Celtic Lady

SAD NEWS

2012-01-12T16:03:00.001-06:00

I have been absent from this blog again - and actually it's been longer than you think. My December blogs were pre-written, and it turned out that was a good thing, as I would not have felt like writing Christmas posts.

Dan, my husband, was diagnosed with inoperable Stage IV esophageal cancer on December 7. Unbelievable as it may seem, there are relatively "good" cancers to have, but this is not one of them. It is in a bad place, and it has spread. Radiation is also not an option.

So it's been a rough few weeks, and I know this is only the beginning. We made the best of the Christmas season, especially after Kristen came home on December 25. I did all the usual shopping, wrapping, decorating and cleaning, even though it was sometimes difficult to proceed.

Kristen was able to stay until New Year's Eve day. On January 5, my husband began his first round of chemotherapy. What makes it so difficult is that he has to travel to the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Fargo for treatments, as the VA only has a clinic in Bismarck.

Fortunately, Dan felt well on the drive home, and over the weekend. But the nausea and flu-like symptoms have plagued him since. Hopefully he will feel better soon.

He will go back to Fargo for his second round of treatment on January 26. We are praying these sessions will put him into remission. I'm asking for your prayers and healing thoughts, and for the strength to help him deal with health, emotional and eating issues.

This is usually a pretty little blog, but now I am dealing with a big, nasty ugly thing that I may not want to write about, so I may not be blogging much in the next few months.

SUZANNE TOFTEY, ARTIST OF NORWEGIAN TRADITIONS

2011-12-23T10:54:00.003-06:00

ALMOND CAKE BAKER

Most of my posts this December have been about Norwegian holiday foods. I first learned about some of these Scandinavian treats by looking at the Suzanne Toftey "Takk For Maten" series of decorative tiles.

Takk for Maten means "Thanks for the food" in Norwegian. In celebration of today, which is Lille Juleaften (Little Christmas Eve) in Norway, I am saying thank you to Ms. Toftey for the way she is preserving Norwegian customs and traditions.

For not only does she portray scrumptious holiday delicacies, her little vignettes also showcase regional Norwegian costumes, home interiors and - in the tile borders - rosemaling patterns. Rosemaling is the traditional Norwegian folk or tole painting.

I have written posts about some of these foods, but some I have not, being unfamiliar with that particular treat. Depending on what year they were produced, the tiles have little stickers on the back explaining which region of Norway the child's costume is from, and a recipe. The newer tiles also depict a little nisse (Norwegian house and barn elf) in each vignette, watching the baker, helping out or sneaking a little bit of pastry or whipped cream.

SUZANNE TOFTEY

Toftey, from Lake Mille Lacs, MN, is an award-winning rosemaler and a Vesterheim Museum Gold Medalist. Her work has been on exhibit in Norway as well as in the United States.

In addition to the Takk for Maten series, Toftey has a line of Swedish and Danish holiday food tiles, Nisse plates, Norwegian Fjord Horse plates and Folk Art Tiles, which feature Norwegian Americans who are preserving crafts such as rosemaling, Norwegian knitting and woodworking.

She has produced 14 Takk for Maten tiles so far, of which I have collected four. I also have one Nisse plate. All are available at Scandinavian import stores and online shops.

FATTIGMAND BOYS

GJESTOST (GOAT CHEESE) BOY

PICKLED HERRING BOY

KRUMKAKE GIRL

LUTEFISK BOY

(If you read my lefse post, you'll

know why he is grimacing)

RISENGROT (RICE PUDDING) KIDS

JULEKAKE (CHRISTMAS BREAD) CHILDREN

KRANSEKAKE (NORWEGIAN WEDDING CAKE) GIRL

LEFSE GIRL

ROMMEGROT (SOUR CREAM PUDDING) GIRLS

VAFLER (WAFFLE) GIRL

(Norwegians use an iron that

makes heart-shaped waffles)

CREAM CAKE GIRL

(Moist cake layered with

whipped cream and fruit)

Risengrot and Rommegrot dry mixes are available in Scandinavian import stores and on the web.

NOTE: This is my last post for December. To all you Norwegian Americans out there, Happy Lille Juleaften. And for everyone, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

ALSO: What in the world is Blogger up to with the different colored, underlined words? I've noticed this in other blogs too. How do I get rid of it? (I tried deleting the word and typing it in again but that doesn't work.)

BLESSED YULE

2011-12-21T07:53:00.006-06:00

"WOODLAND GUARDIANS -

SAGE AND MAIDEN"

Solstice/Yule cards by Wendy Andrew

This is my fifth year of writing a Yule post. I was hard-pressed to find images that I have not used in the past, but I finally came up with a few. I was also-hard pressed to write something about Yule that I have not written before. In the end, I borrowed the written material from the Internet, altering it just a bit. Since Yule IS a pagan holiday, don't be surprised to find images of goddesses, fairies, elves, Druids, oak and holly kings, a unicorn and even a dragon in the art below.

"FESTIVE DRUID" Yule card by English artist Briar

Yule is a pagan holiday that celebrates the winter solstice - the shortest darkest day of the year - but also the rebirth of the Sun. In our symbolism of the year as a constantly turning wheel, this is the spoke where the Oak King (representing the light half of the year) vanquishes the Holly King (representing the dark half of the year), and thus ensures that the light and warmth of the sun will begin to increase each day.

"SPIRIT OF YULE" by Jillian

As the longest night of the year, some people believe that Yule is akin to the Long, Dark Night of Soul. Yule celebrations often echo both of these sentiments, often beginning in silent darkness and ending in a blaze of light, fire, and laughter.

"YULE STAG" card by Briar

While Yule is most often juxtaposed with Christmas today, Yule and Winter Solstice celebrations far outdate the Christian Christmas celebration. December 25th, the popular date to celebrate Christ’s birth, was also the birth date of Mithras, the ancient Persian Sun god of light and the guardian against evil.

"THE HOLLY KING"

By Shona M. MacDonald

Christianity didn’t even celebrate “Christmas” until the fourth century, and even as late as 1740, it was a normal workday for the Puritans in the New World of America. They viewed Christmas as a pagan holiday, and forbade any celebrations and/or decorations of acknowledgement of the day.

"THE OAK KING" by Yuri Leitch

Yes, try as one might, one cannot erase the pagan aspects of this holiday. Most of today’s Christmas traditions are pagan in nature, derived from both old Yule and Solstice traditions, and include holly wreaths, decorated Christmas trees, the Yule log, kissing under the mistletoe, and the jolly old man himself, Santa Claus.

"YULE GODDESS" by J. M. Leotti

In today’s society, living firs and pines are cut and then placed in homes to be decorated with ornaments, lights, and the crowning star. In days long past, though, the decorated tree was a living tree, either one standing outside the home or which was brought into the home in a planter. Firs and pines were not chosen at random to be the tree of choice; they represent today, as they did in ancient times, the “life-in-death” nature of the season. It seems almost a parody that we today buy cut, dead trees to represent the important symbolism of the season.

"WINTER'S SENTINEL" by G. Bell

Living trees were also brought into the home to provide a warm place of residence for the wood spirits, who would then look kindly upon the family during the year. Foodstuffs such as apples and cinnamon sticks were hung on the branches so the spirits would have plenty to eat in this barren time of year, and bells were hung from the branches so that their tinkling could announce the presence of a spirit. The five-pointed star, symbol of the five elements of earth, air, fire, water, and spirit, would be placed at the top of the tree and crystals hung to represent icicles.

"WINTER SOLSTICE" by Wilfow? (That's

what the signature looks like to me)

Yule, being a Sun celebration, was most often noted by the lighting of the Yule Log, a large log burned throughout the Yuletide celebrations and then saved as a protective charm until the next Yule, when it was used to start the new Yule fire. The red and green colors of the season are probably derived from the colors of the trees, mistletoe, and holly berries found in abundance at this time of year. They are, however, also a form of sympathetic magick, with red representing the warmth of the sun and green representing the growth of new plants, aspects everyone wishes to draw into their lives at this time of the year.

Artist Unknown

Yule is a time of rebirth; of new beginnings and the setting of new goals for oneself. It is a time of putting aside regrets, resentments, and that which causes us unhappiness. But before we can rid ourselves of these, we must know them intimately. And thus, the season starts in the silent darkness of the cold winter’s night; a time when we cannot escape ourselves through pleasurable outside diversions. The beginning celebrations are a time of meditation and inward thoughts; of recognizing the cold sorrows of the season of barrenness as both those within the frosted panes of our souls, as well as those raging outside the frosted window.

"SOLSTICE GATHERING" by Anne Stokes

(The helpful little dragon assists his

mistress in gathering holly and mistletoe)

IT'S LEFSE TIME!

2011-12-19T16:03:00.001-06:00

It's Christmas time, so it must be lefse time! As any "good" Norwegian-American will tell you, lefse (LEF-suh) is to us as the tortilla is to the Mexican. It's a traditional soft flatbread made out of potatoes, milk or cream, and flour, and cooked on a griddle.

"In Norway women would travel from house to house spending three or four days making up to a year's supply of lefse for the household. They would often work over an open fire and by lantern light into the evening. The finished rounds were stacked in barrels. Rounds were also stored in kistes (sea chests) or steamer trunks for fishermen packing provisions for long sea voyages. Often, the shed where this baking took place was also the place where beer was made."

...The Last Word on Lefse by Gary Legwold (1992)

Although Dan and I buy our lefse from the store, there are still people in our family who make huge batches every year. Dan's mom and dad used to be the lefse makers. They are now deceased, but Dan's older brother Dick, his wife Bonny, their daughter Lisa and her kids get together every fall on a day set aside as lefse-making day.

LEFSE MAKERS EXTRAORDINAIRE!

DAN'S BROTHER DICK, DAUGHTER

LISA AND WIFE BONNY

In doing so, they are following a Scandinavian-American tradition, as lefse consumption in the United States is most popular around the fall and winter holidays beginning with Thanksgiving. Making lefse as a group is definitely a more enjoyable activity than making it alone! Such gatherings also provide training in keeping the tradition alive for younger generations.

The town of Starbuck, MN, is the home of the world's largest lefse. In some parts of the United States, including Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon and Washington, lefse is available in grocery stores. Norsland Lefse, a factory in Rushford, MN, produces about a half million rounds of lefse each year.

LEFSE GRIDDLE

Lefse is especially celebrated in cities and towns with large Scandinavian populations. Fargo, ND, hosts the wildly popular Lobster and Lefse Festival in August each year. Fosston, MN, invites area lefse makers to compete for the title of Champion Lefse Maker at its Lefse Fest in November.

LEFSE ON THE GRIDDLE

There are many ways of flavoring lefse. The most common is adding butter to the lefse and rolling it up. In Norway, this is known as "lefse-klenning". Other options include adding cinnamon and/or sugar, or spreading jelly or jam on it. Dan's family always enjoyed lefse with homemade chokecherry jelly (which is more like a sauce than a jelly).

I found the following information on the Internet and most of it is news to me: "Scandinavian-American variations include rolling it with a thin layer of peanut butter and sugar, with butter and white or brown sugar, with butter and corn syrup, or with ham and eggs. Also quite good with beef, and other savory items, it is comparable to a thin tortilla."

Lefse is a traditional accompaniment to lutefisk (LOOTA-fisk), which is codfish preserved in lye. While many Norwegian-Americans profess a great love for lutefisk, I find it to be a very stinky, repulsive, quivering jelly-like mess. Actually, everyone finds lutefisk to be smelly. Often served at Lutheran church basement suppers, lutefisk sends out an overpowering aroma that is enough to knock out anyone in the building. Fortunately for non-lutefisk eaters, they always serve Swedish meatballs too.

There's a song about lutefisk set to the tune of "O Tannenbaum" which begins like this:

"O Lutefisk, O Lutefisk, how fragrant your aroma,
O Lutefisk, O Lutefisk, you put me in a coma.
You smell so strong, you look like glue,
You taste yust like an overshoe,
But lutefisk, come Saturday,
I tink I eat you anyvay."

Adaptation by Red Stangeland. For all five verses, go here: http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/o_lutefisk_o_lutefisk.htm

"LEFSE IS BEAUTIFUL" SET

A lefse griddle is about $100.00. There are also many special lefse-making accessories to be found on the Internet, such as the "It's Lefse Time" apron shown above. The "Lefse is Beautiful" set, directly above, consists of a pastry board and cloth, turning stick, rolling pin, potato ricer, rolling pin covers, flour dredge, lefse cosies and hot pad, $85.00. Sometimes the end of the turning stick is painted with rosemaling, a type of traditional Norwegian folk art. However, a yard stick will do as well!

LISA AND DICK WITH LISA'S TWO YOUNGEST

CHILDREN, LESLIE AND PATRICK.
ROLLING PIN AND PADDLES, READY!

Here's just one of many hundreds of lefse recipes available, from the "From Norwegian Kitchens to Your Kitchen".

POTATO LEFSE

2 1/2 cups mashed potatoes
1 tablespoon sugar
A little cream
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons shortening
Flor

Mix the mashed potatoes while still lukewarm and add the salt, cream, sugar and shortening. Cool. Add enough flour to make a soft dough. On a floured board, roll the dough thin, turning as you roll to make an even round and to keep from sticking on the bottom. Bake on lefse grill. (Some people prefer to rice rather than mash the potatoes.)

To store the lefse rounds when cool, fold them in half and then in half again and wrap in cellophane wrap.

THE END RESULT. DO YOU
THINK THEY MADE ENOUGH?

A CARL LARSSON CHRISTMAS

2011-12-18T11:30:00.002-06:00

CHRISTMAS TREE 1917

In my previous post I featured several Carl Larsson products - a collectible cookie tin and a cake tray. A lot of Larsson's paintings are used for Christmas merchandise. I think he must have really loved Christmas, considering he produced so many Christmas paintings. He must also have loved his children a lot, since he often used them as models for the pretty, robust children in the paintings.

His interior paintings reveal a colorful, warm, bright and cozy world in defiance of the bitter cold world outside. And people even seem to be happy in the outdoor paintings.

Although Larsson was Swedish and not Norwegian, I think that he really represents the Scandinavian spirit and so I have embraced his images wholeheartedly. I especially love the painting of his daughter Brita in her red dress and cap, holding apples and candles. I have a wall hanging of it which goes in my kitchen at Christmas time.

In celebration of the season, I put together this group of a dozen of Larsson's Christmas and winter paintings.

CHRISTMAS EVENING

BRITA WITH APPLES

CHRISTMAS MORNING 1894

THE WASH HOUSE (BRITA WITH SLED)

KERSTI'S SLEIGH RIDE

NOW IT'S CHRISTMAS

"GIRL IN A RED COAT"

"LISBETH"

LITTLE GIRL SKIING

ST. LUCIA DAY

MURRE ON A ROCKING HORSE

A TASTE OF GINGER AND ALMONDS

2011-12-16T19:43:00.003-06:00

CARL LARSSON SWEDISH PEPPARKAKOR TIN 2011

"MARTHA WINSLOW AS A LITTLE GIRL"

Gingersnaps are among the seven traditional Norwegian Christmas cookies on my list. But I'm not going to provide a recipe here (you can find a million on the web, though). I'd be a fool to make them when I can buy a heap of these zingy cookies in a collector's tin with art by Carl Larsson. Each Christmas, Europa in St. Paul, MN, brings out a tin of these Swedish ginger cookies, called pepparkakkor. I don't feel a bit bad about buying SWEDISH cookies, either, because I have a distant great-great-something grandmother who came from Sweden.

Pepparkakkors used to come in a heart shape, which I prefer, but now they come in a scalloped shape. They still taste the same, though. This big tin of cookies only costs $13.00. When the cookies are gone, I save only the lids and display them on the wall.

So yes, I cheat when it comes to gingersnaps. And you could also say I cheat when it comes to Norwegian almond cookies. My mom and grandma used to make overnight (refrigerated) almond cookies but I make a Scandinavian almond cake instead. (If you'd rather have an almond cookie, I'll repeat my mantra: You'll find a million recipes on the web).

These cakes were a huge hit with my family when I served them for the first time last year. The tin comes with the recipe, too. It's really simple:

SCANDINAVIAN ALMOND CAKE

Spray pan well with Pam or other cooking spray (That's what the recipe says but I find that the spray just settles at the bottom of the pan and the cake sticks to it. Try butter or margarine instead.)
Beat well: 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1 egg, 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract and 2/3 cups of milk
Add: 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Add: 1 stick of melted margarine and mix well.

Before pouring batter in the pan, sprinkle sliced almonds on the bottom of the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Edges must be golden brown. Cool in pan before removing. Cake will break if removed too soon.

The Scandinavian almond cake pan costs about $12.00 and is available in Scandinavian import stores, online import shops and other places on the web.

Here's the finished product! I don't like it quite as browned on the bottom as the cake in this photo so I don't bake it as long. Some people dust the loaf with powdered sugar. If you do, wait until the cake is cooled or the powdered sugar will melt.

I like to give these almond pans as gifts, along with a Carl Larsson tray to serve the cakes on. I have given these to my sister and two sisters-in-law. They were a big hit! There are also many other Carl Larsson cake trays and larger serving trays in many other scenes besides this winter scene called "Brita With Sled".

NORWEGIAN KRUMKAKE AND SPRITZ

2011-12-12T18:12:00.000-06:00

NORWEGIAN KRUMKAKE

Krumkake (with various spellings) and spritz (sprits) are two more cookies in the Norwegian cook's holiday
arsenal. To make krumkake, one must invest in a krumkake iron and cone form. To make spritz, one needs a simpler and less expensive tool, the cookie press.

KRUMKAKE IRON AND CONE FORM

There are two kinds of krumkake irons, the old-fashioned stove-top kind, and the electric iron. Surprisingly, there's not much different in the price - about $45 for the stove-top version, and $50 for the electric iron. Both leave a pretty, intricate pattern on the pastry. And either way, the hot krumkake is immediately rolled onto the cone form until it hardens.

YOU CAN FILL YOUR KRUMKAKE WITH

WHIPPED CREAM

OR WHIPPED CREAM AND FRUIT!

Or, you can enjoy your krumkake plain, as we did. I'm printing this recipe, which features whipped cream and nutmeg, but there are other recipes that use vanilla or cardamom for flavoring. All you have to do is Google Krumkake, Krumkaka, Krum Kake, Krumkaker or Krumkager.

WHIPPED CREAM KRUMKAKE

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup cream, whipped

1/2 cup butter

3 eggs

2 cups flour

Beat eggs, add sugar, cream, butter and nutmeg. Add enough flour to handle easily, testing on the hot iron. Place one teaspoon of dough on iron and bake until a very light brown. Roll quickly onto a cone form.

NORWEGIAN SPRITZ OR SPRITS

In a previous post I said that Norwegian Christmas cookies are all made with similar, simple ingredients, and that it's the presentation that counts. There could be no better example than spritz, or sprits, made only with butter, eggs, sugar and flour and squeezed out through a spritz press.

SPRITZ PRESS

A spritz press costs about $17.00 at Scandinavian import shops or on amazon.com.

SCANDINAVIAN SPRITZ COOKIES

1 pound butter

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

5 cups flour

Mix well and put through a cookie press. Bake in a moderate oven until lightly browned. Leave plain or top with colored sugars, nonpareils, dragees or candy sprinkles. Add a maraschino cherry to the middle if desired.

MY HOLIDAY POSTS THROUGH THE YEARS

2011-12-08T19:19:00.004-06:00

"CHRISTMAS TIME" by Susan Dwyer

I have a couple of posts left regarding Norwegian Christmas cookies, but I am going to take a break. Although I have concentrated on recipes so far this December, I have written many holiday posts since 2007.

I have a widget called Feedjit on my sidebar that tells me which subjects people are looking for when they land on my blog. (I mean, besides those readers who are actually looking for me!) It is the most fun to check Feedjit at two times each year, the first when people are looking for information on Samhain, or Celtic Halloween, and now. I have noticed many recent visitors looking up such holiday subjects as The Legend of the Christmas Robin, the Holly and the Ivy and Lillejuleaften.

VINTAGE IMAGE

I thought I'd list the holiday posts I've written over the years - year by year - so you can easily see what I had to say about various topics. To find these posts, all you have to do is scroll down the right side of my blog until you reach "BLOG ARCHIVES". Click on the year 2007, and you will find all the December posts right at the top. (Some years I wrote so many holiday posts that you may have to click on "Older Posts" at the bottom of the page.) Do the same for 2008, 2009 and even last year, when I only wrote two posts the whole month.

I have written a Solstice or Yule post every year. (As a Celt, I must celebrate this most important holiday!)That is the one constant. Otherwise, I am all over the place - Norway, Sweden, Victorian England, Scotland, Mexico, the Holy Land, Germany, Holland, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia.

2007

Dec 21: HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE (The Holly King, holly lore and Old English poems)

Dec 20: 12 THINGS ABOUT ME AT CHRISTMAS (Christmas memories, good and bad. This was a MeMe challenge and so fun to do.)

Dec. 16: MY OWN LIVING DOLL (Trying to get my daughter to pose for the Christmas card photo)

Dec. 13: ST. LUCIA DAY (Celebrating the Swedish holiday)

"LILLEJULEAFTEN" by Rudolf Koivu

2007 continued

Dec. 11: FATHER CHRISTMAS AND FRIENDS (Christmas Finds at the Flea Market)

Dec. 8: A VINTAGE CHRISTMAS (Vintage ornaments in my collection)

Dec. 4: SCANDINAVIAN CHRISTMAS TREATS (An overview of the treats I am featuring in depth this year)

Dec. 1: IN THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON (My favorite vintage Christmas books, plus my Christmas resolutions)

MY MANTEL AT CHRISTMAS TIME

2008

Dec. 31: A SCOTTISH NEW YEAR (All about Hogmanay - Scottish New Year, even more important than Christmas in Scotland! Featuring Scottie, Westie and Corgi cards)

Dec. 25: "BETWEEN THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT" (a poem)

Dec. 23: LILLEJULEAFTEN (all about Norwegian "Little Christmas Eve", Dec. 23, and featuring my Norwegian Christmas decorations and ornaments)

Dec. 21: HAPPY SOLSTICE/YULE (featuring great artwork)

MY CHRISTMAS GIFTS, AGE 5??

2008 continued

Dec. 17: SCANDINAVIAN CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS (featuring Norwegian holiday art)

Dec. 13: MY 10 BEST CHRISTMAS BOOKS

Dec. 9: THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS (memories of my grade school Christmas pageants, featuring vintage Santa Claus/Father Christmas postcards)

Dec. 5: "I AM THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT" (my favorite Christmas poem)

SCOTTISH HOGMANAY (NEW YEAR'S) CARD

2009

Dec. 31: HAPPY BLUE MOON NEW YEAR (New Year's Eve and a blue moon on the same day, featuring vintage postcards with snowmen from around the world)

Dec. 29: SIXTY THINGS (another MeMe, this time 60 things about me in honor of my 60th year, featuring my home decorated for Christmas)

Dec. 24: NIGHT OF CANDLES (or Oidche Choinnle in Scottish Gaelic, featuring Scottish Christmas customs)

Dec. 21: YULE (Winter solstice celebrated around the world, featuring more great artwork)

"THE HOLLY KING" by Joanna Powell Colbert

2008 continued

Dec. 19: THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS ROBIN (with great paintings of Christmas robins - the English robin which is different from the American robin)

Dec. 17: THE HOLLY AND THE IVY (Holly and Ivy carol, lore and artwork)

Dec. 15: CHRISTMAS PLANT LORE (The stories behind our favorite Christmas flowers and plants, featuring beautiful paintings)

Dec. 10: THEY INVENTED CHRISTMAS (Featuring Victorian Christmas customs and paintings and yet another MeMe in which I answer 15 random holiday questions)

Dec. 5: I WANT OLD CHRISTMAS BACK (Memories of a simpler Christmas and Old-Fashioned Christmas paintings)

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS SNOWMAN CARD

2010

Dec. 20: Yuletide (Yule/Solstice poems and artwork)

Dec. 13: WINTER GIFT/CHRISTMAS SPIRIT (In which I re-print my favorite Christmas poem, and feature the art of Julia Jeffries)

I really dropped the ball last year. My excuse is that I had started a new job after being unemployed for almost a year. It involved learning a lot of information and 8 hours a day pounding away at the computer.

"HOLLY AND IVY" by Anita Stanhope

After having typed this list, I must admit that I am quite impressed with myself for all of the research I've done and artwork I've found! I also have to admit that I am running out of holiday themes to write about. If I did some research, I could write about Christmas in Ireland. But, I wouldn't need to do research to write a post about our childhood church Christmas programs, or Christmas on the Prairie.

So many people have written about their Top 10 Christmas movies. I could make a list too, but it would include quite a few movies that don't make other lists. Do you have any other ideas for me?

"HOLIDAY MEMORIES MARIETTA, OHIO, 1959"

by Michael Dickinson

All I know for sure is that after this post, it's back to the Norwegian Christmas cookies recipes.

"CHURCH ROBIN" from Quarriers Cards

ROSETTES AND FATTIGMAND

2011-12-06T21:36:00.000-06:00

ROSETTES

Rosettes and fattigmand are two Norwegian Christmas cookies that are deep fried in hot oil. Rosettes are lighter than air and incredibly fragile. They taste best when sprinkled with powdered sugar when they are still hot and eaten right away.

Rosettes are made with a special tool called a rosette iron. They used to be made with iron but some are now made with aluminum. When I was a child we only saw the classic rose shape, but now I see that there are all kinds of shapes, including stars and Christmas trees, and playing card designs.

I found this set on amazon.com for $15.00. It not only includes three rosette patterns but also three timbales. I never knew what a timbale was, until I pulled up this image. What do you know? They're tart tins - or sandbakkel tins.

I had forgotten to mention in my last post that sandbakkel tins cost about $12.00 a set, so to get the rosette iron and the tins is a real bargain.

ROSETTES

2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Beat eggs, sugar and salt slightly. Add milk and flour. Beat until smooth. Bake with a rosette iron. Heat form well in boiling oil or fat and dip into batter, being careful not to let batter run over the edge of the form. Dip the iron with the batter sticking to it into the hot fat until nicely browned. This makes about 40 rosettes. When serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

FATTIGMAND (POOR MAN)

Fattigman may be made with a special cutter or roller, but it isn't necessary. A plain old kitchen knife will work very well. The recipe below features brandy. If you don't care for it, there are other recipes in the From Norwegian Kitchens cookbook, but this one explains how to cut the dough.

6 egg yolks
6 tablespoons whipping cream
3 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoons cardamom
Flour to make a soft dough
6 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
2 egg whites

Beat egg yolks until very light. Add sugar, cream, butter, brandy and cardamom and beat. Add flour to make soft dough and fold in beaten egg whites. Chill dough. Roll as thinly as possible and cut with a pastry wheel or knife into diamond shaped pieces about 3 or 4 inches long from point to point. Cut a slit directly in the middle of each diamond and pull through one tail. Fry in hot fat. Drain on brown paper.

A fattigmand cutter or roller, nice but not necessary. Amazon.com sells them for $19.00.

Enjoy these deep fried Christmas treats!

SEVEN DIFFERENT KINDS OF NORWEGIAN CHRISTMAS COOKIES

2011-12-03T13:18:00.001-06:00

For most of the year, I natter away on this blog about how proud I am to be a Celt of the Scottish and Irish persuasion. But I'm also half Viking, a Norse, and I'm proud of that too. And at this time of the year I'm all about being Norwegian. Because Norwegians certainly know how to "do" Christmas.

In times past it was said that a proper Norwegian housewife should have seven different kinds of cookies on hand to serve her Christmas guests, be it for afternoon coffee or after a holiday meal. There are a number of lists on the Internet for these seven cookies, but frankly I had never heard of some of the cookies, and I was raised in a Norwegian community!

These lists differ among themselves too, so I thought I would present my own list from memories of my childhood and what I have discovered as an adult. So this is Julie's List of the Seven Different Kinds of Norwegian cookies:

1. Krumkakke (pronounced KROOM ka ka, also spelled Krumkake or Krumkaka)

2. Sandbakkels - or Sandbakkelse (Sand Tarts, pronounced SAAND bockles)

3. Rosettes

4. Norwegian Almond Cookies

5. Ginger Cookies

6. Fattigmand (pronounced FOTTY mun, meaning Poor Man)

7. Spritz

The "trouble" with a lot of cookies on the list is that they require special tools or tins to make them. My Grandma Julia's family didn't make any of these cookies. I don't know if it's because my Scottish Grandfather had told my Grandma that "We're in America now, and the Norwegian part of you must go away", or words to that effect. Or perhaps they didn't have the money to buy the special tins or tools.

But why bother to make them when you could buy them? By my time (and that was after Grandpa's time), you could go to any cafe in Crosby and come home with a big box of assorted Norwegian cookies. You had to handle the box very carefully, as some of the cookies are very fragile.

In coming posts, I am going to write about the 7 kinds of cookies, starting with Sandbakkels. These cookies need special tins, which can be obtained from Scandinavian import stores on the Internet.

When I was growing up, we only saw the round sandbakkel tins. I see they have branched out with other shapes since then.

Below is just one recipe for Sandbakkelse, taken from the cookbook shown at the top of the post, From Norwegian Kitchens to Your Kitchen, compiled by Bergquist Imports in Cloquet, MN. You can find this cookbook on the Bergquist website as well as other Scandinavian import store websites. You will also see the older, "vintage" edition available used on amazon.com and eBay.

All the recipes I feature will be from this cookbook, but you can find hundreds of similar recipes on the web by Googling Norwegian or Scandinavian Christmas cookies. It is said that Norwegian cookies are made with "butter and love", and it is certainly true about the butter part! You will note that a lot of them feature the same or similar ingredients. It's the presentation that makes them different.

SANDBAKKELSE

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup butter (not margarine!!)

1 egg

1 cup finely chopped almonds

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

Cream sugar and butter. Add egg and dry ingredients and mold into sandbakkelse forms. Bake in 300 degree oven until golden brown.

We always ate them plain and I was surprised to learn that other Norwegians fill them with a creamy filling or fresh fruit, fruit filling or jam and dab them with whipped cream. Who knew? But we always thought they were just great, plain.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2011-11-24T16:13:00.001-06:00

I have been away from this blog for such a long time - four weeks to the day - that you may have thought that the Queen of the Fairies did spy me on Samhain Eve and spirited me away. But no, here I still am.

It seems to me that I went to sleep on a balmy Halloween Eve and awoke to a whole new world. A whole new world of:

Colder weather.

A brand new month, a month I'm not very fond of.

A new job, which meant jumping out of my comfort zone and into yet another learning-new-things zone.

Going back to working full time, when I had been spoiled working afternoons for about six weeks.

Getting up in the dark.

The time change.

I adapted to the new world of November, as one always does, having learned the new job, having adjusted to the time change and waking up at 6:30, having put my beautiful garden to sleep, having dragged out the winter coat, hats and gloves.

Yesterday, I had a couple of setbacks. I learned that my employers grossly overestimated the amount of work they had for us, and our jobs will be winding down by the end of next week at the latest, instead of the end of December. (And new temp jobs are few and far between in December.)

When I drove home at the end of the day, I knew something was definitely wrong with my car, and I had to limp it home. I am praying it is something small and not monumental like the transmission.

Of course, immediately my mind jumped to the worst scenarios: no jobs all winter, no car. The only thing going for yesterday, it seemed, was the unheard of temperature of 62 degrees. Indeed, it broke a record for Bismarck on Nov. 23.

But here it is Thanksgiving Day and I find I do have a lot to be grateful for.

Although it will be just Dan and me for Thanksgiving this year, my sister will have Christmas off and we'll all celebrate together, including Kristen, who flies in Christmas Morning.

The ground remains brown, not white, and promises to remain so until the calendar page turns to December. As everyone around here is saying, "That's one less month of winter for us", as November has been known to wallop us with a blizzard in its first week.

I have been continuously employed for 13 months, yay! And the economy in Bismarck is so good that I will probably get another assignment early in the new year.

I have plenty of food to eat, a cozy house, a husband who loves to cook (even Thanksgiving dinners), and my sweet but nutty dog, Gracie.

I am not one of those crazy ass people out shopping at Wal-Mart today, or going to bed early tonight so they can get up at MIDNIGHT and enter the insanity of Black Friday.

I AM one of those people who has not forgotten the meaning of Thanksgiving and does not let Christmas madness overtake this day.

The car will eventually get fixed. I'll eventually get another job. And if winter comes, can spring be far behind?

I am truly blessed. I hope you all are too. Happy Thanksgiving.

SAMHAIN DANCE

2011-10-27T14:32:00.006-06:00

Artist Unknown

"I will dance

the dance of dying days

and sleeping life.

I will dance

in cold, dead leaves

a bending, whirling, human dance.

I will dance

as the horned god rides

across the skies.

I will dance

to the music of his hounds

running, baying in chorus.

I will dance

with the ghosts of those

gone before.

I will dance

between the sleep of life

and the dream of death."

There are many kinds of dances to be done on Samhain, or Halloween Eve. For instance:

There's the Spiral Dance:

Actual Spiral Dance in Asheville, NC in 2007.

Notice all the orbs, which are fairies or spirits!

The Spiral Dance, also called the Grapevine Dance and the Weaver’s Dance, is a Neopagan group dance emphasizing community. It is especially popular at festivals due to its accommodation of large numbers of people.

The first Spiral Dance was performed in Berkeley, CA, in celebration of the publication of the book The Spiral Dance by Starhawk. It melded art, music, ritual and politics. It turned into a yearly celebration, although a large portion of the politics was removed for later versions. It currently exists as a Samhain celebration to honor the dead and celebrate rebirth.

There's the Celtic/Pagan Bonfire Dance:

With a huge community bonfire ablaze, the ancient Celts would extinguish all household fires. Each family then solemnly lit its hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together. Often two bonfires would be built side by side, and the people would walk between the fires as a ritual of purification. Sometimes the cattle and other livestock would be driven between the fires, as well.

The bonfires held at Samhain, the Celtic New Year's Eve, were meant to warm friendly spirits and ward off evil ones, and also represented the sun which they wished would return, bringing heat and growth. The bonfires of the Celts continued to blaze down through the centuries, and will again be alight in Britain on Monday night.

There's the Witch's Dance:

Vintage Halloween decoration

What self-respecting witch and her black cat familiar would not dance on Halloween evening?

There's the Halloween Costume Dance of the early 20th century:

There's the Monster Mash Dance:

There's the Solitary Dance:

"Samhain Dance", copyright

Greta M. Margherita

There's the Full Moon Dance:

"Halloween Dance" by Holly Stokes

There's the Faeries' Dance:

"Spiral Dance" by Naze-Melnyk

At Samhain the veil between this world and the next grows thin. The fairies come out to dance and make mischief. Beware, the Queen of the Fairies may capture you and spirit you away to her home in the hollow hills.

There's the Midnight Madness Dance:

Vintage Halloween Image

There's the Dancing Jack O'Lanterns:

Vintage Halloween Postcard

Which dance will you be dancing on Halloween/Samhain Eve? For me, there will be no full moon and no firelight, just a small solitary dance across the crunchy leaves.

THE MUCH-MALIGNED HALLOWEEN BLACK CAT

2011-10-21T18:18:00.007-06:00

"The Samhain Lantern", copyright Terrauh Barrett

From vintage postcards to modern illustrations, black cats are as much a symbol of Halloween as are pumpkins and ghosts. They were also symbols of Samhain, the ancient Celtic holiday that occurs at this time, inasmuch as they were seen as companions of Celtic goddesses.

Old village tales, superstitions and folklore regarding black cats abounded, and still exist in some communities to this day. Some European cultures consider a black cat to be a bad omen. The superstition of a black cat crossing your path being bad luck is very well known throughout North America and other parts of the world.

Samhain Flag

Irish culture believed the appearance of a black cat beneath the moonlight foretold great illness. Likewise, the Italians believed that a sick person visited by a black cat would soon perish. Others, in particular the South African religion Hoodoo, believes that a particular bone within a black cat can be used to impart someone with invisibility or other powers.

However, black cats didn't take on a really sinister aspect and become affiliated with evil until the Middle Ages, when the Christian Church began to associate black cats with women they accused of being witches. I had long known that black cats are considered to be familiars of witches, but I had no idea what that meant for the poor black cat!

By famous postcard maker Whitney

Some superstitions have it that a "familiar" - or familiar spirit - is an actual witch who has shape shifted into a different form. Others say that a familiar is a supernatural entity, perhaps an imp or minor demon in animal form, that shares a special bond with a witch.

Not that long ago, the scary duo of witch and black cat was regarded with fear and trepidation. Woe to anyone walking alone on a dark night if he spied a black cat lying in wait on a path. And worse still, a witch may be lurking nearby, seeking to cast a hex on the unwary traveler!

Artist Unknown

Familiars could take the shape of many different creatures, including mice, snakes, owls, hedgehogs, toads, hares, ferrets, lizards, bats, crows or ravens, black dogs and even "humanoid" creatures. But by far it is the black cat that maintains the most powerful association with witches.

The fact that the cat - especially a black cat - received the most attention makes sense, because cats possess a particular unique personality. Cats are nocturnal by nature, and black cats blend in with the night. Their eyes glow in the dark, which could be considered a sign of evil. They also possess an unearthly wail.

"Hecate/Samhain", copyright Wendy Andrew.
Here the witch is associated with Hecate, the crone.

Familiars were considered at least as dangerous as witches. They could spy or wreak havoc for their witch without being easily detected. Here are other things people said about familiars.

1. The main purpose of familiars is is to serve the youngest witches, providing protection for them as they come into their new powers.

2. They assist witches in their practice of magic, casting spells and hexes.

3. They act as intermediaries for the witch, carrying out her orders so that she won't have to be at the scene of the crime when the evil deed is done.

4. Hungarians believed that cats became familiars between the ages of 7 and 12 years.

5. It was possible to deliver the cat from the witch by making an incision on its skin in the form of a cross. (Woe the poor cat!)

Vintage Halloween Postcard, Raphael

Tuck and Sons of London

6. A witch received her familiar spirit following her initiation into a coven or sect.

7. If a witch becomes human, her black cat will no longer reside in her house.

8. Witches grew an "unnatural nipple", with which they suckled their familiars. This was called a "witch's teat".

9. Witches turned themselves into cats or other animals in order to transport themselves to a sabbat (a midnight meeting) presided over by the devil.

10. A witch's cat came to be called a grimalkin. The Scottish goddess of witches was called Mither o'the Mawkins, a mawkin or malkin being either a cat or hare.

"Happy Samhain Kitten and Candle",

John Richard Stephens explains in his book, The Enchanted Cat, how people twisted the concept of association with cats into something demonic and evil: "(It) began with the Catholic Church's persecution of religious groups, some of which worshipped the cat. In the 12th Century this persecution spread to splinter groups of the church itself, such as the Cathars, whom the church accused of worshipping the devil in the form of a cat. This led to stories of Satan's appearing at black masses as a cat."

Vintage Halloween postcard by artist Frances
Brundage, published by Tuck and Sons

The black cat suffered most in the areas of Europe that partook in the practice of witch trials, which started in the 13th Century. In 1233, Pope Gregory IX even went so far as to declare black cats to be evil, satanic creatures, leading to their widespread extermination. In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII issued a decree denouncing ALL cats and anyone who owned one! Inquisitor Nicholas Remy echoed this a century later when he said that all cats were demons. During this period priests presided over festivals where cats were burned by the hundreds.

Older women in the Middle Ages were almost always marginalized and lonely. Isolated from society, they turned to small animals for friendship. At one point during the witch hysteria in Europe, the mere possession of a black cat (or of a unusual pet like a frog, lizard or rat) was sufficient cause for investigation as a witch. Close animal companions were sometimes considered proof that a person was a witch!

"The Love Potion" by Ellen Morgan.

Though not a Halloween painting, it

shows a black cat as a witch's familiar.

The Black Death devastated Europe from 1346 to 1349. This and other plagues were blamed on witchcraft, and the witch trials intensified. As economic problems grew, and food and jobs became scarce, the trials offered an excuse to get rid of "economically useless" old women.

Witch trials often produced "evidence" of a witch's teat on the body of the supposed witch - which could possibly have been a birthmark or growth. Regardless, any bodily imperfection on the suspect was immediately pronounced as evidence of a witch's teat.

Vintage Halloween Postcard -

Usually the cat is scary, not scared!

For several centuries these "witches" were rounded up, tried, and killed by burning, drowning or other violent methods, and their "familiars" were killed with them. In Europe and Britain over 200,000 supposed witches were executed. In New England there were over 2,000 cat-related witch trials. Millions of cats were destroyed, and the species was brought to the point of extinction.

Of course today we know that most of the women considered to be witches were either falsely accused or were simply "cunning women", those who were well-versed in herbal lore and other folk remedies, which was sometimes considered witchcraft by overly superstitious folk.

Artist Unknown

Although we no longer burn and drown witches and their familiars, the poor black cat still can't catch a break! Did you know that black cats are the ones most often put to death in shelters? That's because they are the color of cat least adopted.

Wisely, shelters here in the United States will not adopt out black cats at Halloween and a few weeks prior and after, for fear they will be tortured, or used as "living decorations" for the holiday and then abandoned.

"Avoid grinning black cats on full green moon,

If your lover is true, he'll come back soon.

It breaks the charm, the witches scream

And never return, till next Halloween."

However, familiars have been depicted in a much more positive light in the Harry Potter movies, where the owls and other animals pair with the young spell casters to form a special bond. And modern day Wiccans and Neo-Pagans consider the black cat to be more like the Christian concept of a guardian angel. A Wiccan's familiar can be his or her closest companion, offering moral support, special knowledge, and/or physical healing.

So if you see a black cat (or a cat of any color) this Halloween/Samhain, offer it a big hug and give thanks that the cat survived as a species. Do not be afraid - be kind to the poor, abused, dreaded, maligned black cat!

"Hecate's Cauldron", Artist Unknown

Here, the witch has a black cat,

a hare and a raven!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ADDED 10/24: Thank you so much, WOL, for your very insightful added information (see comments).

ORCHIDS FOR THE CURE

2011-10-18T13:54:00.001-06:00

"Pink Ribbon" (Phaelenopsis) Orchid

from ProFlowers website

Are you feeling pinkwashed right now?" Pinkwashing" is a new term used to describe the abundance (some would say overabundance) of pink products in the marketplace this month. October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a lot of products (many bearing the name Susan G. Komen) are being offered with percentages of the purchase prices beingdonated to support breast cancer research.

Just a quick perusal on the web reveals a myriad of pink products for the cure, including: T-shirts, BIC stationery products, bracelets, tea, robes and underwear, soccer balls, umbrellas, cosmetics, chip clips, magnets, Hallmark cards, even a wireless computer mouse.

Several online sites that I visited expressed dismay regarding the Kentucky Fried Chicken "Buckets for the Cure" campaign. Right now KFC is donating 50 cents for every bucket sold. Detractors consider this pairing ironic in the extreme. Fried chicken, they say, is unhealthy and promotes rather than prevents breast cancer.

Up until now, I had not purchased any pink items. My goal in life right now is to de-clutter, not amass possessions. However, Breast Cancer Month coincides with the end of the gardening year here in Bismarck, and with trips to several shops which are displaying something pink that would be sure to attract me: phaelenopsis orchids.

K-mart is selling these easy-to-grow members of the orchid family for $14.98 in a pretty pastel ceramic pot. However, I passed them up for being a bit costly. At Lowe's, however, I found the same type of orchids for sale at $5.99, in the same attractive pot, only bigger!

I though that was a really great price and snapped up a couple of pots. (Lowe's is donating 10% for every 6-inch Orchid for the Cure sold during October.) I had grown phaelenoposis - also called moth - orchids 30 years ago (along with cattleyas) and found them surprisingly easy.

Then, a house fire destroyed all my plants (about 100 of them of all types) and I didn't have the heart to replace them.When we moved into our new home with our brand new daughter a couple of months later, my interests went in many different and diverse directions. But now, facing winter's gloom, I'm ready to grow houseplants again, starting with a few orchids.

Bromeliad from Lowe's, another

very easy to grow plant

NOTE: The Lowe's website also shows other "Plants for the Cure": bromeliads, anthuriums, hypoestes (pink polka dot plant) and peace lilies. The moth orchids come in all colors, ranging from white to light pink to hot pink to purple to light green to multicolored.

Also, the ProFlowers website has what it calls the Pink Ribbon Flower Collection. They will donate 10% for every item sold from this collection, which includes lily and tulip bouquets, wreaths, bromeliads, orchids and tiny potted evergreens. However, this collection is spendy, with prices starting at $40.00 and going up to $70.00.

I'm really glad to have found something pink to purchase For the Cure. My Aunt Mary died of breast cancer, and I am sure all of you have/had a family member or friend affected by this terrible disease.

HERE BE DRAGONS . . . AND FAIRIES

2011-10-13T14:12:00.131-06:00

After I published my last post I got to wondering if some people (my relatives, ha!) think I'm a bit too fey and whimsical for this world. They must be thinking: "A Celtic Garden? Wow, she's really gone off the deep end this time!"

If they only knew that I've been thinking of adding even more to my garden. Did the ancient Celts believe in dragons or was that a later invention? Anyway, there are some cool dragon statues out there. I could have (a smallish) one with a sign that says "Here Be Dragons".

How about griffins/gryphons? Are they an ancient Celtic thing? I'll have to do some research on them and on dragons.

How about really nice statues of King Arthur and Guinevere?

Actually - and sadly - these statues are not available here. My blogging friend Kath (Hillside Cottage) from Glastonbury, England, found them at a Reclaim Yard, which I think is similar to a salvage yard here. Kath has her eye on them and I hope she gets them. I will be envious but will be happy that a friend has them.

Or what if I added a fairy door at the base of a tree? It could go with the sign I have that says: "There are fairies at the bottom of the garden." There are many, many fairy doors available online in every design imaginable.

Seeing this door reminds me of the fairy doors in Ann Arbor, MI. The first public fairy door appeared in 2005, on the exterior of Sweetwaters Coffee and Tea. Since then, ten more have shown up around the city (as well as a "goblin door" parody), and seven of the original "public" doors still exist.

The fairy doors have taken on a cult following in Ann Arbor. The local children leave gifts in the hopes that real fairies will receive them. Some presents left at the doors include pennies and nickels, drawings, tiny packages, candies, and shiny rocks. Some of the doors have guestbooks nearby for visitors to write reflections and stories, draw fairies, and ask questions. Sometimes a "fairy" will answer the questions in the journals.

The Ann Arbor Red Shoes shop and

its accompanying fairy door.

The Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce and some businesses hand out maps and sell copies of Jonathan B. Wright's Who's Behind the Fairy Doors? and posters with pictures of each door and its location. The general attitude toward the fairy doors is that of mysticism and childlike adoration.

There's also a famous little Elf House at Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, MN. At the first hint of fall in the air, the tiny elf locks up his small rounded door in the ash tree on the south side of the lake and begins his long journey west for winter. On the first day of spring, "Mr. Little Guy", fondly dubbed by locals, returns home to a tiny pile of notes and gifts left by children who visited his tree home.

Local legend says the shy elf responds to every single letter he receives, sometimes up to 1,500 or more a year. The enchanting story of Twin Cities' most popular elf resident has even caught national attention, yet his identity remains a magical mystery. Walk around the popular Minneapolis lake and keep your eyes open for a hollowed-out tree with a garden in front.

Some people aren't content just locating fairy and elf doors. A week or ago I read a newspaper story about the craze of creating Fairy Gardens. These gardens - either outdoor or indoor tabletop versions - are captivating the imaginations of children and adults alike, providing an escape into a tiny world. "It takes us all back into that magical time when it was all for real," says one fairy garden creator.

Here's the link to the article online:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20111008/LIFE08/110080303/Fairy-gardens-capture-bits-magic-young-old

The website Enchanted Gardens (http://www.miniature-gardens.com) is a really great (and inexpensive) site for supplies for your fairy garden, including miniature fairy houses, furniture, bridges, fences, flowers and animals. Here's their Hobbit House:

Being from Bismarck, I'd have to add a prairie dog,

since ND is famous for its prairie dog towns.

Some gardens can be really elaborate.The Fairy's Garden site (http://www.thefairysgarden.com/) provides complete instructions for the formal garden below. Sometimes even real plants are used, and actual water for the ponds and streams.

All the accouterments can be purchased
from The Fairy's Garden site.

It's evident to me this latest craze is just an extension of people's fascination with miniatures, (usually expressed in the form of doll houses), which has been with us forever.

So you see, there are a lot of people in the world like me, who choose being whimsical over being depressed, who create fantasy rather than wreaking havoc, who make people smile instead of making them sad, who resort to escapism when harsh reality threatens to overwhelm them.

But truth be told, I must now leave the Enchanted Forest, or La-La Land, or wherever I live when I'm not totally present, and get down to the real-life task of planting my tulip and daffodil bulbs and clearing some ground on which to scatter annual seeds for overwintering. I am a terrible procrastinator and I can be really creative at it - and writing this post was one example.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE: Being fey and whimsical must appeal to some people out there. Today I found out that the number of people who are followers on my blog total 300! Who are you all? Where are you from? Why not drop a note (post a comment)?

CELTIC GARDEN

2011-10-04T15:12:00.002-06:00

Famous "British Reading Fairy" statue

For a while now I have been gathering objects to decorate my Celtic Garden, an enchanted, magical and mystical place. Hopefully, it will all come to fruition next spring, when I will finally be able to rototill and seed my back yard, and install some perennial flower beds. Celtic gardens would of course include fairies, and I have several fairy statues, including a replica of the famous British Reading Fairy.

While I was in Boulder, Co, in September, I found this delightful acorn elf at a garden shop. I had wanted some sort of Celtic elvish creature in the garden, but I did not want a leprechaun, and certainly not a gnome!! I thought this little guy was sweet without being "cutesy".

At the shop in Boulder I also found a Green Man plaque, or perhaps a Green Lady. I still can't figure out which, and I could not find a similar image on the Internet. However, I do know his/her smile is very enigmatic - perhaps even sly. This plaque will join several other Green Men and Green Ladies that I have collected over the years.

A little "Faun or Pan" shelf sitter

For a long, long time, this little faun boy sat on a small tree stump nestled into my old perennial bed. Now, his head and his feet have been broken off. Though repaired, he seems quite fragile. I may move him indoors and get another faun to hide amongst the flowers.

A "Moon Gazing Hare"

I have written a post about the moon gazing hares, famous Celtic symbols of fertility. But I had my little hare long, long before I started learning about Celtic lore and legend. I can't even remember I found him. I'd like to get another one or two moon gazing hares, but all shops that sell them online are in the UK. I know that the Celtic hare is not well known here, but you'd think I could find at least one American shop that carries them!

I ordered the garden flag below from Mickie Mueller's Etsy shop, because I love her fantasy art so much:

"Drawing Down the Moon"

"Celtic Cross"

And finally, who could have a Celtic-themed garden without a Celtic Cross, even though it is a Christian symbol and the ancient Celts were pagan.

I was still on the lookout for other possible Celtic statuary or decorations to use in my garden. It may seem like I already have a lot, but when spread out over my rather large backyard, they have a tendency to get "lost". Also, I hope to design my garden so that all of it is not seen at once, with winding paths ending at little "garden rooms" where one discovers hidden delights.

I was at a loss at what to look for next. I don't want any St. Brigid or other saint statues. Some of the Celtic goddess statues, like the Moon Goddess, look a little Wiccan for my taste. Angels are not part of Celtic legend, and besides, I had sold a number of angel statues at a rummage sale and wanted to start fresh with a new theme.

But then I wrote my previous post, about the unicorn as a symbol for Scotland. It was like a bell went off in my head. I went to the Internet to look for unicorn statues, and found several, but this is the one I fell in love with:

"Mystical Unicorn of Avalon" by Design Toscano

She is perfect! She is sculpted in the style of a traditional Medieval unicorn, which is also the heraldic unicorn of Scotland, and she comes from Avalon. I have long been entranced by medieval stories of King Arthur and of the Isle of Avalon. And right now she is making her way to my home where she will be the centerpiece of my new perennial garden.

Of course, one can never stop looking and wishing for other items to add to an enchanted garden. Especially, one cannot have too many fairies. This is one I'd like to add to my collection:

"BUTTERFLY RIDE" Fairy

The Mists of Avalon gazing bowl, shown below, is on my Christmas wish list. Available from Midnight Moon, it will strengthen the Isle of Avalon connection in my garden.

"MISTS OF AVALON" Gazing Bowl

And of course there are many other things to add to the list. I don't want any shamrocks or "May the road rise to meet you" plaques, but how about:

Stepping stones?

Decorative rocks?

A sundial or thermometer?

I can find these at anytime, but would someone please, please tell me where to find this Celtic Lady?

She is listed on the comparestoreprices.co.uk site, but is described as "no longer available". She is supposedly St. Cinnia, the princess of Ulster whom Saint Patrick converted to Christianity in the 5th century. I'd really like to know where to locate her.

CEUD MILE FAILTE (NOT CEAD!)

2011-09-30T15:40:00.002-06:00

(See, I am right, darn it!)

Once again I have been "corrected" by a blog reader who wanted to tell me that the Welcome button on my sidebar is incorrect.

When I first posted this I was corrected because I used the phrase "Ceud Mile Failte". I was told, rather snottily by some people, and nicely by others, that the correct spelling is "Cead." No, I used the spelling "Ceud" deliberately. To clarify things, I changed Gaelic to Scottish Gaelic.

But today, I get a "correction" saying that "Cead Mile Failte" is Irish Gaelic. For heaven's sake, read it correctly : "CEUD MILE FAILTE" - Scottish Gaelic. And yes, I know that it (both Irish and Scottish) means A Hundred Thousand Welcomes, but I shortened it to Welcome.

I suppose, to be ultra correct, I should present it as Ceud Mìle Fàilte, with the accent marks.

To be fair, I have noticed that Cead and Ceud are sometimes used interchangeably. And, when you Google Ceud, you still get 100 times more Cead results than Ceud. However, I am going to be a stickler on this point and continue to use Ceud.

I'm going to prove I'm right by showing a whole bunch of images I found with the word Ceud:

Maybe I should demonstrate the correct spelling of Ceud on my thong. But no one sees my underwear (and they are not thongs anyway). So perhaps I should let my dog advertise it instead:

They get the spelling right at The Country Squire Restaurant in Warsaw, NC (Owner Iris Lennon is of Scottish descent):

And at The Thistle House Bed and Breakfast in Granite Falls, NC:

And at the Texas Scottish Festival and Games:

They have Ceud spelled right on bumper stickers:

And on rubber stamps:

And on cross stitch pictures:

And on a pewter quaich (traditional Scottish drinking cup):

And on commemorative plates:

And on paper napkins:

And on decorative tiles:

You may wonder why I chose to use Ceud over Cead anyway, since I am of both Irish and Scottish descent. For one thing, I feel closer to my Scottish heritage, not having known about my Irish connection until about a half dozen years ago. Second, everyone knows about Irish heritage and symbols - leprechauns, harps, the claddagh, shamrocks and all that.

It seems to me that Scottish Gaelic or Celtic traditions and symbols are less well known. Aside from the ubiquitous bagpipes and tartans, there are several other national symbols of Scotland. For example, see the napkin and tile above, utilizing the thistle.

Do you know why the proud Scots use the thorny, humble thistle as a national symbol? There is a legend which relates how a sleeping party of Scots warriors were almost set upon by an invading band of Vikings and were only saved when one of the attackers trod on a wild thistle with his bare feet. His cries raised the alarm and the roused Scots duly defeated the Danes. In gratitude, the plant became known as the Guardian Thistle and was adopted as the symbol of Scotland.

Sadly, there is no historical evidence to back up the tale. But whatever its origins, the thistle has been an important Scottish symbol for more than 500 years. Perhaps its first recognisable use was on silver coins issued in 1470 during the reign of James III, and from the early 16th century, it was incorporated into the Royal Arms of Scotland.

The members of Scotland's premier Order of Chivalry, The Most Ancient and Noble Order of the Thistle, wear a collar chain whose links are made of golden thistles. The Knights and Ladies of the Thistle also wear a breast star which bears the thistle emblem and a motto which is regularly associated with it, Nemo Me Impune Lacessit - " no one provokes me with impunity".

Scottish Rampant Lion Flag

Another popular symbol of Scotland is the lion. It has been used as a heraldic device for many centuries by Scottish kings. William I of Scotland was known as "The Lion" after he introduced the lion symbol into his coat of arms. The Scottish lion has always been shown on the royal shield as being rampant, i.e. standing erect on the hind legs with the head in profile and forelegs extended.

There is a suggestion that perhaps the Kings of Scotland kept a real lion when in residence at the castles of Stirling and Edinburgh. Both castles have a building within the walls known as "The Lion's Den". This flag is really a flag to be used solely by Scotland's royalty, and so in theory at least its usage should be confined to use on state occasions. However, its image can be seen all over Scotland.

Sometimes the lion and the thistle are used together:

Another long-standing symbol of Scotland is the unicorn. The Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland, used prior to 1603 by the kings of Scotland, incorporated a lion rampant shield supported by two unicorns.

Valued for its associations with chastity, nobility, and freedom, the unicorn was a fierce, proud, and dangerous creature. He contended all those who would see him captured or oppressed, and would rather die fighting than surrender and face imprisonment or slavery. It is no wonder, then, that this creature was such a perfect symbol for the Scots, who for centuries struggled to remain independent and free of foreign influence.

Below, the unicorn is shown with other Scottish symbols: the lion rampant, the thistle and Scotland's national flag, the blue and white St. Andrew's flag, or Saltire.

Final Note: Please no more harassing me about Cead/Ceud. Remember, although I appear to be a gentle soul, I have the fierceness of the Scottish unicorn and the roar of the Scottish lion in me. Nemo Me Impune Lacessit!

AUTUMN EQUINOX

2011-09-23T14:33:00.003-06:00

I love how Titian tresses are transformed

into autumn leaves in this painting.

The autumn equinox occurred in the central time zone at about 4:00 this morning. It was a day observed by my ancestors, the ancient Celts. These days it is often called Mabon by neopagans and Wiccans. However, the name Mabon is a modern invention. The Druids called the occasion Alban Elfed.

Be that as it may, it was a harvest festival for the ancients and remains so for us moderns. For this post, I'll go with the name Mabon, especially since I found most of these lovely artistic interpretations of the autumn equinox by Googling "Mabon". Unfortunately, hardly any of them were credited.

This harvest goddess is also a

dryad, for her gown becomes

the roots of a tree.

The wheel of the year has certainly turned here. It has frozen twice already, once on the 14th and again on the 21st. Each time, I scrounged as many sheets, blankets, comforters, tablecloths and towels as I could find and covered my annuals, both those in pots and those planted in the ground. Ultimately there will come an evening when frost is forecast and I will have to let them go, but not for now. Because we are experiencing a
delightful Indian Summer that promises to last into early October, I feel compelled to water, sustain and protect my annuals from Jack Frost.

This is the time for me to purchase pots of yellow and purple mums and also to get more pansies. I buy pansies in the spring, but they always peter out by July, so I jumped at the chance to purchase some of these cool-weather-loving plants at Lowe's for just $3.33 a pot. In yellow and purple tones, they really compliment the mums, as well as the purple scaevola and orange marigolds that are still going strong.

Celts and moderns alike, we all pray

for such abundant harvests as this.

My tulip and daffodil order has arrived, but I am waiting just a bit longer to plant them. About 2 months ago I covered strips of lawn by my front-yard fence with landscape fabric. The grass under the fabric is now yellow, and in a couple of weeks it will be so easy to rototill and amend this ground. In six months or so, it will be awash with spring-flowering bulbs, as well as tiger lilies, a few Martagon lilies (new to me and still on order), and a few more daylilies I couldn't resist (one can never have too many daylilies.)

This year, for the first time, I am planting perennials in the fall. I'm trusting our local nurserymen who say it is okay to do so. I've already planted Black-Eyed Susans (rudbeckia), Carpathian bellflowers, liatris and phlox. Still waiting to be planted are peach-leaved bellflowers (platycodon) and sedum Autumn Joy.

I mentioned that there will be a time when it really isn't feasible to cover my annuals anymore. When they freeze, I will mourn them. But then a sea change will take place in me. Instead of dreading autumn, I will embrace it, buying and setting out pumpkins, picking sprays of maple leaves and seeking out the hidden haunts of bittersweet.

I have always resisted autumn, way back to the days of my childhood when fall meant going back to school. As much as I loved school, I loved summer vacations more. The first sight of wild asters and goldenrod always put me in a melancholy mood. That is why, to this day, I have never have planted either plant in my gardens.

"Mabon" by Elli Mader

Here we see a corn dolly made from

the stalks of wheat. Traditional

corn dollies are much smaller!

"Mabon Demeter" by Wendy Andrew, reminding us of
Persephone, who spends one-half the year underground.

Pumpkins and gourds are Mabon

harvest symbols worldwide.

At the equinox, day and night and

the seasons are in equal balance.

"Mabon" by Rosie Lauren Smith

This painting embraces all the rich browns,

yellows and oranges of autumn.

"Mabon Sleeping Goddess"

(She sleeps to awaken in the spring!)

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

2011-09-10T13:06:00.003-06:00

Dan and I at the Sundeck of Aspen - or Ajax -

Mountain, 11,212 feet high

Just after I graduated from college, I made my first trip to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. This past week - FORTY YEARS LATER - I went back. It was good to be on a Rocky Mountain High again.

I won't bore you with a travelogue, per se. I'll just give a few impressions of my trip.

Boulder and Aspen are both such dog-friendly towns. I saw more dogs - and more different breeds - in a few short days than I do in a year in Bismarck. I'm not exaggerating. Dogs are everywhere - on the plazas, in outdoor restaurants, even welcome on the gondola going up Aspen Mountain. To name just a few, I saw cocker spaniels, an Airedale, a papillon, a drooling Labrador with a bib, Maltese, a bichon frise, an Irish Wolfhound, a Gordon setter, many black labs and even more golden retrievers. Plus, a lone German short hair pointer, which made me lonely for Gracie, stuck back home in a kennel.

Taking the gondola ride up Aspen Mountain was one of the highlights of our trip, which was a mini-family reunion for the Fredericksen boys of Williston, ND. (I say mini-reunion because one brother didn't bother to come, and there were no kids or grandkids, just the "boys" and their wives.

From the top of the mountain, you can see the Continental Divide, the Elk Mountain range of the Rockies and a glimpse of the famous Maroon Bells. Called "fourteeners", each of the Maroon Bells is over 14,000 feet high.

The Maroon bells are the farthest-back, deep

blue mountains just to the left of Dan's cap

Boulder and Aspen are both Colorado mountain cities, but they are so different. Boulder is a funky college-town, full of youthful students, runners and bikers, old hippies and tree huggers of all ages. Aspen is a town for old money, new money and newer celebrities. Instead of New Age shops, there are expensive art galleries and very high end stores like Prada.

Since my Achilles tendinitis was really bothering me, I knew I couldn't do much shopping in Boulder, but I had hoped to check out some shops that I had Googled. I only made it into two. But I did find some lovely garden ornaments at one, West End Gardener.

Pearl Street, Boulder, CO

I had much the same problem in Aspen, compounded by trying to keep up with Dana and Bonny, my two fitter sisters-in-law, and the high altitude which made me huff and puff even more than usual.

We enjoyed an outdoor dinner one evening at the

lovely Italian restaurant, Campo Di Fiori, in Aspen

I knew most Aspen shops would be off limits budget-wise. The shops there are so expensive that you don't even dare venture inside. However, Dana brought us to a place she knew I would love, the very charming Explore Booksellers, shown below.

Explore Booksellers

The newly-restored Victorian splendor

of The Hotel Jerome in Aspen

I was to find another great shop, however. After we had lunch in the outdoor restaurant at the resplendent Hotel Jerome, we walked across the street to find the little "Old Hippie Antique Shop" in a bright yellow clapboard house with dark green trim. There, I found a gorgeous, tall (and heavy) blue and white Italian vase for a great bargain. Bonny and Dana were gracious enough to carry it back to the van for me!

The six of us stayed at The Timbers Club at

Snowmass Village, just a few miles from Aspen

The Gathering Room at The Timbers

The night before Dan and I left (we had to leave earlier than the others), we all did get to have a down home, meat and potatoes dinner: steaks brought from ND by Dan and me, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, toasted bread and salad. And afterward, the six of us hunkered down before the fireplace to listen to the "boys" - Dickie, Danny and Scotty - reminisce about their grandparents' homestead, their boyhood days, their parents and other beloved relatives. It was a great ending to a great trip.

In front of the fireplace

at The Timbers Club

GARDEN GODDESS

2011-08-29T14:39:00.010-06:00

"GARDEN GODDESS", painting by Sandra Bos

I have my very own Garden Goddess! She could be the one above, or she could be this one:

"GARDEN GODDESS" Daylily

She could be the statue above, or the one below.

But she is none of those. My Garden Goddess is a real, living, breathing woman!

Let me back up a bit. The main reason I haven't been blogging much this summer is that I returned to gardening after a long absence. That meant that my flower beds and yard were very overgrown. I have been feverishly planting, weeding, deadheading, fertilizing, cutting back grapevine. In addition, I have had a couple of guys assisting me with the heavy stuff. The first one I hired, back in May, was my niece's boyfriend. He was really fast and a whiz with the chain saw. But then the flooding started and since he works in the moving business he became too busy to help me any more.

So then I hired a guy who did quite a bit of the heavy work, including cutting down more saplings, moving large paving blocks, removing some railroad ties and rototilling and amending three small garden beds. However, he turned out to be a less-than-desirable employee.

Just last weekend I finally caught up on planting after getting 15 hostas in the ground and moving some annuals to better spots. The front yard actually looked pretty good, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

That relief was short lived, however, as I did some baaad, baaad things. I bought some Black-eyed Susans, a Russian Sage and Carpathian Bellflowers on impulse at a home improvement store. I also answered online ads from a couple of local ladies who were dividing their perennials. I visited both homes and came away with armloads of daylilies, irises, a peony, some Asiatic lilies, liatris, phlox and a couple of bergenia (which I've never grown).

When I got home and unpacked my plants, I panicked. Here it is the end of August and I'm planning on leaving for vacation in a week. Every muscle in my lower back and legs hurts. I have worked through this pain for months hoping it was just "getting in shape" stiffness and soreness, but it never went away. I thought, "I just can't do this anymore!" I was finally at the end of my rope, with a whole bunch more plants to get in the ground, and no more garden beds ready.

Fortunately, I was rescued by the same site that got me into trouble in the first place. The ad placed at bismanonline by "Garden Goddess", aka Vicki, was a god(des)send to me. Vicki came over Friday afternoon, took the tour, listened to my plans/dreams and added some ideas of her own. Saturday afternoon she came over ready to work, and within a couple of hours she had moved a bunch of rocks, re-located the paving blocks, dug up and amended a small garden bed and planted a lot of those plants. She'll be over on Tuesday to dig up another bed and plant the daylilies. (To give me just a little credit, I did get the irises and bergenias planted Saturday evening.)

Thank the heavens above and whatever gods or goddesses may have been involved in helping me find my very own Garden Goddess!

I LOVE MICKIE MUELLER

2011-08-04T14:42:00.007-06:00

"WILLOW" Oracle Card by Mickie Mueller

Those of you who read my blog regularly know how much I love Celtic fantasy art, and one of my favorite Celtic fantasy artists is Mickie Mueller. I have used her artwork several times in my posts and have ordered from her Etsy shop.

I'm writing this post to say that if you love her work as much as I do, she is giving away $160.00 worth of products from her Etsy shop! This giveaway is in celebration of attaining 100 followers on her blog and the recent publication of the beautiful "Voice of the Trees", her Celtic divination oracle deck and book. "Voice of the Trees" is based on the Ogham, the ancient Celtic writing system.

Here's what you win if your name is chosen:

Voice of the Trees deck, signed and personalised to you
Voice of the Trees satin storage bag featuring the Oak card
2012 Llewellyn Magical Almanac featuring 2 articles and illustrations by Mickie, signed
Wooden "piano hinge" treasure box, velvet lined, featuring Rowan Fairy art, signed on the bottom
Triple Goddess full color tote bag
2 mini pocket mirrors
1 stainless steel Triple Goddess two sided compact mirror
5x7 Lugh of the Long Arm print, signed
Autumn Blessings garden flag
Priestess of Bast oval tile signed on the back
Rhiannon bookmark, signed
Thin Veil incense, this was a prototype package

I don't know when I've ever seen a giveaway packed with as many, and valuable, goodies as this one. Entering is easy. Just go to Mickie's blog

(www.mickiemuellerart.blogspot.com)

and follow the directions. You can enter up to three times if you wish.

"The Ogham Shield"

Because it features a strong Celtic warrior woman, The Ogham Shield, which I have reproduced on my sidebar, is my favorite image from the Oracle Deck. Mickie has done a fantastic amount of research not only on Celtic tree lore but also how the Celts lived and dressed.

Here's how Mickie's website describes "Voice of the Trees": "A wonderfully re-imagined presentation of Celtic Ogham divination and lore that is more accessible and easier to learn than ever before. Drawing upon the ancient legends of the Celts and tree lore, magical artist Mickie Mueller set forth to bring the Ogham teachings into a format for modern practitioners to use in intuitive card readings, meditation and ritual. Listen to the Voice of the Trees, they have much to teach you."

"Ivy" is another of my favorite of Mickie's artworks. To see them all, go to her Etsy shop at:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mickiemuellerstudio

WHAT ARE YOU READING, PART TWO

2011-07-29T13:00:00.001-06:00

Idly pursuing the USA Today yesterday, I decided to check out their list of the 50-top selling books. Although I consider myself a prolific reader, I have read only 8 of them. Well, 8.5. I bought Dan "Unbroken" for Christmas, and while he has never touched it, I have dipped into it quite a bit. Hence the .5 of a book.

The 8 I have read are "The Help" (#1), "Water for Elephants" and "State of Wonder", all mentioned in my previous post; Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Girl That Kicked The Hornet's Nest" (where's the third one?); the first Harry Potter book (where are the rest?); "Room" by Emma Donoghue, a great thriller about a 5-year-old boy held captive with his mother in a single room, the only world he knows; and "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana Rosnay (more on that one later).

There are only a couple of more books I would even want to read: "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson, "Bossypants" by Tina Fey and possibly "Before I Go to Sleep" by S. J. Watson.

So why haven't I read more? Probably because there are so many authors on the list that I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole, like Danielle Steele, Janet Evanovich, Jennifer Weiner, Fern Michaels, Catherine Coulter, etc. I'm not claiming to be an intellectual, but I think my reading habits are usually a cut above those novelists.

Anyway, back to "Sarah's Key" and the reason I'm writing this post. I didn't know until yesterday that this touching, unforgettable book has been turned into a movie starring Kristin Scott Thomas. It was released July 22 but is not in Bismarck yet. According to US Today, this is another novel "getting a boost from the film industry". Just before the movie was released, sales of "Sarah's Key" doubled. (It has already spent 117 weeks on the top 150 and is now at #19.)

"Sarah's Key" has been described as a wrenching Holocaust novel. It is based on the events of the Vel d'Hiv roundup of French Jews. Here's a summary:

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door-to-door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard - their secret hiding place - and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released.

Sixty years later: Sarah's story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah, and to questions about her own romantic future.

Scott Thomas relates that she was eager to make the film, in part because her Jewish mother-in-law was one of the many children hidden away from the Nazis.

WHAT ARE YOU READING THIS SUMMER?

2011-07-27T08:56:00.006-06:00

Last year I had a goal to read 200 books in one year, and I made it! (Thanks in great part to being unemployed for most of the year.)This year, I am way, way "behind", but then again I did not set any goal.

In fact, I only read two books in June. That's almost unheard of for me. But I was so busy, returning to gardening again after a hiatus of at least three years. I was so exhausted from planting, weeding, and clearing away old unwanted or broken down garden stuff that I usually fell into bed right after supper. But now, with most of the hard work done, I am back to reading on the deck on the west side of my house. Since it is so light so long up here in NoDak country, some nights I was able to read until almost 10 p.m.

I have read a couple of memorable new books so far. Inspired by the July 21st post by Loretta Marvel at "Pomegranates and Paper" (on my sidebar), I have decided to share them with you. One is "The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain. It's a fictionalized account of the life led by Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, during their days in Paris. McLain gives a wonderful account of the Hemingways' and other famous writers' lives in post-war Paris up until the time that Ernest throws Hadley over for the woman who will soon be his second wife.

The second is "State of Wonder" by Ann Patchett. Patchett is one of my favorite authors, be it fiction ("Bel Canto") or non-fiction ("Truth and Beauty: A Friendship"). Pharmaceutical researcher Dr. Marina Singh leaves a chilly Minnesota spring for the Amazon jungle, looking to find the remains and effects of a colleague who recently died under somewhat mysterious circumstances. But first she must locate Dr. Anneck Swenson and discern why the renowned gynecologist is being so reticent about her research into producing a fertility drug that could be a windfall for her company.

I highly recommend both these books, and I more than likely will be recommending the book I just received yesterday. "Burnt Mountain", by Anne Rivers Siddons, will be the book that I bring out to the deck tonight. I think I've read almost every single one of ARS's books and loved them all, so I'm sure I will love this one too. Set in the South, as are all of Siddons' books, "Burnt Mountain" is described thusly: "Growing up, the only place tomboy Thayer Wentworth felt at home was at her summer camp - Camp Sherwood Forest in the North Carolina Mountains. It was there that she came alive and where she met Nick Abrams, her first love...and first heartbreak.

Years later, Thayer marries Aengus, an Irish professor, and they move into her deceased grandmother's house in Atlanta, only miles from Camp Edgewood on Burnt Mountain where her father died years ago in a car accident. There, Aengus and Thayer lead quiet and happy lives until Aengus is invited up to the camp to tell old Irish tales to the campers. As Aengus spends less time at home and becomes more distant, Thayer must confront dark secrets-about her mother, her first love, and, most devastating of all, her husband."

Now on to a few other books that I also highly recommend. These aren't new, but they are tied into movies that are out now or soon will be. The first is "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan".

Set in 19th Century China, it is the story of two young girls, Lily and Snow Flower, who embark on what becomes a lifelong, intimate friendship when they together undergo the excruciating process of foot binding. Later on, the "old sames" are separated but carry on their friendship through "nu shu", or secret women's writing, on a fan that is passed back and forth between them. We also witness what pride, misunderstandings and perceived slights can do to even such a firm friendship as theirs.

I have not seen this movie but I cannot see how it could improve on this fantastic book.

Another most excellent book, with a movie by the same name set to open Aug. 10, is "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. It is set during the nascent civil rights movement in Jackson, Miss., "where black women were trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver." Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is just home from college in 1962, and, anxious to become a writer, is advised to hone her chops by 'writing about what disturbs you'.

"The budding social activist begins to collect the stories of the black women on whom the country club sets relies and mistrusts, enlisting the help of Aibileen, a maid who's raised 17 children, and Aibileen's best friend Minny, who's found herself unemployed more than a few times after mouthing off to her white employers. The book Skeeter puts together based on their stories is scathing and shocking, bringing pride and hope to the black community, while giving Skeeter the courage to break down her personal boundaries and pursue her dreams."

The book "Water for Elephants" has been out for years now, and the movie came out earlier this year, so you may have already seen it. But even if you have - or have not - please, please read this wonderful book. Like "Snow Flower and The Secret Fan", my book club and I adored it. Although I thought the movie was great, it cannot begin to describe the characters and world of a traveling circus in the 1930s seen through the eyes of its newly-joined vet, Jacob Jankowski. Though Rosie the Elephant is a charmer even in the movie, her personality really comes to life in the book.

What are you reading this summer? Please leave a comment and let me know.

DRAGONFLIES AND SWALLOWTAILS

2011-07-11T12:00:00.007-06:00

Artist Karen Margulis

When I walked out my door on Saturday morning I saw that my front yard was swarming with dragonflies. Many had also landed on the walls of my house. Their iridescent blue color contrasted nicely with the light gray stucco walls.

It seemed very serendipitous to have them there, as just a few days before I had found an old cast-iron sundial at an "antique" shop. I had been looking around for sundials, including those with a dragonfly theme, but they were all too expensive. At $15.00, this one below fit the bill. I'd like to think that the dragonflies that were swarming around my yard Saturday had stopped by to greet their inanimate companion.

I'm sure the real reason they came by is way more practical. I did some checking and read that dragonflies are attracted to standing water, and we had two good rainstorms last week. (We also had one terrific storm on Sunday, with loud thunder, tornado sirens wailing and hail - which fortunately went south of town and missed us.)

Apparently the standing water attracts/hatches mosquitoes and other insects which in turn attracted the dragonflies. The dragonflies were there to eat the insects and thereby clear our yard of those obnoxious critters.

Reading further, I discovered that dragonflies symbolize good luck and long life in many Eastern cultures. They can also represent prosperity, strength, peace, harmony and purity. The whats-your-sign.com website has this to say about the dragonfly:

As a creature of the wind, the dragonfly totem represents change. Its iridescent wings are incredibly sensitive to the slightest breeze, and so we are reminded to heed where the proverbial wind blows - lest we run into stormy weather.

Dragonflies are also creatures of the water. In the animal world, water is symbolic of the subconscious mind and relates to the thoughts we have in relaxed/meditative/sleeping/subconscious states.

Artist Karen Margulis

Further symbolic meaning of the dragonfly comes into play when we observe the dragonfly's mode of transportation as it skitters across the top of water surfaces. This implies that our deeper thoughts are surfacing and we must pay attention.

The dragonfly gives us a very powerful meditation tool when we want to visualize positive outcomes in a situation. "Close your eyes, and focus on a thought - let it rise to the surface of your mind's ocean - see that thought float lightly up to the water's surface. Now . . . visualize that thought moving across that water - sliding across - smooth and fast. We see the thought of hope happily moving across an ocean of peace (peaceful mind) and skittering to a perfect outcome."

Lastly it should be noted that the dragonfly lives a short life, and it knows it must live this life to the fullest. This lesson is huge for each of us. So when you see a dragonfly, be aware of the gifts it has to offer.

I feel doubly blessed to have had the dragonfly swarm on Saturday - not only was my mosquito population decimated, but I was also blessed with good luck!

P.S. - My yard was also swarming with Western Swallowtail butterflies (shown above) on Saturday. Hmm, I wonder what that signified?

MEMORIES OF MINOT, ND

2011-07-01T08:48:00.001-06:00

Minot, the Magic City

The Souris River at Minot, ND, is receding - albeit very slowly. It left behind 4,000 flooded homes and 300 businesses. 11,000 people have had to find somewhere else to live. I titled this post Memories of Minot, but I hope the title does not foreshadow what might become of Minot - a place where only memories are left.

Minot calls itself the Magic City and to me as a child it was magic. Minot is about 100 miles from my little hometown of Larson, ND. My family traveled there once, at the most twice a year. I remember being unable to sleep the night before our trips - that's how excited I was.

We made an annual trip to Minot to buy school clothes - usually at the Sears store at Arrowhead Shopping Center. Yes, Minot had a couple of shopping centers, although Arrowhead and Oak Park (now destroyed) were much smaller than today's Dakota Square Mall.

Full-size replica of the Norwegian Gol Stave

Church at Minot's Scandinavian Heritage Park

Minot was also where we could buy things not available in the small towns near us. For me, it was a chance to obtain books! I would always check to see if a new Mary Stewart romance/mystery had come out in paperback.

We also had lunch at places like Kentucky Fried Chicken or Bonanza steak house. That was fine dining for us!

Before we were able to do all that, though, we had to wait while dad did his business at Reeve's. Dad owned a one-man refrigeration business, and Reeve's Refrigeration was where he ordered his parts. But of course, before he got down to business, there was a lot of chewing the fat with Mr. and Mrs. Reeves. For us kids, it was a crashing bore and it ate into our fun time.

Downtown Minot

Even more rare than my family's trips to Minot were the trips my grandma and aunt made to visit my Uncle Billy. Gram and Mary would board the Greyhound Bus in Crosby and alert the driver that he had to make a special stop at Larson for my mom and me.

Billy lived at the Roosevelt Hotel in downtown Minot and worked at the nearby White's Creamery. I thought that living in a motel was the ultimate. Oh, the Roosevelt, with its transom doors, dusty hall carpets and old-fashioned sinks with rust stains from dripping taps. How I loved it! At night, we heard thrilling city sounds like police, fire and ambulance sirens that never disturbed our sleep at home.

Trips to Minot meant eating at Charlie's Main Street Cafe and a visit to Ellison's Department Store, both downtown. This of course, was before the big mall was built. Since my family hardly ever ate out, much less ate fried foods, I really enjoyed my deep-fried chicken dinner at Charlie's.

Stabbur (Storehouse) at Scandinavian Heritage Park

One especially exciting time, Grandma, Mary and I boarded the Great Northern Railroad and traveled all the way to Whitefish, Montana to visit my Great Aunt Jennie. That trip is still so vivid to me that I remember the cute red tiered skirt I wore and my skinned knee that became infected from a fall on a Minot sidewalk.

When I was a senior, my class took a trip to Minot for Skip Day - erm, Career Day. We toured the Minot State College campus and visited Columbus High students who were attending MSC. Afterward, the senior girls walked downtown and had a blast at the Woolworth's store, buying makeup and cheap jewelry. On our way home the bus stopped for burgers at Auto Dine, my first ever fast food experience.

In recent years, my sister and I would travel to Minot to attend the Norsk Hostfest, America's largest Scandinavian festival, with food, vendors and entertainment galore. We always made sure to visit the antique shops downtown and have a lemonade at Charlie's, which was still open and still going strong.

We'd also visit the enclave of charming little gift shops all located in stately older homes just north of Broadway Bridge. Those shops were right along the Souris or a block away from it, and I don't know if they made it through the flood.

No trip to Minot was complete without a trip to the Homesteader Restaurant for "lunch". This is not the noon meal but the 4:00 afternoon coffee break that people in Scandinavian communities like Minot call lunch.

Looking down Broadway Avenue,

Minot's main thoroughfare

Minot may not be my home town, as it is Josh Duhamel's, but I have such fond memories of it. I hope its residents return and rebuild, and soon, so that I can begin building more memories of the Magic City.

EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES

2011-06-27T11:22:00.016-06:00

Morden Parkland "Sunrise" Rose

I am tired of writing about flood fighting and doom and gloom and am going to take a break from all that to tell you everything is coming up roses at my house! Usually all my roses are in bloom by my birthday, which was on Saturday. Because of the cool, rainy weather we're having this summer, only the Henry Kelsey, Morden Blush and an unnamed white shrub rose were in bloom, but the others are in bud.

And, thanks to my birthday, I have a few more new roses. Dan gave me a Morden Parkland Sunrise and my sister gave me a Morden Parkland Centennial. Plus, I treated myself to a Thérèse Bugnet rugosa rose. I felt I deserved to treat myself - it isn't every day that a woman officially turns retirement age, and seeing as how I won't be retiring in the foreseeable future I thought I deserved a reward for continuing to toil away.

Morden Parkland "Centennial"

You will notice that the names Morden Parkland and Explorer crop up a lot in this post. All of these roses were developed in Canada - the Mordens at Morden, Manitoba and the Explorers in Ontario and Quebec. Lovely lady Thérèse was bred in Canada in 1950 by Georges Bugnet and named for a family member. Since these roses are hardy in Canada, they're also hardy here in North Dakota.

Fortunately, Bismarck has two nurseries that carry a good selection of both types of roses, for I have absolutely given up trying to raise hybrid tea roses or the gorgeous English David Austen Roses. No longer will I grow a rose that needs fussing over or overwintering. The Canadian roses fit my needs to a "T". In fact, I don't even bother to look at roses hardy in Zone 4. I want the super duper roses hardy to Zone 3 or even 2~!

Thérèse Bugnet

I am not quite sure about the Morden Sunrise. It is the only Morden rose that even remotely comes close to yellow. Some photos on the Internet show it as all yellow, some show it as yellow with peach, and some show it a really unflattering orange. I understand that the color depends on where the rose is grown. The one Dan gave me was in bloom and definitely yellow, so I hope it continues to act that way.

Had I known about Sunrise's vagaries, I might have requested J. P. Connell, an Explorer, which starts out with a gold bud, opens to yellow and fades to cream. Yum! Or, I could have searched online for a Harrison's Yellow, the extremely hardy rose found surviving at old homesteads throughout the American West.

Morden Parkland "Blush"

I certainly have no reservations about my other gift, the Morden Centennial. It is an absolutely gorgeous hot pink. They will join the Morden Blush and the unknown white, which towers over the fence on the south side of my front yard.

Explorer "Henry Kelsey" climbing rose

Of my two climbing roses, William Baffin is the proven winner, coming back winter after severe winter. Trained on the arbor over the sidewalk leading to my house, it is both sturdy and lovely. The Henry Kelsey is planted on the other side of the arbor. Although it looks better this year than it ever has, it's still quite straggly. I have some affection for it because my niece is named Kelsey (probably why I bought it) but if it doesn't start living up to my expectations, I may replace it with good old reliable William.

Explorer "William Baffin" climbing rose

(not my rose, not my house!)

Thanks to the darned Internet, I have really been bitten by the rose bug this year. There are still more Morden Parkland roses, like Adelaide Hoodless, Cuthbert Grant, Morden Ruby, Morden Belle, Winnipeg Parks and Prairie Joy, and a great many Explorers (each named for a real Canadian Explorer). There are climbers like John Davis and John Cabot, and shrubs such as David Thompson, Martin Frobisher, Henry Hudson, Simon Fraser, (Samuel de) Champlain and (Comte de Louis de Buade) Frontenac.

When I was trying to grow hybrid tea roses it was fun to choose the ones named for a person or special event, such as Peace, Agatha Christie, Amelia Earhart, John Kennedy and Mr. Lincoln. Now I'm on a quest to find beautiful Canadian shrub roses named for interesting people like Emily Carr. When I looked her up on the Internet and read the description "Canadian artist and writer heavily inspired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest" I remembered that I have read a great book inspired by Ms. Carr: "The Forest Lover" by Susan Vreeland.

PRAIRIE TSUNAMI - MINOT NEEDS YOUR HELP

2011-06-24T10:13:00.011-06:00

Flooded Minot neighborhood

The city of Minot, ND and the neighboring small town of Burlington have lost their fight with the Souris River. Some parts of Minot are now 8 feet under water, with more water rushing in. Minot sits in a natural bowl, and the bowl is filling rapidly. By tomorrow, the water is expected to be three metres, or 10 feet, above most city dikes. Because the water is rushing in so quickly, they are calling it a Prairie Tsunami.

Bridge at Burlington

Minot's primary levees have been overridden and the homes in the river's pathway are lost. The city is frantically trying to increase the height of those dikes hastily built to protect its infrastructure (sewer and water treatment plants) and the only north-south street through the city. The hospital is on a hill on the south side. If Broadway Avenue were to be breached, the city will be cut in half. People needing emergency treatment would have to travel 50 MILES to get to the other side.

The citizens of Minot urgently need your help with shelter and other immediate needs (because of the oil boom there are no apartments or motel rooms available) and with assistance of all kinds in the months to come.

To donate to the Minot (ND) Red Cross, go to http://minotredcross.org/ and go to "Click here to donate" on the right side of the screen.

To make a $10 donation to the Minot Salvation Army, text “MINOT” to 80888 and reply “yes” to the confirmation text. A one-time donation of $10 will be added to your mobile phone bill.

Breached levee at Minot Country Club

Traffic backed up on the Highway 83

bypass as residents flee the city of Minot

Submerged car in Minot

Aerial photo of devastated Mouse

River Park north of Minot

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update Monday, June 27: The Souris has crested at Minot but it will be several weeks before the water starts to go down. FEMA has decided they will give assistance to individual flood victims of Ward County (Minot and Burlington), Burleigh County (Bismarck) and Morton County (Mandan).

THE MOUSE THAT ROARED

2011-06-23T09:46:00.006-06:00

Craig Fugate, Administer of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, last week rejected North Dakota's application for assistance to individual homeowners. In a letter to ND Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Fugate stated that “the damage to the residences from this event was not of such severity and magnitude as to warrant the implementation of Individual Assistance…”

Well, Fugate, tell THAT to the owner of this home in Burleigh County outside of Bismarck. Yesterday afternoon the Hogue Island residence was attacked by the Missouri River - photo above, and then devoured - photo below. (This is the first home in our area claimed by bank erosion.)

These photos, and also the video footage from a Black Hawk helicopter that happened to be flying overhead, were shocking to all of us here in North Dakota and across the country.

And needless to say, Dalrymple was shocked by FEMA's response. He found it "hard to believe that FEMA does not see the destructive effects of flooding on citizens in North Dakota." (He is appealing the decision.) The governor was being way more polite than I would have been. I would have prefaced his statement with, "You morons, ....."

Until I saw these pictures, my attention yesterday was turned away from the Missouri River, where the flood fight inside the cities of Bismarck-Mandan is stabilized and the dikes are holding, to Minot, ND, where, unfortunately, the situation is reversed and the news is very, very dire.

This video from last night's NBC Nightly News tells it all:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/251963/nbc-nightly-news-with-brian-williams-thousands-flee-as-river-floods-in-north-dakota

National Guard making sure everyone is
evacuated from their Minot homes

On Tuesday, about 11,000 residents (1/4 of the city's population) were told they had to be out of their homes by 6 p.m. Wednesday. But at 12:57 p.m. yesterday, the river - called the Souris in Canada where it originates, and the Mouse in the US - roared. The roar took the form of eerie sirens wailing across the entire city, as people were told they had to GET OUT NOW. Levees had been breached and water was going over some dikes.

Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman could not bring himself to admit that the valiant battle to save the city was lost. However, he did say that "There's nothing more we can do."

The flood is predicted to be worse than the devastating 1969 flood, with the water expected to rise 8 to 9 feet higher than it was back then!

Little boy and his Mom in Minot:

Boy: "Where is the grass?"

Mom: "It's gone."

Boy: "Who took it?"

Mom: "The River took it."

Yes, The River, the Mouse That Roared took it. Minot may not be as big as Tuscaloosa, AL, or Joplin, MO, but this is a major disaster. Yesterday actor Josh Duhamel was urging people to pray for the people of his hometown and to lend assistance through the American Red Cross. Said Duhamel, "My sister’s gonna lose her house… My junior high, my favorite pizza place, the university I went to are all gonna be underwater.”

I echo Duhamel's wishes and prayers for Minot residents (and for the wildlife - see below).

Click on this photo to enlarge. That's DEER on the porch

trying to escape flood waters in Apple Valley near Minot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Added at 1:30 pm Thursday: Catastrophic breaking news from Minot: A crest much earlier than expected, and much higher - four more feet of water than previously forecast.

SOGGY SUMMER SOLSTICE

2011-06-21T12:40:00.004-06:00

"PICKING HONEYSUCKLE"

by Sophie Anderson

As I begin to write this post, at noon on Tuesday, June 21, the summer solstice is set to occur in this time zone in 16 minutes. Supposedly, that will be the start of our summer. However, it is just a continuation of a long, cold and wet spring. Bismarck is soaked, sodden, and partly submerged in places.

"THE VICAR'S ROSE GARDEN"

by Charles Edward Wilson

"Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink." No, it isn't sea water, but I am sure it is contaminated. Water is coming from the river, it's coming up from the ground and yesterday it was pouring down from the skies. This morning it was drizzling, and we have a forecast of rain for this afternoon and tomorrow. All in all, it makes for one soggy summer solstice.

"WOMAN WITH FLOWER BASKET"

by Albert Fuller Graves

I have been able to get my container gardening (pots and baskets) finished, but I have nine kinds of plants I haven't been able to get in the ground. I had plans for a small garden bed right underneath my living room window. Here, I was going to put in delphiniums, Victoria blue salvia, yellow daisies, bachelor's buttons, hollyhocks, cleome, cosmos, stocks and a lovely (and new to me) blue-flowering plant called star flower or laurentia.

"LADY PICKING FLOWERS"

by J. W. Waterhouse

I purchased the plants a while back and now they are just sitting there, as I can't seem to beg, borrow or steal someone to turn over the bed for me (I can't do it myself this year - too much leg pain). I can't even buy someone to do it! I hired one guy and he did do some yard work earlier but is too busy now, and no one has answered my online ad.

"THE TRELLIS (YOUNG WOMAN

ARRANGING FLOWERS)" by Gustave Courbet

It seems as if I will never, ever have the beautiful gardens I dream of. First of all, I live in the wrong country. My ultimate dream is to have the eclectic sprawl of perennials, roses, shrubs, and vines that is the essence of the English cottage garden, the kind shown in paintings by Helen Allingham. This garden is bursting at the seams, lush, charmingly sprawled out, unplanned and slightly wild.

"WOMAN PICKING FLOWERS"

by Rosemary Sumner

Trouble is, I've never had much luck with quite a few of the plants that are essential to the English cottage garden, such as Canterbury bells, lupines, lavender, phlox, foxglove, primroses and wallflowers. Those gorgeous David Austin roses, chosen for cottage gardens because of their old-fashioned look (multi-petaled form and rosette-shaped flowers), die off here after one season.

"GATHERING FLOWERS IN A FRENCH GARDEN"

by Frederick Childe Hassam

Even worse, I than living in the wrong country, I live in the wrong area of the United States. Depending on which climate zone you look at, Bismarck is in either Zone 4a or 3b, or sits directly on the line between them. There are so many plants which appeal to me but are hardy only to Zone 5, for example, scabiosa, so-called "hardy" mums and the beautiful "Knockout" roses. Unfortunately, some garden centers around here, especially ones at the big box stores, sell these sure-to-disappoint plants.

"A MAID IN HER GARDEN"

by Daniel Ridgeway Knight

Add to these woes the fact that my backyard is mostly shaded by a huge old elm. Don't get me wrong, I love this tree, but it is not conducive to growing sun-loving plants.

"GIRLS PICKING WILDFLOWERS"

by Walter Duncan

Of course, there are still many perennials I can grow in the limited sunny patches available to me, including salvia, purple prairie coneflowers, liatris, coreposis, daylilies, Oriental lilies, rudbeckia, Shasta daisies, hollyhocks, heliopsis, campanulas and dianthus.

"PICKING FLOWERS"

by Victor Gabriel Gilbert

This year, after several years of not gardening at all, I concentrated on my deck and my front yard. Next year - provided we have a summer - I hope to put in a perennial garden in the back yard featuring the above-mentioned plants.

"RESTING BY A BASKET OF FLOWERS"

by Myron G. Barlow

In the meantime, I'll leave you with pictures of beautiful women picking equally beautiful flowers in some wondrous place where it's always summer, the plants are always full and lush, there are no drought, insect or plant disease problems, and it's not raining!

"PICKING FLOWERS" by

Pierre Andre Brouillet

THE LADY OF SHALOTT DVD

2011-06-17T08:59:00.012-06:00

Victoria Rigby as The Lady of Shalott

"Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And around about the prow she wrote
The Lady of Shalott."

J. W. Waterhouse's "The Lady of Shalott"

Anyone who comes to this blog can tell I love the paintings of John William Waterhouse, and anyone who has read me for any length of time knows I also love Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lady of Shalott".

Thanks to the blog "Medieval Muse" (on my sidebar), I have just learned there is a short film dramatization of the beloved poem. Inspiration for the visual imagery came from the many Pre-Raphaelite paintings that the poem inspired, but most especially the paintings of Waterhouse. Filmed by WAG Screen in 2009 in celebration of the bicentenary of Tennyson's birth, the DVD also includes a reading of the poem by Tennyson (played by actor Ben Poole) to an after-dinner audience at Christmas 1856.

From the three very short trailers and a few still shots I could find, I think I can concur that Victoria Rigby is the perfect actress chosen to play the role. And the filmmakers went to great lengths to re-create her dress, her boat, her loom and her tower room.

The DVD also includes a conversation between Poole and Grace Timmins from the Tennyson Research Centre, and a music video by Dante Ferrara called La Donna di Shalott.

Although I think $28.00 is spendy for such a short film, I have decided to purchase it because 50% of the proceeds right now will be going to the family of Stephanie Piña, who writes the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood blog (http://preraphaelitesisterhood.com/).

Piña's husband was recently in a serious motorcycle accident. Most of the bones in his foot and ankle were crushed, requiring multiple surgeries, and he will lose some motion. All of this happened while their 13-year-old son was recovering from a procedure to have titanium plates in both his legs. The money will go toward their medical bills, as her husband is self-employed and they do not have insurance.

Here's the link to purchase the DVD: http://www.theladyofshalott.co.uk/

(Be sure to click on the right country or the DVD you receive will not be playable!

"Out flew the web and floated wide -
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse has come upon me,' cried
The Lady of Shalott."

For those of you who don't know the poem, here is a synopsis: The Lady of Shalott lives in an island castle in a river which flows to Camelot, but little is known about her by the local farmers. She has been cursed, and so she must constantly weave a magic web without looking directly out at the world. Instead, she looks into a mirror which reflects the busy road and the people of Camelot which pass by her island. One day, "bold Sir Lancelot" rides past, and is seen by the lady. She stops weaving and looks out her window toward Camelot, bringing about the curse. She leaves her tower, finds a boat upon which she writes her name, and floats down the river to Camelot. She dies before arriving at the palace. Among the knights and ladies who see her is Lancelot, who thinks she is lovely:

"But Lancelot mused a little space

He said, "She has a lovely face;

God in his mercy lend her grace,

The Lady of Shalott."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PS - If you'd like to hear Loreena McKennitt's excellent performance of this poem, check out these two videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU_Tn-HxULM (live performance by McKennitt at the Juno Awards, short version).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw_cZGrVFqw (long version, still shots only).

FAIRIES, FULL MOON, FLOWERS, FLOODS, FEATHERED FRIENDS, FUN

2011-06-14T11:42:00.002-06:00

"DREAMS OF STRAWBERRY MOON"

by Michael Rock

I can't believe it's already full moon time again. Tomorrow's full moon is called the Strawberry Moon. Since International Fairy Day is coming in just 10 days, I thought I'd show this painting of a fairy and a strawberry moon. If you want to check out Fairy Day 2011, go here: http://www.fairyday.com/.

It seems this post today is all about "F" words - mostly of the good kind: fairies, full moon, flowers, feathered friends and fun. The flood is not so fun, but not as bad as had been expected. So far, the river continues to scour itself out and is way, way deeper than normal. This means it can carry far more water than it did previously.

The Missouri has risen to about 18 feet locally, or two feet above flood stage, but nowhere near the 20.6 feet predicted level. The cities of Bismarck-Mandan are in a watch and wait mode, having sandbagged and built dikes until there is no more to do. The main worry in the cities right now is water seeping up through the ground.

People living outside the cities' limits have not been nearly as lucky, as the flood waters have reached their homes and covered their farmlands. Many of the much-counted-on 2011 crops are lost. And this is not the typical spring-type flood, where the floods come, stay about a week and then recede. This is a flood created by waters released from dams upstream, and could last well into the summer as the snow pack in the mountains continue to melt.

But meanwhile, the residents of our twin cities are determined that the flood will not ruin our summer. Although recreational boating and fishing on the river is out, Bismarck still plans to hold Ribfest, Mandan will still host its Buggies and Blues Festival and both cities will celebrate the Fourth of July with the traditional fireworks, rodeo, parade and arts and crafts fair. The Bismarck Zoo may even be bringing back its animals and re-opening.

Local psychologists and psychiatrists are encouraging these plans. They're urging people weary of flood fighting to get out and just have fun for a few hours to relieve the terrible stress they've been enduring. The fight-or-flight phase may be on hold, but just waiting can also be terribly stressful.

For myself, I have been having fun with flowers. I had not planted flowers for the past few years, blaming it on sore knees and sore hands, but in actuality I didn't have the money to indulge in my favorite hobby. As I once again plunge my hands into the dirt, I vow never to let my yard get into such a bad state again. I didn't realize how long it had been until I discovered that there is a whole new crop of neighbors to comment on my front yard as they walk by.

In May, I always think no month can be more beautiful, with its tulips and other bulbs and the gorgeous flowering trees. Then June comes along, with its bridal veil spirea, irises, peonies and roses, and I know that June is the best month of all, and I plan to enjoy it to the full. (My William Baffin climbing rose and my Morden shrub roses are in bud and ready to burst into bloom.)

Cedar Waxwings by Cathy Therrien

A couple of days ago I was amazed to see the hedge on the north side of our yard just covered with Cedar Waxwings. I rarely see these lovely birds. They usually only appear in the fall, when they feast on the red berries that ripen then. It dawned on me that these birds may have been pushed away from the river and into town. If so, they are most welcome, but I wonder what they thought when their favorite hedges are not offering any berries! I also wonder what other wildlife will encroach upon our town, and will they all be welcome?

UPDATE ON BISMARCK FLOOD

2011-06-01T08:58:00.000-06:00

Diana: "Athena, I seem to have wet feet!"

Athena: "More than my feet are wet, Diana!"

Diana: "I think we need to evacuate. Hestia, follow me!"

Athena: "Come, Aphrodite. We'll go the other way!"

Just me attempting to put a little levity into a very serious situation. This conversation among four Greek goddesses immediately came to mind when I saw the photo in the Sunday Bismarck Tribune. (All photos are by the Tribune or submitted to the Trib's website.)

These statues are in a private garden in the Fox Island area of South Bismarck. (I was amazed to see such classy statutes in Bismarck, definitely a non-posh town.) The photo was taken May 28. As of today, June 1, the flood has not officially arrived and the water hovers at just under the 16-foot flood stage.

That is good news, and is caused by the amazing fact and welcome fact that the river is "scouring" itself out. Because the water is moving at such a fast clip (7 to 8 times faster than it usually pours through Bismarck), the river is dredging its own bottom and is therefore capable of holding more water.

That's the good news. But the flood is still coming. It has merely been postponed. Bismarck-Mandan has just been granted a little extra time to prepare. The bad news is that there was more heavy rain in Montana in the past few days and the Corps of Engineers will up the cfs release level to 100,000 by the end of today and will be releasing 150,000 cfs by mid-June. Remember just a few days ago when I said that 105,000 cfs was an astronomical number? And, for the first time ever, the spillway gates will be opened at Garrison Dam. The Army Corps of Engineers hastened to say that this does not mean that they have lost control of the river; they still maintained that this is a planned, controlled release.

Individuals, city officials, the ND National Guard, the Corps, the governor, our senators, and other cities in ND and Minnesota are doing everything they can to fight this thing, with sandbags, basket dikes, concrete barriers, ring dikes, dirt and clay dikes. Sandbagging sites are being operated around the clock. The goal is for four million sandbags to be filled by Thursday. People of all ages from little kids to 70-something women are pitching in to help.

City officials are confident that they can keep the water away, not only from homes but from the city water treatment plant, fire departments and other places essential to maintaining the infrastructure. But for states officials, the problem is being compounded by the fact that they have to lend a hand to another flooded ND city. Minot, 90 miles to our north, is being flooded by a different river, the Souris (or Mouse). About 10,000 people have already been ordered to evacuate. So far, evacuations in Bismarck are voluntary.

For city officials, the new mantra is "20.6 plus 1". The rate of 150,000 cfs translates to a flood stage of 20.6 feet. Planners are adding one foot to their fortifications as a cushion. As for anything beyond that, as you can see by the photo, some people are leaving the rest up to God.

This flood fight is not receiving national news. I think it's a sad thing that they are not covering these mammoth efforts to stave off a might river. However, I can understand, since the flood has not officially arrived yet, and having to cover the flooding along an even mightier river, the Mississippi, plus all the tornado damage down South. But if you are praying for them, please leave a little room in your prayers for the stalwart people living in or trying to help South Bismarck-Mandan.

Flooded bike tunnel under Bismarck Expressway.

The now-ironic sign reads "Caution. Trail may be

slippery. Walk Bikes."

CELEBRATING DECORATION DAY

2011-05-30T09:07:00.004-06:00

Lady Liberty in a Red Robe

Did you know that Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day? It is a day set aside as a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. (It eventually became a day to honor all our dead.) It was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868. The true date of Memorial Day is May 30, but it came to be observed on the last Monday of May instead. Memorial Day 2011 is actually being celebrated on the correct date!

The Decoration Day name comes from the habit of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths, crosses and flags. And that is my childhood memory of it - taking artificial flower wreaths to the cemetery for our deceased relatives, and then going to a Memorial Day Parade.

There are many stories as to the day's actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Decoration Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South

were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War.

When the Golden Age of the Penny Postcard began, the cards portrayed Civil War veterans - at least of the blue-clad veterans of the GAR - the Grand Old Republic, or Army of the North. I only found one postcard with a gray-clad Confederate soldier on it, and that was of General Lee surrendering to General Grant.

But by the time the golden age of postcards was over, cards were featuring a different type of soldier - the American dough boy who sacrificed his life fighting against the evil Huns in France.

Some of the cards featured here are from my collection. There are many fewer Memorial/Decoration Day postcards than Christmas, Easter, or even Halloween cards, but they are gorgeous, with many featuring the red, white and blue of the American flag.

Many also feature a Lady Liberty in various styles of dress. Although it was a day of remembering, these vintage postcards show us it was also a day for everyone to dress in their best finery and celebrate our great country with parades and patriotic speeches.

Off to the Cemetery with Flowers

Honoring a Civil War Vet in Her Own Way

A Widow?

Honoring Vets From Two Wars

Raising the Flag

Placing Flowers and Flags

Another Girl Honors a Vet

Lady Liberty in a Green Robe

Another Ellen Clapsaddle Postcard

A World War I Officer

A Girl Guide? (a rare & valuable
R. Tuck & Sons of London card)

A Female Soldier of the GAR!

A Lady Liberty in Red, White and Blue

A rare card celebrating the Navy Veteran

BLOGGER COMMENTING PROBLEMS

2011-05-28T09:21:00.000-06:00

Is Blogger making your crazy by not allowing you to comment? I discovered the solution (for me, anyway) on another blog - Kath at Hillside Cottage:

"When you want to post your comment and you choose the Blogger option, to identify yourself, you end up going round in a circle between the sign in page and the comment box. Sound familiar?

The suggested solution was to UNCLICK the "Stay signed in" box and the loop is broken. I've managed to comment without further problems. Give it a try?

BISMARCK BRACING FOR A FIGHT

2011-05-26T09:29:00.007-06:00

Fox Island in South Bismarck,

first area to be flooded

The sky is blue and the sun is shining. The tulips and apple trees are in full bloom and the lilacs will be completely open in just a couple of days. We should be deliriously happy that spring is here at last. But a lot of residents of South Bismarck and Mandan are shocked, sad, worried and angry.

They're shocked that they should be dealing with a flood, in May, long after the snow has melted. They're sad and worried that they may lose their homes. And rather than being angry at Mother Nature, a lot are angry at the U.S. Corps of Engineers. They're directly blaming the Corps for this flood.

Hesko Basket Dike going

up in South Bismarck

Here's the scenario: A huge snow pack in the mountains of Montana is now melting. This, combined with heavy rains in Montana the past week (3 inches in Billings on Tuesday) is putting heavy pressure first on the Yellowstone River in that state and then on the Missouri River as it converges with the Yellowstone in western North Dakota. This leads to extreme pressure on Garrison Dam 75 miles north of Bismarck.

All of a sudden, the citizens of our twin cities are hearing numbers and phrases we were never concerned with before. The abbreviation cfs, one which few of us knew about until now, is now at the forefront of our minds. Currently the dam is releasing water at the rate of 75,000 cfs - cubic feet per second. That's already an astronomical figure for the dam (previous highest level was 64,200 cfs), but it will increase to 80,000 cfs tomorrow and 85,000 cfs on Monday! (It takes about 1 1/2 days for this released water to reach Bismarck-Mandan.)

Another set of numbers people are talking about is flood stage. The current water level is 15.5 feet. Flood stage is 16 feet. At this time, the contingency plan is for an 18-foot flood. But depending on who's talking, the river could crest at 20, even 22 feet.

Water comes thundering out of

Garrison Dam, May 24, 2011

And, the Corp is "not ruling out" larger releases. This has generated a lot of anger. People feel helpless because the Corps has complete power over the river system, and many see it as an unfeeling, uncaring government entity. Lots of people have also expressed the opinion that the Corps has known about this snow pack for a long time and could have alleviated the situation by beginning releases a while ago.

I'm not getting into any political arguments about this. My home won't be affected unless the unthinkable happens and Garrison Dam bursts. That would be catastrophic for everyone in south central North Dakota. However, the Corps reports that "the system of dams (in MT and ND) is operating as designed." And I am going to put my faith in that.

But I do feel so bad for the residents of south Bismarck who are frantically trying to save their homes, including the boss at my new temporary job. He reported this morning that although his home is still dry, he has huge carp swimming in his yard and swans floating through the trees.

The city of Bismarck isn't wasting time assigning blame. It's swung into high gear, aiming its efforts at containing a 100-year flood. To compound matters, this is also an unusual type of flood. The problem is not just overland flooding. The ground water levels in South Bismarck are also extremely high. As astonishing as it may sound, this flood may go on for weeks or months. My boss has already evacuated and plans to be away from home for two months.

Meanwhile, people in the south part of town are frantically trying to figure out what will happen in their neighborhoods. One sees many people with global positioners in hand, taking readings to see if their home elevations are "safe" or not. Outdated maps, too many variables and confusing answers to "how high should I sandbag?" add to the frustration.

The ND National Guard has sent 600 hundred soldiers to help in the sandbagging, traffic control and levee patrol efforts. Individual homeowners are building sandbag ring dikes around their properties or have banded together to enclose entire blocks. The city is building earthen levies and installing Hesko Basket Dikes. Pre-assembled structures which can be filled with sand on site, these dikes are relatively new in flood fighting. They were used in flood fighting in Fargo but have never been tried here.

Submerged sign near Fox Island

Stores are selling out of GPS devices, sump pumps and related materials. The animals are being evacuated from Dakota Zoo, with zoos from North and South Dakota taking in the creatures. This is by no means easy. As one person put it, you can't just load a zoo animal onto a cattle truck. And of course, it's not just homes but many businesses which will be affected if the entire south side floods. Both cities are sure to see disruptions for months to come.

"This is probably going to go down as the No. 1 flood event for Bismarck," said Todd Sando, the chief engineer for the state Water Commission. A forecast of rain beginning locally tomorrow and lasting all through Memorial Day weekend will only compound the problem. I'll update this situation as it progresses.

Note added at 12:15 pm: I just heard that the Corps of Engineers will be raising the dam release to 105,000 cfs by June 9. This is a crushing blow.

MY SHIP CAME IN!

2011-05-20T09:16:00.003-06:00

Painting by Jennifer Branch

Have you ever waited for your ship to come in and then actually have it come in? But you discover it wasn't what you expected?

Before I left my six-month long temp job at the Health Department, I bragged to my coffee-break friends that I would be retiring when my assignment was over at the end of April. My husband went ahead and fully retired in the middle of March, in expectation of that ship. This wasn't some unrealistic fantasy, mind you. It wasn't a pipe dream - we had reports that the ship was coming our way, and then that it headed toward the harbor. It had, in fact, arrived two weeks earlier than expected. But when it docked, lo and behold, our long-awaited Ship of Dreams was not an aircraft carrier, not an ocean liner, not a yacht, not even a motorboat. It was a little old dinghy.

The trouble is, I had really counted my chickens. Yes, I know we are told not to do that. But still, it was hard to resist. Retire at 62? Certainly. Combine a mini-vacation with my cousin's wedding in Minneapolis in June? Not a problem. Travel around the country? That would be so great. Help out my sister? She deserves it. A four-wheel drive for Dan? He deserves that too.

Ah well, it was not meant to be. And actually, we may not even be able to do the things that really need doing, like replacing our leaky roof, getting a physical and new glasses and paying the real estate taxes in full.

I don't mean to suggest this little dinghy is unwelcome. It will help us relax and put some sunshine in our days. We can float serenely upon the calm waters and not worry about wolves at our door (to really mix metaphors). And, as WOL so insightfully says in her comment to this post, it's better than being up the creek without a paddle, a situation I have found myself in way too many times in the past.

I must have had a premonition of all this when I left the health department that last Friday. I did not have the feeling that I was leaving work for the last time. There were no thoughts of no more soul-sucking jobs, no more bad bosses, no more nasty co-workers, no more drudgery and boredom.

And sure enough, after a two-week break, I'm back on the job at another temporary assignment. So what comes next? Will I semi-retire when I am eligible to draw Social Security at the end of June? Or will I keep on taking assignments? For sure, there will be no attempt to find a permanent job. The one thing I am sure about is that I am completely through with resumes and interviews.

I dunno. The only thing I have plans to do is hop aboard that sturdy, reliable little dinghy and enjoy my summer to the fullest.

MAY FULL MOON

2011-05-17T12:07:00.006-06:00

"HARE'S 1st FULL MOON" by David Kettley

http://www.davidkettley.com/

When you look up at the big bright moon tonight, you may think of it only as the May Full Moon. However, this moon has many names. They include Flower Moon (many Native American tribes), Green Leaf Moon (Lakota Sioux), Milk Moon (Colonial America), Bright Moon (Celtic), Dragon Moon (Chinese) Planting Moon (Cherokee and Sioux), Green Grass Moon (neo Pagans) and Hare Moon (Medieval England).

Those who think of the May Moon as the Flower Moon say that the flowers grow at night during this time, and even dance in honor of the moon. That is a wonderful image. However, of all the moon names, my favorite is Hare Moon, because of its association with the moon-gazing hare, of which there are a number of delightful paintings on the web.

Notice I said moon-gazing hare. Hares should never be confused with rabbits. They are entirely different species and are, except in physical resemblance, quite unalike. Baby rabbits (kittens) are born hairless, blind and helpless. Baby hares (leverets) are born fully-furred, can see and have independent movement. Hares are generally larger and have longer hind legs and longer ears with characteristic black markings. Only hares change color in the winter. Hares and rabbits have different diets. Rabbits are social creatures, while hares are mostly solitary creatures. Rabbits generally live underground in tunnels and burrows, but hares are always on the surface.

"MOON GAZING HARE" by Joanna May

http://www.joannamay.com/

The symbol of the moon-gazing hare is almost universal and dates back to ancient times. It symbolizes fertility. Pagans believed moon-gazing hares would bring growth, re-birth, abundance, new beginnings and fortune. To others, the hare symbolized purity, and a single hare was often used to signify the Virgin Mary's purity. This image of the hare, of course, is in sharp contrast to that of the fertile common rabbit.

In ancient Egyptian belief, hares were intrinsically linked to the moon's cyclical movement - being at once masculine when waxing and feminine when waning. Hares would thus be depicted as alchemists making the elixir of immortality or as messengers of the female moon deity.

I especially love the images directly above and below, because they shows a moon-gazy hare looking at an image of a hare on the moon! Since ancient times people have claimed to see the image of a rabbit or hare on the face of the moon. In East Asian culture, the Moon Rabbit or Jade Rabbit lives on the moon and is seen pounding a mortar and pestle. In Chinese folklore, the image is that of a companion to the Goddess Chang'e, who is pounding the elixir of life for her.

"LUNAR HARE" by Mandy Walden
http://www.mandywaldenartistprintmaker.co.uk/

In Buddhist lore, a monkey, an otter, a jackal, and a rabbit resolved to practice charity on the day of the full moon, believing a demonstration of great virtue would earn a great reward. When an old man begged for food, the monkey gathered fruits from the trees and the otter collected fish, while the jackal wrongfully pilfered a lizard and a pot of milk-curd.

The rabbit, who knew only how to gather grass, instead offered its own body, throwing itself into a fire the man had built. The rabbit, however, was not burned. The old man revealed himself to be Śakra, a Buddhist deity, and, touched by the rabbit's virtue, drew the likeness of the rabbit on the moon for all to see. It is said the lunar image is still draped in the smoke that rose when the rabbit cast itself into the fire. (In another version, the rabbit's companions are a fox and a monkey.)

"LUNA HARE" by Nicola Slattery

http://www.nicolaslattery.com/

Similar hare/rabbit-on-the-moon legends occur in Mexican folklore. According to an Aztec legend, the god Quetzalcoatl, then living on Earth as a man, started on a journey and, after walking for a long time, became hungry and tired. With no food or water around, he thought he would die. Then a rabbit grazing nearby offered himself as food to save his life. Quetzalcoatl, moved by the rabbit's noble offering, elevated him to the moon, then lowered him back to Earth and told him, "You may be just a rabbit, but everyone will remember you; there is your image in light, for all men and for all times."

Another legend from the New World tells of the brave and noble sacrifice of Nanahuatzin during the creation of the fifth sun. Humble Nanahuatzin sacrificed himself in fire to become the new sun, but the wealthy god Tecciztecatl hesitated four times before he finally set himself alight to become the moon. Due to Tecciztecatl's cowardice, the gods felt that the moon should not be as bright as the sun, so one of the gods threw a rabbit at his face to diminish his light. It is also said that Tecciztecatl was in the form of a rabbit when he sacrificed himself to become the moon, casting his shadow there.

"GLASTONBURY HARE" by Christopher Fry

http://www.glastonburygalleries.com/
(If you look closely at the lower left side of

the painting, you will see Glastonbury Tor.)

A Native American (Cree) legend tells a different variation, about a young rabbit who wished to ride the moon. Only the crane was willing to take him. The trip stretched Crane's legs as the heavy rabbit held them tightly, leaving them as elongated as crane's legs are now. When they reached the moon Rabbit touched Crane's head with a bleeding paw, leaving the red mark cranes wear to this day. According to the legend, Rabbit still rides the moon.

As the moon waxes and wanes, the common view of the hare has also waxed and waned. Revered in ancient times, the hare was later regarded with contempt and suspicion in early Christianity. It was considered to be a shape-shifting creature serving the interests of witches, ready to tempt man into perdition.

http://www.galleryhillart.blogspot.com/

A very intriguing aspect of hare legend and lore is the ancient symbol of The Three Hares. In her blog, artist Sue Wookey writes that "No one knows the real origin or meaning of this strange symbol, but it is found all along the Silk Road from China to South West England where it can be seen on church roof bosses and in stained glass.

"The Three Hares chase each other around and share three ears (not six) so it's a bit of an optical illusion. It's one of the many symbols that contain a trinity, like the triskelion (the Isle of Man symbol) and the Celtic symbol of three interlocking spirals. The symbol could be connected to the lunar cycle. Or perhaps not. No one knows. I've put moons in the painting anyway because - to me - it represents the cyclical passing of time which both races by faster than we can catch it and repeats at one and the same time."

The quotes around the outside of the painting are: "In time take time while time doth last, for time is no time when time is past." (anonymous) and "The passing minute is every man's equal possession, but what has once gone by is not ours." (Marcus Aurelius).

According to The Three Hares project, which investigated the origin of this symbol, the image is "an extraordinary and ancient archetype, stretching across diverse religions, cultures, many centuries and many thousands of miles. It is part of the shared medieval heritage of Europe and Asia - of Buddhism, Islam and Judaism."

Wendy Andrew wrote and illustrated
this delightful book (print also available)

http://www.paintingdreams.co.uk/

~~~~~~~~~~

"FULL MOON RHYME"
~ by Judith Wright

There's a hare in the moon tonight

Crouching alone in the bright

buttercup field of the moon

and all the dogs in the world

howl at the hare in the moon.

"I chased that hare to the sky"

the hungry dogs cry.

"The hare jumped to the moon

and left me here in the cold.

I chased that hare to the moon.

Come down again, wild hare,
we can see you there"

The dogs all howl to the moon.

"Come down again to the world,

you mad black hare in the moon

Or we will grow wings and fly

up to the star-grassed sky

to hunt you out of the moon"

The hungry dogs of the world

howl at the hare in the moon.

~~~~~~~~~~

NOTES:

The fantastic Stonewylde series of books, which I promote on my sidebar, features moon-gazing rabbits and also a moon-gazy girl, the heroine Sylvie. When the moon is full, Sylvie finds herself powerlessly drawn to follow the hares and dance herself into a trance beneath the shining orb.

**********

I, myself, have never seen a hare on the moon. Every time I look at the full moon, I see the same old thing: The enigmatically smiling face of the Man in the Moon. If you wish to see some widely varying interpretations, just Google the words "hare" (or rabbit) on the moon". Maybe you'll find the hare you always see when you gaze up at the moon.

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY

2011-05-06T12:08:00.000-06:00

"NIGHT" by Edward Robert Hughes

"She walks in beauty like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

which heaven to gaudy day denies"

First verse of "She Walks in Beauty"

~ by George Gordon, Lord Byron

A new book of poetry compiled and introduced by Caroline Kennedy takes its title from the first line of Byron's famous poem. "She Walks in Beauty: A Woman's Journey Through Poems" was recently released, and I think it would make an excellent Mother's Day gift. (I treated myself, ha!)

I almost didn't find it at the bookstore the other day. I was looking for an oversized, coffee table type book with lots of lush photographs and a few of the world's best-loved poems. I was surprised to discover it is a "regular"- (novel)-sized book.And instead of large color photos, the pages feature black and white photos of peonies from leaf to bud to bloom. Very understated and tasteful - I approve!

And the book is chock full of poems. The best-loved poems are there, and they include poems we've all read in high school or beginning college classes: "There's my last duchess hanging on the wall" (Robert Browning), "How do I love thee, let me count the ways" (Elizabeth Barrett Browning), and Emily Dickinson's tale of heartbreak:

"My life closed twice before its close --

It yet remains to see

If immortality unveil

A third event to me,

So huge, so hopeless to conceive

As these that twice befell.

Parting is all we know of Heaven

And all we need of hell."

"My Life Closed Twice Before its Close"

But then, a pleasant surprise: the deeper, more profound and less accessible - but still remarkable poems, written by the poets I read in advanced poetry classes, like Theodore Roethke, Gregory Corso, Sylvia Plath, Delmore Schwartz and Rainer Maria Rilke.

There are poems of astonishing beauty, like Christina Rossetti's "A Birthday": "My heart like a singing bird/whose nest is in a watered shoot;/My heart is like an appletree/Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit".

But then there are the surprising poems - new to me, daring and sophisticated, some dangerous, others revealing beauty in in the very depths of ugliness:

" I want a red dress.

I want it flimsy and cheap.

I want it too tight, I want to wear it

until someone tears it off me."

First lines from "What Do Women Want?"

~ by Kim Addonizio

~~~~~~~~~~

"I want you women up north to know

how those dainty children's dresses you buy

at macy's, wanamakers, gimbels, marshall fields,

are dyed in blood, are stitched in wasting flesh,

down in San Antonio, "where sunshine spends the winter".

First stanza from "I Want You Women Up North to Know"

~by Tillie Olson.

I mentioned earlier that I thought this would be a wonderful Mother's Day gift, as the second part of the title would indicate: "A Woman's Journey Through Poems". Kennedy has divided the poems into several different categories, including "Falling In Love"; "Breaking Up"; "Marriage"; "Work"; "Beauty, Clothes and Things of this World"; "Motherhood"; "Friendship"; "Growing Up and Growing Old"; and "Death and Grief".

As we all know, Kennedy has encountered much grief in her lifetime, having lost all of her original family; three uncles on her father's side; and many other uncles, aunts and cousins. She relates in one chapter how she turns to poetry for solace in times of grief.

I think this anthology will help women everywhere work through all the phases of their lives. The only best-loved poems of mine that I wish Kennedy would have included - nature poems - did not fit her theme, but I have other anthologies that fit the bill. All in all, I am happy to add this anthology to my small poetry collection.

This book has inspired me to re-open my Art and Poetry blog and add my favorite poems there (both from this book and elsewhere). I will be adding several these next few hours.

Here is the link to my Art and Poetry Fest blog: http://poetryfest-julie.blogspot.com/

NO NEW BLOG AFTER ALL

2011-05-04T18:55:00.004-06:00

"HYLAS AND THE WATER NYMPHS" by J. W. Waterhouse

Remember me calling Spring capricious a couple of weeks ago? Now I'm thinking that I am going to have to call myself capricious as well, in the sense that I haven't been able to make up my mind.

At the April full moon, I started a new blog called "A Hopeless Romantic". I did this because Celtic Lady had gotten too .... well, too CELTIC. I started to feel that in researching my Celtic roots and publishing the results online, I had lost "me"; the self, the personality that was originally a part of Celtic Lady.

As a result, I alienated a lot of readers and lost touch with many good blogging friends. I wrote that since I am hoping to retire within a few months, I would have time to re-connect with those dear friends and re-establish the joyful camaraderie I had with them - and to once again exchange comments, e-mails, snail mail, small gifts, etc.

I titled that new blog A Hopeless Romantic, which I have been all of my life and remain so in face of all of life's realities. When a girlfriend from a journalism class stopped by my dorm room, she saw a 4 x 4 hot pink felt "bulletin board" I had hung right above my top bunk. I had cut out beautiful images from magazines and artfully arranged them. There were no sloppy notes, lists, random jottings, etc. No, everything on that board had its own place and was "just for pretty", as the Amish say. (All these many years later, I am still doing that in collage form.)

"Wow, you are really A HOPELESS ROMANTIC," she exclaimed in all caps. I could not demur. "Another born romantic, that's me", as John Mellencamp would say.

I intended the new blog to cover the many, many things I love: music and architecture and history; great classical and traditional art, Art Nouveau, the Arts and Crafts movement and the Pre-Raphaelite painters; reading and libraries and poetry; birds and animals, especially dogs; the prairie of my home, but also woods, lakes and rivers; flowers, especially prairie roses, irises and lilacs; the seasons and the sun, the moon and the sky; so many people, both the near and dear and the faraway but kindred spirits; road trips and fireplaces and warm bread; freshly-mown grass and freshly-powdered babies; newly-cut lumber and pine trees; my heritage and where I'm from; food and cooking; fine old things; order, cleanliness, serenity, grace, peace and beauty.

A long time ago a good blogging friend told me that new projects are best started at the dark of the moon rather at the full moon. I think I finally understand that I should not have started the new blog - at the full moon or ever. I ultimately decided I could combine the best of both blogs - no way was I going to give up the the gorgeous J. W. Waterhouse background created by Itkupilli, a Finnish artist who lives in L.A! (Just click on the link on the upper left of this blog to find her free backgrounds.)

I realized I can write about all the aforementioned topics, plus add to all the myriad and various subjects I've ever written about in the four-plus years since I started "Celtic Lady". As for those who follow me just for the Celtic posts, they will just have to be patient with me. I will continue to post about all the Celtic holidays and "All Things Celtic" in March. I did not start this blog to be wholly a Celtic blog. The title Celtic Lady was meant to be an expression of who and what I feel myself to be at the very deepest level of my soul. Therefore, I will not be guilted into being a Celtic-only blog, even though I have been (very happily and thankfully) named to a couple of Best Celtic Blogs lists.

I feel like saying sorry about this capriciousness, although I don't quite know why, except in the case of my dear old blogging friend Annie who was so excited to be the first one to comment on the new blog! Annie, you'll always be first in my book!!

Manga tak (many thanks), as we Norwegians say, to those other old blogging friends who came by the new blog added their comments on the first post. Your URLs hold a place of pride on my Friends and Kindred Spirits list on THIS blog.

BELTANE

2011-04-30T17:04:00.010-06:00

"BELTANE" by Julia Jeffrey

http://www.etsy.com/shop/juliajeffrey

Tonight is the Eve of Beltane, one of the two most important Celtic festivals of the year, or, as we Americans know it, May Day. It is properly observed from sunset April 30 to sunset May 1.

I am so bummed out this Eve of Beltane. First, because we are having a blizzard here! Yes, a ton of snow and wind are combining to make for a nasty spring snowstorm in Bismarck. Will spring ever arrive here?

The second reason is that I have lost something near and very dear to me. It was a blog, of all things, a blog I shared with another person. It was called Ancestral Sisters, and it was about two young women in Britannia (Great Britain) in ancient Celtic times; two kindred spirits who could scry each other through fire (my character) and water (the other character).

"BELTANE" by Ric Kemp

The two of us took turns writing posts in character. My character, Aine (Anya), was a herbalist and healer who lived in Southern England. The other young woman was the keeper of a well in Ireland.

For my part, I did a lot of research on the daily life of the Ancient Celts and I scoured the web for dozens and dozens of paintings to accompany my posts. I wrote about Aine's life - her village, her hut and her companion animals; the preparations for and the celebrations of the major Celtic holidays; her work in growing plants and in making medicines; her visits to a trade fair, a solo trip to the shore to gather seaside plants and a sacred trip with others across southern England to Stonehenge and the sacred tor at Glastonbury.

Fairy Ring Oracle

Illustrator Paul Mason

Have I impressed upon you how hard I worked on the research and the writing, and how much this was a labor of love? There was enough there for a short book.

And now it is gone, "disappeared" by the other writer. Granted, I had not written on the blog for quite a while, but I expected it to be there forever and that I could draw upon it at anytime. And now it is lost to me forever. This was a bitter truth for me to learn, and for for all you bloggers to take a lesson from, especially those of you who share a blog. If you love something you've written or artwork or photos, save it somewhere else as a backup.

"BELTANE", artist unknown

I had intended to use Aine's Beltane celebration for today's post, but now I will have to share with you a post I wrote at Beltane a couple of years ago:

On Beltane (or Beltaine) Eve and its counterpart, Samhain Eve (or Halloween), the veil between the two worlds is at its thinnest. But unlike Samhain, when spirits of the dead roam the world, on Beltane Eve it is the fairies who are returning from their winter respite, carefree and full of fairy delight and mischief. Beware, tonight the Queen of the Fairies will ride out on her white steed to entice humans away to fairyland. If you hear the bells on her horse, turn your face away, or she may choose you!

Beltane is a Gaelic festival, celebrated by those in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. (Other Celts, like those in Wales and Gaul, had similar spring celebrations). The name Beltane means bright fire, bale fire, or Fire of Bel (Bel or Belinos being the Sun God). Halfway between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice, this day marks the beginning of the bright half of the year.

"BELTANE GROVE" by Mickie Mueller

http://www.mickiemuellerart.com/

Preparations for Beltane began with gathering flowers for the Maypole and for wearing on the body and in the hair. Young men went May boughing or May birching, gathering garlands of hawthorn (Mayflower) and rowan (mountain ash) to hang over doorways and windows. On the Isle of Man, the youngest child of a family would gather primroses to throw against the door of the house for protection.

From the woods, villagers gathered nine different types of sacred wood. From this wood, two giant bonfires, or need fires, were built on top of a hill. The villagers drove domestic animals between the two fires to purify and protect themselves and the animals, insure their fertility, and bring luck. People also jumped over the bonfires (hopefully after they had died down a bit) in a fertility ritual. In Scotland, boughs of juniper were added to the fire for purification and blessing.

The Beltane celebration honored life over death and celebrated the rebirth of the world. Above all, it was a fertility festival, a symbolic union of the God and Goddess, of the divine masculine and the divine feminine. A young virgin, often dressed in white with a crown of flowers, was chosen to be the Queen of the May. Her consort went by many names, including the Green Man, the May Groom, the May King, and Jack-of-the-Green, often dressed in green and decorated with leaves.

"THE MAY QUEEN" by Emily Balivet

www.emilybalivet.com

In Scotland, bannocks (or oatcakes), were passed around in a bonnet. One bannock had been blackened by the fire, and the person choosing the blackened bannock became The Fool. It was the hope that all misfortune would henceforth fall on The Fool and no one else. Poor Fool, he also had to jump over the bonfire three times.

After the fires died down, the youth of the village would slip into the woods to go "A-Maying", to act out in reality the symbolic joining of the God and Goddess. No wonder they sing about "The Lusty Month of May" in "Camelot".

May Day morning, the young people would emerge from the woods, perhaps mussed and disheveled, to dance around the Maypole, gaily decorated with colorful ribbons, flowers, leaves and garlands. Flowers were put in baskets and left on doorsteps for those who were too ill or too old to participate in the festival. From that, we get our modern day May baskets.

"BELTANE" by Wendy Andrew

http://www.paintingdreams.co.uk/

Beltane was serious business for the Celts. They believed that the wheel of the sky would not turn without their intervention, and they did everything in their power - with their fires, celebrations and rituals - to ensure that summer returned each year.

Beltane was celebrated in English villages up into the 1950s. The festivities came to include mummers' plays, Morris dancing, riding the hobby horse, feasting and drinking. Beltane is still celebrated in some areas. My dear English blogging friend Leanne (Dorset Days/Somerset Seasons) went to Glastonbury today, lucky, lucky lady. Tonight, the Beltane Fire Festival on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland, will attract 12,000 to 15,000 people.

Because of the blizzard (and city regulations, ha!), there will be no May bonfires for me tonight here in Bismarck, and certainly no creeping into the woods to go "A-Maying." Instead, I will play "Huron Beltane Fire Dance" by Loreena McKennitt a number of times. Since I can never listen to this music without dancing, I'll do a little springtime dance of my own, and maybe that will improve my spirits a bit.

"DANCING THE CIRCLE" by Mickie Mueller

"THE NAMES UPON THE HARP", A BOOK OF IRISH MYTH AND LEGENDS

2011-04-04T18:43:00.002-06:00

"THE NAMES UPON THE HARP", written by Marie Heaney

and illustrated by P. J. Lynch

I had planned to write a post about this book while it was still March, so that I could include it in my "All Things Celtic" theme. However, I only received the book today. I'm going to write about it anyway, so just pretend it's still March (we have plenty of snow piles to make it seem so).

I learned about the book while I was writing my previous post about Niamh and Oisin. I discovered it only after I had found several wonderful illustrations for it from the gallery of P. J. (Patrick James) Lynch, a famous Irish artist.

According to the book, since childhood Lynch "has had images of Finn, the son of Cumhaill, and leader of the Fianna; Conor MacNessa, the King of Ulster; and Cuchulainn, the great hero, in his head. But only in collaboration with a story teller as respected as Marie Heaney did he feel ready to commit his images to paper."

Aiofe puts a spell on her stepchildren, turning

them into swans in "The Children of Lir"

Heaney, by the way, is the wife of famous Irish poet Seamus Heaney and a well respected writer and preserver of Irish folklore in her own right.

So far I have only had time to peruse the fabulous illustrations, but I will get around to reading the tales soon.
There are eight of them (plus one poem): "Moytura", "The Children of Lir", "The Birth of Cuchulainn", "Bricriu's Feast", "Deirdre of the Sorrows", "Finn and the Salmon of Knowledge", "The Enchanted Deer" and "Oisin in the Land of Youth."

Of the many characters in these stories, I had only heard of Cuchulainn, Deirdre, Oisin and Lugh of the Long Arm (from "Moytura"), so I have a lot of information to absorb!

The beautiful Eithlinn, held captive

in a tower, from "Moytura"

Heaney divides her book into three categories: "The Mythological Cycle", "The Ulster Cycle" and "The Finn Cycle". She gives a brief description of each of these cycles before relating the tales from them. I found this very useful, as I have run into these titles many times without really grasping what they meant.

From "Oisin in the Land of Youth"

"Fiercely fought battles, tender romances, spells and curses, loyalty and betrayal: the stuff of great drama, and unforgettable storytelling." That's what the publishers promise. I can't wait to immerse myself in these stories. Of them, Heaney says "What ensures their place in world literature is their agelessness, their value as expressions of the perennial art of the storyteller."

Through the millenia, these legends would have been lost forever if not for raconteurs and scribes like her.

Fomorian leader Balor of the Evil Eye, from "Moytura"

Although I found most of the illustrations to be stunningly beautiful, there are some ugly ones too (like Balor, above, who could slay 100 men with one glance), and even gruesome (a severed head), so you may want to check out the book before giving it to a child.

Supposedly, this book is for children about the age of 8 or 9. But I certainly found it to be enjoyable at the adult level. In fact, Heaney tells these great Irish legends far better than any version I have yet seen! I especially appreciated the pronunciation guide, as I have a tendency to pronounce them as they're spelled, e.g. oy-zin instead of ush-een (Oisin), loog instead of loo (Lugh) and ay-oi-fuh instead of eef-eh (Aoife).

The book retails at $19.95 but I was able to find a perfect used copy for $8.00 on amazon.com. I will also be looking for Heaney's other book, "Over Nine Waves: A Book of Irish Legend."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You and I leave names upon the harp"

Cuchulainn to Conor, from "Baile's Strand" by W. B. Yeats

NIAMH AND OISIN AND THE LAND OF TIR NA N'OG

2011-03-26T12:12:00.006-06:00

"Oisin and Niamh of the Golden Hair" by P.J. Lynch

http://www.pjlynchgallery.blogspot.com/

(A set of Irish postal stamps is based on this illustration!)

At least twice this past week, I found myself wishing I was somewhere far away from North Dakota. One time was Tuesday afternoon, when I was fighting my way home during the second blizzard in 11 days. Another was the next morning, when I got stuck in the parking lot at work and it took three guys to push me out. They were nice enough to blame not bad driving on my part but on my "light, little" Sunbird for getting me into trouble.

Anyway, I was wishing I was somewhere bright and warm, where you don't have to go out and earn a living. Somewhere with no health or money worries and no nasty people to deal with. Some place like .... Tír na nÓg.

Tír na nÓg (pronouced Tear na Noge) is the most famous of the otherworlds in Celtic mythology. The name roughly means "Land of Youth." When the last generation of Tuatha Dé Danann (the gods and goddesses who ruled ancient Ireland) were conquered in battle, they were allowed to stay in Eire - if they went underground. Some retreated to live under the hollow hills and thence became known as the sidhe - or fairies - of ancient Celtic myth. Others went to Tír na nÓg.

Artist Unknown

Tír na nÓg was considered to be a place beyond the edges of the map, located on an island far to the west of Ireland. It could be reached by either an arduous voyage or an invitation from one of its fairy residents. This otherworld was a place where sickness and death did not exist. It was a place of eternal youth and beauty. Here, music, strength, life, and all pleasurable pursuits came together in a single place. Here happiness lasted forever; no one wanted for food or drink. It is sometimes considered to be the Irish equivalent of the Greek Elysium, or the Valhalla of the Norse.

However, Tír na nÓg was not a place where souls went after death. The island was only inhabited by fairies and elves. Only a few mortals had even seen the island and their journies there often ended unhappily.

Greg and Tim Hildebrandt

Tír na nÓg is perhaps best known from the tale of Oisín (O-Sheen), one of the few mortals who ever lived there, and a fairy goddess, Niamh (Neeve).

Oisin was one of the great warrior poets of ancient Ireland. He was a member of his father Fionn’s band of legendary heroes, the Fianna. One day while Oisin was out hunting, a beautiful maiden approached him. She was Niamh of the Golden Hair, one of the Tuatha De Danann and the daughter of Manannán mac Lir, the god of the sea. Naturally, Oisin fell in love with her. She chose him to be her lover and live with her in Tir na nÓg.

"Niamh, Oisín and Embarr", Artist Unknown

They traveled to the Blessed Realm on a magical horse named Embarr, able to gallop on water. There they were married and lived happily together in that enchanted fairyland. Nobody - including Oisin - ever grew old or sick in Tir na nÓg. But even the land of eternal youth couldn’t banish memories and he began to miss his people and his home terribly. Niamh understood his need to visit the mortal world again and see his friends. She provided him with a fairy horse to take him there. She warned him, however, that he must not set foot on the earth – if he did, he would never be able to return.

Arriving back in Ireland, Oisin was devastated to learn that 300 years had passed in Ireland since he had been with Niamh, though it seemed to him only one year. His father and his men were long dead and the Fianna were the stuff of legends. Oisin decided to return to Tir Na nÓg and his beloved Niamh. On his way back he came across some men trying to lift a heavy rock and bent down to help them. Tragedy struck when he slipped from the saddle. Falling on mortal soil, Oisin was instantly transformed into an old blind man.

Oisin wandered Ireland for many years before St. Patrick took him into his house and tried to convert him to Christianity. Oisin told St. Patrick all of his tales of the Fianna and of The Land of Dreams. He eventually died without ever again setting eyes upon Niamh and Tir Na Óg.

"Oisin and St. Patrick", by P.J. Lynch

HAPPY OSTARA - OR SPRING EQUINOX!

2011-03-20T10:09:00.007-06:00

"OSTARA BLESSINGS" by Angels Creations

The vernal - or spring - equinox occurs in my time zone about 6:30 this evening. As I have done in the past few years to honor this date, I am posting pictures showing beautiful spring goddesses. The goddess Ostara - or Eostre in Germanic languages - is honored at this time of year.

After publishing so many spring goddess paintings over the past few spring equinoxes, I was afraid that I wouldn't find any new images. But I did find a number of lovely ones to choose from, picking the most beautiful and rejecting any that I thought unattractive. There was one of Eostre with a face half human and half hare. Although the hare is a strong symbol of the vernal equinox, I found the image rather off putting. I also rejected any that showed nude women. Not that I found them unattractive, but I thought some readers might be offended.

"BELTANE", Mike Nichols

I hardly need to explain the vernal equinox. It is one of the two times of the year when day and night are of equal length. It is one of the eight major holidays of the Celtic Year. The Celtics called this day Alban Eiler.

In my time zone, the sun at this time of year comes up about 8:00 am and sets about 8:00 pm. Here in America we switched over to Daylight Savings Time a week ago today. It is lovely to have light late into the evening, but it is so hard to get up in the morning.

I had gotten used to - and had been happily - rising in daylight, but after the time change I found myself out of sorts all week. Many people say this feeling is because of the loss of one hour as we spring forward, but that is nonsense. It's the loss of light in the morning that throws us for a loop.

Paulina Stuckey-Cassidy

The Christian Easter holiday is derived from the pagan holiday Eostre or Ostara, as can easily been by the name. Many times, Ostara and Easter occur relatively close to each other, but this year it is not the case, as Easter will take place on April 24, almost the latest date it can occur. Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is tied to the lunar calendar rather than a specific date - and can occur as early as March 22 or as late as April 25. Therefore, I tried to avoid using images that featured goddesses holding baskets of Easter eggs!

So here are my 2011 Ostara/Eostre paintings/images. I am sorry that so many are unattributed. I try hard to attribute all paintings I find on the web, but I find many on what I call "secondary sites", those which have already "borrowed" the paintings/images and not bothered to credit the artist.

"READING ABOUT EOSTRA" by Trudi Doyle

Incidentally, I recently received a very formal e-mail from an artist whose work I had used once. She had the absolute gall to send me a CONTRACT which would enable me to show her work on my site. Of course, I would have had to pay a healthy fee to do so. What nerve! I promptly removed her image from that particular post and will never, ever use her again.

I have actually received e-mails from a few wonderful Celtic fantasy artists who are so thrilled that I use their art. I even devote entire posts to my most-admired artists. As often as I can, I include their website, although this is not really necessary, given that any reader can Google an artist's name and easily find their website. I find that most artists are truly thrilled and pleased to learn that I have given their work a wider audience. Not that I am a very widely-read blogger, but every little bit of publicity helps an artist sell his or her work, right?

(Note added April 9: I received an e-mail comment from Trudi Doyle, the artist whose painting is shown above. She asked me if I would mind adding a link to the print of this painting, which is for sale in her Etsy shop. Trudi, I'd be delighted to! Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/63497712/art-print-reading-about)

"SPRING EQUINOX" by Holly Zollinger

I also make it a practice to purchase prints or cards by these artists. For example, I found the work above on Etsy today. Although I am too late for the holiday this year, these would make great gifts for next spring equinox.

Artist Unknown

It is not truly spring here, although it is trying to be. March came in like a lion. The frigid Arctic air and fierce Alberta Clippers were unwilling to give up their hold over the state well into the middle of the month. Finally this week we have experience a slow melt. A slow melt is good for flood-weary ND folk who endured some really terrible flooding just two years ago in 2009. Even Bismarck, usually flood-free because of the Garrison Dam, had flooding problems that year in the southwest portion of the city because of a massive local ice jam.

Artist Unknown

March can be a very deadly and serious month for weather problems in ND. A week ago Friday, a terrifying late spring blizzard sprang up with very little warning and closed down virtually all highways in the state. About 800 people were stranded on the roads during this vicious storm, including state highway troopers and one pregnant woman who feared she had gone into labor. Fortunately, ALL were rescued, with only minor injuries. This is almost a miracle.

The next day, newspapers carried stories of the notorious blizzard of The Ides of March, March 15, 1941, in which many people lost their lives. The trouble with these late wubter blizzards is that the day starts out just fine. People, fooled by the mild weather, would travel to town and then be caught in a tempest on their way home. Such was last Friday's blizzard. As I drove to work that morning, it was mild and featured blue skies. By 10:00 am it was snowing and by 3:00 pm they sent us home, with the Interstate highways already closed off.

"GODDESS OF SPRING" by Alayna

Today, the streets are clear and the gutters are running with water. Our massive snowbanks are shrinking, but they are dirty, covered with sand and black dirt. All the detritus of winter has now been revealed - loose papers, pop cans and bottles, stray shoes (how do people lose one shoe?), etc. It is truly quite ugly, but even so, we are not as depressed as we were in the frigid, seemingly endless days of winter.

"OSTARA FAY" by Jenna Prosverina

I have blogging friends in the Southern US and in England. I read their blogs with pure envy. WE don't have blooming daffodils, primroses and crocus. Our willow catkins won't be out for another month. Our fruit trees won't bloom until May. Our grass is dead and brown. But now, we have HOPE, hope that spring will indeed come as it has for millenia, just when we began to despair that it ever would come again.

"OSTARA" by Nicole Samlinski

I love this Ostara painting which features a full moon. Did you see last night's supermoon, in which the moon was closer to earth than it was in the last 18 years? (The last full moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993.) Supposedly it was a full moon of rare size and beauty, but because of cloud cover we were not able to see it.

Full moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the moon's orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (apogee). Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of its orbit.

Well, we still have tonight, when to my unscientific eye the moon will still appear full on this, the spring equinox. Will it still be a supermoon? I don't know, but I do hope to see it. It will add to celebration of spring arrived at long last.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S - NO, HAPPY ERIU DAY!

2011-03-17T19:40:00.003-06:00

"ERIU" by Nicole Cadet

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Erm - let's make that Happy Ériu Day instead. I like honoring an ancient Celtic goddess more than an upstart Catholic saint on this, Ireland's day.

The names Ériu, Éire and Erin for Ireland are national personifications - or anthropomorphizations - of a nation. In Ireland's case, they are all feminine, although this is not always true. (England has John Bull and the U. S. has Uncle Sam). However, they are all well-recognized symbols or emblems of a country.

In Celtic mythology, Ériu was the matron goddess of Ireland. (The modern name for Ireland comes from the name Ériu and the word "land".)

With her sisters, Banba and Fódla, Ériu was part of an important triumvirate of goddesses of sovereignty. She was one of the queens of Ireland when the Milesians from Galicia invaded. All three sisters made deals with the Milesians that their names would be given to the defeated country. This was granted to them, although Ériu/Éire became the chief name in use (Banba and Fódla are still sometimes used as poetic names for Ireland.)

"KATHLEEN NI HOULIHAN", Sir John Lavery, 1923

Another, more modern and more political personification of Ireland is Cathleen (or Kathleen) Ni Houlihan, a symbol of Irish patriotism (especially of an independent and separate Irish state). During times of trouble, especially war, Cathleen walks across Ireland to gather the support of men and boys to aid her in battle. As she gathers her supporters, she has the appearance of an old woman. Yet when she has gained her followers, she takes the shape of a fresh, high-spirited young woman.

The help of young Irish men willing to fight and die to free Ireland from the tyranny of colonial rule often resulted in the men becoming martyrs for this cause. However, their deaths were not be looked upon as tragic or needless, because they died as heroes and they will always be remembered as giving their life's blood to Ireland.

The great Irish poet and playwright William Butler Yeats, along with Lady Augusta Gregory, wrote a famous eponymous play about Cathleen Ni Houlihan - who is also sometimes called the Old Woman or Mother Ireland - in 1902.

It is set in a peasant cottage in the Irish village of Killala on August 22, 1798, the place and date where French troops landed to support the United Irishmen's revolution against England. Indicative of the symbiotic relationship between literature and politics, the play was performed just before the famous 1916 Irish Easter Rising against the English.

Here is the script of the play: http://cathleen-ni-houlihan.blogspot.com/

TOP 30 CELTIC CULTURE BLOGS

2011-02-19T20:11:00.003-06:00

"MOTHER NATURE" (Artist Unknown)

I recently received an e-mail from a fellow named Tim Dalton informing me that he had included my blog in a compilation on his website called “Tales from the Past and Dreams for the Future: The Top 30 Celtic Culture Blogs” (link at the end of the post).

On his site, he writes: "Whether you have Celtic ancestry, or you are Irish on March 17th (like everyone else in the world!), these top 30 Celtic Culture blogs will surely keep you entertained. These bloggers have done a great job expressing the beautiful history, sites, and sounds of Celtic traditions."

Dalton's list covers three areas of Celtic blogging: Celtic Music, Irish American and Regional Irish Groups, and Celtic Ancestry. My blog is listed under the third area. Of this category, Dalton writes: "These blogs cover all of the basics and beyond of Celtic History. Not to be missed!"

"MEMORIES OF THE KING", Nicole Cadet

He also give a brief description of each blog. Of mine, he writes, "This Celtic Lady has a pretty blog that explores everything from art to cats. With her Celtic roots, she does a great job touching on basic to intricate Celtic topics."

I find myself to be quite flattered but not entirely believing he listed the right blog, because I don't think I've ever written about cats. I've posted artwork featuring black cats around Halloween, but that's about it. However, I'll just say "Thanks, Tim, for the nod!"

The listing brings to mind my custom of the past couple of years to write about "All Things Irish" during March. It's no secret that I've been in a blogging slump lately. The world always closes in around me at this time of year and this winter is no exception. As I wrote once, like Persephone I seem to descend into the Underworld during the winter, only to emerge into light and life in April.

In "The Wasteland", T. S. Eliot wrote that "April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land". I disagree. Because it is my month of re-birth, I love April! But ever since 2008, February has been the month for cruelty toward me and mine. In the past few Februaries I have lost a job, had a devastating car accident, had a car die on me, wrenched my knee so that I couldn't walk for the entire month, etc.

"FAOLAN, ANA AND DRUSTAN", by Denise Elizabeth Smith

This February is no exception. My latest car had a run in with a light pole as a consequence of my being stuck in a snowbank in our driveway. The winds blow frigidly from the Arctic. I have a very hateful and cruel co-worker who sits nearly on top of me because the two of us are packed like sardines in a "not even proper cubicle" meant for one person. I've been data entering information about all kinds of nasty diseases to the point where I've almost become a germophobe. And we have had scary news that I can't talk about yet.

I was only spared from February's wrath last year, when I didn't work and kept myself immersed in books. By cocooning at home and staying out of her way, I was spared February's "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" aimed right at me.

It's no wonder that I started my Celtic research during winter, in the February of 2009. It was pure escapism for me, to learn about a group of people who were so close to nature, as I had been as a child. A group who believed in magical and mystical things, unearthly things. A group who believed - so unlike us moderns - that the afterlife is just an extention of our earthly life.

"AVALON" by Mary Layton

It's no wonder that I'd like to be taken out of a world of Alberta Clippers, subzero temperatures, nasty people, flesh- and bowel-eating bacteria, broken cars and worries and woes, and enter into a world of sacred groves and misty lakes, gatherings of enchanted souls, fiery gods and goddesses, beautiful queens and valiant heroes, Druids and dryads, the lands of Avalon and Tír na nÓg, pookas and sprites, selkies and the fae, moon dancing and hidden portals.

Yes, it's definitely time - past time - to start thinking of All Things Irish - nay, All Things Celtic - for my March posts.

Here's the link to Tim Dalton's site:

http://theologydegreesonline.com/tales-from-the-past-and-dreams-for-the-future-the-top-30-celtic-culture-blogs/

"THE WAY INTO THE WOODS", Angela Jayne Barnett

CHEAP THRILLS

2011-02-02T18:33:00.000-06:00

"Bridget", artist uncredited

Today, Feb. 2, is celebrated as Groundhog Day in the US. To Catholics, it is Candlemas, or St. Bridget's Day. To the ancient Celts, it was Imbolc, one of the eight major holidays of the year and a day to celebrate the Goddess Brighid (Brigid).

Fire is one of the symbols of this goddess, whom I have written about several times (just check out my Feb. 2 posts the past few years).

"Brighid" by Shattered Dreams on deviantart.net

However, here in North Dakota, ice, not fire, is a much more likely symbol for Feb. 2. And any groundhogs we have around here would be way stupid to come out of their burrows. So what does one do on an early morning when the temperature is -23 degrees F, the coldest day of winter so far?

THIS!!!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFj_i6HtebM

That is what happens when you throw boiling water into frigid air. Way cool, huh? (This image is from the Internet - filmed in Saskatchewan at -40 C - but our result was very much the same.)

A bunch of us gathered shortly after 8 this morning in the little atrium of the building in which we work while one brave soul dashed outside and threw a cup of boiling water into the air. (Actually, it had cooled off a bit from boiling, since it had to be brought from the kitchen.)

Apparently, ice crystals are formed when you do this, but to me it looked like snow, and it was brilliant against the clear blue sky. Someone called it "the essence of cloud." I have to say, it made my day!! I can't believe I have lived in North Dakota all my life and never knew about it.

According to Joe Larsen, a Ph.D. in chemistry at Rockwell Science Center in Los Angeles, CA, some people claim that hot water freezes faster than cold water. "This happens because the hot water is so close to being steam, that the act of throwing it into the air causes it to break up into tiny droplets. (Hot water is less viscous than cold water - listen to the sound it makes when you pour it in the sink.) The small water droplets have a large surface area which allows for a great deal of evaporation; this removes heat quickly. And finally, the cooled droplets are so small, that they can be easily frozen by the winter air. All of this happens before the water hits the ground. Cold water is thicker and stickier; it doesn't break up into such small pieces when thrown into the air, so it comes down in large blobs."

So much for scientific theory. To me it was just plain fun and it might just be the way I celebrate Groundhog Day/St. Brigit's Day/Goddess Brighid's Day from now on.

So Happy Cheap Thrills Day to you.

And no matter what Groundhog Phil saw in Punxatawney this morning, there will be 10 more weeks of winter here in North Dakota. Oh, joy.

"S. Bridget", artist uncredited

There are so many beautiful images of Brighid/Bridget on the Internet and I have used a lot of them my previous Imbolc posts. Here are the links:

2008: http://celticanamcara.blogspot.com/2008/02/imbolc.html

2009 (two posts): http://celticanamcara.blogspot.com/2009/02/artist-unknown-aine-of-celts-here-on.html and
http://celticanamcara.blogspot.com/2009/02/images-of-imbolic.html

And 2010: http://celticanamcara.blogspot.com/2010/02/candlemas-imbolic-st-brigids-day.html

"Brigid", artist uncredited