A damp Squib

New Years Eve and we were all full of the excitement that New Year brings.Not !! Tree and I spent most of the day doing reasonable impressions of couch potatoes, suffering really bad headaches. As you can imagine, we were about as sociable as a grumpy thing that's pissed off. By about 9 o'clock, and a couple of Syndols later, we were coherent enough to attempt movement. 12 o'clock came round soon enough and having found some leftover rockets, from last year, we set off down to Pitchcroft to let them off. Hoorah !! New years day, fireworks going off left, right and centre. I reach down to light the first one and guess what ? The lighter won't fu*#*ng work !! We stood and watched everybody elses going up and set off for home. I must admit I felt despondent. On arrival at home I decided to go round to the back garden whilst Tree went through the house. As I waited for Tree to come out I thought "I'll try that lighter".
And, you guessed it, the fu**er stayed lit until Tree came out through the back door!!! Oh well. We let off the rockets and retired to the warmth of indoors and relative coma.

Malvern Hills Yuletide Walk

Just a quick entry to share what a wonderful day it has been. After three days trapped indoors with all its over-indulgences, Tree and I chose a walk on the Malverns as suitable therapeutic recovery. Inappropriately dressed for the cold and feeling tiredness overtaking us, we set off from the Malvern Hills hotel car park on a steep ascent to British camp. Although you might feel steep is a slight exaggeration, trust me, it felt as it sounds. It was bitterly cold in the wind but so worth the struggle to reach the top.The sun broke through and hit the hills in blazing shards of radiant light. Quite magical !! We also found some weird indents in the ground that looked like footprints created by some long legged beasty !!!

British camp

Dying rays

View towards Worcester Beacon

Your hats on fire !!

Halo !!

The crazy beasty footprints II

The crazy beasty footprints

View towards Ledbury

Golden sunset

Winter Solstice celebrations

Whoah !!! where did this year go to. It seems like only yesterday that Tree and I were waiting all night for the sun over the heal stone at Stonehenge. After much debate, on whether we should celebrate sunrise or sunset, we chose to have a fire ceremony on solstice night. We were to, originally, have gone down to Avebury circle to perform our rite but Tree had a very bad back and it was the best she could do to go into the garden. We set up the fire pan and tripod and, after opening the quarters, we lit three candles and expressed our thanks for the year gone and hopes for the year ahead.Tree read a lovely poem by Brian Boothby.

Standing in the circle

Beneath the web of light

Dancing in the moonlight

On a cold new years night

and it seemed that we were lifted

flown across the years

power-circle shifted, by power-circle seers.

And the Goddess and John Barleycorn

will put flesh upon the bones

Fly ribbons round the barrows

plant foot prints round the stones

The Goddess and John Barleycorn

will keep the spirit strong

for those who remember

for those who sing the song.

So stand in the circle,weave the web of light

dance in the moonlight

bring fire to the night

release the past that made us

release the fire within

revel in the mystery

and embrace your sacred kin.

We then extinguished all three candles, casting us back into the darkness. A fire was lit and a Yule log burnt along with some Yew, Elm, Oak (of course) and Ash. We closed the quarters and watched the fire burn down whilst the smell of cloves and cinnamon filled our nostrils. It was lovely to welcome the new year with Tree beside me and look back on the old.

Happy Solstice to everyone we know and a Happy New Year.

Blissfields

Okay, so it would seem most of my blog is retrospective. Nostalgia is cool or, on reflection, I think it used to be !! On reflection....geddit !!! I can hear yawning at the back. Anyway, I'm wandering.
Here are the photos from Blissfields, at last. A nice little festie with a family feel about it, literally. We enjoyed ourselves and were so glad to be invited back for 2006. It was a good start for San as it was her first festie and you knowhat they say. Start small and think big.
To see all the photos give me a call !!

The Green Man at Clun Fayre

I finally found time to update and collate all the photos from when we did The Green Man at Clun Fayre on May bank holiday. Although we got the van stuck in mud and had to be towed out, carried everything across a muddy field, got rained on all day, practically, and took nearly three hours to pack away, it was a good day. This was also the first time we had put up the Haj tent, which had only arrived about two days previously. It was all part of the learning curve !
Thanks to everyone who came and helped us on the day, especially Sandra, Michael and Katie, and for all the support of family and friends.
When I get time I shall post the photos of Blissfields as well.

Clun

Clun

Clun

Clun

Clun

Clun

Clun

Clun

Clun

Clun

The Green Man Fayre at Clun

Sandra's Xmas gift party

I couldn't resist putting this photo onto the blog ! After Sandra's pre Xmas party had finished, the Jembe drum hats were begging to be worn for a photo opportunity. This is our piss-take on the nativity. Tree is Joseph, I think, and Sandra would therefore have to be Mary. The rest of us must be the Three Wise Kings !!!!!

Enjoy.

NO BRAKES

Well,what can I say, my first blog and I'm lucky to be here to make it. Yesterday Tree (my partner) and I went to Westonbirt Arboretum to buy some interesting different woods to make my mirrors, etc. On the way there we encountered quite dense fog and spent a lot of time criticising mad motorists bombing along without any lights on. As we approached Westonbirt the fog lifted and we had glorious sunshine thereon. We bought a nice selection of Oak, Common Yew, Ash, English Elm and a huge slab of Cherry ( to make into another floating shelf). We were so warm now that we stopped and had a latte at the coffee shop and SAT OUTSIDE. Tree even took her coat off !! Not that remarkable, unless you know how Tree is in the winter !!
Anyway, we set off feeling quite smug with ourselves and headed back via Cirencester. As we started up the van, Tree remarked that a little red light was flickering on the dash board. I said it was most likely to do with the sensor on the handbrake, which commonly fails on old transit vans. Ignoring the potential risk, and feeling quite sure we could resolve this light problem when we got home, we headed for the motorway. Long story short, we got to Strensham services and Tree calmly tells me, "we have NO BRAKES !!!!!!!!". In the circumstances I think we were very calm about the whole situation and actually decided to risk going the rest of the way home using engine braking and the handbrake. The tricky bit was when we got off the motorway. Tree drove brilliantly, with me stretched across the seats ready to pull the handbrake at any given moment.
On inspection, I found that we had lost all of our brake fluid, so obviously we had had a slow leak, so the lesson for the day is

DONT IGNORE LITTLE RED LIGHTS ON THE DASHBOARD !!