Thursday 6 August 2009

Oakleaf Circle Camp (part 2)

Amongst many friends that we look forward to seeing on camp each year are two of the Dagda.

Firstly, Aussie - who is head Dagda. When I first met him many years ago at my very first ever Pagan camp, I was terrified of him. Apart from Douglas, I had never knowingly met any Pagans, so seeing a tall bloke in a leather waistcoat and huge Mohican hair style was alarming. This view of him was squashed almost immediately, because after he had finished giving Douglas a huge hug, he gave me one too, and when he smiled, his face lit up, and I saw a really lovely person with an odd hair do, rather than some scary rocker/punk guy who would eat me for dinner!

Aussie. Here he is, having been up all night on duty, having 40 winks. If you look carefully, you will see Bernies "Shiny" hung up between two candle lamps, with a lovely cloth behind. What a lovely way to honour a departed Dagda.



This is Dangerous Dave – Douglas and I see him a fair bit as he lives about half an hour away from us. Here he is, in Fort Dagda with his son, Baby Dagda.

Both father and son are proudly wearing their shinies! Some members of Oakleaf Circle made the baby shiny when they found out that Liz (Daves partner) was expecting. How sweet!!




Oakleaf Circle are hoping to raise £100k to buy some land that we can use and camp on whenever we like. A Trust fund called CAWL (Countryside and Ancient Ways Legacy) has been set up for this purpose.


Aussie is a talented welder, so he made two barbeques (at camping chair height) to sell for this fund. Douglas and I decided to buy one as his birthday present! It has a frying pan plate on one side, that can swing out away from the hot coals, so temperature can be regulated.

Eggy Bread cooking on Barbie! Yum Yum Yum :-)



6 comments:

Marcheline said...

I love that you call it "eggy bread" instead of French Toast. I think I have officially changed my vocabulary.

Mrshappyanna said...

*giggle* Eggy bread is heavenly.. particularly with tomato sauce on.. forgot the powdered sugar (aka icing sugar) and forget the maple syrup.. think of it as a savoury item, and slap the tommy sauce on!!

Thank you so much for both your comments.. very interesting to hear about your ritual.. and yes I so agree with you about openness!

TDBIL said...

I find it surprising that some people who follow paganism are not open about it. While I can't say that I'm chuffed that D is a Pagan, I don't make a secret of it nor am I embarrassed about it. I don't share his faith and fervently wish he shared mine, but this is the world we live in, not the world as we might want it to be. Much love for D and hoping he is better. Thanks for putting me up / up with me on Tuesday - rice thing delicious!

Little Sis said...

I think it is wonderful to have such diverse brothers and don't feel either should change their beliefs. The important thing is that they(D & M) are happy and they try to make other people happy too.

Mrshappyanna said...

Three cheers for Little Sis!!

Thank you for your lovely comment.. I have just read it out to Douglas who appreciated it and said how diplomatic you were.

Although I know that Douglas would be delighted if M changed his views, he knows that aint going to happen in a lifetime (not just a month of sundays) so does his best (as does M) to keep the peace when they meet.

Compost John said...

I was going to post about your second helping of Oak Leaf Circle, which sounds like a 'good do' but then I read these moving comments above.
I think it is absolutely brilliant that TDBIL can accept that D is Pagan, whilst being honest and saying that he is not 'chuffed' about it, and wishes 'fervently' that D shared his faith.
How healthy is that? I wish that in my family there could be more acceptance of different belief systems and ways of living. Currently (and I hope that it will change) the differences of opinion mean that some parts of the family won't have anything to do with some other parts of the family.

So I totally concur with Little Sis's comments about diversity in the family and aiming for happiness.
Love to all of The Happy Couple's family and friends, and of course, to The Happy Couple themselves.