Urus

Fire ! 

Such a primordial feeling when tending at it. It feels so unbelievable that there was a time in my life, and a long time, in which I thought it impossible to warm up a house only rely on woodstoves. I associated it, in my poor mutant monkey mind, with being 'poor',without sufficient means. So little I knew. 

Fire is one of those free gift we are provided to live comfortably on this planet. Fire keep us warm and fed.

All hail to its magic !

(URUS in the title is the Khuzdul word for FIRE)

Futhark

I finally finished my first set of Futhark runes. I made it with a white polymer clay, not the best choice, but being fairly new to all the carving-burning-sanding process, I'm just trying to refine my skills before trying better and most suitable materials. I'm kinda satisfied, even if the tokens are not perfectly alike and smooth. I like the color I gave, using pastel-chalks. May this set be the first of many more,opening new doors for me.

The King beneath the mountains

The King beneath the mountains,
    The King of carven stone,
The lord of silver fountains
    Shall come into his own!

His crown shall be upholden,
    His harp shall be restrung,
His halls shall echo golden
    To songs of yore re-sung.

The woods shall wave on mountains
    And grass beneath the sun;
His wealth shall flow in fountains
    And the rivers golden run.

The streams shall run in gladness,
    The lakes shall shine and burn,
All sorrow fail and sadness
    At the Mountain-king's return! 

                                                                             

                                                                                               ( JRR Tolkien )          

( A couple of days ago we could enjoy a powerful moment, during the snow storm the clouds got thinner and the sun started shining through them giving the sky that amazing color. I felt small and filled with amazement. I believe the image of that mighty sky can fit the wonderful Tolkien's poem about the mighty King under the mountain )

                           

Innikh-dê

Yesterday I finished a wooden token for our caravan. I made it quite symbolic, as on one side I have engraved and later pyrographed a celtic compass and on the other side the word innikh dê written in khuzdul runes ( dwarvish runes from Tolkien's Middle Earth ) that means 'return to me'.In my mind it's a good omen for safe traveling, for not losing (too often!) our way, and coming back home safe and sound after our journeys. As I usually do, I refer to midgardsmal for the Khuzdul and specifically to this post  
I'm quite happy with the outcome, even if I must admit I prefered it before the 'burning', not totally sure why, though.

Never-ending amazement

I have been traveling the north for almost 15 years now and made it my dwelling 6 years ago. I should be used to its ways, but still I'm caught in amazement about its nature and the power of it. Everything oozes life, and everything can change so dramatically in a matter of moments, reminding the little humans to be grateful for what they have as it is not due to them or granted to them,but only freely gifted.
We had two days of snowstorm, strong cold winds brought tiny needle-like snowflakes, stinging the skin when hitting. Snow piled so high yesterday we had a lot of digging to do. But today. Today is a brand new amazing day ....

Everything was white and grey. Stillness made in colors.

 

And today, same place, same trees, same sky.

 Stillness has gone. 

You can feel the lively and wild pulse of life.

Tiny guests

Sometimes,in these old wooden houses in the north, we're lucky enough to have unexpected and lovely guests.It happened three times in the past month, and finally yesterday I menaged to have some good shot of our newly met friend ....

 

The little one came in from a small hall between the floor and a wall and hid behind one of our stoves.

We put this five liters jar with the bottom cut off near there and filled it with food. Few hours and the little one was confident enough to come out and enter the jar to eat. At that point one of my sons took it and covered the 'entrance' with a book.

 After shooting a few pictures we took our friend outside. As soon as the little one was hit by the sun rays and smelled the fresh air started moving around excited. Moments later ...

... the little one was running free.

Goodbye little friend.

Softly Spoken

Nature can whisper you secrets if you can be very still and silent to listen to them. The other week the temperatures had risen above the 0C, the snow was basically gone as the big birds whose dwelling is on the trees in my yard and sourroundings. Little titmouses had replaced megpies,crows and ravens.Then suddently saturday morning, megpies and crows were litterally queuing on my porch patiently waiting their turn to eat the food I set out for the birds in wintertime. The same day sunrise was of an unusual orange and pink color, much more like a sunset. In my heart I felt the weather was about to change but I didn't have the gut to say it out loud. Birds told me snow will be back. Much of a crazy babbling for most. But sunday morning we woke up with a snow storm. And I smiled and thanked our feathered friends for revealing me the secret in advance. Yesterday we had more snow, but since temperatures were quite high ( between -1 and +1) it came down fluffy and soft as cotton, blanketing everything in sweetness.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Still waiting for the equinox, but can't help dreaming about summer's nightless nights.

Missing the far north right now.

(mixed-media, pencils,acrylics and chalk pastels)

Pure beauty

( During the Moon of Pearls the sunset is called the blue hour here, the sky is painted in amazing colors, and every evening is different and amazing. Pure beauty that brings to my mind this Tolkien's poem )

 

The world was young, the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,
No words were laid on stream or stone,
When Durin woke and walked alone.
He named the nameless hills and dells;
He drank from yet untasted wells;
He stooped and looked in Mirrormere,
And saw a crown of stars appear,
As gems upon a silver thread,
Above the shadow of his head.

The world was fair, the mountains tall,
In Elder Days before the fall
...

( JRR Tolkien, Durin Song )

( A few days ago, at the sunrise the moon was setting. It has been a magical mystical moment, as father sun was ascending at east, sister moon was setting at west )

Runes

Since I moved to the north I got a genuine interest for the ancient cultures of northern latitudes. I have a deep love for the Sami, the only left native people in Europe, too neglected and forgotten, and a great interest in Celtic culture. I have been 'studying' runes and collecting images of traditional Sami's engravings and shamanic paintings for a few years now and a few of my kids are inheriting my same passion, in their own way of course. Lately I have been constantly working on wood, experimenting different tools and bringing back in use my old wood-burning-iron. I get a sort of ancestral satisfaction from everything I do.

Here a Celtic compass. This was my first try with the burning iron, the wood it's not good quality, just a small scrap from the fire starters pile and the compass has a few mistakes as I got a bit confused while I was working, but I'm quite satisfied with it.

This is something a bit different, as I used Khuzdul runes and Khuzdul language to write a few sentences from Durin's song, (I think) an original poem from JRR Tolkien. I found the text over at Midgardsmal .

On the bottom of it you can otherwise recognize the Celtic rune of peace, which I especially love.

Woodshed

My dwelling is a 115 years old traditional northern house. There's no 'modern' heating, only four woodstoves (three of them still in use )and they serve me and my family in an excellent way. Of course one daily chore in colder months is gathering the wood. For the rest of my family this is the least favorite task. Instead I love it. The short walk across the yard to the big brick building, pushing the heavy door and entering the dark and cold room still smelling of animals and life from the farming past of this house. Climbing the pile of chopped wood, looking for the right sized pieces according to the use I have to do of them ( only warming up, or cooking ), listening the silence and dreaming.Those are my ten minutes of daily mind vacation...

Mornings

Early morning is my favorite moment of the day. I like to wake up when the world is still sleeping, enjoy the silence, reflect, and mostly watch out of the windows. In my kitchen I have two, from one I can see the east and from the other I can see the west. This morning, as I am writing, I have been treated with one amazing vision, the sun is rising to the east while the moon is setting to the west. My friends the birds, crows, ravens and megpies, are already on the rowan honoring their rising father and everything looks so beautiful and perfect, my heart start beating faster. Temperatures increased dramatically in the last two days, so we went from -15 to +2 today and the snow is fading away, melting from our view impercetibly and steadly. It is good to have memories of it ...