Steam Punk World's Fair 2012

You have probably noted that I usually do not advertise anything. I may write reviews of books I enjoyed (or not) and give my two cent on about everything I have tried, but I try to keep this an advertisement-free area. Hence I usually ignore the requests coming my way by e-mail to talk about a certain product.

This is an exception. And I only do it because the e-mail I received was exceptionally friendly and professional. Read for yourself:

Dear Diandra,
　
First off, hello! My name is Haley McGough and I am currently working as an intern for Widdershins LLC, helping to organize their upcoming event, the Steampunk World’s Fair. Your blog recently caught my eye when I was browsing the internet. I had fun perusing your blog! Though I am not a witch myself, I always enjoy learning about the many different lifestyles of the people of this world. Overall, your posts were very interesting and informative!
I am trying to spread the word about the Steampunk World's Fair. It is the largest steampunk festival in the nation and every year proves to be even more enjoyable than the last. I believe that many of your blog readers who might be interested in steampunk would find it awesome and I wouldn’t want them to miss it! Please, take a look at the information about the World's Fair below. If it interests you, or if you have any questions, feel free to email me! I would be happy to provide any photos or other resources you might need or to discuss things further.
　
　
　

Kind Regards,

Haley McGough

(hmcgough@bennington.edu)

steampunkworldsfair.com

A request such as this, I thought, needs to be rewarded, and then I thought about those of you who really enjoy Steampunk and might be in an area to go there, and I decided to let you know.

And now you know.

(PS: I would totally go, if it wasn't at the other end of the world.)

Pagan Blog Prompt: Connecting

How do you connect with other Pagans?

Do you have a local group you can meet with on a regular basis?

If you can't connect with local people, where online do you connect with people of like mind?

What's the hardest part about connecting with other Pagans?

LINK

Funny coincidence, today I am going to meet my best friend and fellow witch for a busy weekend of kitchen-hauling and witchy girl talk. We have known each other for about 15 years and have been in this witchy thing together all the time. (I think she picked it up from me, but it might be just the other way round, who knows?) I also plan to spend more time with my sister in the near future, since she is moving back closer to my place ("only" 200km instead of 500). I am lucky to have very trusted witches so close to me, and I hope we can go back to learning together and learning from each other.

I do not know many Pagans in analogue life - I met a few, but Pagan flavors vary so greatly that being Pagan, or even being witches, does not necessarily mean you will get along well. I've talked before about my experience with a local group, and although there are signs of witching in the woods behind our flat, I have not made up my mind yet whether to try and contact them or not. It might be fun, or it might make things more awkward. Okay, I am not someone who gets along with people easily, that is sure. ^^

Online, I like to connect through blogs, and I have got one trusted forum I have been frequenting for many years with a great variety of Pagans and witches who never fail to make me feel welcome and respected, even if our views on certain topics differ every now and again (or most of the time).

I am going to do unto others... with my hands!

Are you scared?

No?

You should be!

This is totally Magaly's fault, and I am going to be lazy and quote her:

I promise to give something handmade to the first five Wicked Darlings who comment on this post, and say, “I want to do unto others... with my hands!” They must, in turn, write a similar post and link it to this page. Then make something for the first five people who comment on their posts.

The rules say the gift must be made by you and the darling commenters must receive it before 2013. It can be as simple as making a friend a cup of coffee, suggests wicked lovely Oma Linda. And I agree with her.

And don't ask, I am not going to ship you a cup of coffee. Although coffee is something I am really good at. Other handmade things... not so much. Oh well, I'll come up with something.

So, the first five brave commenters will receive something handmade from me, with more love and enthusiasm than actual craft skills. Sounds enticing, right?

Pagan blog prompt: Runes

Link

Since I am still trying to sort things out with Freya and the other Germanic gods, of course the runes have been on my mind as well. I remember writing my diary with runes when I was a teenage girl - wait, does that sound weird?

I have had a set of runes for quite a while - several years, I think - which I have hardly ever used. Right now they are sitting on my altar in their red velvet bag, and every now and then if I have got the time I will draw a rune and meditate on it and try to learn its meaning(s), much as I did with the tarot in the beginning. My runes (elder futhark) are made of artificial clay (I think) and not very fancy. I would love to have some runes engraved in crystals, but right now that may have to wait, for money is reallllly tight. But I think these will do, until I know which kind of runes I actually want (and whether I enjoy them enough to work with them).

However, I have been using runes in spells for quite some time. I have got a really good book I turn to for the magical properties of runes (it's in German), and I often write or stitch the runes I deem fit and include them in mojo bags or burn them during ritual.

Of course the major problem with runes is that we simply kow so little about them and what they were used for. It's a lot of trial-and error.

Do you like runes? Have you ever used them? Good or bad results?

The trip where we were not abducted and killed

You read that right, we are still alive! And I brought pictures! This, for example, is the sign of our hostel, five minutes walking distance from Amsterdam Centraal. We arrived around 21:30, put our stuff away (yeah, obviously this picture was not taken at the beginning, I am tweaking the photo love story just a bit ^^ ) and went out to explore the area. Two young women on their own, in a foreign city, late at night. We are badasses! 

 

One of these cats is not fake.

After exploring, we put ourselves into a sweet little pub and tried Dutch beer and stuff. I was raised in a barn and drink straight from the bottle. ^^

 That on the left is my friend Andrea, whom I cannot thank enough for forcing me to go on that trip with her. (She guilt-tripped me.) I figured since I look weird on pictures anyway, might just as well have some fun.

The BF, as I discovered at some point, had smuggled Duck into my luggage. I found Duck in an Oxfam store years ago, and brought her home saying, "I am not sure, but I think that is a duck." We take her everywhere, and she is quite adventurous! She likes beer.

Of course you all know that Heineken is not the only Dutch beer. (We did not try them all.)

 Our beds. The hostel was very clean, the people were really friendly, only the beds were extremely uncomfortable. In the end we were so tired each night that we slept anyway.

And this is what I looked like exploring the city. That hat is ridiculous, right? I inherited my "no hat head" from my mother's mother. Once when she was trying on hats for a big occasion, after two hours the store guy exclaimed in exasperation, "Dear Lady, you have no head!" To which my grandma replied, "If I have no head, I need no hat. Goodbye."

Some impressions from our first trip all over town. It was like, -13°C outside. Very sunny, though. Any of you know that guy?

  

 Breakfast at a small café.

And more impressions.

 

We so wanted to try those cakes! But alas, we are poor... They're really cute, right?

This one was at Albert-Cuyp Market. One of Amsterdam's street markets. It was not as busy as usual, thanks to the temperatures. We mainly went looking for fabric, since Andrea has plans to make herself the Marilyn dress. You know which one. White and shiny.

Duck helped us find the perfect fabric.

 Lunch break at another small café - really fresh peppermint tea, and we had "vleeskroket broodjes" to go with that. I love Dutch fastfood, it's the best in the world! Okay, maybe I am only saying that because I was raised on this stuff.


Short break at the hostel, and then our former colleague and friend Gail, who moved to Amsterdam some time ago, called and we decided to meet for some sightseeing in "De Jordaan".

This was at the "Begijnenhoof". "Begijnen" were religious women who lived together without men and did good deeds. No, they were not nuns. And as you can see, Duck lacks respect.  

Usually THE THING TO DO when you go to Amsterdam is a boat tour on the "grachten". Well, there were 10cm of ice on the water, so no boats. But we walked on water. I told you, badasses. ^^

Afterwards there was cake. Decent cheesecake (mine is better) and terrific chocolate cake with nuts. We shared.

By the way, at some point during the weekend the automatic focus died on me, that is why there are not as many pictures as I would have liked to show you. I am not that good with manual focussing. Tried it for the first time last weekend. What can I say? Giving me that cam is like shooting sparrows with cannons. Saturday night we had dinner at the hostel (they had fridges and a microwave), we got usual Dutch food at a grocery store. Not the healthiest stuff in the world, but lots of fond memories for me, and I guess Andrea liked it as well. And afterwards we went to the red light district, just for fun. (No pictures, I did not want to mess with long light exposure AND manual focus.)

Sunday morning, we packed our stuff and left it at the reception, and then we went out to explore some more. The weather was not as nice, and during the day we also had some snow and rain, but it was still great.

 One thing the BF as well as my father had told me was that we simply had to go to Rijksmuseum. They have got Rembrandt's "Night watch", among other things. So that is what we did first. Duck went along, of course. We spent a few hours admiring all kinds of arts. A special highlight for me was when I ordered tickets and we were mistaken for Dutch people (they ask everyone not Dutch where they are from, for statistics). Honestly, I had feared that after almost ten years without using my Dutch, I had forgotten everything, but except for one hilarious moment when my speech center crashed and I tried talking English, Dutch, German and Spanish at the same time, I did really well.





This picture is not that interesting in and of itself, but we took a photo nevertheless - for experimental purposes. It seems that FB deletes pictures of nursing mothers for reasons of "decency" or such BS, and we wanted to know whether they'd delete St. Mary as well.











Some sightseeing after the museum - I totally want to go to that pub for food the next time we're in Amsterdam! I mean, who could resist "lousy food & warm beer"? However, on that day we had other plans.







The sight from the top of a shopping center (they were all open on Sunday). I think even with the grey skies, the roofs of Amsterdam still look nice. And the country is really, really flat.

These were our plans for lunch. The best fries in town. Sold from a hole in a wall in this tiny street. People were lining up to eat there. And yes, they were that good.















We went on exploring later and warmed up in a pretty church (and several stores).

Dutch people like to celebrate. Some café had set up a stand selling mulled wine on the ice. There was music and laughter. And the focus was off, I know. Wanted to share the picture nevertheless, I liked the atmosphere.

Some more expressions of Amsterdam. Angry bird cake, an American book store (where we spent two hours!) and a display from a shop in the red light district. "Ass midget" - I am still laughing.

One of many funny displays in the red light district. And then - Picking up our stuff at the reception (doesn't it look nice? You can see that Andrea was "well done", and I assure you I was, too), we headed to the station way too early, where we collapsed inside a Burger King (the only place where we could sit and warm up)


 Duck having an eye on our tickets.


So, that was our trip to Amsterdam. No one tried to lure us away and kill us. Which was really quite nice. 

Merry imbolc/ice moon!

The fields may still lie in darkness and cold, but there is light...

For this full moon, which is often called the "Ice Moon", I thought I'd share a craft with you. It's really simple, not even I could mess it up. Basically, everyone who can operate a tap is fully qualified. ^^

You take two plastic bowls, one larger than the other. Fill the larger one with water, then put the smaller one into the larger bowl. Carry them outside and put something really heavy into or onto the smaller bowl, so it will be deep in the water and not swim on top of it (I put the bowls under a beer crate). Then let them freeze. I prepared this in a hurry this morning, and it was ready come dinner time. Carefully put some warm water into the smaller bowl to losen it from the ice, then turn the larger bowl upside down and run some warm water over it to remove it from the ice as well. Carry the ice lantern outside, put a candle inside and enjoy the view. ^^

Don't expect perfection

I tend to fall into the same trap, every time I try to do something new. This is partly caused by my ability to learn new things without trouble. So whenever I try something new and it doesn't come out perfect right away, I get frustrated and tell myself, "Well, I don't have that talent" or even "I can't do that." (You can read some pretty recent experience of that on my health blog.)

Which, as you can clearly see, is stupid. Especially for witches. How are we to improve ourselves if we never change what we do and never try to learn something that may at first be difficult for us? So from now on, every now and then I will share something with you which I have made myself.  Over at my short story blog you can already read my scribblings (and I like to think I am rather good at writing, of course, although there is still plenty of room for improvement), but other areas of my life are - let's say levels of ability differ. ^^

Today, for a start, I thought I would share a few drawings of mine from a "Drawing 101" class back in school. Yes, these are about 15 years old. I know there are so many people out there who can do this better, and sometimes I look at their pictures and am discouraged (and this is part of why I stopped drawing when time became more precious), but I remember enjoying this. A lot.

No, I won't make a promise to draw more - maybe some other time, maybe never. But I know I liked it back when I did it, and for now that is reason enough for me to share some of the results. In the future, I plan to share more of my hilarious crafting experiments, so stay tuned! And as I said, don't expect perfection. ^^

(Feel free to share your own imperfections, either in the comments or on your own blogs. I want to see lots of imperfect happy people!)

The witch's den - before and after

I know, it looked amazing. Amazingly chaotic. Two half days later (and lots of filing), things are finally better. A bit. I threw out a lot (the holiday decoration boxes, for example) and tried to find a place for everything else. The bed is still a place for stuffed toys, pillows and blankets, I may or may not rearrange that one of the coming evenings. 

This was what you saw when looking at my room from the window.

 This is what you see now.

 

My "altar".

 My altar.

 

A close-up, just because I am happy to have it back.

 There are still places that need work - like the bed. That funny box-mound is my stuffed-toy-supplies, for which I would desperately need a closet or something. Until then, it will remain the way it is. And I really need to go through my book-shelves. By the way, that funny thing on top of the shelves, what looks like a wooden cross, is my knitting supplies. I have to keep them there because the cats love the smell and taste of wool and will steal it every chance they get.


 I also put up some pictures from a calendar (and a Pagan festival poster my sister got me a few years ago) and will hopefully add more decoration as time goes by. I love pictures, and I would love to paint the room even more, but I am still not planning to stay in this flat.

Okay, that was a short tour of the magical transformation of the witch's den. I hope you were not too shocked at the "before" pictures! I will now go, make some tea and enjoy a few pages of a trashy novel before I start with my next project: The remaining paperwork and sorting through the letters that need to be replied to. (By the way, if any of you reading here are still waiting for a letter from me, please drop me a note! With all the chaos, I kind of lost my system...)