Mushroom adventure

Life has been so busy at the moment that I have not had time lately to connect with nature, and since it is nearing the end of the university semester my time have been filled with study. I was lucky enough to finally find myself some spare time, I decided to visit this years mushrooms. Since autumn is over and winter has started to set in, now is the perfect chance to see the lovely Amanita muscaria's (or red fairy houses as I call them) on display.

I was really worried that I might have been too late to see the full display as they normally start appearing towards the end of autumn. However the gods did not disappoint me and I was in a wonderland as soon as I sighted a few.

I am hoping that next time I visit there will still be plenty of little fae foke about with their beautiful homes on display.

Miss Winters

Gumeracha Medieval Fair (part 1)

Here in the south medieval themed fairs and markets are not common and tend to be more of a 'family day out' than anything. Where I am from we only have one of these fairs a year the, Gumeracha Medieval Fair. I have been going to this fair for several years now, and have enjoyed my time there each time. However as you might know this year the organisers were not so kind to me when I asked questions on the sale of bones and dead animal products (which thankfully they did sell). All this lead to a rather bittersweet feel to the fair, but I managed to not let it bother me and had a grand time stocking up my bone and bling collections! 

I took so many photos that sorting them out was an adventure in itself. Below are only a few of the pictures I took, I will be posting a part 2 and 3 in the future. Let me know in the comments about the fairs or markets you have attended. 

Miss Winters 🍁🍂❄

(click on the photos to make the bigger) 

Flesh and bones...

Several months ago I was driving to work and saw a poor kitty that had been hit by a car on the side of the road. I decided that later that evening on the way home if it was still there, I could collect it up and give it a second life.

And now several months later I have a cleaned incomplete cat skull. As this is my first experience with this sort of thing, I am sure I could have done a few things better.

The method that I used seemed to be the most popular from my research. I buried the cat for approximately 6-8 weeks, in a shallow grave. Upon digging it up I was surprised to find it rather far along in the decomposition process. Washing off the excess flesh I was left with an incomplete skull, which I let dry in the sun for well over a week.

I have decided to let nature take its course and leave the skull in a bed of soleirolia (baby's tears) and let nature take over.

Public opinions

Everyone has opinions, some are nice and others are not so. Recently I had a difference of opinions with one of the event organizers in regards to Gumeracha Medieval Fair, which left me barred from their Facebook page and a bittersweet feel towards the event. All this over because I said I felt their fair was becoming too fantasy based and more like a medieval themed Comic Con. Which ended in them spatting childish abuse at me and name calling.  This has now made me think about opinions and when are they not welcome.

For me in this case my opinion to the event organizer could easily been viewed as malicious. However since this event is a public event there is always going to be a variety of opinions associated with it. Some of those are not going to be positive, but that does not mean you should in my case belittle a patron because their views do not match those of what you think. For such an event it will always have a different meaning to someone else than you.

For me it is okay to have an opinion and share it in this case, as my opinion is feedback. Just because someone has a few unsettling comments about an event does not mean they do not care or enjoy it. It is always how you react to an opinion that makes the difference. Do not let Loki trick you into exerting yourself over nothing. However there are times when opinions are used maliciously and that is not okay. You should never use your opinion to deliberately target someone just because they have offended you. Be smart in the way you use them, you opinion needs to be justified and justifiable.

While I can only say that I feel Loki has been up to this devious tricks in this whole ordeal, I have learnt something from it; I need to let Loki's devious ways stop bothering me so much, but that is hard when you are emotionally caught up in a situation.  I look forward to sharing my review of the fair, despite this devious trick Loki has pulled.

Photos and makeup are by me, bling is by Snorre

Things to do... not enough time

The magic of autumn is upon us here in the south and the colours adorning the trees are very enchanting and distracting. But at the moment with school and work it seems that I only have time to enjoy them passing by. Now I have a small break from school coming up, I am hoping to be able to finish a few projects I have started.

One of those projects I really need finishing is the making of my own runic set. As the one I had gotten I have entrusted that it was correct, but it was a bunch on runes from various sets shoved together. I had always wondered why my readings from the set seemed off, now I know why. Once I have finished the set I will post it up along with a little DIY instructions, so you too can make your own.

My other important project is my grab, which I need to have ready for my faire weekend in early May. And I am sadly thinking I am going to have to enlist the help of others to get my apron dress and chemise done. I so far have got my pattern worked out, it now just needs to be cut and sown together.

I would love to hear from you guys on little projects you have going.

Miss Winters 🍁🍂❄

A little leaf art I did, don't you just love the colours of autumn?

acorns I have gathered for my runic set 

my previous, wrong runic set! 

Vikings TV show

With the fourth season for the Vikings TV show starting today, I wanted to share my feelings on it. I keep seeing negative comments in regards to the authenticity of the show. Whether these comments be about the costumes, truth to the sagas or just nonsense things. It saddens me that so many vikings today just seem to find everything wrong with it. It personally does not bother me the inaccuracies within the show, what bothers me is peoples negativity towards it.

As a modern viking from a country that is not rich in any viking history, I see this show as a massive insight into the essence of the viking culture. I feel that vikings of today need to take a step back and think about how the show is reviving the interest viking culture in either a reenactment or modern way. You will always get those fans of the show that are just fans and do not look beyond the surface, but the true new coming vikings will scratch away and immerse themselves with the facts. Do not let yourself be caught up in the fact vs. fiction of it all, enjoy the Vikings TV show for what it is; a story- after all any viking loves a good story and I am enjoying this story so far.

I deliberately choose to use the photo of Ragnar and Aslaug because they are my two favourite characters and also because both of the actors are Australian.

picture found on google

Don't stress it

More and more people are under pressure or stress whether it be work, home or other reasons. It is hard to deal with these draining demands and constant worries. I wanted to share how I view these situations.

Always be optimistic no matter the situation! I will often view stressful obstacles as the gods challenging me and other times I feel it is just Loki having fun with me just to get my temper going. Whichever may be the reasoning behind the situation it is always important to be optimistic even if that optimism seems silly.

It is important to remember that vikings have always been optimistic. Even though they might have been laughed at by their fellow brothers they never gave up on their optimism and it is their optimism that had allowed them to achieve what they did.

So next time you are stressing about getting to work on time, finishing a project etc ask yourself why you are in this situation and most times you will find that it is a challenge set by the gods to prove you're worthy to feast in the halls of Valhalla.

teehehe my cat stressing it this morning