Journal Entries

Chris Angel

Last night I went with my friend Robin to watch her brother, Chris Angel, perform at a local pub. Since I didn't even know her brother WAS a musician, it came as a surprise that, in fact, he is a very GOOD musician.

This is Chris in action: http://images.ofoto.com/photos280/7/27/89/51/22/0/22518927703_0_ALB.jpg (my photo).

Chris plays a blend of Celtic/Folk/Trad. He started with a tune I hadn't heard before, "Peter's Dream" by a Cape Breton musician, Lennie Gallant.

These are the links to Lennie's site: http://www.lenniegallant.com/index.html
.....and the lyrics to "Peter's Dream": http://www.lenniegallant.com/lyrics.html#petersdream.

I listened to the clip on Lennie's site and really prefer Chris' slower, more folky version.

To give you an idea of what Chris sounds like, here is "Wild Mountian Thyme" from his CD "Celtic Stepson": http://home.cogeco.ca/~sword4hire/WMT.MP3

If you like it, you can order it here: [email protected] ($15 dollars CDN).

...and here is Chris' website:
http://www.oddenough.com/angel.html



Discuss this Journal entry [2]

Latest reply: Feb 2, 2003

November 9th, Butter sculptures and other oddities...

A few of us were talking about the Royal Winter Fair the other night and the topic of butter sculptures came up... Some folks had never heard of such a thing. I thought I'd share some sites on the subject.

These are some pages on Tibetan butter sculptures: http://butter.wilsons.org/
http://www.themonasteryproject.org/butter.html

These pages that feature typical fairground sculptures:
http://www.steps-plus.com/bumann/butter-d.htm
http://www.steps-plus.com/bumann/butter-2.htm

Butter and other foodstuffs
http://members.aol.com/vsculpture/AssetsFood/foodsculpture.html -- see the "Cheesasaurus Rex"!
http://www.tramp-art.com/scrapbook_3.htm

Ohhh and a couple of corny sites:
http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/cgg5/places.htm
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/
http://www.cyberbeach.net/~solonyka/LCRA/ontario.htm
http://www.wlra.us/
http://www.gethep.net/road/

Discuss this Journal entry [1]

Latest reply: Nov 10, 2002

Tattoos (encore)

I messed up two of the links for the journal entry... As I am a perfectionist, I couldn't just add the correct link or something. So, here goes attempt # 2..... So far, so good!

Recently, I have been trying to design my 4th tattoo.

My first tattoo is a small flaming chalice http://www.uua.org/aboutuu/ on my ankle. I got it to mark the decision to end my marriage and the beginning of a new phase of my life.

The chalice was chosen for several reasons. It is the symbol of the Unitarian-Universalists. "It is a symbol of helpfulness and sacrifice..." "The flaming chalice, like our faith, stands open to receive new truths that pass the tests of reason, justice, and compassion." http://www.uua.org/chalice.html I received a great gift from the people of the Fellowship in the form of love, compassion, support, friendship and kindness. The chalice marks that, as well.

On the first anniversary of my separation, I got my second tattoo.

I had been trying to come up with a design that I liked and that meant something to me. I had done a lot of searching on the internet. I had a preference for a tribal tattoo, but couldn't find anything that I really liked. I happened to be aimlessly flipping through the pages on the Body modification Magazine site when I flipped past this photo
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A00627/high/tats-wrist.jpg


The strange thing was that, for quite some time, I had been doodling the very same spirals endlessly in the last few months. It suddenly dawned on me that the spiral was a metaphor for the labyrinth. In a way, the journey I had made through the last year had been labyrinthian. In such a journey, one often travels inwards into the dark towards an epiphany. Once the goal is reached, the conundrum solved, the task completed, one journeys outwards again, into the light. That pretty well defined the last year for me.

To symbolize the labyrinth, I had the spiral that I had been doodling onto my outside of my wrist. (I told my sister I had changed my mind and had "Mom loves me best!" tattooed on my butt, instead. It is a running joke with us. She didn't believe me.)

A year later, at the end of October, I got my third tattoo done.

This one was also a spiral, a little more complicated that the other, and finer. Another doodle I had been fixated on. This one I had planned to have done on my shoulder blade but changed my mind.

For some time I have been fascinated by the Sacred Heart.

"The Heart: The heart is the symbol for true love, charity, understanding, and piety; for happiness and joy as well as sorrow. It is recognized as the key organ of the human body, one that coordinates the intellect with the emotions. The emblem for devotions to the Sacred heart is a flaming heart, surmounted by a Cross and enclosed in the Crown of Thorns. As an attribute, the flaming heart generally suggests religious fervor, the pierced heart contrition and repentance." http://landru.i-link-2.net/shnyves/sacred_heart_of_jesus.htm

"In the Heart of Jesus we can see not only a symbol, but also the compendium of the whole mystery of our redemption" (Pius XII). http://www.dlc.fi/~scjregfi/heart2.html

"The importance of the human heart as a symbol of the mystery of man goes right to the center of the problems of Christology. Thus while the encyclical "Haurietis Aquas" (H.A.) of Pius XII speaks of the physical Heart of Christ as the symbol of His threefold love (divine love, human spiritual love and that of the senses: n.31.)" ibid

The placement of the tattoo over the heart seemed right.

This time, I have decided on a Celtic "Trinity Knot" about the size of a hand-span http://www.celtic-art.net/Free_BW/Clipart/Bw27.gif which will go in the centre of my back, between my shoulder blades. I have mulled over the color of this tattoo, and have decided on a red, sort of a brick-colored red.

My mother was born in Scotland and I have a love of all things Scottish. In studying my family genealogy, I have discovered a link that goes far back to the early kings of Ireland and Scotland. In part, my choice of the "trinity knot" was to celebrate my Celtic roots. I also feel that the three-pointed knot represents my three parents -- my mother, my birth-father, and my step-father -- and the intertwining of their lives to create mine.


Here are some really cool websites for all things tattoo.

WARNING! There is some nudity on some of these sites.....

History:
http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/
http://www.mariner.org/exhibits/tattoo/

Gang and prison tattoos:
http://russian.4t.com/
http://www.convictsandcops.com/tattoo.htm

Cool:
http://www.darkimages.com/

Celtic:
http://www.sonic.net/phoenix.arabeth/tatHev.html
http://www.tribal-celtic-tattoo.com/

Fabulous color-work:
http://bafaro.com/
http://www.renaissancetattoo.com/portfolios.html
http://www.inklab.com

Not strictly a tattoo site, but the illustrations have possibilities:
http://www.thefaerycrossing.com/index.html
http://www.headbandbrothers.com/headbandbrothers.html

Discuss this Journal entry [1]

Latest reply: Oct 18, 2002

Tattoos

Recently, I have been trying to design my 4th tattoo.

My first tattoo is a small flaming chalice http://www.uua.org/aboutuu/ on my ankle. I got it to mark the decision to end my marriage and the beginning of a new phase of my life.

The chalice was chosen for several reasons. It is the symbol of the Unitarian-Universalists. "It is a symbol of helpfulness and sacrifice..." "The flaming chalice, like our faith, stands open to receive new truths that pass the tests of reason, justice, and compassion." http://www.uua.org/chalice.html I received a great gift from the people of the Fellowship in the form of love, compassion, support, friendship and kindness. The chalice marks that, as well.

On the first anniversary of my separation, I got my second tattoo.

I had been trying to come up with a design that I liked and that meant something to me. I had done a lot of searching on the internet. I had a preference for a tribal tattoo, but couldn't find anything that I really liked. I happened to be aimlessly flipping through the pages on the Body modification Magazine site when I flipped past this photo http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A00627/high/tats-wrist.jpg.

The strange thing was that, for quite some time, I had been doodling the very same spirals endlessly in the last few months. It suddenly dawned on me that the spiral was a metaphor for the labyrinth. In a way, the journey I had made through the last year had been labyrinthian. In such a journey, one often travels inwards into the dark towards an epiphany. Once the goal is reached, the conundrum solved, the task completed, one journeys outwards again, into the light. That pretty well defined the last year for me.

To symbolize the labyrinth, I had the spiral that I had been doodling onto my outside of my wrist. (I told my sister I had changed my mind and had "Mom loves me best!" tattooed on my butt, instead. It is a running joke with us. She didn't believe me.)

A year later, at the end of October, I got my third tattoo done.

This one was also a spiral, a little more complicated that the other, and finer. Another doodle I had been fixated on. This one I had planned to have done on my shoulder blade but changed my mind.

For some time I have been fascinated by the Sacred Heart.

"The Heart: The heart is the symbol for true love, charity, understanding, and piety; for happiness and joy as well as sorrow. It is recognized as the key organ of the human body, one that coordinates the intellect with the emotions. The emblem for devotions to the Sacred heart is a flaming heart, surmounted by a Cross and enclosed in the Crown of Thorns. As an attribute, the flaming heart generally suggests religious fervor, the pierced heart contrition and repentance." http://landru.i-link-2.net/shnyves/sacred_heart_of_jesus.htm

"In the Heart of Jesus we can see not only a symbol, but also the compendium of the whole mystery of our redemption" (Pius XII). http://www.dlc.fi/~scjregfi/heart2.html

"The importance of the human heart as a symbol of the mystery of man goes right to the center of the problems of Christology. Thus while the encyclical "Haurietis Aquas" (H.A.) of Pius XII speaks of the physical Heart of Christ as the symbol of His threefold love (divine love, human spiritual love and that of the senses: n.31.)" ibid

The placement of the tattoo over the heart seemed right.

This time, I have decided on a Celtic "Trinity Knot" about the size of a hand-span http://www.celtic-art.net/index2.htm which will go in the centre of my back, between my shoulder blades. I have mulled over the color of this tattoo, and have decided on a red, sort of a brick-colored red.

My mother was born in Scotland and I have a love of all things Scottish. In studying my family genealogy, I have discovered a link that goes far back to the early kings of Ireland and Scotland. In part, my choice of the "trinity knot" was to celebrate my Celtic roots. I also feel that the three-pointed knot represents my three parents -- my mother, my birth-father, and my step-father -- and the intertwining of their lives to create mine.


Here are some really cool websites for all things tattoo.

WARNING! There is some nudity on some of these sites.....

History:
http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/
http://www.mariner.org/exhibits/tattoo/

Gang and prison tattoos:
http://russian.4t.com/
http://www.convictsandcops.com/tattoo.htm

Cool:
http://www.darkimages.com/

Celtic:
http://www.sonic.net/phoenix.arabeth/tatHev.html
http://www.tribal-celtic-tattoo.com/

Fabulous color-work:
http://bafaro.com/
http://www.renaissancetattoo.com/portfolios.html
http://www.inklab.com

Not strictly a tattoo site, but the illustrations have possibilities:
http://www.thefaerycrossing.com/index.html
http://www.headbandbrothers.com/headbandbrothers.html

Discuss this Journal entry [1]

Latest reply: Oct 18, 2002

An email from Greenland.....

I got an email today from my friend Sally. She is the mother of Dave Olsen and Jonny O, and wife of my friend and co-recorded-music-person Rod, all of whom I mentioned yesterday.

Sally is a teacher. Her classrooms are spread across the globe. Last year she was teaching in Erdnet, Mongolia. http://www.geocities.com/erdenet_01_02/Home.html This year she's in Nuuk, Greenland. http://www.wright-photo.com/nuukO.htm
http://www.rudyfoto.com/grl/greenlandpage1.html

Sally has promised to share Greenlandic music with me. I look forward to that. I found a site that has some samples of music and I was very intrigued by some of the pieces I heard. Much of what I heard sounds like the Innuit and Innu music I am familiar with.

http://www.atlanticmusic.gl/atstudie/cdikoner/awg/awgcd.htm
http://www.atlanticmusic.gl/atstudie/cdikoner/pop/cdpop3.htm
http://www.atlanticmusic.gl/atstudie/cdikoner/pop/cdpop1.htm

Sally sends regular email tomes about her adventures and the goings on in her various classrooms. My favorite was the real-life Romeo and Juliet story. You gotta admire her, but I wonder why she doesn't pick someplace a bit warmer for a change.....

Sally! Think Tahiti... Samoa...

Discuss this Journal entry [1]

Latest reply: Oct 12, 2002


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