GrayWolf

Burning Mountains and other news

Fri, 09 May 2008 12:06:50 GMT

Slieve Donard was set alight last night :/ There's some scary video footage on the BBC NI website;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7392085.stm

Here's hoping most of the forest will survive.. It has always been such a stunning scenery there.

So behind on posting here, as days have been beyond busy.

A couple of days ago we went to the Northern Ireland Game Fair and had a grand time indeed. Spoke with falconers and hunters alike, and it seems that setting up my taxidermy business here is a good way to go. The crowd seems to be well natured and level-headed.

During the game fair we also had some demonstrations of old guns and pistols. I thoroughly enjoyed the woman in period gowns firing the blunderbuss!

We also met up with the ferret breeder. I'm getting a bit 'ferret-sick' without Duncan by my side, but know it would be selfish to bring him over to Northern Ireland as he's just getting too old for a big move and he needs specialists attention for when he relapses.

Speaking of Duncan, he's been doing okay. He has his ups and down, but now that he's getting his weekly vitamin shots he seems to be picking up. He's still on anti-biotics, as the chemo-therapy he was meant to take didn't fare well with him. The Vet opted against stressing him to take it and decided to stick with the stuff he was getting already, the Synulox.

Having decided to let Duncan stay at home with my folks I just feel... I don't know. alone? I know I'm not, as I'm building up a nice friends circle and have my wonderful man to stick with me... but I just feel lost without a animal companion.

We talked to the ferret breeder at the game fair, and he told us pups would be ready at the end of June. We'll definitely be looking into the details, but for some reason I still feel like I'm 'betraying' Duncan by taking on another pet. I vowed to take care of Duncan for as long as it would take. Have I really done enough? Am I 'allowed' to move on and start anew?

Maythorn - Hawthorn

Sat, 03 May 2008 09:54:12 GMT

The hawthorn tree in Dutch is called 'Meidoorn', meaning Maythorn, or Thorn of May. And when I moved here, I still referred to them as 'Maythorns' rather than Hawthorn. It confused many I'm sure of it, but for some reason, I like calling it Maythorn better than anything else.

My Bealtaine fast finally ended yesterday at sunset. I'd been fasting since Tuesday, and had only been drinking herbal teas with honey (to keep sugar levels up) and consommé every now and then to keep the salt alright. With a 'whopping' 8 calories per cup on the consommé I think I did very well on flushing my system through..

Bealtaine started as weird as ever, and so far they have never been on the calendar date. I always wait for the Maythorn (hawthorn) to blossom, and on the morning it blossoms the evening will be spend in celebration and prayer.

The house is still a mess, and the garden is far from finished. Without the nice fire pit in the center, I wouldn't be able to leap over it either. Next to that, the atmosphere just didn't feel right for an all too 'heavy' on the prayers celebration. It was a small celebration, with a big feast to say the least.

The fasting, to me, is much more than cleaning out my system. It also makes the days leading up to the celebration very intense. When your body 'runs on empty', you'll experience a cold unlike any other, a cold that comes from the core of your body. It makes every day actions more intense to say the least. And nothing in this world feel better at that time, then resting your body inside the house on the sofa, either curled up or reading a book, and having the sun come out from behind the clouds. It is, by far, the ONLY thing that properly warms you to the core. And the feeling that gives is AMAZING. Whenever the sun shone, I would just suddenly, sometimes without realizing it, stop whatever the hell it was I was doing, close my eyes and put my head back to get the full rays of warmth.

The 2nd of May came, and as I walked out into our 'garden' on bare feet, I walked into and up to the back, where three Maythorns were well recovered from their strangled-by-ivy ordeal. The one on the left, which attracts me a lot lately, finally shot blossom. The day I predicted it would was the day it happened.

We set out later that morning, to ready the fire-place, which needed a new interior for it to be able to carry fire again, and tonight was the night for it! We finally found one at Sampson's, a new all-night burner frame work and ash-pan and everything. So, the fire place was finally ready.

When Gareth came home we rested a bit. Dinner wasn't until sundown, and the walk to the beach I had in mind seemed to be a bit out of place with the storm clouds rolling in from Scotland. In the end nothing actually came down, and even the wind died down later on, but we stayed at home. Gareth started preparing our little feast, and I went outside to get two Maythorn blossom twigs for the household. I thanked the tree for it's twigs and took the two small twigs I was 'allowed' inside. With the ribbon tied around them they were set aside in a water bowl for later.

We lit a center candle, and with Gareth taking care of the right side from there on, and me taking care of the left we each set out to light our 4 candles from that one. After our four were lit, and the candle counted 9 in total, we used the center one, the one it started from, to relight our hearth fire after many weeks of dormancy.

The feast was set out on the table, and I took the Maythorn blossom branches to the main fire and put my hand in it. From my wrist in the fire, I quickly pulled my hand, and with it the branch and it's decoration, through the fire to cleans and burn away the negative. With both branches 'cleaned', I took Gareth by the hand, and with him holding the branch up I pinned one to the front door, and the other to our kitchen door, the only two entrance-ways into our house.

After a prayer of protection, and a giving thanks for our feast, we watched the light outside recede into the clouds as we started our feast. 'My' libation drink was a small replacement for the may wine... it was a ruby port instead (which still hits like a sledge hammer on a empty stomach!), and was 'shared' with the outside spirits in a small offering. Next year, we'll hopefully have everything in place to be making our own wines.

Our feast itself consisted of rosemary and butter chicken, garlic&cheese sausages, carrots, baby corn and rosemary and thyme baby potatoes. Our desert was Gareth's dream creation....rainbow jelly XD Strawberry, orange, lime and blackberry flavored, it looked interesting to say the least.

Downside of fasting has to be that the stomach shrinks, and takes a couple of days to recover and go back to normal. It's never nice to see such a feast in front of you and only being able to eat a little of it. But it's also such a emphasis on how our food is 'a-plenty' at the moment.We do our best to keep with biological and free-range food products, but our money doesn't always allow for it. Needles to say, I can't wait to have a nice vegetable garden of our own!

The left overs, like we do with pretty much EVERY meal we make, won't be thrown away, especially meats. All is saved and used in time. The veggies that were left will be used in tonight's small dinner.

In all, it was a small and simple celebration. Next year, when hopefully all is finished, it'll be bigger.. and hopefully we'll be able to invite some friends around for the feast as well!

It has also been 'given' onto me as a task to design our garden. And not just design patches of green here and green there, but it has been made clear to me that I'll only be using native species of trees/plants and so on. It'll be a grand task indeed, but by the gods I'm going for it!

Katja's Corset

Thu, 01 May 2008 07:05:59 GMT

Well, yesterday turned out to be incredibly productive. And after a good look-over I managed to finish Katja's Corset.

The corset itself is a nice pinstripe fabric, and the panel lines have been accented with satin. The original design involved these being vinyl, but with the buttons (I'll get to that in a sec.) it wouldn't hold the test of time.

The corset front has 6 snap buttons on each side, and allows for pretty much any embellishment you might want, as long as it can have a button on it. The examples at the bottom of the image show this corset with the buckles on the left, and small snap-cover spikes on the right.

Steel boning all the way through, enforced front closure and lacing bones at the back for extra strength. When worn with the small gap at the back this corset is has a 19" waist.

Katja's Corset by *Illahie

The doe and other things

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:17:09 GMT

Two days ago I received a call from the DOE (Department Of Environment, Northern Ireland) that I had been eagerly awaiting since writing a request a few days prior to the call. My request for taxidermy permits came through, and the paperwork I need to fill out is now on it's way to me. I've also met up with a local taxidermist (Ballyblack Rd. in Ballywatticock) and chatted a bit.

It was this delightful chat with Mr. Sam McCormick that finally got me the information I needed. He showed me how to do the paperworks and how the registers work over here. He told me whom to contact at the DOE to finally get things going. And he said that if there's any help I needed I could always give him a call.

For the up and coming Beltane we want to relight the fires in our new hearth. When my da was over previously from the Netherlands we managed to rebuild the hearth completely, and created a wonderful new and open fire place. Once the walls have been painted, and out wooden frame of the hearth has been stained it'll look even more fantastic!

My fasting ends on Friday night, and we want to have a small 'feast' for the two of us, as well as offerings and such. It'll be a small ritual, but it'll have to do at the moment. Finance-wise everything is just too tight at the moment. We're pushing pennies when it comes to trying to get groceries... so in a way my fast comes in handy at the moment. As our food supplies have 'doubled' for the next few days.

Tomorrow Dave AKA 'Ratboi Dave' is coming around to the shop. He wants a full body-suit (and mask/head) made, modeled after one of his Skaven characters out of Warhammer. It should be fun to make, but I'm dreading the mess it'll leave already. We've asked him to pay upfront, which will help with both getting his materials sorted, as well as provide us with some emergency funds should anything happen.

I'm nearly finished with a long overdue corset commission from arachnoidea. It's finally getting to it's final stages, but with the move and everything it has just taken so long to finish. But I'm proud of it, and proud to see that it's nearly done as well.

Gareth's mother is still in hospital with her third prolapsed disk. The situation was so severe that they had her admitted last week so they could control her pain, as the medication she had wasn't working anymore. She now gets heavy Morphine pills every two hours or so, and the doctor is waiting for a opening in his schedule so he can finally operate. It's a risky operation, but it has to be done, since she really can't go on like this. Here's hoping for the best.

Dinner last night...

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:18:14 GMT

Craving something sweet-based for dinner last night I went out and bought some prunes. For dinner, we had maple syrup baked steak, in small blocks. The steak wasn't overly sweet, but more of a mix between sweet and savory. It started out tasting sweet, and then went to a strong meat flavor.

Along with the meat came carrots, asparagus and oven roasted fresh baby potatoes with rosemary and thyme. Chestnut mushrooms were relieved of their stem, leaving behind a perfect mushroom cup. The prunes were then soaked in Cabernet Sauvignon wine, and then heated up. Once they were properly welled up, they were placed (skin up) into the chestnut mushroom cups.

To top it all off, a strong game-sauce was made using the mushroom stems, a couple of the wine welled prunes.

It was gastronomical! I had missed the sweet and yet powerful taste of a good hunters dish!

Tonight's dinner will be less 'delicate'; 'Marmeladed' (if that's a word) Chicken Cordon Bleu. Still debating on which vegetables to do with it. Possibly cauliflower.. although broccoli and corn speaks to mind as well, but I'm pretty sure Gareth has had enough of corn...

Maybe corn on the cob?

Dare I say, I'm looking forward to 4pm when the cooking spree and gather groceries start

So busy..

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:07:00 GMT

Thank you all kindly for the support given in the previous journal entry. Although I can do little more than say 'thank you', I still feel words are lacking for a proper response. Knowing that there are so many people behind me to give me a gentle nudge when I need one is heart-warming.

Been really busy working on commissions. Had one with a nasty deadline for baddogbooks.com that needed to be finished by May 1st. It contained 4 full colour pieces, and I wasn't sure how my creative juices would be flowing.. so I feared the worst. But when I sat down and worked on them, everything just seemed to fade around me, and soon I was back into my own little world again working away. I finished them yesterday, and am fairly happy with the results. Not sure if I'm allowed to post the results yet, but have already asked the creator if I could. If so, expects them soon.

Cleaning around the house today. Finished editing the CD cover commission for Marc Gunn. Or well, finished it to the point where he needs to look over it and tell me what needs fixing, if anything. It has been a fun project to say the least.

On today's list are also a wedding ring design, and character sketches for C_eagle and the kitsune commission from someone. Not sure if I'll make those today with all the cleaning and cooking that has to be done still. Right now, I just want to shut the damned computer screen down and get outside to work in the garden.

Yesterday was our hiking day, which didn't start off too good. I got into a crap state of mind, and it just spiraled downwards from there. It was late in the afternoon before we even got going, but at least we got going in the end.

We went to the Minnowburn area, to hike around the 'Giant's Ring' (click for map), which can be nicely viewed from Google Maps as well;

View Larger Map

We started from the 180m in diameter hedge of the Giant's Ring, and from there walked the short and easy trail towards Minnowburn park. The walk was only 2.1 miles or so, but it was a stunning area and such a relaxing walk. I really enjoyed it, but most of all REALLY needed it.

When walking past some bushes along side a farmer's field, I heard a familiar chirping. A tone I recognized from my hikes in the Netherlands and Germany; Fire crests! Now, these may be the smallest bird species we have in Europe, but it certainly isn't shy of humans. I told Gareth to just move closer. When he was within a foot distance or so, Gareth had to stop because he couldn't get into the bushes.. but the birds were still happily chasing each other. I adore them so.

We ended our walk at the Giant's Ring, and walked around it over the hedge itself. It gives this fantastic 'distant' feel of the portal tomb in the middle. And we had fantastic weather for the closing of the day.

I would really love to hike more

Loads of work still to do, but hopefully I'll be able to report back soon with some things to show you all.

And thanks again :)

Tarbh Torc

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:56:33 GMT

This is the stuff my nightmares were made up of for the last couple of weeks.

A couple of months back, while working on the monster minotaur/bull torc, I went through all my amber in trying to set the stones. I had to order in new ones, but had trouble finding the 4mm one's I was after. I ordered them off someone I've ordered off before, but the guy hand-picks his stones and takes FOREVER to ship.

Two to three months later (two days ago to be exact), the stones finally came in, eight of them. I had little room for error (2 pieces), and of course the very first stone I set ends up rolling over in the setting and into the setting resin. Glorious. The next stone went fine, the next 'crashed and burned' as well. Another stone managed to somehow fix itself to the outer edge, and sticking out a bit. With no spare stones left without risking another long wait for new stones to arrive, I became a bit shaky. And as the last piece went into it's setting it too rolled over.

I felt enraged with myself. Furious, and incredibly let down by my own hands. It was a horrible feeling. I rushed upstairs to look for some sources online. While the resin hardened out, I brought down a scalpel, and tried to remove the resin from the stones that had fallen in battle. It worked. I cleaned one up, then proceeded to remove the stone that was sticking out and replaced the cleaned up one with that one.

After scratching off the resin, the stones obviously lost it's shine. Luckily, I had worn through my favorite set of jeans just the other day, and had ripped it up into little bits. Using that, I soon brought back a luster to the Amber that made me feel a bit better about myself.

So there we have it. The Tarbh (bull) or minotaur Torc, and the Bó (cow) pendant. Remember the torc terminal of which a small horn end flew off? Well, it wasn't wasted, but coverted into a female version and became a pendant.

The pendant is pretty much the same as the torc terminals without the horns obviously, only it carries a 9mm Onyx stone at the bottom, and has a tunnel drilled through the mouth, so it looks like it's holding onto the rope it's hanging from.

Good gods... what a intense project this has been. The biggest and heaviest torc I've done so far. But I can finally call it done;

More practical details can be found on the DeviantArt page;

Tarbh Torc Set by *Illahie

Delirium

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:06:46 GMT

Last night we went to see Cirque du Soleil's 'Delirium' in Belfast. The tickets were part of my birthday present from Gareth.

Oh... my... word

I think I missed half of the show, as I was just too entranced and enchanted by the percussion going on! The fire they let out, the energy. Simply stunning!

The show itself.. good gods. It was very 'Dali-esque'. But the visuals and the audio worked so well. It really felt like you were staring at someone's hallucination. Projections running in front of the acrobatics made you feel as if there was another world floating about in front of you. Absolutely amazing! I really had a fantastic time!

Official trailer thing., which includes behind the scenes shots

Still alive

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:49:28 GMT

We've been very busy working on the house the last couple of days. Actually, the house and the garden. My da came over to help out with the major re-construction works, and so work has been going steadily. It's so much better to have a familiar working partner to work with, when my better half is busy in his shop bringing in the money (which we'll spend again on working materials and needs).

The new workshop now has a new concrete floor base. The old one was lifted up on a wooden base. Nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that there was no ventilation... In short, the entire wooden base, not even a year old, had rotted through and was dead. Later on, we'll be re-doing the inner walls, and fixing up a permanent roof. When that is done, I'll have all the things I need done, and I can finally start my business up again.

The garden was another story. For some years now, there had been a fence near the back. This fence was put there for one reason... to keep maintenance down to nothing at all. It literally cut the tree line from the garden, and look like shit to be honest. Next to that, people all around, including inhabitants over many many years have thus proceeded to use said location as a private DUMPING ground. And with no maintenance going on, the ivy took over and was well in the process of strangling all the trees.

We broke the fence down, and started to clear out the back as best as we could. The ivy was removed with a firm hand, and right now we've gotten rid of as much as we can. The grounds are open again and things are visually recovering by the minute. It'll be a good year or two before we can do anything with the garden, as the back and the hedge really need their time to re-grow from the damage done.. but it feels good looking back on it now... despite it looking like a bomb-site.

Right now we're re-working our hearth. It's going to be really pretty, but the brick work underneath it is horrendous and needs LOADS of repair.

Again, the house AND location are stunning, but there are so many bits still to be done. At least it's sturdy, and no major repairs need to be done.

Dear sunspiral and weegoddess, do forgive us for when you come over. A glorious dinner shall be cooked, but we don't think we can get the kitchen done before that. So forgive a dated and possibly somewhat messy looking kitchen.

That's it for now.. busy busy busy!

Cú Chulainn, the animated series!

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:55:27 GMT

This has me amused beyond belief!

Cú Chulainn, the animated series!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/cuchulainn/index.shtml

Underneath a different kind of sunset...

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:32:49 GMT

Well, our weekend has been very productive and moving indeed. After making a promise I would not stay behind at the camp site on Rath Lugh we headed down south, towards Navan. I got the idea that I needed to help Gareth connect better with what it is we're actually so enraged by, and why we are so fanatic in defending it. By taking him to some key sites, I felt we had taken the first step towards greater actions to come, perhaps with him on our side should his shop allow.

Our first stop on the list was Newgrange. The weather was ideallic for it; massive BLACK storm clouds as the back drop while rays of sunlight gently rolled over us. We were met with a gentle drizzle, but nothing of the soaking kind. We walked around Newgrange, listened to stories told, and eventually ventured inside. He saw the infamous Newgrange triskel, and all the other great carvings inside. Next time we're down, we'll visit Knowth and Dowth as well, for Knowth's decoration is something to be seen for sure.

Next stop, Hill of Tara. It felt good to visit these things, and it did feel like something was stirring inside Gareth, although it came across as him not knowing for sure what to do with it. The views from Tara were spectacular, no doubt about the site and whole valley being an area of great importance. The winds were rushing against us as we looked around. Something that touched me deeply when I asked him what he was feeling was that which he said; "I'm sad actually.. I find myself trying to imagine the place as it would have been, with forest all around."

The evening was now setting on what I looked upon as a good day indeed. After browsing the antique bookstore we had some soup in the restaurant, and later on Gareth asked person behind the till where we could find the Rath Lugh camp...

He looked up at us, sunk down and became slightly pale. He said; "The campsite? From here, go down the road, take a right and after that you take EVERY left you can take". He took us to the window, and pointed at the site. A barren hill ground in the far back could be spotted. "There, see that barren hill yonder? That's the campsite. See the yellow dot? Be careful around those areas, for the Gardai are now on 24/7 guarding duties of the site." He paused for a mmoment, and shook his head. "Everything is worse than you could ever imagine" he said, as he slowly walked back to the till. We thanked him for his help, and set out to meet underneath a different kind of sunset...

(WARNING: Beyond this cut are MANY MANY images of what's left of the amazing site of Rath Lugh, and of course the condition of the camp, the warriors themselves and a bit of ranting)

As we went down with the road and reached the end of it, we took the right turn. After that, we took, as the man told us, every left we could take. It wasn't long before the bright reddish/orange M3 roadwork signs started popping up, and the grounds around us started showing signs of damage from the heavy machinery moving through. Not long after, a clearing came upon us, like a sandy desert in a sea of what used to be green, and in it, a giant toll bridge structure. The damage done to the land was sickening to say the least. Not knowing whether we were heading the right direction (though it did feel 'right') we kept going. Until eventually we reached a spot I recognized, camp entrance.

We walked up the slopes of Rath Lugh after we parked our car on the road below us. The first tent was soon spotted, and not long there after we saw movement in between the trees, and a plume of smoke coming from one of the bigger tents at the start of the site. Muddy footprints could be spotted, as the walkways had suffered from the storm in the previous week. I walked into the big tent, said my hellos and asked if someone would be so kind as to give us a tour of the camp grounds, since people online were curious about the ongoings at campsite.

A young 'pixie' from the camp site stood up just as she finished re-awakening the fire, and offered to walk us around. She had just spend her 21st birthday on camp-grounds the night before and I'm sure she couldn't have been in better company. The people on-site give off a wonderful feeling of belonging and a near family unity. She took us to the 'front-line', or what was left of it. The place where the now infamous scene had taken place with the underground protests of Lisa "Squeek" Feeney. After a bit of climbing we were blinded by light, but as our eyes adjusted I could see something I never wanted to see in my entire life... damage to the land as far as the eye could see. Next to that, in front of us was a tall iron fence had been erected by the NRA. Remnants of a flag could be spotted through the fence, which was where the tunnels were.

After Lisa left the tunnels, the NRA agreed not to work 40 minutes in either direction until the 17th of april. But as it turn out, within 2 days the NRA was working again, and pushing work through the night to make up for lost 'progress'. So much for sticking to their word....

We were then led to the round-house, which was a amazing structure by itself. Greeted by the resident canines, including one very spunky puppy we took some shelter from the winds, and got talking with Mr. TaraPixie himself.

Message from the Rath Lugh camp; No more tea please XD

It seems they have enough tea to give the entire population of China a cup if they decided to come over. What we need most on camp site is SD cards, Mobile phone credit and rechargeable batteries and hand-chargers and so on.

The walk then led us outside the round-house, and towards the top of the Rath. Slowly the structure of the site itself started to dawn on me, and I was making out the 'walls' and general shapes of things. There was a small shrine on top of the Rath on a old rotten tree stump. 'Supported' said a small framed note on top of it, nestled inbetween the other offerings.

The campsite itself was a fantastic thing to behold. Little communities within themselves, but hardly any people to be seen. Most people were off doing their duties, while others stayed in their tents. There was a mixed atmosphere about... but mellow and tense at the same time. The tense-ness probably came from the news we received, that the camp grounds will be evicted this thursday. People are tired and wary, but full of fire to continue this fight.

From the top of the Rath, we walked all the way down to the stream, and to the scared Brighid's Well. All we could hear that reminded us of the chaos just outside the tree line was the humming of a generator on the road-work site. The area itself seemed to swallow us up in tranquility. It gave of a real feel of peace between all the chaos, and it reminded me on how special the place really is. Rubbish was found here and there, mostly from the road-work. Not surprizingly the people on camp found ways to incorperate this rubbish which was used for the camp grounds as roof materials.

After spending some time in contemplation at the site, we crossed the river using a tree that laid down before us like a natural bridge. Derek picked up a plastic bottle next to the well, and filled it with water for us to drink. The water was sweet and amazing to taste. The entire site really energized us. Which made the realization of the slip roads looming all the more clear...

We think they may be attempting to build a slip road for the houses behind the Rath, in which case they'll be going through the Rath. Chances are high that, even if they stay clear of the site itself, the well will eventually be contaminated from the road works and enviromental pressure. Road works did put concrete pipes underneath the road to come to keep the stream flowing towards the river, but their works have been of badly planned and constructed, and people have already found stagnant pools in the area.

This road is useless. It's too long, too wide. It's like paving the entire area pf Tara. It's costing a fortune, and there are better, shorter and cheaper alternatives. Many different plans have been submitted by qualified people, but somehow I don't think any of the plans have been seriously looked at. Personally, I hope we can delay building long enough so it'll costs too much and the whole plan is put to a stand still. I'd love to voice my love for sabotage actions, but at the moment I don't think it would be much help.

What we really need is more help... we need more equipment. But most of all, we NEED more people on-site. This thursday chance are high that the campgrounds will be evicted, and the camp will have to move to another and safer site in the area.

As Derek said; "This fight is not over until the first public car goes over that road, until than we'll keep fighting". All I can say is I couldn't agree more..

Pictures from site and surroundings, both the wonders and the horrors...

Toll bridge

Stripped land, with Rath Lugh WAY in the back

Looking back on the toll bridge from Rath Lugh

Road works going forward, despite the agreement made by the NRA

Through the barricade
A picture of what used to be the Front line camp

The Digger Tigger

The Round House

Inside the Round House
Since it was build the Round House has shifted, further proving that the esker is moving

Round House Triskel
Most of the poles inside the round house were carved and decorated

Shrine on top of Rath Lugh

Rath Lugh camp grounds

Rath Lugh hut

TaraPixie.net HQ
What used to be a sound tent for recordings and such.

Inside TaraPixie HQ

The look-out

Little bits of Scarlet Elfcups found around the site

The walk towards the well

The stream, leading out to a uncertain future

Brighid's cross above the well

The well itself. Simply beautiful

Stone spirals

Stone circle at the camp site closest to the well

Sunset from the main camp grounds. Also in view is one of the bridges over the Rath's wall

Duncan updates, Beezer and Tara

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:36:15 GMT

So, the specialist called me mom the other day to tell her of her findings. Duncan does have a malignant tumor, in his pancreas. But, she said, it's not the main worry. Her main worry is this rather aggressive bug that he got in his internal track, mainly the gut. Eventually he may have to be operated on again, if the tumor becomes too much of a problem, but right now she wants to focus on the bug. This friday they'll make a appointment, in which she'll give Duncan his injections, as he'll be needing vitamine B12 injections on a weekly basis.

Back at home Duncan seems to be doing better than ever. He's full of life, strength and speed again. Up to no-good is part of the day again and I am overjoyed with that news. I still feel horrible for leaving my buddy behind in the Netherlands with my folk... but all I can say is that he's in some of the most caring hands in the world.. and it's best not to move old trees.

To take my mind off the new news, as I tend to worry a lot about my little buddy, we decided to go and see a film; 10,000 B.C. Gareth has promised to buy the movie so we can burn it. In all honesty, it wasn't bad. Visually, it was very pretty. The story was okay, but the execution of it was BEYOND slow. I felt no connection with the characters, which was a bit of a shame.

We went with Kyle and Speed, as the rest of the friends we're off on a drinking spree at Ryan's place. After the movie, I called them up and asked them if they wanted to come back to our place to have a nice drink-night. They did, got their booze together and jumped in a cab... upon which they had to wait 5 minutes outside our door, because we weren't back from the cinema in Newtownards yet.

The night was filled with laughter, fun and some gaming. I personally would have loved to start a story-line roleplay in the state most were in, but talking rurr all-night did the trick as well. I had a great time!

And I nearly pissed myself when they called for a cab home at 4am in the morning. We had called a taxi before, thinking Gareth had to work the other day and not wanting to make it too late... when we realized he took the day off. The taxi was called off, and more fun ensued. At about 4am, when the good lot of them were spinning on their feet, it was time to call a taxi again. Mike got on the phone 'This Galaxy Taxi? Mike here, can we have a cab for..'. In the meantime Ryan tumbled to his phone, and made the same phonecall, using the same words (only his name). I was pissing myself laughing, thinking he was ordering a taxi as well, but the final blow to my bladder was to come when Ryan's conversation went off;

"Hi there, Ryan here.. can I have a taxi for 23 (insert some odd street here), I mean Churchill road.. I mean crescent? Thanks? Yes... Yes this is Ryan. Oh god I'm so sorry. I'm so drunk. Bye"

It turn out that Ryan was calling for a taxi indeed.. but instead of dialing the taxi number, he called Phil's mother.... at 4am.. asking for a taxi.

The look on his face was priceless.. and I laughed so hard it hurt.. BAD

In short, I had a great time. Thank you guys!

Today is the day off, and we're preparing to set off towards Tara. It's kind of hard planning when there really is no money to go around at the moment. We're pushing pennies to see if we can even get the petrol money together. All should work out fine methinks.

Time to ROAR!

well...

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:22:44 GMT

The bath seems to be fixed, and the cooker is finally working. The washing machine is as of yet still un-connected and is still leaking big time. Hopefully we'll get it all sorted this week, as I'm slowly running out of clean clothing. I've been doing hand washed here and there, but there is just so much to do around the house still.

Today more work should arrive; my palet. Looking forward to unpacking the lot of it. So much home-deco stuff in there it's not funny. I can only hope that all the wrought iron wall candle holders are infact.. intact.

Popped the Ulster Folk and Transport museum a email, saying I'm finally all settled in. Have to peep around to the jewellers as well to finally work something out with them as well. Once all that is done, we're off to Tara for support and protest.

I've been rather depressed over the whole situation this week. Had a big argument over the ways of protest. I admire the people, and would do the same actions in the blink of an eye, yet Gareth sees it differently, and sees it as the protesters putting not only their own lives on the line, but also of those that have to come in to rescue them. I guess it all comes down to where this kind of thing strikes you most... in my case, head, heart and soul.

It doesn't matter anymore. Lisa has left the tunnel, and it has been filled up. I hate to say it, but Rath Lugh almost 'feels' lost. Personally, I'd love to go in a sabotage machinery (if only I knew how), but I know that wouldn't help the peacefull protest.

With all the illegal road actions going on, I don't think a 'let's sit down and talk' approach is going to be of any good. We need to do all we can, whenever we can.. and we need to do it NOW or we may not be in time.

Just a quick note...

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:06:07 GMT

Happy 5th birthday my dear and wonderful Duncan!

The specialist has phoned up and told us the biopsy results. Duncan does not have cancer. The bad news is that he has a very aggressive bacterial infection in his gut, that the previous heliocobactor infection probably opened the doors for. She's currently doing her research to make a further treatment plan for him.

Duncan himself is better than ever. It really looks as if his batteries have been replaced and he's running up and down the place back in the Netherlands. I'm glad I left him with my folks in the Netherlands, and am convinced he's in good hands there. He's even up to his tricks again and is slowly re-learned how to walk the stairs again.

Well, just a quick note from Norn Iron. The new house is in a lovely location, has a lovely feel to it and the area is bursting with green and birds. I love it! Sadly, the house will take a lote more work before it will be all done. The kitchen is slowely coming apart as the cupboards are rotten.. and last morning during my shower we found out that the water was coming from the ceiling at the same rate it was coming from the shower head.. soo...

In any case work is slow, but steady. Brighid's cross has already found it's place above the door, and was in fact the first piece of 'decoration' in the house.

So in short, we're very busy. No connection of digital media in the house yet, so this is a quick update from the shop up on high street.

Weekend and packing

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:23:02 GMT

The taxidermy weekend was fantastic again! I had sooooooo much fun! I ended up not going there on friday night however. As it seemed that I had underestimated my packing time. So, friday was spend packing everything into box, and putting the boxes onto the palet.

Saturday morning found me driving towards the lodge in the woods. The morning drive was stunning. Myst filled the roads, and the brief rays of sunlight that sometimes found their way through the clouds gave off a very mystic and warm feeling. It was a nice drive ^.^

Upon arrival, I looked for my taxidermy group, since they missed the introduction of me as a teacher. Well, they got the name, but not a face to link it to. Either way, like previous years, Rick and Peter had locked all of our tables together and we just took the entire group.

So we got started, and to our (the teachers) horror we found out most people had chosen ducks to work on.... which are VERY greasy in most cases and take A LOT of work to clean. Next to that, the skin is delicate, and most people getting behind a brush machine (steel brush that spins very fast, removing fat from skin) manage to hit holes and rip the skins apart. Not to worry, we're always there to help. But trying to fix one or two projects while another is busy doing their best not to rip it apart is very stressful work indeed.

Some time after, I also realized there was a big 'black spot' in the corner of my eye. Eventually curiosity got the better of me, and I turned to look. I suddenly saw there was a whole flippin' television crew (Man Bijt Hond for the Dutch/Belgian readers amongst us) in our lodge. My first reaction was 'oh... shit, there goes the work for today'. In the end, it was a bit of a hassle trying to give everyone the help they need, with our walk-ways blocked up by camera man&friends. Some people really didn't want to be on video, and thus many people were unable to resume work at the table. I tried my best moving projects around to get them to people so the weekend wouldn't be a total loss. In all, I think it would have been nice to get a bit of a warning for things like this.

The next morning (went to bed at 4:30 am, got up at 7am) found a couple of people wanting to work on mammals. The night before some people had already expressed their feelings on this, and I told them I had no problem and could help out with both birds and mammals if need be. So I helped the lady called Margot (the one that was also interviewed by the television people) with a BIG white ferret she picked.

The thing was HUGE. And many times when people asked me what we were working on I mentioned 'polar bear'. I helped her throughout the day, as I didn't think she would have been able to finish it in time, and I didn't want her to go home empty handed. So I showed her how to hand-spin the legs from wood-wool, and we both worked simultaneously. In the waiting times, I did my rounds around the table to help out when and where needed.

In short, the weekend was fabulous, and I had a grand time indeed!

And now I'm getting the final packing done. The palet will be picked up tomorrow, and according to the transport people they'll have it at our new home address on friday. Speaking of which, for those of you interested in the details, please check behind the cut.

Since it's considered bad luck to post a new home address before you're actually in it I waited until today ;)

So here we go, the new address in the lovely Ballyholme Bay/Beach area, please update your address books and what not;

Ingrid Houwers
23 Churchill Crescent
Bangor, County Down BT20 5RN
Northern Ireland

Our phone number remains the same, but if you don't know it and would like to have it you'll have to send me a email.

And yes, for those wondering, this will be our address for a couple of years to come :)

Home in a couple of hours if all goes well! Yay!

Final bits of packing...

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:49:34 GMT

Going through my book collection just re-fills me with the wonders I felt when I first got into contact with their content. And packing my book collection had really brought back memories. When I ran across the old Dutch translation of Flammarion's; "Les Etoiles et les Curiosities du Ciel", a astronomy book... a OLD astronomy book. The maps in this book are just amazing. Old styled drawings and maps of the constellations. And of course, the 'the whale' looking nothing like a whale. (Cetus is Latin for whale, but in the constellation it refers to Cetus the sea-monster that was about to devour Andromeda when it was killed by Perseus.) So many wonderful images, maps, old copper engraving prints. The book is a treasure... the book is what my dad learned us navigating by the stars with.

The cover had some slight wear, so I got out my art academy materials and took the day off to restore the cover. Oddly enough, the guilding on the front is in immaculate condition, and doesn't need repairs.

Book has now been finished, all maps and pages are accounted for. I just can't get it over my heart to stuff it in a pallet, so it'll be bound up in cotton wrapping and taken with me in my hand luggage on monday. I've been very tempted to buy another edition of this same book, just so I can remove the maps from it and frame some of them. They are sooo stunning.

Plus I desperately want to make one of these; http://www.everythingbutthebooks.com/misc/misc0232.jpg

*dreamy sigh*

I'm such a book geek (and bird nerd.. and tree hugger)...

Later in the afternoon I'll be departing to the woods of Apeldoorn. I'll have a nice walk about in the area, after rushing upstairs to claim 'my' bed. It's in the giant old sleeping quarters, and it's the bed in the far left corner, against the wall. Don't know why, but I feel soooooo comfortable in that bed!

In the evening the 'students' (feels like a wrong word with many of them being older than I am), will take their picks from animals we've collected over the years from breeders and whatnot. I'll curious to see what we've got this time. I need to clean out my freezer and see if I have some teaching materials for them as well.

I'll be back on sunday night.. leaving little time to do the final boxing up for monday... but I can't wait to go home

soo..

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:20:10 GMT

The past week has been full of stress, relief, stress and right back to relief again.

Let's see... I NEARLY lost my eyesight in my left eye a couple of days back. Remember those safety glasses being defected? Well, this time, the pendant had propelled itself through, and managed to hit my left eye. Not only was my eye met with a big 'bang', the pendant was also BOILING hot. I resumed work, but eventually my left eye started to drizzle like a sweet summers rain made out of tears. I had to stop work.

Mother examined the eye, and found a 'cloud' in it. I have to admit my eyesight wasn't the best either, and one half of my vision was blurred. At that time I giggled at the fact I was wondering if I myself could get some money together to buy a fancy eye-patch from missmonster.

So, I went to hospital, had my eye dyed neon yellow to check for damages... but somewhere along those lines something 'rubbed loose' on my eye, and the cloud was gone. It still felt like I had sand in my eye, but the vision was much better. Nothing of permanent damage could be found. I got a big dollop of greasy gunk dunked into my gazer which eased the 'sand-in-eye' feeling, and went home again.

I also received the news that the man that had sexually assaulted me back in 2003 is to remain in prison. The letter I wrote to the Re-enactment groups a years or so back had sparked off a mass reaction. 15 people admitted they were assaulted by the guy as well, of which 5 went to the police.

The case was present to the judge last monday, and the guy confessed to all charges immediately. This means that my case will be cleared as well, and not written off with the 'payment for services mended' it had previously received.

So yes, after spending 97 days in jail already he is to remain put until the actual trail date of the 15 of April this year.

This weekend I'll be teaching the arts of skinning, preserving and mounting of animal skins again, along with a couple of good friends from the federation/guild. The location of the wonderful weekend will once again be the gorgeous wooden lodge in the woods of Apeldoorn; 't Woldhuis. By the looks of it the course is a full one once again. It looks like 46 people signed up for the lovely. I'll be teaching in the bird section again, but like previous times it'll always probably end up with all of us running all over the place. Tjerk, our oldest participant (that always gets up early to boil eggs for EVERYONE), will be there on the federations invite. He had some finance troubles and had asked me kindly to forward the idea of him getting a loan or something for the workshop. After some discussing, the board reached the conclusion that Tjerk is a essential part of the workshop, and looks after all of us.. so he'll be part of the workshop one way or another. I'm hoping he'll wear the Puffin-skull tie-pin I made him earlier this year.

Either way, it'll be a weekend to look forward to!

Doing the last packing right now. Moving boxes here and there, and getting around to moving my entire book collection. I'm SO scared these will get damaged during the move back to Ireland O.o Also on the pallet this time is all my taxidermy, corsetry and art related equipment. Dremels, drills, grommet setters, tanning lotions. Also need to get some skins and skulls across. But of all things, I am shit scared of the books getting damaged O.o

Either way... home on monday. Come what may. Unless Duncan relapses, but he seems to be doing incredibly well.

Oisín!!!!

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:20:47 GMT

Oi! macsuibhne ya mucker!!!

This summer, whilst yer going till Áras Mháirtín Uí Chadhain learning ya lingo, I expect you for tea* at our place! Perhaps a nice boar based tea, or red deer. And a good Ulster party or two and get completely banjaxed, mayhaps on la Copeland Islands! Time to flippin celebrate!

Cheerio!

*tea = dinner :P ya sillies

A celtic ferret.. on Avocado center!

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:14:27 GMT

The celtic ferret pendant is nearing completion.. the wonderful piece of gift-art/birthday gift from the ever amazing Marcus of AvocadoArt! The amount of detail this man can get onto the Avocado centers is nothing short of amazing!

And here's what he did for my birthday, he converted my Celtic Ferret image into a Avocado carving. He updates the image on a regular basis, so we could all see the progress on the carving. It was a great present indeed, and I wanted to show off his amazing work! Be sure to check out his shop to see the other items he has for sale!

The pendant;

Ferret by ~AvocadoArt

The original image;

Ferret by ~Illahie

Khaosdog Torcs

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:47:29 GMT

And another commission done!

The Khaosdog torc, a commission from the great Khaosdog self! Featuring the ever amazing and haunting 'Kdogs' Spike and Maxx.

Torc ends have been done in a stylized styling, but nothing Celtic per request of the commissioner. Spike's (left dog) eyes are Ruby and Maxx's (right dog) are blue Sapphire. Scars around their eyes have been made to match the characters.

Torc braid is a wide styled jump. Enjoy!

Khaosdog Torc by *Illahie

Also!

Duncan update!

Duncan is recovering nicely. In fact, perfectly is more the word, scary as it is. He's resting well, and when he eats he EATS. His stool seems to be back to normal, and his fur is slowly growing back. He's alert, getting his tricks back and is running faster than ever!

Birthday Tomorrow!

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:02:16 GMT

What can I say? The month of February has been a weird and scary one indeed. Tomorrow is the day that I will have survived yet another go around the sun. I am thankful that I seem to be in one piece, and in fairly good health so it seems. Gods and goddesses be praised for the support, help and teachings I've received this year.

What makes tomorrow more special than any other birthdays I've had so far? All of you. The fact I have Duncan here right now, something I possibly wouldn't have had if it wasn't for the kindness of friends and strangers alike. The compassion, love, well-wishes, prayers... just everything I received from all of you, it has blown me away.

I've always send help or donated whenever I can and now I know what it feels like to be on the needing/receiving end. It was a horrible feeling to have to ask for help, and simply un-describable to see, feel and hear help coming in from all around, even complete strangers. It has proven to me that 'giving' is the right path for me, and should be done for any good cause whenever and where ever I can. If I can indeed give people in need just a fraction of that which I felt and received when I was on needing end I know my gift won't be in loss.

I'd like to take a moment and thank the following people. Some names have been changed on request, and please, if you'd like to have your name edited feel free to email me in private.

All the people mentioned here will never be forgotten. These are my saviours.. these are Duncan's heroes. They deserve a mention to say the least. These people will always have a place in my heart.

First up, I've taken a copy of the donating names list of my PayPal account, up to the 27th of February 2008;

Ahliana Byrd, Alan Lee, Alesia Tom, Alicia Traveria, Alyssa Jones, Amanda Gannon, Amanda J. Conn, Amanda Pfluger, Andres Montoya, Anna Smith, Arnoud-Erik De Bruijn, ArynChris, Ashley Williford, Austin Lynch, Bailey Mauldin, Catherine Bell, Chelsey Peterson, Heilun_Coo, Chuck Arnold, Courtney Orednick, Craig Harris, Dana Johnson, Dana K. Boyd, Daniel Huysmans, Daryle Grof, David Hughes, Debra Ann Velie, Egap Tesroc, Elaine Raisch, Elisia Ware, Emily Dahlgran, Goldenwolf Art, Grafton Swickard, Jennifer Clower-Brown, Jennifer Fromm, Jennifer Miller, Jeroen Cranendonk, Jessica Hagemeier, Jessica Marquis, Joe Webb, Judith O'Grady, Karri Smith, Kate Nicholson, Katharine Jewell, Kathryn Price, Katie Hofgard, Katja Buhrmann, Katy Greaves, Keenan Maistry, Ken Lindebrekke, KL Walker, Kristen Fox, Kristine Myrvold, Laurie Schubert, Legro David, Liz Ellis, Louched Lounge, Margaret Petrie, Marisa B Young, Martin Miels, Mathew Borckardt, Matthew Gerteisen, Melanie Trotz, Michael Greco, Mythbinder, Nathalie Garfinkle, Nub Games Inc., Peter Curzon, Peter Maloney, Pine Wolf, Rebecca Carter-Hitchin, Rebecca Guess, Renee Hallman, Richard Haynes Jr., Sandra Marriott, Sara Martin, Scott Lefton, Selena Thomas, Sheena Robichaud, Silverfoxwolf, Silvia Gonzalez, Stephan Kuhn, Synnabar Graphics, Talyn Greywolf, Theone Slabinski, Therese Larsson, Vinod Oedairadjsingh, Wolf Systems Integration Inc., Xenia Eliassen

Second, all the people that opened up for commissions, and held special projects to raise more money.

Swedish Illustrator Therese Larsson; Thank you kindly for doing the project you did. You've really been a HUGE help and I'll never forget this.

Musician and Bard Marc Gunn, for giving people the chance to download your newest songs in exchange for a small donation.

Artist Kaiven, whom offered sketch commission to raise attention.

A special thanks goes out to the Louched Lounge for their generous donation. Same goes to amazing friends and members from the Wormwood Society. I can't thank you enough guys!

Next up;

ALL those people that donated outside PayPal, bought the 'A helping paw' silver pendant, offered their warmest well-wishes, advice and prayers. All of those that re-posted my cry for help. It spread like a wild-fire, and it really took me by surprise. This is a special thanks to all of you out there on the vast space that is the internet. Thank you

And last, but certainly not least...

A HUGE hug goes out to the ever amazing Hanneke Moorman. Without her expertise we wouldn't even have gotten as far as we have right now. There may be a long road ahead of us, and we may not reach the end, but with such a knowledgeable doctor and friend by my side I'll never fear or doubt that what I am doing is the right thing. I thank you, from the bottom of my heart and soul. Thank you

Home once more

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:55:57 GMT

We started driving at about 4pm, and only managed to reach the clinic at around 6:45pm due to traffic chaos EVERYWHERE! It was insane O.o

Had a nice chat with the vet concerning Duncan. She gave me a operation report, which holds all the info on what was done and such, a 'after-surgery' report, which holds notes on his condition each day and what was given to him during his recovery stay. Next to that we also received his new medication.

No results back on the biopsy reports, but we're waiting on those to see what has to be done from now on.

The specialist also made a very generous donation towards Duncan vet bills, which I really cannot thank her enough for. With her help, and ALL the help I received we should have the first stages covered, and perhaps even the treatments that are to follow.

Duncan is by no means fully recovered, but the vet felt it was safe enough to send him home and have him enjoy the comfort of his home, not to mention the smothering with love that will be going on.

What can I say.... I'll have to fall back on thanking ALL OF YOU again. This wasn't possible with all the help I received. And the support and well wishes, prayers and healing thoughts send to both Duncan and me kept me sane. Thank you all ever so much for this... Thank you

It's now nearly 10pm, and just under 30 minutes ago we arrive home. Duncan seems confused, but is doing okay. He spend some time staring into the living room, before finally crawling back into his sleeping bag.

Up next, the long road to recovery.

Not home yet

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:40:02 GMT

Well, Duncan had a small relapse so it seems. He had some black stool yesterday, which means he had a small internal bleeding. Not unusual for a ferret with a bad stomach that just had a big operation. The vet opted to keep Duncan there for another few days. As hard as it is, we do have to take this by the day.. nice and easy.

First 20 pendants are being touched up and almost ready to be send out. After that I have another 15 to do, and then I'm done for so far.

I'm tired.. but happy. Duncan seems to be on the mend, and with a bit of luck he'll be home this week. And if not, he'll be in the best hands either way.

UPDATE!!!

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:50:18 GMT

Oh my oh my oh my!!!

I just received a email from Hanneke, the vet treating Duncan. She emailed me saying Duncan threw up yet again last night, but despite that he did gain a little bit of weight. His temperature is a little bit elevated, but nothing unusual. He is alert and getting there so it seems. In all, she's not unhappy with the results, but happy we decided to have him stay for the weekend so she can watch him more closely.

And best thing of all....

SHE SEND ME A VIDEO!!

A short, 10 second video of Duncan.... eating by himself!! :D:D:D:D

I want to thank all of you, yet again..and again,... and again, for making this necesarry operation possible to begin with. Up next, the long road to recovery.. but it looks like he;ll pull through. Such a trooper!

And so..

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:21:05 GMT

..the waiting game starts. It's now saturday, and the vet has promised to send me a update about Duncan via email. I'm really nervous about the email. At one hand, if it was possible for a 24 hour phone line I'd call morning and evening to check-up on him. On another hand, I'm nervous to find out if he's not doing as expected.

Just thinking there... It's kind of funny. When I'm home in Ireland I -do- worry about Duncan whom is back in the Netherlands with my folk, but never in a nervous way. Yet when I'm in the Netherlands, around two hours away from him, I just loose it.

Hope that email comes soon :/