The Twilight Tales

Irritated and Tired.

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 10:07:00 +0000

I do so hate posts to complain - and so I wrote a silly ditty to sum up and lighten up (mind you this is at 3am, so I realise that now it may not read well...if at all. It make light of it all though - which is the point).

There is something in my doorway,
Solid dark and black.
And when I try and push it,
It pushes me right back.
But this is not the forest,
this is not it's space,
and while I hate to be so rude -
This is my bloody place!

There is something in the darkness,
When I turn off the light.
It grabs my arms and pulls me up,
Even if I fuss and bite.
"But this is not your bushland,
no swamp or field about,
So if you'll be so kind now
Get the bloody hell out!"

And obviously I'm no poet - but ditties make me laugh and these two creatures have really been the last straw in mischief around these parts lately. I mean honestly! It is not hard to know I want to be left alone.
*sighs*

I hope to have more positive and interesting news when I am more awake.

Solstice

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 11:09:00 +0000

After celebrating the Summer Solstice (yes - early, but it's when everyone is free) in what was a deliciously pretty ritual, I can't help but feel renewed for the coming year. The weather was so very perfect and we all feasted under the oaks and danced and sang. Someone told me they felt faeries around during the ritual - but far more delightful to my friend and I, we were watched in our ritual by beautiful ravens.

Unfortunately this refreshed and hopeful feeling has been doused a bit as the long summer days and warm nights mean I am getting to sleep in early morning instead of late-ish night - yet I awake at the same time. A tired Meg is (..apparently amusing if you are Malik) not the best for seizing the day, most especially as I've been tormented with nightmares (real nightmares...no mischevious creatures) and have only managed to lull back to sleep with the sultry siren's call of my Ipod (think very gentle Enya, Wendy Rule or soft chants).

There are many things in the works, ill people needing tending, old friends re-appearing, new projects, old dreams....It truely is the silly season - is it not?

Halloween Fall Out

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:47:00 +0000

Waking up after my halloween celebrations was nothing less than delicious. The weather felt wonderful and there were crumpets in the toaster wafting me some lovely smells. I never really expected to see anything during the day after All Hallow's Eve, which is probably why I yipped when the little fleck of light flew right at my face.

Naturally no one else saw it, but it was like a led-light, bright white and hurtling towards my face - no wings, no alteration in speed or height - a smooth sail as if it had been propelled long ago and had forgotten to fall to the earth.

Did anyone else have some after-math of Halloween?

Aside the below posts and all the cleaning and packing away they hint at, the clean-up went rather quickly. Just in time to start cooking for the grand lunch on Saturday for my dear friend's birthday. The Society and Guests have all been madly creating and honestly I can't wait. You'll no doubt hear of it soon.

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:08:00 +0000

I woke up this morning to the dawn chorus and cool summery morning, walked down for breakfast and found a nice big huntsman spider on the window to greet me. I hope he stays there until tonight - what a lovely spooky decoration he'd make!
My friend Oz stayed the night after staying late to help us decorate for tonight and (being an early riser) I got a chance to see her set off for work with her halloween decorations and halloween twist (a rather retro skull theme) on her corporate wear.
After that I bounded (yes - Halloween is probably the only time I 'bound' around) in to Malik and woke him up like a five year-old on Christmas wakes a parent. Only I'm sure that the parents don't throw pillows at their children. No matter.

I hope you all have a very happy Halloween and hopefully once this is all over with I can come back to posting more non-halloween-centred posts!

Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:21:00 +0000

Halloween is my absolute favorite time of year. In Australia it hits in spring, right when the days are long and the twilight hours strech on forever. We sit on our verandah on cushions and drink Malik's delicious concoction of a soupy drink that tastes oddly of pumpkin and string lights or skeletons up in the bushland we back on to.

Everyone will come over and we will celebrate - not as a cheap holiday, but a time when the veil is thin, when we have every excuse to toast those who have passed and those who never existed in the same breath while dressed as who we always wanted to be.

Oz will tell her warped tales by candle light and Malik will convince everyone of his silver-tongued nonsense and sit perched on a make-shift bar with Annie's table of culnary delights within easy reach, Evie will read fortunes and someone will pick up a guitar or pipes and we'll all dance like folktale gypsies until someone sprains an ankle (like last year - and even then people kept stealing the ice from the ice-pack to add to their drinks) and at midnight we'll make a toast and cheer on the night like banshees.

When we just about faint from exhaustion we'll use blankets and jackets and I'll fall asleep by the window watching the creatures outside our property lines and tell whomever asks what's out there the truth and then make them some of our sleeping tea so they can find comfort again.

And the next morning will feel like Janurary first - as if it should be different, as if the world should be wild now - but it's not and we all sleep in a little longer and make breakfast and then totter in to the same beautiful world we left. And we'll take down the decorations and wind up back here in the evening - curled on the pourch.

Image from google, article direct excerpt from my diary article to be seen in the zine

Fawns, Zines and Other Misc Things

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:34:00 +0000

Yesterday I had the delight of sitting near an older man on the train who looked most exactly as a Fawn or Satyr should look. I very nearly told him so, only holted but the concern that he would misunderstand the compliment and take it as an insult.

I am being tempted by a dear and persuasive friend to put out a zine (ofcourse with Malik as well) with Twilight-esque style writings, but I am stuck as to what people are interested in reading about. If you'd be so very kind I would love to know what you enjoy reading both here an other places.

I have read a few zines and enjoy them, but none are quite what I'd write. Looking on the net it seems a lot review things - but I was thinking instead of having a regular review of wishing wells/wishing trees/etc. I've already set my friends to find some to review (if anyone knows of any around Victoria please comment and let me know).

Also my dear friend's party is coming up and we've started to put together party bags with candy, old folk spells, incense and tiny figurines of the odd and charming variety. We picked balloons yesterday and found the most charming cream and grey streaked kind, which we'll team with maroon and spider-print (from the halloween section) ones in clusters.

Writing by Moonlight

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:48:00 +0000

The other day it was beautiful, in fact beautiful weather seems to be happening more and more - you can see it in people, as if someone's promised them soul candy. It's lovely...

I'm getting distracted though - which is odd as it happens every time I try and tell someone about this event. Which seems fitting really.

In the same park as the pixie-lead post I went for a walk to try to get to the top of a lovely hill I often see from a distance...I walked and walked and walked...
...and walked...every path lead away from it, or turned tail and ducked behind trees and right when I thought I should be at the base I looked out from between tree trunks to find no hill.
Usually I have such a good sense of direction and it is not all that hard to find a large hill, at least that is what I thought...

What story would you tell me about this disappearing hill?

An account of a fairy...

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:19:00 +0000

While hiding from football fever last weekend I found myself sitting in a sunny courtyard having esoteric discussions with an old man dressed in robes, whom I'd never met before. After a few questions (Was I Irish? Did I believe in things unseen? Would I like some tea?) he discovered that I had an interest in things unseen and proceeded to tell me of the time he saw a fairy.

Mostly I have no interest in fluttery-fairy stories, but this one was a little different and I could tell in his eyes that he wasn't making it up to impress me or such, so I thought you'd like to hear about it.

He was in Scotland and was bush-walking (or indeed whatever one calls it over there) and broke off from the group to 'answer a call of nature'. As he found a distant and suitable tree he stood and did his thing when he noticed a tiny figure in the stream nearby.
He watched the creature - as high as your knee with dark hair, very pretty and naked, with long ears like a picture-book would suggest but no earlobes of any description. She also had two lumps on her back.

The creature noticed his presence and approched him confidently and told him in a language he wasn't sure was english (but he understood it anyway) that his life was going to change weather he liked it or not. This is where the details get sketchy as the gentleman said she 'pumped' her lumps a bit like a ladybird...only I've never seen a ladybird do anything that could be described as pumping...but anyway - apparently the lumps moved aside and amber insect wings emerged and she disappeared.

He returned to the group and a Scotsman saw his white face and knew straight away that he'd seen one of the 'wee folk' that apparently lived in the area.

The story ends there because food was brought out and we started eating.

Also - for your eye-candy delight, Rima at Hermitage has taken a break from showing off her beautiful art to feed her readers some rather lovely mechanical sculpture: here

Magic Slippers

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:44:00 +0000

The fabled shoes are on perpetual display at the Smithsonian Instution in Washington D.C. Every year upwards of five million people visit the national treasure. The curator of the Smithsonian Institution, Charles McGovern has said of the shoes, "We don't clock individual numbers here, but I can tell you whenever we've had to take the shoes off for any reason what-so-ever, we get irate phone calls, dissapointed little girls from all over the country come to see these things."

He continues by saying, "They are without a doubt one of the most popular items on display here." Visiters are inexplicably drawn to the shoes that carried lost Dorothy along the yellow brick road in search of the fearsome wizard.

Mr. McGovern has also said, " I recently got a letter from a little girl, who asked me if the shoes still work, and I wrote her back and I said 'Well, if your asking do we wear the shoes still? No, we don't because they're fragile and they could fall apart, but if your asking are they still magic', I said 'Well, the magic's always in you."

From here

Magic on a Train

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:11:00 +0000

Yesterday on the train I sat across from a baseball-capped young man with a rather bored look on his face, who was mostly ignored by everyone around him - but I was entranced. Why? In his hands he shuffled a pack of very worn cards, greying at the edges and with every suit in black.

His hands swiped and plucked cards, revealing and flipping, flicking them from one hand to another and tapping up matching pairs like magic.
I eventually freed my eyes from his hands and asked him if he was self taught, but I was heartbroken that his convosation skills were no where near as skilled as his magic cards. He plays a lot of poker apparently, but I've never seen shuffiling like this.

I meet a lot of people on public transport whom are interesting or 'unusual' so I guess I expected more of an interesting story behind his skill. He was a touch of magic in my day, none-the-less.
Have you ever met anyone randomly magical?
Image swiped from google

The pros of being odd

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:20:00 +0000

leelaxpo: Hi
me: Hello there.
leelaxpo: I am *name*, you?
me: Meg. Where did you get my email from?
leelaxpo: from google search.r u doing furniture business?
leelaxpo: i m exporter of home furnitures
me: I'm afraid not - I'm a cryptozoolology and paranormal enthusist.

That last message of mine was sent at 8:11 PM...I don't think he's coming back. *giggles*

The Holder Series

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:26:00 +0000

The Holder Series is a large collection of writings by various people all along the same lines :
In any city, in any country, there's a mental institution or halfway house you can try any of these in. There were 2538 of these Objects, but 2000 were lost.

The remaining 538 must never come together. Ever.

Now I am not one for urban legends dealing in modern horror - but this site has a rather delightful eerie quality to it and even offers guides for contributing to the five hundred and thirty eight stories they hope to collect.

If you do, or have contributed please let me know so I can be sure I've read yours. I wouldn't mind adding my own two cents as well, but fictional modern horror? I shall have to think. It's so against my normal natural recounting of occurances - I am not a writer after all.

Writing by Moonlight

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:34:00 +0000

I realise I am a little early - but I wanted to type it up before I forgot.

A grey bird-like creature, the colour of ash and with a wingspan from my left shoulder to my right finger-tips swooped me last night at twilight. I was riding my bike with my ipod on (I know I should stop and listen to the world a bit - but I wanted some upbeat music to keep me warm) and it glided in from the right so fast I had no time to shield my face or stop (read: fall off) my bike before it disappeared in a shower of grey dust...that didn't seem to fall anywhere.

I am very sorry I didn't get a better look at it, but I can't say it had any defined features - almost as if it only had the general idea of being a bird and didn't fuss with details. It's nose was pointed but I couldn't say it was a beak, it's forhead was sloped but I couldn't say like a parrot or sparrow...It's almost as if IT didn't know what it was either.

Very strange.

Tell me your stories.

The Door - an email of dreadful delight

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:49:00 +0000

Sometimes I get the most delightful emails from friends who get bored at work (this particular random speal is from a writer-friend who's day job is very legal-eaglesque, so often I get little tales of things that don't exist.

What's your most magical email you've recieved? Do you send random emails?

"There are so many tales about doors that lead where they shouldn't...to elsewhere or otherplace - but there is a door in Italy that trumps them all.
Behind this door is a corridor, down the corridor is a room in the room is a blind man in tatters and rags. Bound to his chair by ropes of hair from virtuous women the man stares into his black world and murmurs every secret ever kept.
You can not ask him for a specific page of the unseen book he reads for his is as deaf as he is blind, and should you shake him he will fall silent and begin his book from the beginning.

Surrounding him are aged shadows of men and women who have found him, and - so caught up with their quest for secrets, have sat endlessly at his feet waiting for their answers, many finding death before it.
And so they sit in their room - the man alone in his black world, the soundless companions on the floor stripped of everything they had but the desire to know something - perhaps the meaning of life will be answered one day, but those who hear it will never have been part of it."

A Museum of Creatures

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:21:00 +0000

For your browsing delight (or your physical visit should you live close enough) : http://www.fieldmuseum.org/mythiccreatures/

Monster Consultant

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:35:00 +0000

Once upon a time, two girls decided that perhaps the world needed more monster/otherworldly stories...and who doesn't agree with them?

One of these girls was a very skilled artist and the other is an old fashioned jack-of-all-trades who can spin a rather lovely tale and perhaps has been a friend of mine for a little too long considering the subject matter they decided to write on....

But two is company, three is a team...right? Or so they tell me, as I've been asked to be a 'Monster Adviser' of sorts...a guide or inspiration to things that go bump in the night.

I do not have to stick to real creatures that I have seen, poetic licence and all that, but I don't think that I could easily churn out stereotyped monsters....I am not one who easily subscribes to popular monster myths, as you well know - so I have been dutifully tucked away with my library and my own notes (Arthur Spiderwick eat your heart out) making all sorts of surprises for readers and creators alike.

I have been working my little rear-end off and finally was rewarded with some draft scripts and sample pages to swap with my pages of notes...and I dare say that you'll recognise some of it from my journals.

Since you've all been very tolerant of my mysterious 'research time' I thought I'd share with you a 'teaser' for the comic and three character outlines...though it is sad that they don't give more scope for the whole story, but I will keep you well updated and promise you deeply that it's more complicated and delicious than it seems...
It's such a shame I can't tell you the best bits!

The comic will be called "Tilt"...which is a very apt name when you know more of the story, and your dictonary.

Do visit the artist's webpage and leave words if you feel like it, I'm sure she could use some less babbling words than Malik's and my rants about the portrayal of mythical creatures in art...

Alice - Sweet Alice was always a little strange, her calm oddity un-nerves some, but she is not at all bothered by the odd looks her case-workers give her - after all her Dolly says she has a grand purpose in life...but perhaps this latest caretaker - a stage-magician named Julian may give her a more suitable home for 'someone like her', Dolly however does not look kindly on this new-comer at all.

Cain - Unlike Alice, Cain is far less calm about the oddest of things - cupboards, under the bed...and when people go missing Cain's warnings are usually the last thing that rings in their ears. Passed from family to family for his 'bizzare self-abusive wounds' the sociable Cain became the target of attention from the mysterious Julian, who believes Cain's stories of dark shadows and sharp teeth - though he has yet to figure out why.
Whatever happens he has his best-friend by his side, he is sure they'll figure their way through together... but then, little Andy was sure that there was nothing dangerous about shadows either.

Julian - A stage magician by trade, the ever-weary Julian fosters Alice and Cain into his bizzare house where it becomes more and more apparent that the magic is not all smoke and mirrors...and perhaps not all of it is Julian either. One thing is for certain, whatever the underlying plan is, it certainly isn't a party-trick.

Posted with permission.

Faerie, Faery, Fairy...a Small Rant Translated to Text

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:17:00 +0000

Isn't it always the way that when you are happily reading...I mean researching diligantly, that you get someone reading over your shoulder?
If said someone (something) is Malik then you always get his view on it...and when he points something out to you, it then seems to appear everywhere under your nose, down every street. It is almost as if he has his great mits on some of Fate's threads just to annoy me.

So I thought perhaps I'll share some of his points, because as much as I complain I think they are interesting and I'd like to hear your opinions.

According to Wikipedia -
The word "fairy" derives from the fae of medieval Western European (Old French) folklore and romance, one famous example being Morgan le Fay. "Fae-ery" was therefore everything that appertains to the "fae", and so the land of "faes", all the "faes"....

As far as we are concerned the word 'Fae' is the same as "Aus" in a way, whether or not you spell it "Oz" or "Aus"..."Aussie" or "Ozzie" (or Fae/Fay, Fairy/Faerie) is taken you mean someone Australian (or from 'Faerie'). Regardless, I believe as it is taken from a proper noun (the country/world of Australia/Faerie) it should be capitalised.

I think it's the lack of captalisation that sticks out to me the most in my various readings rather than the word and it's spelling - as to weather it should be Faerie or Sidhe or any number of other terms I am sure that wether we call Fairies 'Fairies', 'The Good Folk', 'Otherlings', or anything else makes little difference so long as it is respectful. They are what they always have been, and no outside names will change it.

However as Doreen Virtue, toy companies and children's books tend to use 'Fairy' I do prefer the 'Faerie' when I see it written...but then 'Fairy' is one letter quicker to type.

Which do you prefer?

Fairly-oftenly Asked Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:27:00 +0000

Personal Things
Is Meg your real name?
How real is real? It's my nick-name - a whole three letters shorter than my 'real' name.

Is Malik your boyfriend?
Ha ha ha hahahaha...ew. No.

Is Malik your cat/dog/brother?
No, no and thankfully not. I suppose he is closest to a house-mate...though it doesn't seem to fit well.

Twilight Stuff
Do you really see the creatures you write about?
Mostly. Sometimes I write about one's I've read about or heard about from various sources. But that I see them is not the point, really - the point is the sharing of them, these posts that I make are to make the happy realisation that there is an unseen layer to this world, and it's rather amazing.

But yes. I see them...and no - I'm not crazy, as I proved to myself and others on this day. (though I do recommend getting checked as John Locke says in Lost "Crazy people don't know they're crazy, they think they're getting saner" and hallucinations and such can be some pretty serious symptoms.)

Have you ever seen anything that's truely frightened you?
Only for a moment, they do startle me for a while, and some of them have very strong presences and will dog your heels in the dark - which when you're half awake on the way to the bathroom can be very un-nerving. It's the sort of fear you get when to trip on the stair perhaps, alarm is perhaps far more accurate.

What books do you use for references?
Aside the almighty Google most of my searching is done within the pages of books. I tend to gather various books on all sorts of topics - one of my favorites is an encyclopedia of Brittish folktales sorted by region and coded by symbols as to wether they relate to mystical places, unusual murders, ghosts etc. for pure entertainment value. Here I reviewed "The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures" - which is helpful. Old books of mythology and strange happenings...I also collect books on specific topics (I rather like the Lock Ness Monster) and various theories (I have one book called Fairy Find...or some such that is a book on the theory that Faeries made humanity...as yet I haven't been able to bring myself to read it - but the book was going out cheap so I thought 'why not'?

Fiction-wise I am currently reading "Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" lent to mee by a friend who has only just finished it and rather insistant that it is good. I love the thoughts in the book - it is rather inspirational and if not used for a practical reference it certainly is a reference of curious concepts and lovely images.

I have never truely looked at a Spiderwick book, but wouldn't mind terribly as the art looks pretty regardless of content (of which I have little knowledge).
I think I have somewhere said that I do not put any stock in people like Doreene Virtue and other such 'pretty fairy' people - that isn't to say that you should not...it is a personal choice.

Also there are some lovely communities, blogs and websites I've mentioned here before that I love.

Any more questions are more than welcome, the idea that people are interested in me is still novel and wonderful to me. So don't fear batting an email though or commenting below.

Writing By Moonlight

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:22:00 +0000

Once a month on the 6th of the Month I write (...and encorage others to write...) tales, be they true or otherwise (more).

So tell me your stories, a single sentance or three pages long, via email or in the comments.

I look forward to reading them.

Also - if you're very good (or seem even remotely interested) I might type-up some intresting opinions Malik has been sharing with me (read: Talking at me while I read), little rants about the spelling of Faerie (including a lecture on capitalising) and the depictions of mythical cryptozooligical beings and their far-too-litural drawings.

What I Love...

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:56:00 +0000

Image by Sarah Mensinga at Drawer Geeks

So lately I'm spending most of my time reading my library for research for a project (which I will write about more when it is more cement) I have been recruited for.
I am not at all complaining as I do love my weighty old-smelling volumes and any excuse to browse them (though they are heavy - wandering around with my nose in a book requires some healthy muscles!).

I did, however, want to take this small space to say that I do love the internet and the infomation contained within it's boundless walls and share with you some links I'm loving at the moment.

~Mythical Rationality Amy was inspired to show the world her writing and creativity after reading this blog - and I don't think I've been more pleased or flattered by anything for a long time...Definately Go and read - she conveys emotion wonderfully (something I admire) and send her messages, comments and emails of support - there is not enough of this wonderful stuff in the world.

~Laura's Design Blog - another amazing person I found via thisin a paintbox-world judging by her talent. Her most recent post is so lovely I have twice tried to crawl into the screen.

~Slaugh Aotrom A traditional folktale community on Live Journal...I spend so much time reading up on old tales there. I unintentionally started a friendly discussion on faeries there and discovered that there are more than a few people who enjoy the less 'barbie-esque'/more traditional faeries. Kindred spirits are a blessing.
Add them to your friends list and start sharing your own stories.

~Drawer Geeks - after reading this post on 'Folk and Fairy' I went and had a sniff around out of curiousity. it was a fun wander but it was when lovely pieces such as the picture above by Sarah Mensinga and the giggle-gems of the Grim Reaper showed up that I was convinced it needed a link for those who like to dig for their candy

~These intepretations of children's drawings by Photographer Yeondoo Jung.

~ This amazing shot of a statue of a monster in Den Bosch canal. Is it just me or does anyone want to go and pat it? It's SO lovely.
another one here. Flickr continues to make love to my eyes with this and my humour with this.

If you have any links to share with me, please do - my arms could use the rest from lugging around books!

ALSO - do not forget that:
1) Writing By Moonlight is in a few days

2)that you can now subscribe to Twilight Tales in dozens of ways with my feedburner thingy...or you can keep coming back of your own accord, obviously.

A Very Unseelie Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:29:00 +0000

A dear friend of mine is turning a quarter of a century in a few months - unfortunately she has a small fear of dealing with the details of any celebrations of her own birth (she has no trouble helping with others however, just her own - she'd never admit it but she is shy)...so I decided that perhaps we should step in.

We meaning myself, my band of merry gentlebeings and you.
Yes you - all you wonderful people full of creativity and curious tales. When I read the emails and comments you make, and your lovely blogs I find creativity brimming over and so I appeal to you to put on your thinking caps, consult your cards and press the shadows for any ideas for the celebration and thus help me create a post of ideas for the Society's use for this celbration as well as anyone else wanting to follow suit with a simmilarly themed party.

Please do not read below if you think you know the girl in question as it will ruin the surprise of the party should you attend.

The Invite
Thus far the invite draft reads:

The Melbourne Society of Shadowling Alliances and Studies
request your presence at
Miss. FRIENDS NAME Annual Celebration of Birth and the Grand Experience of having survived a quarter of a Century.

Often are told tales of strange and dark happenings in which gentlemen monsters sup with ladies with beetles in their hair, of wondrous lands with dark twisted forests and cruel shores where children raised by birds and pirates with an Eton education find their homes.

It is these tales the merriment, challenges and feast aim to emulate. So - at the request of the Guest of Honour and the Society please keep this well in mind when completing your wardrobe for the event. Please ensure that your horns are dulled, that the ivy in your hair is not of poisonous intention, or that there is absolutely no denim on your persons.

No effort is too great, no tasteful adornment too small and dismissed but those who arrive in unadorned mortal clothing will be decorated with carnivorous button-holes, painted skin and doused in coloured powder or be simply asked to leave.

The festivities will begin promptly at eleven a.m. on the DATE twenty oh eight at PLACE - directions have been provided by the hosts.

Festivities will conclude in the early evening to allow revellers to move on to appropriate places for further sustenance.

Please R.S.V.P by DATE so that provisions may be made.
This small event is invitation only, with further invitations available on clearance with the social committee.

Anyone not on the guest list will be dealt with in traditional manner with their remains returned to family members within the week.

Regards,

Malik.
as for the Society

Are we missing anything essential? The invites will be on parchment with wax seals, with a map included to the grounds where the party will be held.
I am concerned as to how the dress code will be interpreted - what would you wear to something with this on the invite?

Setting

I plan to hold the party outside, already having called in favours from mutual friends to loan their small marquees incase of rain, which I have a vague idea of decorating with cushions and rugs.

(though at her last birthday we were all content to sit around in the rain - spring showers are so lovely)

I intend to put together some lovely dark-faeish music from my collection (any suggestions of music would be greatly apreciated...I only truely know my own taste - not that of others.) and track down some lanterns and maybe an old chandelier or such to hang from a tree...I'll take cuttings from the neighbour's ivy and decorate with wreaths and such.

More ideas greedily accepted.

Food

I plan to serve food that is already in portions (salads wrapped in cucumber slices, food in leaf-cups, stuffed vegies, pastry or small bowls/plates - ideas for unique servings also greatly encoraged) in as many unique/odd ways that I can...I hope to use old mirrors, crafted nests, platters on pedestals and anythign you lovelies can suggest.

Drink

I am on the look out for a particularly bloody looking punch to serve in a cauldron (it is after-all fairly close to Halloween). I will also pick up some lovely bubbly to serve with hybiscus flowers. Herbal teas will also be provided after the meal to relax and refresh.

Entertainment

Competitions, croquet and riddles are loosely planned...but any defined ideas would be welcome. The prizes will be trophies or medals as produced by the Society's resident craftsperson - but I am curious as to wether people would like something in addition to their prize, and if so, what it might be?

One of the competitions I really would like is a 'Caucus-race'...pulled from 'Alice In Wonderland' I think it's a quaint name for a obstacle course challange.

Anyway - those are my ideas and prompts to tease from you any ideas you may have.
Please comment or email with some ideas - the society and I would love to hear it.

Image from a non-existant myspace page via google search.

Coat of Arms pt 2

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:57:00 +0000

Just a follow-up so you can see mine. It's a draft, and really it should have the society's name on the banner - but this IS my journal and so I did my own version to grace the top of my page.

Coat of Arms

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:54:00 +0000

Today I am drawing up a Coat of Arms - on a whim Malik and I desided that we needed one for 'the society' (will post more on them in future).

So the kettle is on, the furniture and cushions fashioned into a nest for collaborating.

Google provided me with a few hints on symbols (link) and layout - but his lordship is rather stubbon on some aspects and after all - we're not exactly the kind of people who stick to convention, so we're 'winging' aspects of the design and finding our own meanings and symbols.

Join us:
Pick up pen and paper and sketch out a Coat of Arms (yes, even if you're at work - what do you think post-it notes are for?) for yourself or your family or 'tribe' of friends. Tell me what you'd like on your coat of arms...what you're change, what you'd want symbolised. What's your motto?

Pixie Lead

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:10:00 +0000

Yesterday felt like grey-skied spring - the kind of weather that makes the day feel both eternal and already over before it has begun. I took the day to wander and spend time with friends and family.
Sunny patches found me short-cutting though paddock gates to the bakery to pick up fresh bread for a family lunch and walking along the river trail with my almost-dog neither of us teathered or restricted in our wandering free to enjoy the time and company.

On the way home I turned down a road I'd not traveled since I was little (simply because there was no reason to) and followed a gut-pull off the trail and through bush and shrub.

I should stop here and make sure you know I was careful to keep my barings. Pixie-lead is an infamous term for a very good reason and time escapes far too easily on these time-less days. I did not go one step without knowing where I was, I also tend to carry more 'adventuring' items than most such as a light, a time-piece, etc...but always be sure where you are. You can always re-trace your steps if you return with food/light/map/etc...the call will wait if it is well meaning...if it isn't then it's probably better that it goes away.

With that said there is something freeing in following an external tug to adventure.

I was rewarded on the way with beautiful and un-naturally green (for drought-ridden Australia) scenery and little brown rabbits with white tails bobbing around happily (another introduced species that thrives here) but by far the best thing was the clearing I found - it honestly felt other worldly and was exactly the type of place that required a picnic of like-minded people sitting with books and sketch-pads day-dreaming away the most wonderful ideas never thought of right in the middle of it.

Have you ever been 'Pixie Lead' anywhere?

Image from kellscraft.com via google image search

Dressing Fae. Part 1 - The Borrower

noreply@blogger.com (Meg) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:00:00 +0000

After a previous post discussing what I wore and my take on clothing I started a convo with a reader about people who take different spins on people and their 'fae'-styles, and I mentioned my firm love of the fact that the stereotype of fairy dress - while lovely and bright, isn't the be-all and end-all.

I thought I'd have a little look around at these examples of human fae characters and share what I loved about them.

The Borrower
I like the idea of a fae who makes use of human junk. The common misconception is that all fae (and shadowlings - which I have more experience with by far, but are far less likely to be fashion inspiration) are earthy nature-loving creatures - when in fact many are as adapted to city living as we are, if not more so. After all introduced species often thrive on their new circumstances...just ask rats or your 'closet monster'.

I am not one of those non-officer workers who look down on others who do work their bottoms off in the corporate world. I am far from thinking that corporate people have sold out into a world of drab greys and coffee breaks.
So I am hardly surprised that when I look for a more 'modern' fae-style that it is one of these hard-working corporate people that is the perfect example of a human 'Borrower'.

On the weekends this girl is an artist of wood and assembly (as well as the local fix-it girl) covered in woodshavings or motor oil from functional pony-tail, down overalls and right to her booted-feet - but when Monday rolls around her white shirt is pressed, her stockings hole-free and her pinstripes perfect.

There are a few differences however - her black-silver designer-looking bracelets that jangled at our last catch-up were actually piston rings from a lawn mower engine, her funky necklace is the lens and surrounding circuit board from a CD player or a off-cut of wood she carved on a whim.

I think this fits amazingly well with her suits as there is nothing better to highlight a little personality while still remaining a 'power dressing' person. The slick modern items often look even better than their actual designer counterparts.

So string things from cord or chain, pick up some pin-backs and turn the next trinket you find in to a broach. Borrower fits so well in to any style, after all there are all kinds of trinkets to match.Like a tie? Try turning it in to a belt.

Any other ideas you'd like to add for 'The Borrower'? Feel free to do so in the comments!