Terri Windling's Blog, page 253

Friday's Recommended Reading:

* "The Mother of Possibility by Sven Birkerts at Lapham's Quarterly (a beautiful essay discussing the history and value of idleness in life and literature)

* "Around the Table with Dhamaruci" at John Barleycorn (discussing astrology and magic)

* An interview with Franny Billingsley at The Enchanted Inkpot (discussing how she set out to write a novel set in Fairyland and ended up in the English Fens instead)

* Katherine Langrish on finding her voice as a writer at An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (and we're so glad she did!)

* Catherynne Valente on blogging at Rules for Anchorites

* Rima Staines on owls  at The Hermitage

* Claire Massey on old maps at Gathering Scraps

* Ellen Kushner on fairy tale couture at Puggy's Hill

Also: Booktrust Children's Books (here in the UK) has announced the 10 winners of their 2011 Best New Illustrators Award. Click through the artists' links to see some really marvelous work.  There's also a traveling exhibition of art by these talented folks, which has kicked off at the Illustration Cupboard in London. I hope to see it when it reaches Plymouth in April.

Coming up: I've got some terrific new "On Your Desk" photos in the works for next week, and new sketches to share. Have a good weekend, everyone.

Howard, Tilly, & Tilly's friend Warlock illustrating the Birkerts essay by demonstrating the joys of idleness & play....

Everyone is invited to...

The Nosy Crows: tunes ranging from folk and bluegrass to rock and blues, performed in the unique Crows style. (Band members: Jenny Dooley, Steve Dooley, Howard Gayton, David Wyatt)

The Wild Violets: All girl acapella group, great tunes with a folky heart.

Next Friday, April 1st. It's going to be a great night....

A Tilly Interlude

"You may make a great fool of yourself with a dog and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a great fool of himself  too."  ~ Samuel Butler

Celebrating the Sun

Music and a bonfire on a Devon hillside to celebrate the spring equinox (Monday, March 21st) in traditional fashion. Musicians: Howard (guitar, accordion, shakers), Steve Dooley (drums), Rima Staines (accordion, clarinet, flute), Tom Hirons (clarinet, guitar), Jason Hancox (drum), Thomas Hine (fiddle) and Damien Hackney (not pictured, fiddle). Dogs: Tilly, Macha, Warlock, Ash, and Pigsy. Friends, neighbors, parents, grandparents, and children. Food cooked on the fire, painted eggs, and laughter. And a whole lot warmer than it was last time. Spring is finally here.

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:  when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade." -  Charles Dickens

"The first day of spring was once the time for taking the young virgins into the fields, there in dalliance to set an example in fertility for nature to follow.  Now we just set the clocks an hour ahead and change the oil in the crankcase."   -   E.B. White (One Man's Meat, 1944)

Dartmoor sunrise . . .

Dawn on Nattadon Hill

"Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you."
  - Swiss philosopher/poet Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Tunes for a Monday Morning

Today I'm posting four different tunes related to a common theme: women's friendships.

Considering how important female friendships are to just about every woman I know, it always surprises me that this is not a more prominent theme in music, literature, and the other arts. Good friendships are a remarkably potent force, sustaining us, and our creative work, through everything that life throws at us...while a lost or broken friendship can be just as painful as any divorce.

The first tune comes from the talented young singer/songwriter Devon Sproule, performing at the Tin Angel in Coventry. Sproule grew up on communes in Ontario and Virginia, and released her first CD (Long Sleeve Story) when she was just 16. She now lives Charlottesville, Virginia, where she's married to fellow-musician Paul Curreri. In "Julie," Sproule writes about a particular kind of woman friend: that brilliant, intense, but unstable girl who flashes into your life and out again. (Lordy, haven't we all known one of those?) It's a beautiful song.

I've paired Sproule's song with one by a singer/songwriter of my own generation, Nanci Griffith:

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Griffith has been writing, performing, and recording award-winning music since the late '70s. In the video above, she performs 'There's a Light Beyond These Woods" (first released in 1978), a poignantly autobiographical song dedicated to the best friend of Griffith's childhood . . . and referencing the tragic death of her high school boyfriend in a motorcycle accident after their senior prom. Another beautiful piece.

The third tune (a light-hearted one this time) is also by singer/songwriter of my generation: the adorable Cindi Lauper, with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." My girlfriends and I all loved this song when we were young writers, editors, and artists in the crazy New York City of the 1980s. The video, from the earliest days of MTV, is hilariously dated now. . .but I admit it, I still love her outrageously '80s look, and this silly, infectious song still  makes me smile.

The final tune is "A Bar in Amsterdam" by the Norwegian folk/pop/jazz/gypsy/rock/bluegrass/country band Katzenjammer -- not because the song lyrics address the theme, but because the band itself was created by a group of women friends who went to university together...and who are definitely girls having fun.

Named after an American comic strip, Katzenjammer has been performing since 2005, and has released one album (Le Pop), with a second in the works. They sing primarily in English, play over two dozen instruments between them (including contrabass balalaika, ukelele, and the zither), and cite a wide range of influences from Balkan music and gypsy jazz to film scores and old cartoons. I love their energy, and goofily kitsch aesthetic. (The video starts off silently, so don't worry that there's something wrong with your sound.)

Now here's a good question that came up at the Sirens Conference in Colorado last autumn: Who writes well about female friendships? Two of the books at the top of my list are Ellen Kushner's Privilege of the Sword, and (in the nonfiction category) Vera Brittain's Testament of Friendship, about her long, deep relationship with fellow-writer Winifred Holtby.

I don't mean to exclude male readers this morning. Your thoughts on female friendships in art are welcome too.

Friday's Recommended Reading:

I'm hoping to be back on my feet and back on this blog next week. In the meantime, here's some recommended reading for you:

* Howard (my husband) has posted a fascinating look at medieval and Renaissance magic over on the John Barleycorn blog.

Howard studied the history of Western Esotericism as an MA student, so this is a particular interest of his  -- and in today's post, he gives John Barleycorn readers a glimpse into some of the esoteric ideas behind the "magician sleuth" hero of the graphic novel he is creating with Rex Van Ryn.  (Howard and Rex also posted more pages from the graphic novel last week, with more to come.)

The picture of a magician in his study (above) is from our friend and village neighbor, book illustrator Dave Wyatt.

* The lovely Colleen Mondor over at Chasing Ray has a post up right now about her first encounter with the Borderland series. Damn near made me cry. Review copies of the new Borderland book (Welcome to Bordertown) are starting to go out now, by the way, and the book itself will hit bookstores in May.

* Judging by the fact the my blog readership numbers spike whenever there's a picture of Tilly, I think I can safely assume that many of you are fellow dog-lovers -- so I want to share a post which also made me cry, but this time with laughter: "Dogs Don't Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving," a comic from Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half blog. Not, I hasten to add, that our Tilly is like Simple Dog (pictured above)...but I've sure known a few who are.

Speaking of Tilly,  here's the girl (below), in her beloved woods recently. She's a year and half old now, and sweeter than ever. How time flies....

Above: Tilly in the bracken, March 2011. Below: Tilly in the bracken at 11 weeks old.

Today's Recommended Reading:

I'm hoping to be back on my feet and back on this blog next week. In the meantime, here's some recommended reading for you:

* Howard (my husband) has posted a fascinating look at medieval and Renaissance magic over on the John Barleycorn blog.

Howard studied the history of Western Esotericism as an MA student, so this is a particular interest of his  -- and in today's post, he gives John Barleycorn readers a glimpse into some of the esoteric ideas behind the "magician sleuth" hero of the graphic novel he is creating with Rex Van Ryn.  (Howard and Rex also posted more pages from the graphic novel last week, with more to come.)

The picture above, called "Study," is from our friend and village neighbor, book illustrator Dave Wyatt.

* The lovely Colleen Mondor over at Chasing Ray has a post up right now about her first encounter with the Borderland series. Damn near made me cry. Review copies of the new Borderland book (Welcome to Bordertown) are starting to go out now, by the way, and the book itself will hit bookstores in May.

* Judging by the fact the my blog readership numbers spike whenever there's a picture of Tilly, I think I can safely assume that many of you are fellow dog-lovers -- so I want to share a post which also made me cry, but this time with laughter: "Dogs Don't Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving," a comic from the Hyperbole and a Half blog. Not, I hasten to add, that our Tilly is like Simple Dog...but I've sure known a few who are.

Speaking of Tilly,  here's the girl (below), in her beloved woods recently. She's a year and half old now, and sweeter than ever. How time flies....

Above: Tilly in the bracken, March 2011. Below: Tilly in the bracken at 11 weeks old.

Dog Maiden with empty water bowlIn the meantime, I reco...

Dog Maiden with empty water bowl

In the meantime, I recommend this lovely poem that Jane Yolen wrote on a previous fairy-flitting occasion. (Click on the link and scroll down to the Comments.)

Dog Maiden with empty water bowl

Dog Maiden with empty water bowl