This is his show anvil, that along with a portable forge and blower he was selling off for a obscenely low price. I believe it was $200 for the anvil, which is a LOT lower than buying one new. But I didn't, so I will have to not let this get to me...perhaps I should stop looking at the picture wistfully...sigh........

Well, one day I will have my forge, collect my tools, and make metal move to my will. Until then, I will settle for moving leather. That isn't all that bad.

Next, I tell you about New York Fairie Festival! Until then...

Kubiando!

This is an excellent picture.

2009-07-30T23:26:40Z

moar funny pictures

I don't often post LOL's but this needed to be shared. I think I need to go pet my cats now.

A recent custom mask, and a time to remember...

2009-07-21T19:10:18Z

Terribly behind in my posting. However, I have been adding pictures on Facebook, so if we aren't yet "Friends" on there, please send me a request.
http://www.facebook.com/Shane.Odom

I haven't added a post for Potomac Celtic Fest back in June, or New York Faerie Festival. I promise, I will get to to it, but until then, here is a recent custom order we created to tide you over.

Our "Root & Twig" Tree Mask, as a Quaking Aspen

The client wanted a Quaking Aspen, Populus tremuloides to be precise. I am very found of Aspens, having lived in Western Central Colorado for much of my childhood, where they cover the hills side and glitter in the wind. This was made especially poignant as the Aspens, North America's most common tree, are suffering from a mysterious die back.. Additionally, as Aspens reproduce primarily by clonal prorogation, sprouting up from a common root system, there is a stand of Aspens in Utah, known as Pando which is believed to be the planet's largest living organism.

I was very excited to do the piece and actually didn't charge enough for it, however, that is OK, as we really enjoyed doing it. It has inspired a whole line of Tree Species, and we will be doing Aspen Leaf Earrings. The bark was a particular challenge to recreate, and here is a closeup of it.

And here is some of our inspiration. The colors are so impressive, and whole hillsides will tremble and flash like this.

Here is that amazing bark, a soft, skin-like, white that leaves a powder on your hands, and creates optical illusions of color and light and shadow amongst the groves.

Glorious trees, and if you have ever lived amongst them you will know. Like fountains of gold shooting up from the mountain side.

I long to return to Colorado as an adult, with an adults perspective and eye for beauty. To roam the hills around Glenwood Springs where we lived.

To marvel at the snow capped beauty of Mount Sopris.

To visit Hanging Lake, in Glenwood Canyon.

To quote Colorado's most beloved advocate, I guess I'd rather be in Colorado...

One day, I will take my family there, and share it with them.

Wishing a Peaceful Fourth....

2009-07-04T14:17:35Z

As it is, every 4th of July, I would like to offer you all a prayer, a wish, a blessing, a hope for a Peaceful Life and Community of Spirit. We are literally all one Hue-Man Family of Rainbow Light! We must remember this, it is fundamental to our continued existence. We are the Universe Looking at Itself, and we better learn to love what we see.

I write this, because right now, in the mountains of New Mexico, a vast community of humans is celebrating this at the Annual Rainbow Gathering.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Home-for-the-gathering

I met my wife a the Gathering, many years ago, found myself, and got grounded, hard. So I try to remember what is really important on the 4th, an perfect time to remember these principals.

This is a paragraph from my entry last year: http://wildwose.livejournal.com/28157.html

"So the Gatherings are this vast panoply of the human experience. Certainly they have there seedy underbellies, as all of human culture does. But above it all, floats this higher ideal of equality and spirit. Much like the American Dream that the Nationals celebrate on the 4th, the Gathering has a standard that ultimately each participant must strive towards. When Thomas Jefferson wrote these famous lines, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.", I believe he understood his own and his culture of the times, hypocrisy. Yet, the lines speak so eloquently to the future ideals that appeal to all humankind. I find it a wonder that this simple letter, this Declaration of Independence, intended to be only between the signers and King George of England, has come to represent the American soul and to be used as proof of our higher goals. Those rights aren't given to us by our government. They are our birthright as humans. It is our governments responsibility to protect them for us and through this ideal, the rest of the the planet. Despite our prejudice, our addictions, our bad habits, and misunderstandings, each time we are challenged to live up to these ideals, sometimes with much back sliding and abuse, we ultimately do the right thing, as a people and perhaps a family. It is a wonderful fact that in the spirit of new equality that the early Americans referred to each other as Brother and Sister. Perhaps again one day."

Catching up to..The Maryland Faerie Festival!

2009-06-08T15:23:19Z

Well, one more May festival to go. I am so far behind on catching up, I might be going backwards. However, I like to post a festival report for every event we do, and it has been a busy season. This one is the last of our Month of May festival, and we have actually just come home from another one, but that will come later.

Like the previous festival, the Maryland Faerie Festival was celebrating it's 5th year in 2009. The show had a set back last year, with a scheduling conflict for the site it using resulting in it being held in June. That weekend turned out to be one of the record breaking dangerously hot periods in MD last year and there were severe complications due to it. I wrote about it Here. The show survived and thrived, and as is often the case, will need a couple of years to reset and reboot. But they sure made a great start of it this year and excelled despite the rough weather, because, well, it has been a wet spring.

That is a awesome picture of Jared bubbling and is unaltered with no color adjustment. Great capture.

We set up late on Friday, and after some consideration, figured out how to set up our sleeping tent under an extra EZup canopy in the back of our booth. This is a nice arrangement usually, allowing us to live in our booth and just wake up and get going with the show. However, arriving late, lack of space, and a slope to our location made for a rather complicated and tricky weekend. Little did we know that it would get more complicated as the weekend went on.

Saturday, despite a threat of rain, was a good day for us. We were set up immediately next to Andrea of The Studio and Art Bar, York, PA, again, and Ellawyn and Rowan were joined at the hip for the weekend, more so even than at Spoutwood. Here they are, a pair indeed. These two were joined at the hip all weekend.

These next two pictures are important to document a "First". Our good friends and shop assistants, Jaimie and Matt joined us again, and while I was off getting ready for the BOG March, which Matt is actually part of but prefers to sit out the March, he manned the Bubble Bowl for over an hour. This was deemed monumental by his fiance and my wife and they preceded to record it. He claimed after wards, "I actually liked it"

Of course, when bubbling over the crush of children, all madly trying to pop every bubble that comes off your wand, it helps to be well over six feet tall and Matt looks almost like a giant amongst the throng.

The Marching of the Blessed Order of the Greenman this year was wonderful. A huge turnout of Greenies, 15 or 16, I can't quite remember. We dressed in the woods with, which is a lot of fun, blessed the "Wishing Tree" and then went on to out to the Maypole Meadow, chanting and singing as we went. It was a nice grand entrance.

Here is a video of the Festival, shot by one of the volunteers. Its a fun view of the show, giving their personal perspective. At 5:48 it shows BOG coming out of the woods.

Bog Brother Eric Jackson is a skilled photographer, and takes a lot of wonderful shots of the March. Several of the following are his.

This is Eric.

Eric particularly captured the light through the leaves where we were dressing.

When we reached my own booth, we had a special task. You see, many of the Brothers are boothies and volunteers at the festivals. While we are stomping about and blessing, for many of us, our lovely Dryads are literally holding down the fort. None more so than my beautiful wife, Leah. She has been very tolerate of BOG and my time for it. This year especially as I spent a lot of time at the computer writing our annual newsletter, while she worked to make masks.

On that note, please don't let her sacrifice be in vain, click the PayPal button below to buy your own copy of the Word, featuring a bio of J.R.R Tolkien and a History of the Order, celebrating our 10th Anniversary of Marching. $3 Dollars, plus $1 for shipping, brings you Green Wisdom and Joy!

So we called Leah out to offer her our thanks and a round of special blessings and chants. Here she is cracking up to us thanking her in unison, and taking pictures from with the circled grove.

And the pictures she was taking.

Here is one that Eric got of the moment, me with my son, Jared, who is our oldest "Sapling" in the Order.

Afterwards, Eric captured this lovely portrait of Leah with our dear friend, Todd.

This was also the best group picture of the day.

It was a great March.

Saturday night, the festival was hosting their 2nd Annual Ball, with music, fire spinners, etc. We were trying to to go out and get some dinner and some supplies to help us with the storms that were expected that night. However, by the time we had out food and and visited a store to buy some more hand clamps for tarp duty, the heavens had opened up and washed out the Ball. The night that followed was an intense one, with rain and some winds. We were rattled all night, and had to go out into the downpour to retarp the booth. It seemed we forgot that EZup tents have a waterproofing that can wear off with time, and the one we had our family tent under was well over 8 years old. So the drips were numerous. It was a good thing we had went out to purchase those clamps to hold a cover tarp on. Sometime about 5:30 AM, I got up to adjust things, the rain was tapering off, and the sun was starting up. I went down the row of my fellow boothies, and dumped out the large puddles that can accumulate in the corners and break the tents. I clear over a dozen, but for a few booths, I was too late. The windy day that would come, would see a couple more go down, always a sad thing, both in expense and emotions for the booth owners.

I spent the morning staking and lashing. The wind was sharp and many booths weren't properly roped. It is a learning experience that those of us in Outdoor Entertainment have to go through. Leah and I did, at our very first show in our own booth, back in 1997, where we weren't properly stacked and the entire structure flipped over. We know better now. But some have to learn every show, and I was present to help a several. Running up and down the row, finding folks who needed it, tightening ropes and ratcheting straps (my personal preference), and at one point, banging and hammering a frame back into some sort of usable function, after it flipped and bent up, luckily not striking anyone in the process.

Ultimately, the spitting rain and wind gave way to a half way nice day. Nice enough that Ellawyn and I could go out for our "Little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf" routine. She had cookies to give out this time.

I spent part of the day being a news boy, selling the Green Word for the Order. I had fun with my Brother Wolf, getting this picture.

Did I mention that you can get your own copy of the Word?

Later that day, BOG was especially honored by a performance. It seems that our Brother Stephen Winick and his friend, Jennifer Cutting had written a song for us. Stephen is the a folklorist and librarian for American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and Jennifer is the heart and soul of the remarkable group of musician know as Ocean Orchestra. Jennifer was inspired by Stephens' participation in BOG and composed a piece called, "Greenman". It is a delightful song, and very catchy. Here is Jen and Stephen playing, they posted this for the Bogies to learn the lyrics.

Jenn asked Bogies to be present for the song on Sunday, and invited us to sit up on the stage and sing along. It wasn't as many as the March, but a fun gathering none the less.

Here is Jenn introducing Stephen.

Here is the row of Bogies.

Looking "wise" as Stephen talks about the icon of the Green Man and what it means.

Of course, my wife was the wise one, and noticed that the song and the honor of having it written, was choking me up.

It really is a honor getting to be part of BOG. We are hoping to leave a rich legacy behind and create something greater than the sum of it's parts. I think we are on the way. Thank you for all who have helped us do so and supported us.

GREENMAN
Words and music by Jennifer Cutting, Copyright 2009 Once and Future Songs, BMI

Dedicated to the Blessed Order of the Greenman. A song about the wisdom of the Divine Masculine, nurturer and protector of all wild places; and Nature's Wisdom, which knows that nothing ever dies.

Deep within this sacred place,
Greenman, King of the Wood,
Outlines of an ancient face,
Greenman, Wildman, Wise One.

Spirit of the living leaves
Greenman, King of the Wood,
In his heart all Nature breathes,
Greenman, Wildman, Wise One.

CHORUS:
Greenman, bless this wood,
Oak and ash and thorn...
In Greenman's brotherhood,
All will be reborn.

Man may build his castles tall
Greenman, King of the Wood,
Time and tide will see them fall
Greenman, Wildman, Wise One.

Thrusting up through crumbling walls
Greenman, King of the Wood,
Vines and ivy conquer all
Greenman, Wildman, Wise One.

Once bright holly Christmas Day
Greenman, King of the Wood,
Now a flow'ring branch of May,
Greenman, Wildman, Wise One.

Soon Midsummer's shelt'ring shade
Greenman, King of the Wood,
Turns to autumn's fiery blaze,
Greenman, Wildman, Wise One.

When we see the falling leaves
Greenman, King of the Wood,
Nature's brethren do not grieve,
Greenman, Wildman, Wise One.

Life and death an endless chain
Greenman, King of the Wood,
All that falls will rise again,
Greenman, Wildman, Wise One.

My oppurtunity for the future comes to me through my children. Since I started this entry off with a picture of my son, I will close it with a final picture of my daughter. Here she is with her friend Rowan, at the end of the weekend. The pair of them had gotten matching Goblin dolls from Goblin Road, of whom Robert was Groved as a BOG Brother there, and played with their goblin friends while their parents packed up.

And I will leave you with one finally opportunity to support BOG financially, through your purchase of the Green Word Newsletter. Not to harp on it or anything....

Click the PayPal button to take to a purchase page, offering you a chance to buy it for $3 plus $1 postage. The sales goes to further the work of BOG, offering education on the image of the Green Man and a to further our goal of attaining non-profit status.

Kubiando!

Catching up...to Greenbelt Greenman Festival...

2009-06-01T16:13:08Z

The 5th Annual Greenbelt Green Man Festival was on May 8th-10th. Excellent little show. Happens in historic Greenbelt, Maryland at the Art Deco Roosevelt Center. We have attended 3 of the last 4 shows there, only missing a year due to car trouble and stress from our move. It's a great show, other than some logistic difficulties, and the last of our small community shows we do. Everything else is large events drawing thousands, but due to that wonderful theme, celebrating the Green Man and Ecology, and the fact that we have an excellent collector base that makes it profitable, and it being run by several friends, and getting to stay with our dear Sister/Friend Heather and her family..well, we keep coming back.

The first picture is a panoramic of the Roosevelt Center, built during the "New Deal" and exemplifying the Art Deco style of the period. Our booth is directly behind the blue one in the center. It is fun being on the Roosevelt plaza as we don't do any other urban shows. A nice mix of artisans and non-profits, surrounded by stores, restaurants, cafe's and a movie theater. The major difficulty in doing the show is that the site is a public square. This means there is no filter of a gate for security, so we have to be on our toes about that, although Greenbelt is a low crime area, and that we have to set up and tear down each day. This is a bigger headache than you might realize, especially if you haven't ever seen a show set up. Despite our best efforts to simplify our display, we have to use two EZ Up Canopies and this means a 10'-20' set up. Here is a picture of our booth, and the beautiful booth manager that I have the privileged of getting to spend my life with.

It is hard to get across the logistics of what that picture represents. We are constantly refining our set up and little improvements are the source of infinite joy and benefit to us. Such as, we recently realized, after years of storing our tubs in the right hand booth, taking up our interior behind counter space, that we could move display frames out from the back wall and create a sort of "Stock Room" behind them. This seems counter intuitive, to lose floor display space to gain lounging area, but with both kids and all our gear, along with usually having a couple of Faerie Crew along, we need the latter more than the former. We figured out this configuration last year at the end of our "pop-up" season (meaning the shows where we don't have a permanent booth) and have been practically giddy all year with it. A much happier and less chaotic cash wrap area for us and now we can develop good interior tapestry draping to improve our appearance.

All of this is part of the sub-culture of vendors. It is a interesting career we are in, but not it it alone. That booth represents a wonderful bit of logistics and planning to get it out of the van and set up and back down in an orderly manner.

Lists of items, with some of those items having their own sub-lists, tubs of masks and table covers and slip covers, and tubs of brochures and items to put everything up, and tool boxes, and duffels of hardware to put it together, and tables to set up, and heavy canopies to put it all underneath, and big metal frames to display the masks (from Graphic Display Systems, to illustrate the specialized nature of a professional booth), and columns and stands to display special masks, and literature to show that unique life style that vendors lead, since artist are often selling a bit of themselves as well as their work, adding on our personal gear, lunch bags and drinks, paperwork and file box, and all of this has to be loaded into the van in a precise "Tetris" like manner.

Normally, when we do this, it is to set it up the night before a show, usually a Friday night, unless a three day event, and then we don't take it down again until Sunday night, sometimes Monday! But Greenbelt is a challenge to our logistically and planning skills, which are a lot of fun and we actually do enjoy the challenge. When doing any sort of urban show, or one where we may not be able to pull up to our booth location, the last item in the van and first out, is our cargo dolly, however, as luck would have it, you always forget one thing at least, and we forgot the dolly. We were blessed by friends and BOG Brothers willing to help and able to park only a couple of dozen yards away, so the carry wasn't too bad.

Our location was a big part of the fun. Right out front, able to bubble to folks coming in and greet them. And right next to our fine faerie friend and fellow artist, Ash Evans. Ash and her husband Johnny are great folks and come with a fur child, Cezar the Chihuahua. He is quite the character and Ellawyn and he are fast friends.

Here is another one, just in case the cute wasn't enough for you...

Ash is a very lovely booth to be next too.

Our neighbors on the other side were the wonderful and fun Beth and Zeeb of Feywood Studios. They are accomplished ceramic sculptors and potters and build wonderful wooden furniture. Also, the pair are fascinating in how well known they are. Seems like ever where we go, we run into folks who know them. This weekend Beth brought out her harp and was like a vision of a bard of old.

Naturally, on Saturday, we had a Marching of the BOG Brothers. You would think that with the theme of the festival being the Green Man, that it would be our big show, but since it is itself a smaller show, and the blessing can take only a half hour or so, BOG has never had a huge presence at it. Other than the fact that a bunch of Bogies are on the committee to put it on, and live in the area, etc. So our Marches there have always been small. Not this time. A host of Brothers turned out and we had ten in the March. Here we are getting dressed and I was handling dues and such. You will note Brother Dave in his shorts and T-Shirt. Greenbelt is an urban show and the guys, myself included, don't get as dressed up as other events. This is fine and fun, part of the event.

The ten guys included two that we Groved there. Brother Johnny of the aforementioned Ash Evans had expressed an interest and I sponsored him, and Brother James, a major volunteer and participant with the Maryland Faerie Festival, was sponsored as well. (A post about MDFF will be coming soon...) Here is our little Grove, a fine bunch of Bogies.

It was a very nice March, easy but taking longer than in year's past. We went around and blessed some of the business on the square as well as the show vendors, which gets a lot of smiles. At the end of the March we were able to get onstage and have the microphone for a few minutes, offered blessings to the crowd, chanted, and sang. Very well received. Perhaps one day BOG will become a "Sponsor" of the event in some way. I would love to at least have an info booth, with the history of the Green Man on display boards and perhaps a table of Green Man merchandise to raise money for the Order. Next year maybe.

Well there were several Bogies together playing with the remarkable Kiva. An awesome band and a bunch of dear friends. This is a rather good picture of them, with almost all the band in it. They are tricky to photograph and include them all.

Leah loves to get to boogie Kiva, and Ellawyn joins in.

And of course, dads are usually good for spinning.

During Kiva's set, the organizers of the event, many friends of ours, received word that one of the main chiefs of the show, Richard, was dealing with an intense family tragedy. It seems his wife of many years had been sick with cancer and the time had come to take her off life support. Richard had been there, at the festival, that morning, setting up vendors and sound equipment and has long been the "energizer bunny" that moved things along. The fact of his commitment to be there, and perhaps that the festival was a respite in the face of sadness was very moving. We got word the next day that his wife passed away about half-way through Kiva's set, just after we had taken a moment of silence followed with a group Om to send energy and healing thoughts to the family.

As I said before, one of the great pleasure of the festival is getting to stay in Cabin John, Md, with Leah's dear friend and Heart Sister, Heather. Since it was Mother's Day weekend, we are able to celebrate their shared motherhood and love of life, and just enjoy the company of each others' families. Here they are and don't they really look like sisters in this picture.

Heather's neighborhood is a beautiful area. I wrote about it last year here. I always enjoy getting up early in the morning and doing some flower photography. Here are a few images.

The whole area overflows with Azaleas. So here is one for my mom. She
loves purple, so a purple azalea desktop. I have re-sized it for the post, but the image is a link, so clicking on it will take you to the full-sized one.

And just in case your partial to pink...

A glorious giant purple iris. The color of this one was hard to capture, but I think it was the largest iris I have ever seen. There isn't a scale here, but it was the size of a dinner plate!

And finally, I would like to identify this flowering bush. It was a glory, shining in the morning light and the color combination is one of my favorites. So if you know what it is, please let me know.

Sunday being Mother's Day, Leah's mom came out. It was nice to see her and she and Ellawyn ran about and did some activities. The three of them, mothers and daughters together.

One of the activities on the site, since it was a big concrete plaza, is chalk art and the kids have a ball with a giant sized canvas. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered this masterpiece from someone. I wish I could have met the artist. I love chalk art.

Leah decided that it was time to take mom to lunch and the convenience of the Chinese food restaurant immediately next to us and their excellent buffet lured us in. First the ladies went, while Jared and I manned the booth, and then he and I went to eat. Very nice and kind of weird. It was hard for me to settle down and eat with my booth right out the window, I am used to hurried meals behind our counter. You can see us there, the one with the two mirrors.

Sunday was wrapped up very nicely. As we were only 2.5 hours from home, we had decided to load and roll and not spend another night. This was also due to MD Faerie Fest being the following weekend. We made a tidy profit, enjoyed ourselves, and fostered many connections and friendships. A gift of an unused heavy folding table from one of the non-profit solved a big table issue in our home studio.

I was honored to be asked to close the festival, with a poem and parting words celebrating the Green Man. I wasn't able to contain my emotions when at the last bit, Richard, who had held his wife in her passing away the night before, came to see the festival close. So many of the the shows are run on the hearts, souls, and backs of volunteers and is odd for me, that with my big personality and gift for gab, I get attention when others deserve it more. So I try to be a vehicle for them, a bard of sort, and sing the praises of those who really make the shows happen.

I closed the festival with some quotes and the following poem from The Quest for the Green Man, by John Matthews. John is an honorary BOG Brother and this book is the best introduction to the ideas of the mythic image. The poem is by Bill Lewis, one of the renown poetic voices in the Mythic Arts community.

Greenheart, Copyright 1996
By Bill Lewis

Powerplant and plantpower,
Green heart of the greenwood.
Larder and laboratories,
living libraries of herb lore.
Changes climatic and chemical
of solar flares and rainfall
recorded in treetrunks,
those mandalas of history...
An invasion of sycamore,
a stand-fast of oaks and a
blaze of beech
fiery photo-synthesis.
If we uproot you then
we ourselves are uprooted:
and the greenman wears
a crown of thorns.
Arms outstretched
on a Calvary of antlers.

Catching up is hard to do, and Spoutwood Farm was wet...

2009-05-21T03:41:13Z

But I will giving it a try over the next few days. We have just come off a a string of shows, three weekends in a row. Which is a nothing compared to the the nine weekends in a row we do at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, except....at MDRF we are in a permanent booth, the same location, a easy 2.5 hour drive, and have a nice trailer to stay in. Spring shows are an entirely different matter, each event in a different location, and a booth and campsite to set up and tear down, sometimes repetitively. The three weekends in May the weather has been spotty, and at times, down right nasty, as those who live in the Mid-Atlantic well know. Add to that, we, as in the entire family, have been fighting colds and coughs for much of it, then we have had a rough month. However, that is the facts of what we do and it could be worse...it could be raining...oh wait...it did.

However, the 18th Spoutwood Farm Fairie Festival was wonderful all the same, the 9th year for Mythical Masks, Spoutwood being our first every mask show.

You can't have any rainbows without the rain, and there are always little yellow raincoats, wellington boots, and umbrellas, and faerie friends to make up for any weather...

This is VERY picture heavy post, with lots of large format pics behind the cut.

As the festival is some weeks past, and lots has happened, this will be mostly a picture post. That first image is Ellawyn and Rowan. Rowan is the daughter of Andrea of The Studio and Art Bar, York, PA. We have known Andrea for a while now, and the girls were a bit too little to really hang out. Not this show! We were right across the courtyard from them and they two kids were glued at the hip for the weekend, with Trinity, of Magic and Moonshadows Stained Glass. Big fun in the rain.

Rowan is a big older than Ellawyn and got to play big girl all weekend. Here she is hefting her side kick. I can't help but wonder about these friendships and how they might carry into the future.

Of course, at Spoutwood, friends come in all shapes in sizes, and foliage...

We camped with our dear friends and family, Heather and Karen, with their respective kids and friends. Their daughters, Eden and Harmony are what we call our "Faerie God-Daughters". It is a joy to watch them grow up. We were thrice blessed by Jenn, Sean, and daughter Abby camping with us. Little Abby is a sweet heart and the newest little faery in our crew, joining Heather's youngest, Anya, so four of our favorite sprites in camp with us, plus the daughters of Heather's friends. And let us not forget the boys, as Karen has her two little hobs who grow like weeds and are sweet and all boy at the same time. So by Saturday night there were eighteen bodies in our little clan! I have dubbed us the Thistle Tribe, after Karen, Heather, and Leah, who we call the Thistledew Sisters. We take their picture each year, and here they are.

Acclaimed mythic artist, Brian Froud, in his excellent work, The World of Faerie, had this to say about the "faerie women" in our lives.

"How to recognize a faerie woman? Well, the ones I know have a beauty that shines from within. They put aside their wings or animal disguises temporarily to give the semblance of humanness...There still are such muses, but you don't need to be in the woods to see them. They're everywhere. Perhaps all women are part Faerie...part of the vibrant, fluid, emotional soul of the world, who bring to the world of men the Faerie Gifts of transformational love."

It is my honor and privilege to have known these three women from their early twenties and into their thirties, getting to watch them all become mothers and share the experiences of maturing and finding themselves, grounded in a common experience. Thank you, my Sisters, for the gift of knowing you.

Most of the pictures, are taken by myself, Karen, Heather, Jenn and Theo Black, who may need some introduction. Theo is the husband of Holly Black, one of the writers of the Spiderwick Chronicles. Holly was a guest in the Faerie Magazine booth and it was a pleasure to get to know them both better. Theo is a talented artist in his own right and has a web and graphic design business at The Black Arts. Thanks for everything, Theo.

Here is Theo, looking ever the dapper gentleman.

And the very lovely Holly, a Faerie Women indeed.

Despite the wet weather, faeries had their fun. Each year, Spoutwood crowns a May King and Queen who are major volunteers and Spoutwood Family. They have responsibilities with the titles, and this year it couldn't have been a better pick. Marc and Chrissy Hudgins have done a lot for the farm and come to be friends of mine. Here is a wet Queen Chrissy with a bedraggled princess in tow. Umbrellas were the fact of life at the farm.

Later, I took this picture of the whole family, in their coronation regalia, glowing against the green. They are a lovely family.

We were ablly assisted by some of our dear crew. Jaime and Matt are our managers from MD Renfest and are indispensable to our operations at big festivals.

They were accompanied by the awesomeness that is Spencer the Bubble Fairy. I love this picture, she fairly shines!

One of the great joys of being next to the Faerie Magazine booth, beside being there to offer my assistance and aid whenever it's needed, is the that every one comes by and spends time with us. Here are three of my favorite faerie women. Gin, Posie, and Teasel. Posie, of point of note, is the "AdministraElf" for the Fairie Festival and one of our best friends.

Gin and Teasel are a famous pair, thematically pairing their costumes together each day and being "Celebrafaeries" of unequaled appeal. I think you will agree, that this image of Gin, is remarkable...and disturbing, as Unseelies should be.

The talent around the Faerie Magazine booth is always inspiring, and I can't name them all, for fear of leaving someone out. So please look back over my previous Fairie Festival and FaerieCon entries and you will see some of the remarkable artists who were there. As it is, I will stick to those I have pictures of.

This is the every colorful, and amazing, Linda Ravenscroft.

Also in attendance was Charles Vess, illustrator for the novel Stardust, sculptor, Honorary BOG Brother, and so much more. On Saturday, Charles gave a lecture on drawing and illustrating that Ellawyn got to sit in on. She brought back a lot of memories from that, not the least was to use your eraser and not be afraid to make mistakes.

Charles is also the illustrator of a remarkable new book. Blueberry Girl was written by Neil Gaiman and is a poem and prayer for a young girl growing up. I have written about it before Here, and it was my distinct pleasure to read this book to a group of the little girls in my life and their mothers, at our camp. It was the highlight of my weekend, and I have to repost the YouTube of it animated with Neil reading now, because we each have a "Blueberry Girl" in our lives.

And speaking of those girls, lets have a round of pictures of them all.

Here is Eden bubbling, a picture by Theo.

And Eden and Harmony, looking the pair, even wearing blue.

Myself, antlers askew, with the two Blueberries...

And here is Abigail, Jenn's daughter, everything is better with a cute baby picture...

Heather's littlest, Anya, dancing with her daddy, who is a gnome. Its a good thing she gets her ears from her mother's side.

Who I decided to terrify at one point in the weekend, which is always good for bonding...

So this is Anya looking sweet...

My own Blueberry, working the bubble bowl with Jingle Jamie. As you may imagine, she is getting to be an awesome bubbler.

And one more of Harmony and Eden, with friends from the festivals, being goofy, and doing the "Latooshie" dance...which is too hard to explain and you will just have to come to the festival and dance it yourself.

Of course, Latooshie is an equal opportunity chance for foolishness and the parents got to participate as well...

Now, I would be incredibly remiss if I didn't mention the boys as well. There are boys in our tribe. And here are Karen's two.

Eli, the Moss Hob, in the midst of the bubbles.

And Jahy, the Fireling, up a tree.

Did I mention I had a son as well? We didn't see that much of him over the weekend, despite the weather, he had friends come and we sent him off, as he works hard for us during the week.

Jared and his signature hat, taken by Jenn.

Apparently, he is photogenic, as a photographer from the festival capture a number of great shots of him in the crowd. These are from Here, and if you like looking at pictures of the Fairie Festival, give it a visit, as he has captured so much.

Here is Jared in the drum circle, and I need to get him a large drum for these.

And the photographer captured an entire series of him using his juggling sticks at the festival.

He looks so intense when he is concentrating, a trait he gets from me.

Here are some images of the various characters and events that happen around our little corner of the festival, Glimmer Place Courtyard, and the Faerie Magazine Booth.

Here are a pair of friends. This is "Otter" the River God, and one of my best friends, Mike Wuyek of www.wykart.com. I love this shot.

The wonderful Tom Harbold, Aka: Robin Greenwood, education director for Spoutwood, Chaplain of BOG, amazing writer, and my friend.

Theo captured this image of me hand bubbling.

This one really sums up the spirit of the Festival. Maugie the Minstrel is a fixture at the local festivals and sings a vast repertoire of all my favorite songs. This spot, with Maugie playing away despite the weather, is right next to our booth and means that his playing is a background track to our day.

Of course, the entertainment is awesome. Great Celtic and Tribal Rock bands, but a real favorite for everyone this year was a Brass Marching Band, fronted by Dingo. Here he is.

You never know when a juggling routine might break out. This is my BOG Brother, Zach, who is also a skilled mask maker himself, meeting up with Trinket.

The Amazing Trinket, actress, juggler, balloon knotter upper, and all around awesome gal, deserves her own picture, which Theo provide.

The Fairie Fests are a microcosm of the various subcultures of fandom. Lately there is a distinctive feeling of Steampunk creeping in, which is fine by me and Jared, as we both enjoy the aesthetic. This is Dave, a friend and staff of Faerie Magazine who has been doing some excellent Steamy builds lately. He is wearing his ocular device, which has various magnify devices, working laser pointers, and yes, that is a functional ear piece...

We aren't the only Mask Makers at Spoutwood, and here is a fan of Wing and Talon Leather in a remarkable bit of garb.

This is Adam of Magic & Moonshadows.

This guy is a character indeed! Billy Bardo of The Bardo Brothers and Future Relics Jewelry.

Here is a wild wolf. Me wearing out "Big Bad Wolf" Mask for Ell and I's bit, where she wears her Little Red Riding Hood and I chase her about. Lots of fun.

And this was a nice memory from the show. Bibi Hahn, vendor cordinator of the festival, a very hard working lady, Ari Berk, writer, Bogie, Prof. of Mythology and Folklore, and myself, sharing a chat.

The characters of Spoutwood Fairie Festival come in all shapes and sizes. All of them, regardless, are actually part of the festival. Even those who don't like the festival. It seems that the town of Glen Rock has fundamentalist church who show up each year, stand along the fence, and say terrible things to children. However, what is fascinating to me is that they use it as a community event themselves. Apparently others of their network of congregations travel from out of town and they have a bit of revival when they aren't at the festival site. Yep, Spoutwood does it's part to foster community everywhere.

This one, showing her smiling for the camera is fascinating to me. The thing I found entirely ironic in this photo is the logo on the her jacket. A little research turns up the Chelsea Football club and the image is a heraldic lion holding a staff. Of course, Lions in Heraldry have a long and mythic past stretching into the prehistory. What so many forget, is that mankind has spent more of it's history being "Pagan" and Mythic than not. You can't escape it and it is part of every aspect of our culture, part of our fiber and fabric as it may be.

I won't offer a link to their website, but it is a bit funny that they have a picture of me on it. It was from a couple of years ago when the Green Man March went out to the fence line and had a bit of confrontation with them. A mistake on our part and one we don't repeat. Now we leave them alone, they come and do a few hours of their thing and continue to piss off the rest of the community who likes the festival.

Speaking of the Green Man March, there was one. Saturday dawned drizzly and misty, but gave way to an excellent day for the Blessed Order of the Greenman (B.O.G.) to stomp about and bless the booths. This was an important March for us, marking the 1st March of our 10th Marching Season. A Decade of stomping about, tossing acorns, and make a spectacle of ourselves! I never would have believed it! So we had some nice times dressing for it, Groved the new May King, Marc Hudgins, and generally created a ruckus.

Here is a pair of Bogies dressing for the March. That is Brother Zach on the right, and on the left is Brother Joe Tate of Tate and Company: Faerie Glen.

This is Brother Rob Wood, patron of Spoutwood, all around awesome Green Man.

A nice portrait of Brother Chris Mason, who is a major volunteer for Spoutwood and lives up to his name being a real rock of strength for the show.

Here is our group picture, and awesome cluster of bogies, forming a hedge.

While stomping about, we came across Sean and Jenn, with baby Abby, and I was glad to offer her a blessing.

We even got a little video made of us asking a blessing from Queen Chrissy, getting our pictures taken by the Queen and then forming up to offer a baby blessing to Brother Chris an his wife, who are expecting a sprout.

It is a real honor to be such a well loved fixture of the Faerie Festivals. BOG is a bit surprised to be doing this for ten years and we consistently hear from folks that we are one of their favorite events at a festival day. Thanks to all who welcome us.

When the March was finished, we dispersed back to our booths. Theo captured a last couple of shots of me before I stripped off the greenery.

I will leave you with this, a parting blessing, and a memory of things green.

Kubiando.......

The Green Word: Exploring the Nature of the Green Man, Volume Seven, 2009

2009-05-14T00:52:42Z

Created by the Blessed Order of the Greenman (B.O.G) to support the Order and share our mission with the public.

Available for purchase at the Maryland Faerie Festival May 16-17. For only $3 you will not only support the Order, you receive an excellent little Journal of the Mythic Arts.

Each issue features a biography of a man who we feel represents the ethics and tradition that B.O.G supports. This issue features an extended biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, exploring his life, stories, and inspirations that helped create the epic saga, The Lord of the Rings. This issue also features a full history of the beginnings of the Blessed Order of the Greenman and the remarkable series of events that helped sprout from us a seed of an idea to a growing Fraternal Order. And we offer you a series of short bios showing the diversity of membership with n B.O.G. All of this, plus, essays, quotes, poems and more, on the Nature of the Green Man.

Please stop by the Mythical Masks booth to pick up a copy or find us at any of our festivals this year. Show Your Support For Your Local Boggie!

"Hoof and Horn, Hoof and Horn, All that Dies Shall be Reborn, Corn and Grain, Corn and Grain, All That Falls Shall Rise Again!"

Edited to Offer the Issue for Sale!:

If you can't find me or a Bogie who is carrying the Green Word, then I have created a PayPal option. I am new at creating PayPal options, so if there are any problems, please let me know immediately. Click the button below, and I will get one in the mail to you ASAP. The issue is $3.00 and shipping is $1.00. Make sure to include your address! Thanks to all for your support. Bog needs it and I hope we can live up to it! Green Blessings and Roots! Kubiando!

Happy Mother's Day...Oh Drat!....

2009-05-11T04:04:12Z

Just missed it by a minute, but here is a Happy Mother's Day video that we made in 2007 going out to all the Mom's reading this. A Mother's Day Bubble For you...

It's Earth Day...and I'm feeling grumpy and frustrated...

2009-04-22T15:52:57Z

I get this way EVERY Earth Day, it's complicated and hard to get across.

I'll start with something happy. My video I made last year for Earth Day, of my flower photography and a John Denver song. That Colorado cowboy always makes smile.

There, don't you feel better. I don't...

I think it is summed up in this quote from Aldo Leopold.

"One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise."

You see, myself and my family are green in our bones. It isn't something we do to feel better. It isn't something we do because we feel guilty. It is something we do. I have been this way since before I knew the ideas of Deep Ecology, Environmentalism, or The Land Ethic.

Before I had ever read the works of Deep Ecology, Gary Synder, or even Frank Herbert.

I spent the vast majority of my childhood alone, usually in the woods. Sometimes up a tree. Since I was very young, I would be frozen into immobility by nature and it's beauty. I dreamed even then, of living in a cabin, off grid (despite that I didn't know that term), lightly, in harmony.

Now, years later, here I am. Approaching middle age, a career as an artist and trying to be green every day. Our household Carbon Footprint is approximately 28027 lbs. Average that among the four members of the household and you get 3.50 tons a year. That is compared to the USA average of 22 tons a year. Of course, this isn't actually possible as the USA ground floor base line is 8.5 tons, according to this article. That is, due to our culture and basic systems of our society, our national base cannot be calculated below that average.

So, our household, despite living in a county that can't recycle anything but 1 & 2s, and despite that we make our career off of selling products that are an outgrowth of the leather industry, and that we can't buy the organic that we used to, etc. our footprint would be slightly less that the worldwide average...if...

I know so many, who claim eco-thinking, but still shop constantly. So many who only recycle when it's convenient...at home. So many who will burn a gallon of gas, just to pick a pack of cigarettes. So many who could do the simplest of things, but due to a lack of will, motivation, or maturity, they do not.

So I get a little grumpy on Earth Day. Happens every year. I don't plan on planting any trees. We do that through out the year. I raise maples, and oaks, and hope to plant a stand of evergreens, great carbon scrubbers, especially as organic Christmas Trees, which is what we will use them for. Yes, growing and cutting down trees in a cycle can actually be good for the environment. We won't be going to make crafts out of recycled paper and trash. We do this constantly and bring home recycled lumber and buy almost all of our clothing at thrift shops. I strip all my wire down to copper and will ultimately reduce our waste stream to less than a couple of bags a month.

Actually, Leah and the kids may go up the local college town, Frostburg to do exactly that. It is important for them, the children, to develop a deep fundamental land ethic at an early age. After all, it is them who will live in This World...

Me, I am afraid I will have to stay home. We are coming down to the wire with our spring festival season. We have lots of production to do, creating consumable art. It's a rainy and bluster day, which bares to mind the old adage, "God makes rainy days so gardeners will get house chores done." But staying home is the better thing. I might pop and gesture wildly at someone, and that wouldn't be fair. After all, their Americans too.

After all, I was just commenting to Leah the other night about how there is so much casual comments in pop culture right now that is Green Minded. Commercials, shows, radio, internet, all are shifting our thinking, moving our ideas, creating memes of thought, that Green is something you do because it's responsibility, it is something you do because it is sane, healthy and wise. I offer you my bumper sticker from my CafePress shop.

So we each do our part, we each make a little difference. And the Today show promotes green consumerism and feel good actions. Perhaps it raises that awareness, perhaps it helps shift that thinking. I am glad for. Some of us, have been wishing this for so long. But please, ask yourself...can you do more.

And I can't help feeling a little like my fellow deep ecologist at Grist Magazine...

Morning playlist for rainy days...

2009-04-20T12:27:06Z

I am usually the first one up in our household. Since we are self-employed and both kids are home schooled, we have the privilege and gift of not having to set an alarm clock. I am a natural early riser, often getting up by 6:30 AM no matter the bedtime. I enjoy the morning quiet and use it for writing and email. I wake the family up at 8 AM, with music and I take a cup of coffee up to Leah. I have a variety of morning mixes, songs about waking up and sunny days. Today, grey, overcast with a steady rain fall, I started with my rainy day blend.

Here are the songs in it.

"Looks Like Rain",The Grateful Dead-1976-08-02 - Colt Park
"Fire And Rain",James Taylor-One Man Band
"Rainy Day People", Gordon Lightfoot-Songbook [Box Set] (Disc 3)
"After It Rains", Laurie Berkner-Under A Shady Tree
"Rain" The Beatles
"Just Like Rain", Kathy Kallick with Laurie Lewis-O Sister! The Women's Bluegrass Collection
"Looking At The Rain", Gordon Lightfoot-Don Quixote
"A Day Without Rain", Enya A Day Without Rain
"Naked In The Rain" Crosby & Nash-Voyage: Essential, Vol. 1 [Disc 1]
"Let It Rain", Eric Clapton [Deluxe Edition] Disc 1 Eric Clapton
"Early Morning Rain" Gordon Lightfoot-Songbook [Box Set] (Disc 1)
"No Rain", Blind Melon

Any suggestions?.....

A bit of Quenya for you...

2009-04-15T21:19:56Z

I am been VERY busy with writing an article about the life and influence of the good professor Tolkien for the annual Green Word Newsletter, the newsletter for the Blessed Order of the Greenman (B.O.G) It is leading me to a Tolkien revival and I am living, eating, and dreaming the stories of Middle Earth right now. So here is the best and most beautiful rendition of Namárië, or Galadriel's Parting Song. The singer, a French musician, gives the Mp3 away on her website, Here. A little bit of pure beauty for you today.

Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen,
Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind,
yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!
long years numberless as the wings of trees!
Yéni ve lintë yuldar avánier
The long years have passed like swift draughts
mi oromardi lissë-miruvóreva
of the sweet mead in lofty halls
Andúnë pella, Vardo tellumar
beyond the West, beneath the blue vaults of Varda
nu luini yassen tintilar i eleni
wherein the stars tremble
ómaryo airetári-lírinen.
in the song of her voice, holy and queenly.

Sí man i yulma nin enquantuva?
Who now shall refill the cup for me?

An sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo
For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the stars,
ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë
from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds
ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë
and all paths are drowned deep in shadow;
ar sindanóriello caita mornië
and out of a grey country darkness lies
i falmalinnar imbë met,
on the foaming waves between us,
ar hísië untúpa Calaciryo míri oialë.
and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever.
Sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar!
Now lost, lost to those of the East is Valimar!

Namárië! Nai hiruvalyë Valimar!
Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar!
Nai elyë hiruva! Namárië!
Maybe even thou shalt find it! Farewell!

Another master of fantasy passes away...

2009-04-09T17:55:15Z

I would like to take a moment to observe the passing of Dave Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax. I never met or knew Dave, however his work was so influential to me and a vast horde of my generation, that it can hardly be expressed. I would remind you that it is a "Geek" world we live in today and whether you play D&D or not, if you use tech, like the computer your reading this on, chances are that a D&D gamer has his hand in it at some point.Gary Gygax passed away last year. His death was a surprising period of reflection for me, which I tred to bring some clarity to with a memorial journal entry to Gary Gygax. If you interested in such things as culture and how it got that way, take a moment to see what I have to say about D&D and it's influence.

In some ways Dave Arneson's death is even more poignant to me. Dave was the creator of the Blackmoor Campaign Setting for D&D. This later evolved into the world of Mystara. For over eight years of my life, almost weekly, I ran a campaign in Mystara. We altered the rules, twisted the stories, and changed the continents with our games. It was, without a doubt, some of the best times in my life. I owe so much of the fun and fantasy of that time period to Mr. Arneson's imagination. The meaning of the word "Inspiration" is to breathe life into, fill with spirit. It was those days that did so, setting me ultimately on the path that lead me to my successful career in the Mythic Arts today. So thank you, Dave. You changed my Life.

RIP: Dave Arneson: October 1, 1947-April 9, 2009

Art...With...Sheep....

2009-03-18T21:27:05Z

Watch this video. No words can describe it. Awesome talent of crafty Welsh Shepards.

A Prayer for a Blueberry Girl...

2009-03-02T15:22:17Z

Neil Gaiman, well known author and friend of many in the Mythic Arts community, wrote this poem for the coming birth of the first child for his friend, singer songwriter, Tori Amos. The poem has been illustrated by his friend and mine, Charles Vess, and is being released next month. Charles was sharing the illustration proofs at FaerieCon last year. I knew about the poem, but hadn't read it or seen the drawings. Naturally, as a father of a well loved daughter, when I read it in Charles's booth there, I got pretty choked up with feelings. It Is A Great Poem. Thanks to Neil and Charles for giving this gift to every Blueberry Girl and the people who love them.

Charles will be at the Spoutwood Farm May Day Fairie Festival, May 1-3 signing copies in the Faerie Magazinebooth.

Prayer for a Blueberry Girl

Ladies of Light & Ladies of Darkness, & Ladies of Never-You-Mind,
this is a prayer for a Blueberry Girl.
First, May you ladies be kind.

Keep her from spindles and sleeps at sixteen;
Let her stay waking and wise.
Nightmares at three, or bad husbands at thirty;
These will not trouble her eyes.

Dull days at forty, false friends at fifteen;
Let her have brave days and truth.
Let her go places that we've never been;
Trust and delight in her youth.

Ladies of Grace, and Ladies of Favour,
and Ladies of Merciful Night,
this is a prayer for a Blueberry Girl,
Grant her your clearness of sight.

Words can be worrisome, people complex;
Motives and manners unclear.
Grant her the wisdom to choose her path right,
Free from unkindness and fear.

Let her tell stories, and dance in the rain,
Somersault, tumble, and run;
Her joys must be high as her sorrows are deep,
Let her grow like a weed in the sun.

Ladies of Paradox, Ladies of Measure,
Ladies of Shadows-That-Fall;
this is a prayer for a Blueberry Girl,
Words written clear on a wall.

Help her to help herself, help her to stand,
Help her to lose, and to find.
Teach her we're only as big as our dreams,
show her that fortune is blind.

Truth is a thing she must find for herself,
precious, and rare as a pearl;
Give her all these, and a little bit more,
Gifts for a Blueberry Girl.

Neil explains the background of the poem best himself, at Mouse Circus, his online store:

"Hello. You're probably wondering what kind of book this is.

This is the kind of book that comes about when a friend phones you and says, "I'll be having a baby in a month. Would you write her a poem? A sort of prayer, maybe? We call her the Blueberry. . . ." And you think, Yes, actually. I would.

I wrote the poem. When the baby was born, they stopped calling her the Blueberry and started calling her Natashya, but they pinned up the handwritten Blueberry girl poem beside her bed.

I kept a copy at my house, taped to a filing cabinet. And when friends read it, they said things like "Please, can I have a copy for my friend who is going to be giving birth to a daughter?" and I wound up copying it out for people, over and over. I wasn't going to let it be published, not ever. It was private, and written for one person, even if I did seem to be spending more and more of my time handwriting or printing out nice copies for mothers-to-be and for babies.

Then artist Charles Vess (whom I had collaborated with on Stardust) read it. And somehow, it all became simple. I made a few phone calls. We decided to make some donations to some charities. And Charles began to draw, and then to paint, taking the poem as a starting point and then making something universal and beautiful.

On his blog he said,

"Taking Neil's lovely poetic meditation on the inherent joys of a mother-daughter relationship and developing a compelling narrative impulse without robbing the poem of its highly symbolic nature was an interesting conceptual journey."

Which I think is Charles for "It wasn't easy to make that poem into a picture book.” He did an astonishing job, but I still worried. I stopped worrying the day the assistant editor at HarperChildrens, who was herself pregnant, called me to let me know that she'd got the artwork in, and read it, and then started crying in the office.

It's a book for mothers and for mothers-to-be. It's a book for anyone who has, or is, a daughter. It's a prayer and a poem, and now it's a beautiful book.

I hope you enjoy it. I'm really proud of it. And I hope this means I don't have to copy it out any longer….

Neil"

Kobun Chino Otogowa

2009-02-26T03:26:36Z

This is a test

2009-02-21T15:52:45Z

Of my feed abilities from LJ to FB. Please go about your business as usual.

Another pair of custom masks...

2009-02-04T02:10:05Z

We have a group of friends, some of whom are reading this..HI!...who get together every year and visit Mardi Gras in New Orleans each year. They tend to theme their costumes for the days. It seems this year, one of the themes is The Island of Dr. Moreau with a Wild West flavor. So we were honored to create two mask for folks who will be going, and here are some Wild Woses wearing them.

The first is a Jackalope, here worn by Ellawyn. The Jackalope is a rare and elusive creature of the west and indigenous to my home state of Texas. Many people believe them only to be mythical, but Texans know better.

And here is the other, an American Badger, worn by Leah, with her best Badger growl.

Now I should say that Badgers, and the entire Mustelida Family of Animals are special to Leah. This family includes the domestic ferret. For much of Leah's childhood, her mother kept ferrets as pets, and rescues. Leah and I had ferrets in our house until just before Ellawyn was born. They can be a bit of work to care for and in our small apartment of the time, there wasn't room for a ferret cage and a crib at the same time, so they went to live a the mother's place. Since that time all the ferrets have passed on, and we all seem to have "kicked the weasel habit". However, as any on here who keep ferrets can attest, they are really a hard habit to break and ferret people tend to be a interesting lot until themselves. As a matter of fact, like many families of Harry Potter fans, we have spent some time determining our Hogwarts houses. Ellawyn is still too young, but Jared is all about Ravenclaw, I am so Gryffindor it hurts, and Leah, well she is easy. She is all Hufflepuff, whose token is a badger and are summed up in a quote that Jared coined...

"Ahhh...you think we're cute, that's nice....RRRRAAAAAAAAARRRRRR"

In the interest of public disclosure...

2009-02-02T02:18:41Z

This Blogger is a small time, (like really small...like barely any...) share holder in OMEX. That is, Odyessey Marine Exploration.

I know, you expected a juicy tidbit or some skeleton from my closet. None here. But I do have a reason for bringing this up. It seems that they will be announcing tomorrow officially that they have discovered and begun excavating the wreck of the H.M.S Victory.

Nope, not THAT H.M.S Victory, the famous flagship of Admiral Horatio Nelson. That one is still with us.

This H.M.S Victory is quite famous in it's own right. It was actually the fourth ship of the line bearing the name. And sank in the English Channel near the Island of Guernsey on October 4th, 1744. Tragically she went down with her entire crew of 1,150. Let that hit you for a moment. That is a huge number. Certainly a deep and heartfelt tragedy for the country and it's people. She was the first of her kind to ever be outfitted entirely with brass cannons, and also took to the bottom a treasure of 100,000 gold coins. Only a small bit of wreckage washed ashore on the islands, and the location of her resting place remained a mystery...that is until Odyssey Marine team showed up.

This commercial salvage operation is the one who has been the subject of the Discovery Channel show, Treasure Quest, which, oddly enough, we haven't seen yet. They have also been the subject of some controversy. Their are legitimate concerns about ocean salvage and treasure hunters in general. However, I personally am firmly in the camp that the artifacts and stories are best preserved ashore. The seas will keep what they keep. But what we bring back from the depths, and what they tell us about those who fell, well, that is important. OMEX has shown again and again that it is very dedicated to their salvage program with archaeology in mind, if keeping profit a firm goal.

They haven't actually shown any real profit yet. We bought our little portion of stock when they first went publicly traded, back in 2003, on a lark really, times were less tight then and it was prior to kids in the home. I think this discovery shows that a profit motivated salvage operation, with a sense of ethics and history, can really add to the wonderful tale that is mankind's epic adventure on the seas.

I am glad to play my small part of it.

For a further exploration of the stock and it's possibilities, take a look at this blog, Stock Treasure At The Bottom Of The Ocean