Twists and Turns..
Madpoet, Tuesday, February 1 2005 @ 00:03:09 CST
Life is ever exciting with its myriad aspects, the twists and turns, the ups and downs - an exhilarating rollercoaster. Sometimes you don't know whether to scream from fear or shout with glee, all the while the smile from the adrenaline rush ever persistent. Changes come quick and unexpected in the dark of the night, only to be truly revealed by the new light of Spring.

Day dreaming on the mysteries of life, of love lost or the dream of something new, atop some far off sacred green hill, long meaningful conversations imbibed by spirits and the crackle of fire, hiking over mountains or hills to lush green valleys alit with the bright colors of spring, these are some of the things to which my heart leaps.

Today I'll wrap myself warm in blue, the color of bards and poets, as I think on the subject of "anam cara" and begin to repair the intertwining weave of those frayed threads in the tapestry of life.

Brigid, illuminate the path before me and allow me the strength to charge forth from the cold of winter to meet the coming Sun!

Ceremony in the mountains.
Madpoet, Monday, August 23 2004 @ 15:24:06 CDT
Arianna and I are back from our trip to Colorado which was for Michael and Ginger's wedding. It was good to see everyone that was able to make it, and best of all it was good to be a witness to such a beautiful ceremony, and for being with my good friend for one of the most important events of his life.

Many happy blessings to those two, may their years be filled with love and inspiration.
(Upon returning I found waiting for me a package from OBOD)

The silver lining
Madpoet, Tuesday, August 03 2004 @ 10:48:46 CDT
These last couple of weeks have been turbulent in regards to my day job. There are some changes I'll have to adjust to. But with change comes challenges and in regards to these latest challenges I'll gain some new freedom. No longer will I be required to support systems at odd hours of the day. No longer will I need to work overtime.

This is good news, as I have been wanting to focus more of my time to what brings me joy. Let's see where this new path leads.

Avocation and Celestial Spheres
Madpoet, Thursday, June 17 2004 @ 08:24:39 CDT
Yesterday I took some time off from the daily job and worked on my Celtic avocation. I finished reading a few of my little cutsie Celtic books, usually given to me as gifts from friends and family that see the word Celtic and just have to buy it for me. Supprisingly, they generally turn out to be of some interest.

This morning I received the latest copy of Celestial Spheres, a digital periodical by my good friend Merlin. He has a way of seeming to write straight to your heart, which really personalizes it. I so appreciate that newletter, as not only do I get good information on upcoming events, but I am also reminded of who I am and where I am going.

Many thanks to the blessed Merlin of the hill!

So Cal Hobby Horse Field Trip
Madpoet, Monday, June 14 2004 @ 10:59:16 CDT
There has been much talk and some planning in regards to a pilgrimage to Padstow Cornwall, to catch their annual May Day celebration in 2005. I am excited about this, as it would be a wonderful opportunity for a reunion of sorts. Also it's a convenient excuse to travel (like I need one).

Get to the cataloging
Madpoet, Monday, June 14 2004 @ 08:47:34 CDT
Over the weekend, I set up OpenDb onto my powerbook (which already had PHP and MySQL) for the purpose of cataloging my books, DVDs and CDs. It is slow going, as I am starting with my book collection, and there is no short cut to getting that data inputed. With CDs or DVDs there are sites like freedb which OpenDb has a plugin enabling the automation of the bulk of the information from their database. So far I have 50 of my Celtic or Arthurian books in the database. I may post the list on my public site, I have not decided yet.

There were a lot of books I flat forgot I had, probably the hardest part to my toil was not allowing myself to be distracted and stopping to read. After a while I could bare it no longer so I stopped to read "Poems of Taliesin", originally written in Welsh by Ifor Williams. I was reading the English version translated by Caerwyn Williams published by Dublin University, Advance Studies Dept., which I picked up when I was studying in Dublin Ireland. It must have been 10 years since I cracked that book open and I was amazed with the difference between how I understood it then, to now. I certainly have come a long way in my understanding of Celtic mythology and history, though I have yet so much further to go.

Now if I could only find a wealthy patron, allowing me to take 6 months to a year off and re-read all my books.

A whole month disappeared.
Madpoet, Monday, March 08 2004 @ 13:45:41 CST
Interesting that through all of February I didn't find the time or inclination to post any news. Well there hasn't been much, at least not relevent to Celtic.Org. As you can see I still have a couple of sections to finish, and I have yet to post it to the main address.

In other news, I had a great time out at the North Texas Irish Festival last weekend. I finally picked up a torque I have been wanting for so many years now. Recently I got the boots that I had ordered and been waiting on, which are best suited for faires - but hey they are comfortable.

Arianna decided that it would be best, or maybe that it would be more interesting to work on my new 15th century Irish costume then one of the same period for Wales. At least we have patterns to work from for the Irish costume. I'll post pictures when I have some.

Also some good news, after many years of a break from telling stories publicly, I had been asked to tell Celtic tales up at a Feis in OK. My good friend Bianca, not only turned up after misplacing her somewhere, but also had that invite for me. I am really excited about that and now have a lot of work ahead of me in preparation.

That's it for now, stay tuned - but kill your TV!

~MP

Hoss Hoss
Madpoet, Sunday, January 25 2004 @ 09:37:58 CST
Many years ago I was affiliated with a group at the Renassaince Pleasure Faire - South, called the "Hobby Hoss". We recreated an old Cornish custom of symbolicly killing winter and bringing it back to life as spring. I'll save the details for another time, as that is what I am writing about today.

I've been wanting to write up a good explanation of what we did for quite a while now. To this day there is scarce a public represenation of our recreation. Some time back Peacefrog from FaireSite.com had written up a beautiful background story and history of our recreation. Who better to do so as he was with the group from its early days and still brings the old hoss out to faires for suprise visits. I've been hoping to tap him and a few of our friends from the group to collaborate on the details and share pictures and experiences. Aside from putting our experiences down for posterity, I'd like to compare our experiences with the actual "Hobby Hoss" that is still going every May Day. With all due respect and understanding of course, what they do every year in Cornwall is not what we did at the Faires. Their local customs and traditions go far beyond what we were able to recreate.

Wish me luck in pulling the information together!

A welcomed remembrance
Madpoet, Saturday, January 24 2004 @ 15:40:32 CST
What a busy but wonderful week I've had. While enjoying some time just browsing the web, my mind went to times once spent at the Californian renaissance faires. I thought about the kind and kindred souls I met, but of whom I have not seen or heard from for far too long. I reconciled myself however to search the internet for anything new by or of those dear friends.

To my delight I happened upon a webiste, by a good friend Banasidhe. Which in turn, lead me to her online journal. From whence I could see by her recent activity that I could both catch up with her life as well as contact her. There I left her a message and soon enough she emailed a reply.

This is where the story begins to get interesting. As fate would have it, or by the way such energy was spent, the energy returned in quite an unexpected way... The time between Banasidhe's reply and our voice conversation, I recieved yet another message from the past.

It had been maybe seven or eight years since "The Raven Mad" and "A. MadPoet" had exchanged verses or dialogue. Such a welcomed suprise it was to receive her message. I suppose that I have Paddy to thank for it. As I suspect that the recent flourish of communication between Paddy and I lead to this fortunate remembrance. For sooth that man doth get around, and has likely spoken with our lovely Raven since.

The Raven and I have hence caught up whereby she shared with me a website, which together with her betrothed, represents their work. I am really pleased that of late I have been able to make as many connections with old friends as I have been. I only wonder what interesting connections still await me.

Catching up
Madpoet, Friday, January 09 2004 @ 09:20:04 CST
It's been been a while since I've had time to work on this endeavor. I've been keeping myself busy with other projects which have been put off long enough. One of those projects is the Celtic Mini site. It really isn't much more than a place for me to keep and access my links to Mini Cooper sites. From time to time if the muse strikes me I may post Mini related articles or pictures.

Other than that I've been busy around the house and at the office. I have hope that this month I can finish off the little things on this site and post it in the public section.

Wow - this thing is really starting to take shape
Madpoet, Monday, November 10 2003 @ 14:54:55 CST
I am very excited to see that this new website is taking form. Many thanks to all my friends that have helped, especialy those monkish friends behind the scenes.