Some important THANK YOU'S before the New Year gets too carried away! I will also eventually say Hello and Thank you personally to Everyone here on EF and I’m sorry that it’s taking me so long. I am extremely grateful for all your lovely comments and heartfelt thoughts, they really make each day magical and bring many joyful smiles. Please know that I also always read everyone’s blogs and have included a special appreciation to you all at the end of this piece.

      I thought I would blog my quarterly IDB letter here (usually written for Faerie Magazine) as the happy memories will help cheer me up on the day our boys go back to college - I always dread the end of school holidays and Miss them so very much especially as we were actually able to have a few consecutive days off together this Christmas, just the four of us with no work to do except tend the fire in the woodburner, cuddle the dog, pass the chocolates round and watch all three extended LOTR's DVD's - perfect! We were all aware that this was the first time our family had had a peaceful break like this all year and truly treasured every moment. For me, being a mum is the most privileged and best job in the world, even if my sons are now towering over me in height! I am so thankful for our beautiful boys, I love them so much, with their wonderful energy, humour and gentle, caring presence – it will be a sad time soon when they finally leave home on their adventures…

  “As Drew and I travelled over to stay with Faerie Magazine in the Fall, we were lucky enough this year to be able to witness mother nature showing off her most enchanting colours on both sides of the Atlantic and arrived amongst a riot of colour and more pumpkins than I’d ever seen before in my life! At home in England, autumn is often drizzly and cold with the threat of the long winter ahead ever present, so it was a real treat to escape to Baltimore for ten days where we were once again warmly enveloped by Kim and Mary and their wonderful family and friends. Some of this same gorgeous group - Yama, Matt, Sarah and Ceara once again worked valiantly to support FaerieCon in Philadelphia, which also became a great opportunity to meet up with our beloved Artists, make new friends and spend a little time with those we hold so dear. I think the extremely charming Charles Vess deserves a medal for driving there and back with us, as no one had warned the gorgeous chap how much I can natter! The Faerie Magazine booth was magical and welcomed everyone so beautifully, including our dearest Linda and Jo with their handsome hubbies John and Bob, whom we had invited over from the UK. The special folk from the Spoutwood Farm Fairie Festival and especially Lynne, Bibi, Posie, Missy and Sweet Pea thankfully brought their earthy elemental energy with them, making us all feel much more comfortable and we were both in tears when the Beloved Order of the Greenman, led by Rob and Shane, honoured Drew by surprising him with membership, before blessing all the vendors attending, as is their marching custom at the Mayday Festival! There are so many wondrous people to mention, including some of our Enchanted Folk - it meant so much to us when EF members came to the Faerie Magazine booth to find us - thank you to dear Sarah Costanzo, Giovanna, Ash Evans, Judy Mastrangelo, Sue Miller and the beautiful Dancing Hands. A Big Thank You to Everyone who joined in the fun with us and to Robert, Emilio, Kelly, Kimmy, Norm and the adorable Ari for organising this new event. It was such a busy weekend, that we only managed flying hugs with some of the special guests, Wendy, Brian, Kinuko, John and Caitlin. As we flew past Jasmine and Matty for a quick catch up, both of us instantly decided that we wanted to adopt that cute couple! Through the three days we rocked our faerie socks off, especially to The Gypsy Nomads - Scott and Samantha’s music still thrills our old cottage. Jess was stunning as always, beautiful Brigid, Jane SW and Linda B were delightful company once again and dear Dorothy Wallace, Suzanne Farmer, Renae Taylor and Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s elegant art was even more fantastic to see up close. If I’ve missed mentioning anyone, Please forgive me and to everyone who travelled so far, dressed up for the Balls, played so amazingly and worked so very, very hard – you are really appreciated and made happy memories for us all to treasure, for which we are enormously grateful.
  We spent the following week with Faerie Magazine, planning the year ahead - including the launch of Uniting Kingdoms - and managing to celebrate Drew’s birthday in memorable style with our very dear friends.
            Soon after arriving back in the Cotswolds, we turned hosts ourselves, holding another gathering in our home for the UK Artists over a weekend that felt more like a family retreat, and was even blessed by visitors who had flown over from the States. To the Falling of the Leaves, our special ceremony blessed and bound us together once again with much merriment, mischief and magic to see us through the wintertime…”

   As we begin a new year, this Enchanted Folk social network site continues to bring together the FaeSpace Community online and it is thrilling to see all the friendships being made as people celebrate, support and encourage other like-minded souls. Like our adored Faerie Magazine, Enchanted Folk is becoming a beacon for believers to belong to. Both are places where we can escape, reflect, connect and create - Drew and I feel deep gratitude for all these glorious gifts of comfort and inspiration and wish all you dear Enchanted Folk, your families and friends, a wonderful year ahead -

Keep Living in the Magic and Thank you Always for your Belief,
Be

This gentle man is much respected and admired as a fantasy artist, colleague and teacher. Larry Elmore’s wonderful art is extremely popular in the comic book, gaming and role-playing genres, has been published for many years and is also highly esteemed in the fantasy world. He has such a friendly warmth about him and great humour, it’s no wonder that his art classes are so beloved and enjoyed by some of the fantastic artists here on EF! Larry has that rare gift of being able to paint and draw in his own right so amazingly, but can also teach, nourish and inspire other artists too. You can see his awesome portfolio at www.larryelmore.com
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(photos here) As the sun drops lower in the sky and we are getting nearer to the winter solstice than the summer one, I mourn the loss of the sunlight for many reasons. We have three birdbaths outside our backdoor, and as the sun comes around to its daily resting place in the west, it pours in through our kitchen window during the afternoon and causes the most fascinating effect on the water in these bowls. If there is the slightest whisper of a breeze, then the reflected light will bounce off the ripples that are almost imperceptible to the eye, and this results in beautiful shimmering patterns that cast shadows on the kitchen ceiling. They are wonderful, all shades of white light, constantly mowing and mesmerising to look at. Sadly, as we get nearer to the wintertime, the sun struggles to get a peep into this window and I know I’ll have to wait until our part of the earth awakes again next year. It is such an odd phenomenon but one that is a delight to me and, of course, mix those dancing light patterns with the rainbows (refracted prisms from all the crystals hanging up) as well, and I think even the faeries would be impressed!

Magical Blessings, Be

“The mind is like a parachute, it works best when it is open.” – Fourteenth Dalai Lama

The delightful Katy Marchant is the director and founding member of this wonderful group of medieval musicians and theatre players who are a visual treat and capture what it must have been like so many years ago when this kind of entertainment was our way of storytelling. Their amazing music is played on authentic instruments and this troupe mix together their great musical talent with drama, dance and old fashioned stilt walking skills, using hand made masks and traditional costuming to fantastic effect – these original entertainers take us back into our past and a time when humour and interactive story telling was the only way to hold a crowd’s attention and of course nowadays hold us transfixed! Their attention to detail and authentic reproduction of their sound from the Middle Ages and visual effects are astonishing, together with their understanding of how folk used to celebrate festivals intertwined with the natural rhythms of the year. Daughters of Elvin are such a treat in this modern high tech world and reverently carry with them a tribute to our folklore heritage, the keepers of the old magical treasures. As their web site is being redeveloped at the moment, you can learn more and hear them at http://www.myspace.com/daughtersofelvin

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(photos here) When you were little, did you ever hold a buttercup underneath someone’s chin to see if the delicious colour reflected in their skin, knowing that if it did, then they liked butter? I love it that every new generation of kids think they’re the first to figure this out, I was asked to partake in this experiment many times when I was a teacher on playground duty. I still adore these bright, deep yellow, wildflowers that creep and grow profusely in our garden and bring a welcome warm feeling on gloomy days. I know that buttercups are thought of as weeds, but how can one be offended by something so happy looking, they’re like little suns dotted all over the grass and along the hedgerows!

Magical Blessings, Be

“Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.” – Maori proverb

I just have to share with you one of my favourite bands from the enchanted world, The Gypsy Nomads. This vibrant duo, are a joy to behold, not only talented but humorous with their original music too. I was lucky enough to catch them at the Spoutwood Fairie Festival, and they had me transfixed. Their mixture of genius musicality together with an obvious enjoyment in what they do, is a delight. Scott Helland and Samantha Stevenson have such energy you cannot believe that there are only two of them on stage, playing guitar, drums, percussion, with great vocals! My feet were tapping from the minute I heard them, swirling dance moves were in my heart (and are what I do at home to their unique sound), such fantastic rhythms! Having had the pleasure of also chatting with them, they are really lovely folk too, and so happy that we appreciated their music. Scott is also an artist and you can see more on their site www.thegypsynomads.com

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(photos here) A few years ago in the summer, we rescued a baby bat from our garage floor. It was a tiny, perfect Pipistrelle, complete with minute fangs! This was the first time that I had been so close to a bat, let alone had to care for one around the clock. As dusk falls here the air is alive with these amazing creatures, flitting and sweeping through the air, right near to the house but using their echolocation of course to avoid collision. We took advice from our local Animal Rescue Centre who told us what to do and they did warn us that if the bat was too young to have prematurely left the maternity roost, then the chances of him being able to build his body weight quickly enough to be able to fly back into the wild were pretty slim. We, of course, still wanted to try, and fed him mashed up dog food and droplets of water from the tip of a fine paintbrush (see how useful these can be!) This was a regime I stuck to with great devotion as he clambered over my hand and arm using his little wing hooks. When he opened his mouth wide, like any baby expecting food would, he actually had a pointed tongue – no wonder these creatures have become so mythical! After a few days we were then advised to try to encourage him to fly. So as evening came, we climbed up high onto the tree deck and, while holding a blanket underneath in case he fell, we held out our hands with batty upside down, holding onto a pencil, in the hope that he would sense the night air and his fellow beings, and take off. Sadly, although we tried this for several days, he only ever began to fall and after a week in all, we found him dead in the shoebox that had become his temporary home. We were all devastated as he’d become like part of the family and we felt as though we’d failed him. But the Rescue Centre explained that his chances had always been extremely doubtful and one doesn’t normally ever see these babies if they fall from their roosts, as predators usually find them, it was a fluke that we’d even got to him first. That week will always remain special to me as I felt deeply privileged to have been able to give that little guy at least a fighting chance, and so honoured to have shared those days with such an interesting creature. This precious protected species, with his big ears and tiny clicking noises, quite audible to us, was such a gift and although he just couldn’t manage to build up his body mass enough, even with our help, we have wonderful memories of that time. Let’s hear it for batty bat!

Magical Blessings, Be

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

As I said in my blog yesterday, now it is Allen’s sister-in-law's turn. Ruth Thompson gets the award for the most energy and biggest grin Ever! One cannot help but be totally and literally swept up into this very special lady’s world. Ruth’s artwork is astounding, her dragons and horses, mythical creatures, knights and angels and all forms of fantasy are so distinctive and beautiful – painted from her heart. (Ruth is also a passionate horsewoman and adores her horses in her real life!) A true sci-fi, fantasy enthusiast, Ruth began her career as an illustrator for gaming companies, but she soon took courage and began to promote herself as an independent artist, her story is so inspirational and great fun to read. This wonderful woman has such a fantastic sense of humour and desire to take us all with her on her fantasy journey - there is a wealth of interesting information on her web site www.tarnishedimages.com including her personal story that is as inspiring as the lovely lady herself. When you meet her, you feel like you’ve know Ruth for years as she has such a warm welcoming way about her and I laugh continuously when I’m with her, she’s gorgeous! This is the kind of person who makes you proud to be a fantasy fan and spends time at the convention and Renasissance Fairs meeting everyone and delighting everybody. With Ruth, you will always find a friendly hello, but be careful, as she may get you hooked on WoW too…

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photos here) Across from our house to the east, is a hill that is home to a group of wild horses. Although from our distance I have never actually seen them up close, from our window I can see them grazing and enjoying the delights that their freedom obviously brings them. When they have foals you can just make them out, keeping so close to their mothers, but occasionally leaping about with the joy that so many young animals have at that age. I have so much respect for these magnificent beasts and, a few years ago, was extremely privileged to be able to watch an amazing Horse Whisperer at work. It was such an important event for me that I even took the boys out of school and together we truly witnessed magic happening. This gentle chap worked with this poor, damaged horse for days and I realised the similarities between what he was doing and the way we all try to bring up our children with respect, trust, firm but fair holding, eye to eye contact, rewarding and praising, being the leader of the pack so that the pressure is not theirs to bear and so on. The transformation in that wonderful horse - rescued from not being allowed outside of his stable for all of his six years - once so wild and hysterical that he used to hurt himself as much as others, was remarkable and breathtaking. A mutual respect was already forming between them and I began to understand some of these miraculous methods and a little of what maybe goes on in their minds. I have looked at horses in a very different way ever since and realise how privileged we are to share this life with them.

Magical Blessings, Be

“Serenity isn’t freedom from the storm, but peace within the storm.”