The Drawing Board

Tilly and Howard in the studio.

I'll be back in the office, and back to The Drawing Board, on January 2nd. Cheers 'til then.

Paper dreams

Tuesday's post ("A Mystery") reminded me of  the enchanting paper-cut art created by Peter Callesen in Denmark, which deserves a mention during this festive time of the year.

"A large part of my work is made from A4 sheets of paper," says the artist. "It is probably the most common and consumed media used for carrying information today. This is why we rarely notice the actual materiality of the A4 paper. By taking away all the information and starting from scratch using the blank white A4 paper sheet for my creations, I feel I have found a material that we are all able to relate to, and at the same time the A4 paper sheet is neutral and open to fill with different meaning. The thin white paper gives the paper sculptures a frailty that underlines the tragic and romantic theme of my works.

"Some of the paper works are coloured and framed. Others are larger installations such as one to one copies of stairs and ladders made out of thin white paper....These works exist in the gap between the recognizable everyday object and the fragile and spherical condition and material in which they appear. The whiteness, the ideal pure copy of something real as well as the vertical direction coherent in most of my paper works, could also indicate the aspect of something platonic or religious.

"Another returning theme in my work is the reinterpretation of classical fairytales associated with a more general interest in memory in connection to childhood. [They] are examples of playful performances that exist in the lost land of childhood - between dream and reality. It is in this meeting or confrontation of these two conditions, in a kind of utopian embodiment, that these works become alive, often in a tragicomic way."

Please visit Peter Callesen's website to see more of his paper-cut art, as well as installations in other media, photographs, and performances.

For more works in paper, check out Yuken Teruya (especially his luminous "Forest Series"), Helen Musselwhite, and, of course, the great Su Blackwell. In a slightly different vein, have a look at Andrea Dezsö's book and paper art, and the book art of Brian Dettmer.

On another subject entirely: The new issue of Stone Telling magazine is up, and it's wonderful.

Reflections on editing

"There were creative writing teachers long before there were creative writing courses, and they were called  and continue to be called editors."  - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

"Editing should be, especially in the case of old writers, a counseling rather than a collaborating task. The tendency of the writer-editor to collaborate is natural, but he should say to himself, How can I help this writer to say it better in his own style? and avoid How can I show him how I would write it, if it were my piece?"  - James Thurber

"Editors are craftsmen, ghosts, psychiatrists, bullies, sparring partners, experts, enablers, ignoramuses, translators, writers, goalies, friends, foremen, wimps, ditch diggers, mind readers, coaches, bomb throwers, muses and spittoons — sometimes all while working on the same piece."  - Gary Kimaya

"Will you tell me my fault, frankly as to yourself, for I had rather wince, than die. Men do not call the surgeon to commend the bone, but to set it, Sir."  - Emily Dickinson

"You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke."   - Arthur Plotnik (The Elements of Editing)

 A few editing-related links:

* My anthology-editing partner, Ellen Datlow, is having an end-of-the-year book sale, selling off out-of-print and hard-to-find anthologies (including volumes we edited together) at discounted prices. This is for U.S. buyers only (due to postage costs), but if you're in the States go have a browse.

* I was very sorry to hear that Karen Meisner is stepping down from her editorial role at Strange Horizons, where she will certainly be missed -- but I also know that when it's time to move on, you've got to take the jump. I wish her all the very best in whatever comes next.

* Howard and Rex reflect on the process of being editing over on John Barleycorn.

* Did I remember to mention that I did an interview on the French ActuSF website, discussing editing fantasy and other things? The English-language version is here. Also, I posted a longer piece about editing on this blog in February. If you missed it, you'll find it here.

A Mystery...

 

 

I adore this little story about mysterious works of art that have shown up in libraries and other literary sites in Scotland. Go here to learn more, on the NPR website (via Erin Underwood at the Interstitial Arts Foundation). It will make your day, as it made mine.

 

 

 And three more quick recommendations: The art of Jean Bradbury (via Jackie Morris); wonderful "sustainable styling" made by a talented young artist in our village, Agharad Barlow; and a tip on the perfect holiday present for the writer in your life (via Kris Waldherr).

Tunes for a Monday Morning

This week: two wonderful tunes written by Dar Williams. Above: "The Christians and the Pagans," performed by the adorable Bridget and Allie Doyle of Doyle Squared, in Wellfleet, Massachusetts -- sent out as a Christmas card to all my Christian friends & colleagues from this dyed-in-the-wool pagan.*

Below: Dar herself, singing her very poignant song "When I Was a Boy" at radio station WNRN in Charlottesville, Virginia.

* "I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." - Frank Lloyd Wright

Friday's Recommendations:

Since I missed the "Friday Recommendations" post last week, here are two weeks worth of magpie gleanings for you:

* Rosemarie Urquico explains why one should date girls who read, at nonamerah.wordpress.com. I absolutely adore this little piece.

* Bruce McAllister (author of The Girl Who Loved Animals & Other Stories) has a fabulous piece in The Paris Review concerning a survey on symbolism that he sent out to 150 literary authors back in 1963 (when Bruce was a 16-year-old high school student). A surprising number of them wrote back to him. Go have a look at the results. Updated to add: Two more responses to Bruce's symbolism survey are posted here.

* Sean Ferrell (author of Numb) has a lovely little piece on writers who are feeling small, on his writing blog. (via Ellen Kushner)

* Nova Ren Suma (author of Imaginary Girls) discusses inspiration, at Distraction No.99. It's part a series of posts, with links to the previous posts at the end of the piece. (via Gwenda Bond)

* Nnedi Okorafor, recent winner of The World Fantasy Award for her extraordinary novel Who Fears Death, discusses her reaction to the award's statuette: a bust of H.P. Lovecraft. It's a thoughtful piece, and has provoked many equally thoughtful responses -- both on Nedi's blog and over on Facebook.

* Neil Gaiman talks to the brilliant Australian artist/writer/filmmaker Shaun Tan, in The Guardian.

* Jeff VanderMeer talks to the brilliant Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, at Omnivoracious.

* Delia Sherman discusses her new novel The Freedom Maze, at the Diversity in YA Fiction blog.

* Katherine Langrish discusses "fashionable books" and Samuel Pepys, at The History Girls; and continues her delightful Jason and the AgonyAunts series, at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles.

* Some random interesting things: Kristian Sjøgren discusses medieval knights and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, in ScienceNordic magazine. . . John Lichfield discusses the discovery of a neolithic earth mother figurine in France, in The Independent. . . Paul A. Trout discusses why we invented monsters, in Salon magazine. . .and Erik Klemetti discusses why Tolkien got it wrong when Gollum sunk into the lava of Mount Doom, in Wired.

* Maria Popova recommends five timeless books of insight on fear and creativity at Brain Pickings. (via Gwenda Bond)...and Joel Le Blanc discusses creativity and health in The TLC International Art School Xpress.

* Five children's book artists (including my hero, Lisbeth Zwerger) tell us who their favorite illustrators are, in The Guardian.

*  Christina Cairns (of the Mermaid in the Attic blog) has won Jackie Morris' "A Contest of Beauty" with a stunning fairy-tale inspired piece. Bravo!

* At Studio Morran, Swedish illustrator Camilla Engman has announced that the Morran Book Project is now finished. (The book, you may remember, is filled with picture of Engman's dog, Morran, sent in by artists from all around the world.) You can leaf through the pages of the book itself  here. It's charming, and I want one.

*  More art: There's a very beautiful new painting in progress at Rima Staines' The Hermitage. . .and a lovely e-exhibition, "Fragmented Memories," by Catherine Verrill at Decor-Art. . . and some gorgeous work, as usual, on the Imagine Gallery blog. 

* This week's video recommendation: Maurice Sendak on what being an illustrator means. (via BlueHour Studio)

* Last but by no means least: The new issue (Number 14) of  Scheherzade's Bequest is now online. Edited by the excellent team of Donna Quattrone, Virgina M. Mohlere, and Erzebet YellowBoy of Cabinet des Fées, it's full of fabulously folkloric fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

The auction's end

On community

"I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can."  - George Bernard Shaw

"I have inherited a belief in community, the promise that a gathering of the spirit can both create and change culture."  - Terry Tempest Williams

"We are in community each time we find a place where we belong."  - Peter F. Block

Bones for Tilly

My dear friend Ellen Kushner has asked me to remind everyone that the Magick4Terri auction (*blush*) is ending tonight  at 5 pm Pacific Standard Time (which is 1:00 Friday morning here in the UK), so if there are books, works of art, CDs, or other treasures you have your eye on, this is the last chance to bid.

My family and I have been completely overwhelmed by this astonishing flood of support from friends and colleagues and fellow lovers of fantasy and mythic arts from all over the world. In the midst of a difficult time, I feel awed and blessed to be part of such a caring creative community. In addition to the practical fundraising help (which will allow us to deal with the things we are facing without sinking into debt on top of everything else), the auction has done so much more for us: it has brightened what's been a dark, uncertain time. To turn to myth for a moment (as you know I always do), we've been traveling through a dark and tangled wood, encountering various trials along the way...and this community has just shown up with a lantern to light the trail back home.

I know (from all the worried email I've been getting) that a lot of people are concerned about us, and would like to know a bit more about what prompted the auction...but I'm afraid all I can do right now is to repeat that there are legal reasons why I can't be more explicit. Perhaps once we find our way out of the woods, I'll be able to talk about it further -- or at least those aspects of the journey that are mine to discuss (without stepping on the privacy of other family members). In the meantime, please don't worry. We've got expert help and advice for the things we're facing; we've got a strong family; we've had an enormous amount of support from all of you; and now we just need to keep traveling forward until we reach the clearing beyond the trees.

My heartfelt thanks to everyone: most especially to Ellen Kushner, Mia Nutick, Liz Loveday, and Deborah Brannon (the amazing, hard-working auction organizers) and their helpers, and to all the incredibly kind donators and bidders...as well as to all the sweet people who've been spreading the word with blog posts and tweets and such. Also to the Faery Godmothers of Chagford, who had the idea of a fundraiser in the first place. I have to say that I never expected anything like this...which has touched my heart, warmed my soul, and created real honest-to-god magic for me and my family.

Plus, Tilly is excited about all the bones -- which she fully expects to be delivered as a great big pile in the studio garden.

On thankfulness

Wandering this Rackham landscape is a walking meditation, a daily transformation, a prayer composed of sun and rain and wind:

"I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes."
- e.e. cummings

Today, like every day, there is just so much to be thankful for.

Reflections on work

"Before the gates of excellence the high gods have placed sweat; long is the road thereto and rough and steep at first; but when the heights are reached, then there is ease, then there is ease, though grievously hard in the winning." - Hesiod (700 BC)

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." - Thomas Jefferson

"Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes; work never begun." - Christina Rossetti

On finding one's path

"People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself.  But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates."  ~Thomas Szas

"Never mind searching for who you are.  Search for the person you want to be."  ~Robert Brault

"I think that wherever your journey takes you, there are new gods waiting there, with divine patience - and laughter."  ~Susan M. Watkins

(Today's post is dedicated to Victoria.)

Tune for a Monday Morning

Today's video is "Blacksmith's Prayer," the recording of a new song from singer-songwriter and fiddler extraordinaire Seth Lakeman, who hails from the other side of Dartmoor. It comes from his terrific new album, Tales from the Barrel House.

Now here is, um, where I make a small confession: I haven't loved the studio-produced sound of the recent albums quite as much as his earlier works -- so I'm thrilled that Tales from the Barrel House marks a return to the music that moves me most: a raw, stripped-down, more-personal sound rooted in this young musician's passion for the land and history of Devon. The songs were all recorded at Morwellham Quay, a local heritage site that preserves the crumbling remnants of Devon's old mining industry, and documents the hardscrabble life led by those who worked in, or for, or close to the mines.

Here's a brief article (reprinted from the Seth Lakeland website) which explains this interesting project further:

"Seth Lakeman could not have dug deeper into his Devon roots for his 6th album, Tales from the Barrel House, even descending into a disused West Country copper mine to record one track. The rest of the songs were laid down in the old cooperage (or 'barrel house'), smithy, and other workshops at the ghostly Morwellham Quay mining port on the north bank of the River Tamar.

"Seth has not only written all the songs, but played every musical contribution himself, as well as producing and mixing the album. His usual bow-shredding violin riffs are there, as are his driving tenor guitar rhythms, but it’s the new primitive sounds he’s conjured up that give this album its atmospheric vibe. These include a booming bass heartbeat from an old Salvation Army drum rescued from a junkshop, and a jangling array of percussion made up from bits of old iron or discarded tools found down the mine and around the Morwellham workshops.

"Birdsong from the Tamar Valley opens the album, before rasping viola and scraping banjo shatter the peace and raise the nape hairs as first song, 'More Than Money,' ( an evocative tale of the hardships suffered by men working underground) kicks in. It’s a call-to-arms for all labourers and artisans, setting – solid, hard and uncompromising, like the granite bedrock of the songwriter's West Country stamping ground.

"Seth says he has enjoyed this solo project like no other. 'I’ve been aching to do something musically experimental like this for some time, to get right back to the basics of Kitty Jay [the ‘produced around the kitchen table for £300’ debut album] and beyond.' To be blunt, this is a concept album I could never have done with a major label.' (Seth recently parted company from Relentless/Virgin Records after three albums.) 'I’m grateful for having worked with top producers, but with this record I feel free. I’ve not had A&R men looking over my shoulder or record bosses influencing me in any way.

"'I was determined from the outset to do it as simply as possible, with just one recording engineer and as little multi-tracking and overdubbing as possible. I want listeners to feel they are down that mine, or in the barrel house, immersed in this living history while hearing the stories of the people who inhabit the songs. I’d like fans to literally feel the atmosphere in which the album was recorded. The theme I was seeking was to pay homage to hard-working miners, sailors, skilled craftsmen and artisans, who worked for little reward but took a pride in what they did.

“'It was an extraordinary freedom to explore my music in this magical valley, which is close to my Devon home. I couldn’t wait to get back to Morwellham every day, it was such a unique experience. I know this set of songs may be judged as harsh and raw, perhaps challenging for some, but – for me – that’s the whole point of Tales from the Barrel House.'”

In the video below, he talks a little bit about the creative process of making the new album -- which is a limited edition, by the way, so if you want a copy, order it soon.

I'm out of the office today, and will be back on Monday.

(The image above is by the Scottish artist John Duncan, 1866-1945.)

Inspiring Women: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon

"Sisters Working in the Fields"

If your general impression of Pre-Raphaelite women is that they all drooped languidly among the lilies, beautiful and passive, their role confined to inspiring the famous men around them...well, think again. Quite a number of the women in Pre-Raphaelite/ Arts-&-Crafts circles led creative and courageous lives...and none more so than Barabara Leigh Smith Bodichon (1827-1891).

How can one not be inspired by Barbara Bodichon? She palled around with the likes of William Morris, Rossetti and Lizzie Siddal; she was best friends with George Eliot; and she was a hugely important figure in the early British feminist movement. When she wasn't off climbing remote mountains with her women friends, her rucksack crammed with art supplies, she ran a popular "art & politics" salon in London, published the influential English Women's Journal, established the Society of Female Artists (while pressuring the Royal Academy schools to open their doors to women),  and was the co-founder (with Emily Davies) of Britain's first university college for women: Girton College, Cambridge. As part of the Langham Place Group, Barbara fought for four fundamental rights which benefit every woman in Britain to this day: the right to vote, the right of access to education, the right to work and keep ones own wages, and the right for married women to retain their own legal identity and property. She changed the world she lived in, while also pursuing love affairs, international adventures, and living a rich, full artist's life. She was vivid, she was brave, she was beloved by her many friends, she was mourned by thousands when she died...

...and then she was largely forgotten. Barabara's biographer, Pam Hirsch, posits one reason why: "She did many things, and historians seem to find it easier to understand and write about a man who pursued one 'great' goal. Women's lives and women's histories often look different, more diffuse and (perhaps) harder to evaluate."

Barbara's life story is unusual and fascinating, but rather than recount her history here, I'd like to send you to the Hastings Press website, where Helena Wojtczak has posted an informative short bio. Here's a snippit:

"When each of his children reached 21, [Ben Smith, Barbara's father] broke with tradition and custom by treating his daughters the same as his sons, giving them investments which brought each an annual income of £300....The combination of an unconventional upbringing and a private income placed Barbara in an extraordinary position for a mid-Victorian woman. Whereas most women were raised to be obedient and expected only to marry, bear children and live in subordination to a husband, Barbara was free to live her life almost as she pleased. Money could not buy everything, however; for example her brother Ben went to Jesus College Cambridge in 1848, but Barbara was denied such academic opportunities, since no university would admit women. But she did not succumb to housewifery; she became a painter and social reformer. Despite her wealth Barbara eschewed high society and allied herself with the bohemian, the artistic, and the downtrodden."

Barbara herself said, charmingly, "I am one of the cracked people of the world and I like to herd with the cracked, such as...queer Americans, democrats, socialists, artists, poor devils or angels; and am never happy in an English genteel family life. I try to do it like other people, but I long always to be off on some wild adventure, or long to lecture on a tub at St. Giles, or go off to see the Mormons, or ride off into the interior on horseback alone and leave the world for a month..."

(To learn more, I recommend Pam Hirsch's 1998 biography of the artist: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon: Artist and Rebel.)

I wish I could have known Barbara Bodichon -- and her whole vibrant circle of smart, fearless women friends. I'd like to gather them all around the dinner table, along with a few smart, fearless friends of my own. We'd open a bottle of wine and sit back to to hear their stories -- marveling at all the things that have changed, and commiserating about all the things that haven't.  And then we'd tell them thank you. We'd tell them that we never take for granted the rights they fought so hard for. And that we hope we, too, can make the world just a little better for the ones who follow after.

I love this...

Above: a Google Street View stop motion animation short, created & directed by Tom Jenkins (of The Theory Films), with music by Cinematic Orchestra. (via Elizabeth Hand)

The story: A lonely desk toy in New York City longs for escape from the dark confines of the office, so he takes a cross-country road trip all the way to the Pacific Coast in the only way he can – using a toy car and Google Maps Street View.

"Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."
- Mary Oliver (from her poem Wild Geese." Not only is it one of the Best Poems Ever, but these lines seem strangely appropriate for the poignant little film above.)

Readers in the woods...

I adore this quote by the great John Cheever, discussing his creative process as a writer:

"The sense is of one's total usefulness. We all have a power of control, it's part of our lives: we have it in love, in work that we love doing. It's a sense of ecstasy, as simple as that. It always leaves you feeling great. In short, you've made sense of your life.

"All sorts of pleasant and intelligent people read [my] books and write thoughtful letters about them. I don't know who they are, but they are marvelous and seem to live quite independently of the prejudices of advertising, journalism, and the cranky academic world....The room where I work has a window looking into a wood, and I like to think that these earnest, loveable, and mysterious readers are in there."

Now that really touches my heart.

Tunes for a Monday Morning

Above: As the weather turns distinctly colder here on Dartmoor, today we have a magical winter's tune from singer/songwriter Alela Diane (via Karen Meisner). Raised in a musical family in Nevada City, Diane is now based in Portland, Oregon, and tours with a back-up band (Wild Divine) that includes her father and husband.

Below: Diane performs a traditional song, "The Cuckoo," for the Toad Sessions in 2008. The backing vocals are by singer/songwriter Mariee Sioux, who is also a Nevada City native.

I also recommend the gorgeous version of "Matty Groves" (Child Ballad 81) that Diane performs with  Alina Hardin (also from Nevada City) on the 2009 recording Alela and Alina.

Friday's recommended reading:

This week's magpie gleanings...

Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians, discusses fantasy and longing on his writing blog.

Adam Gopnik discusses J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Paolini in The New Yorker.  Alan Jacobs responds at More Than 97 Theses.

Romy Oltuski looks at famous author's harshest rejection letters in The Atlantic.

Author and academic Kat Howard discusses being a writer at Strange Ink.

Author, artist, and publisher Erzebet YellowBoy Carr has a very good post on working from home at I Saw the Angel.

Theodora Goss (author of The Thorn and the Blossom) discusses searching and transformation, and being a heroine, on her writing blog.

Keren David (author of Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery) discusses authors who use initials rather than a gender-specific first name at An Awfully Big Blog Adventure. Ellen Renner (author of Castle of Shadows) responds.

Colleen Mondor discusses  her new book The Map of My Dead Pilots, at John Scalzi's Whatever -- and also reviews Susan Cooper's The Magic Maker at Chasing Ray.

Katherine Langrish begins her delightful "Jason and the AgonyAunts" series at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles; and Howard and Rex kick their heels while awaiting editorial feedback at John Barleycorn Must Die.

Sam Chaltain discusses art in the ownership society (and Brett Cook's "Reflections of Healing" project) on The Huffington Post site; and Stephanie Levy talks to Portland-based artist Cathy McMurry at Artists Who Blog.

More art recommendations:  "Old Lace" on Donna Q.'s Lens and Pen; "Zafta" by Lori Fields at Saints, Warriors, Tigers, Lovers, Flowers, Art; and "Voyage of the Snail Queen" by Ilene Winn-Lederer at Imaginarius.

Poetry recommendation: "Spring?" by Jason Primm, in the current issue of Umbrella (via Sharyn November). Not exactly seasonal, but lovely.

Fiction recommendations: "Ninety-nine Weeks: A Fairy Tale" by Ursula K. Le Guin, on the Book View Cafe blog; and "The Swordsman Whose Name Was Not Death" by Ellen Kushner in Fantasy Magazine. (There's also an interview with Ellen in the same magazine, and a related article on "The Pen and the Sword" by Kat Howard.) Speaking of Ellen, the audio version of her brilliant first novel,  Swordspoint, is finally out, as part of the new "Neil Gamain Presents" series. It was created in an unusual manner, which you can read all about here.

Folklore: Andy Letcher reports on a medieval fayre in Shropshire; Jessica Benko discusses life among the reindeer herders in Norway; and there's a podcast of a discussion of folklore in the Phillipines (from the Manilla International Literary Festival 2011) at Charles Tan's Bibliophile Stalker.

Threads: There's a post on Brooke Shaden's Pre-Raphaelite Fashion Shoot at The Beautiful Necessity, and a magical Alexander Mcqueen dress at Bohemea (via Lori Fields). Angela Bell recommends some fabulously romantic clothes from France at Bright Star, and Roman K. looks at folk costume of the Caucasion region at Folk Costume & Embroidery.

News from our village:

The Chagford Filmmaking Group's latest project, "The Ballad of Mary Whyddon," has been profiled in The Western Morning News; and a brand new trailer for the film can be viewed here. The CFG was established by harpist/composer/director Elizabeth-Jane Baldry in order to get young people in our village involved with making fairy-tale films, both in front of and behind the camera. (Not-so-young villagers are involved with the CFG too -- including my mother-in-law Jenny Gayton, who worked on the costumes for "Mary Whyddon.") Visit the CFG's charming website for more information about this nonprofit, all-volunteer group of magic makers.

Juliette Mills has a beautiful photo essay, "Brothers," on the Burn Magazine website (I particularly love the 4th photo); artist Virginia Lee has posted some terrific pen-and-ink drawings; artist Danielle Barlow introduces the latest member of her family: Will, a handsome gypsy cob; and naturalist Nick Baker recommends his 5 top wildlife books for Christmas. Plus: there's lovely new work up for sale in the Etsy shops of Virginia Lee and David Wyatt. And all three Frouds (Brian, Wendy, and Toby) have a major exhibition running right now at the Animazing Gallery in New York City. (For everyone who can't make it to New York, the art can be viewed online here. Go marvel.)

Finally, I want to say "thank you" again to everyone who's been involved with auction over on LJ: including the kind folks donating things, the kind folks bidding on them, and the supremely kind folks who created the auction to begin with. I wish I could tell you more about what prompted this, but there are legal reasons why I can't publically discuss the specifics of what my family and I are dealing with right now. But what I can say is that I'm overwhelmed by this amount of support, which has come as a real surprise. It means a great deal.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Images: The first two photos: Tilly seated near the delightfully ramshackle gate of a nearby sheep field. Third photo: from the "Ballad of Mary Whyddon" film shoot, from The Chagford Filmmaking Group. Last photo: the river valley near the Dartmoor village of Belstone, by Victoria Windling-Gayton. (Click on the image to make it larger -- it's pretty gorgeous at full size.)

The winds of autumn

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."  ~John Muir

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.  ~William Shakespeare

Images above: "Princess in the Fields at Twilight" by Edmund Dulac, Tilly in the autumn leaves, "Grannonia and the Fox" by Warwick Goble, autumnal mice by Charles Robinson.