Hear the voice of the Bard!
Who present, past, and future sees;
Whose ears have heard
The Holy Word
That walked among the ancient trees.
~ William Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience
A lot of folks have been thinking about the tornado we had last year – on June 1. The trees in the yard that lost limbs have started putting out fresh shoots, all along the broken off branches. By next year there will be fresh new twigs along every branch and, I hope, clusters of flowers. Sadly, this year there were no bees at all on my hawthorn tree by the house. In former years it was always covered with bees. (See the Nature News section below for updates on bee colony collapse).
The barn swallows finally gave up nesting in the entranceway. They had rebuilt their nest as usual but the presence of two cats plus one human coming and going proved too much for them. The woods are filled with bird song, however, and I have seen many snakes and toads. Life continues to flourish at a distance from the house.
My long haired, black cat almost died this past month and we still have no idea why. “Fever of unknown origin” was the vet’s diagnosis. I spent a few anguished days forcing water and tuna can liquid into his mouth with a syringe because he wouldn’t eat or drink. I can barely imagine what it must be like for a parent of a sick human child. Happily the cat is his old self again.
BIG BOOK NEWS!
- My book BEING A PAGAN made it to the list of 27 essential Pagan books!
- For those who want to hear what I sound like….A recent interview on Blog Talk Radio
HOW WRITERS CAN HELP EACH OTHER.
- Publishing is evolving so quickly that it can feel overwhelming. Something that hasn’t changed is the generosity of writers helping each other. Here are some old and new ways for writers to help each other when a new book comes out.
The older, tried and true ways:
- Support the author by buying the book or e-book.
- Mention the book to your local library. Librarians often write reviews and are generally very cool people.
- Urge your local bookstore to carry the book.
- Write a review on Amazon (you can do this without making a purchase), Goodreads, or any other site that you frequent. The reviews can be as short as one sentence and don’t need to be longer than a paragraph.
- Suggest the book to your book group. Authors are often happy to make an appearance (if local), Skype, or email with the members. Don’t hesitate to ask.
- If you are part of an organization that books speakers for conferences, consider inviting the author.
The slightly newer, still in transition ways:
- If you have a blog, invite the author to do a guest blog. Share it on Facebook.
- Which brings up the big world of Facebook. There are three main ways to respond to FB and they each carry a different weight.
Like: this is easy to do and appreciate
Comment: this is more valuable and lots more interesting. The majority of people don’t get this far. You can do it on your page in a status update or on the author’s page as a comment.
Share: This is the heavy weight contender and carries the biggest bang. For ex: Share the book’s website link on your page or go to the author’s blog, make a comment, and then share it with FB. Kapow! - House parties: With the closure of so many independent book stores, there are fewer venues for authors. And it has always been hard for author to get booked at the remaining bookstores where they don’t have an established base. Here’s what you can do: host a house party for the author. Invite a gang of readers to meet the author, do a potluck or snacks, and have fun. The author can meet with your friends in a relaxed atmosphere.
The Gold Standard
- Word of Mouth. If publishing houses could buy this, they would. If you like a book, tell your friends and family. Buy it as a gift for those you think might like it.
borrowed from
pll@writingretreats.org
www.writingretreats.org
Remember ~ you can order my books and DVDs from this website and get a signed copy and a personal note! ~
Here are the usual gleanings from this Month’s media…
ARCHEOLOGY NEWS
- How to build a round house
- How agriculture spread to Northern Europe
- California Petroglyphs
- Orkney underwater archaeology
- Was Newgrange in Ireland inspired by the Cygnus constellation?
- Dogs, booze and bling in 7th century Ireland
- 42,000 year old flutes discovered in Germany
- A Gallo-Roman Celtic site found in France
- A cursing stone discovered in Scotland
- Knowth to be explored digitally
- Stone Age Rock festivals
- Stanton Drew more complex than previously believed
- Nice image of a Celtic God
- A new language discovered in Turkey
- Oldest Mayan calendar found. The world won’t end in 2012. We can all relax now. More pictures….
- A virtual tour of Stonehenge and environs
- Cernunnos, understanding the Horned God
- French cave art is the oldest known
- Origins of the domestic horse
- Horses were once ridden and milked
HERB NEWS
- How mushrooms could save the world.
- Invasive plants you can eat; Kudzu, Japanese Knotweed, etc
(I also recommend the book INVASIVE PLANT MEDICINE by Tim Scott - More free lunch
- Heather ale
TRADITIONAL RECIPE FOR HEATHER ALE
Ingredients: Heather, hops, *barm, syrup, ginger and water.
Crop the heather when it is in full bloom, enough to fill a large pot.
Cover the croppings with water and set to boil for one hour
Then strain into a clean tub.
Measure the liquid and for every dozen bottles add one ounce of ground ginger,
half an ounce of hops and one pound of golden syrup or honey.
Bring to the boil again and simmer for 20 minutes.
Strain into a clean cask.
Let it stand until milk-warm and then add a teacupful of good barm.
Cover with a coarse cloth and let it stand till next day
Skim carefully and pour the liquid gently into a clean tub so that the barm is left at the bottom of the cask.
Bottle and cork tightly
The ale will be ready for use in as little 2 or 3 days
* BARM The yeasty foam that rises to the surface of fermenting malt liquors
NATURE NEWS
- Bee colony collapse update & More…
- Sulphur may hold the key to the Gaia hypothesis. Interesting because Sulphur is one of the greatest homeopathic “polycrests”, that is, it cures the greatest spectrum of diseases and conditions. Maybe Earth should be known as the sulphur planet.
- Plastic eating fungi from the rainforest could cure world’s pollution problem.
- Poland bans Monsanto GMO corn because it is killing bees
- Wild elephants mourn a dead conservationist
- Algae powered street lamps
- The Beltaine Full Moon of May 5 explained….
- West coast of the USA contaminated with Fukoshima radiation
RELIGION NEWS
- Evidence for reincarnation? From Fox News! (weirdly)
- Same sex marriage was once a Christian rite …Or was it?
- China bans reincarnation without government permission (how will they ever enforce this law?).
- Hildegard of Bingen finally declared a Saint (the Pope admires powerful women centuries after they are safely dead)
- The ongoing battle to preserve separation of church and state and religious pluralism in the USA
DRUID NEWS
PAGAN NEWS
ARTS
NEWS WE CAN USE
- Volkswagen premiers the hover car
- Ten reasons to date people involved with the arts
- How to make butter
- Learn Irish
LEARN IRISH IN ONTARIO, CANADA
OIREACHTAS GAEILGE CHEANADA ,
Community Language : Irish (Gaelic)
Dates : 6 – 8 July 2012
Locations:- Gaeltacht Thuaisceart an Oiléain Úir (Erinsville/Tamworth, Ontario), and
- Days Inn, Kingston, Ontario,
Information and Registration
Contact: kenny-h@rmc.ca
Deadline for Special Hotel Rates: 15 June 2012
HEALTH NEWS
- Antibiotics in the food supply
- RecentNews-_-EthanolAntibioticsinFood
- The skinny on obesity
- Was the Vioxx tragedy even worse than we thought?
- What really causes heart disease. Its not cholesterol…
POLITICS/ETHICS
- Icelanders refused to bail out the banks – here is the result
- Judge blocks Oklahoma ban on abortions in a rare show of sane thinking
- The most conservative states are actually the most anti-family.
May your summer be bright and your gardens fruitful. All blessings of the warm season!