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"I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it,
that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return.
And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and wisdom in the world right now),
that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind."
~ Gaiman
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I'd like to take a moment to wish everyone the happiest new-years celebrations to date!
I'm doing this one early, because I am one of the doomed souls working the night shift in the pub, same as last year. A BLAST to work, but murder on the feet and just about everything else. Not to mention the horrendous clean-up after wards to look forward to.
This year I come prepared though... I'm bringing earplugs for the indoor piper! I'd still like to know who thought it would be a grand tradition to bring a piper INDOORS. |
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Well, most of the holidays have been spend working, but we decided that the end of the December days were ours. It's one of the few days both Mr. Richardson and I get off, and we decided against going to the folks for a big dinner there and just spend those nights between the two of us.
We did pass around the folks for the obligatory gift exchange. All of us are tight when it came to money this year, so we were all told NOT to get each other anything. I haven't even been able to send out any holiday greetings (sorry!). Of course, none of us were able to stick to our vows and each got the other tiny stuff.
I bought Mr. Richardson's mom a wee bottle for aromatherapy oils, along with those wooden sticks you put in it to diffuse the scent. No burning, no smoke.. just lovely Jasmin-y goodness. His Da got some candy and some nuts, with which he was most pleased. We both got a new supply of socks, new pajamas's and some other small bits and bobs. It was really nice.
Coming home that night Mr. Richardson started fidgeting and asked if I 'wanted my pressie now'. I asked him if it wasn't the custom to wait until the morning, but immediately got the defense of having bought his present in November and him wearing them since then (new hiking boots). He apologized it was only one present.. but said he hoped I like it anyways....
Now, to re-cap quickly. At the start of this year there was an exhibition by Andrew Whitson, whom had just finished illustrating the story of Balor. He had a modern representation of Goibhniú. As many know Goibhniú means a great deal to me personally, and ever since I saw it I wanted that piece. Short on money, I figured that the piece would sell at the show, as almost all of the pieces did there on the first night. So, I took a digital picture and kept it in my mind. After the show I did post again; In this post. but I never thought I'd see it again.
Apparently, a certain Mr. Richardson got in contact with the artist about 6 months ago, and by some miracle, managed to get me the original for the gift-giving month! I am still at loss on what to say.. It's finally here! I can touch it! Talk to it! (Okay, you can stop looking at me in that way now)..
..As I said, the piece means a great deal to me.
I felt a bit iffy getting him a set of Hugo Boss stuff as a sneaky secret. But I hope he realizes how happy I am with his gift to me :)
The next morning we went around to see the family, and chat up a bit, before heading out in the afternoon to walk Oscar in Crawfordsburn Country Park. Sadly it was closed, but I knew there was another entrance near the Helen's Bay train station. We got there, entered onto the beach which leads to the country park, but sadly Oscar was having none of it and getting through the wide open space that is the beach to get to the forest cover was just too much. He climbed me, and crawled into my jumper. We carried him about like that up and down the beach but decided to go home anyway because I had 'some cooking' to do.
After about two and a half hours of cooking, I presented Mr. Richardson with our feast. Decadence galore!
 TEH feast!
It consisted of wild boar, wild red deer, portabello mushroom stuffed with bacon wrapped pheasant breast in a cheese, tomato and cream sauce. Cream based mashed potatoes, sprouts, cauliflower with a hint of nutmeg and apple wood smoked cheese, carrots and broccoli and maple syrup roast parsnip with a cranberry and red wine&cloves sauce.. Sauces were a heavy port-based gravy and a cup of apple sauce for the boar, a normal gravy and rosemary for the deer and a hot cranberry and wine sauce for... well.. what-ever you'd please it for! All pretty much locally sourced and/or caught.
It was epic! The deer and boar were cooked to perfection and the pheasant was out of this world!
Sadly, the apple-mead hasn't finished fermenting yet. And although I've been known to open up on half finished home-brew I didn't want to touch this one yet as it's a recipe I made for Mr. Richardson.
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After taking a break from taxidermy work, to get myself back together again, the time finally 'felt right' to sit back down to work. I had a long-eared owl to do and a female kestrel to finish up, and I'm very proud of the end results. They'll go to a good home with a game-keeper in Carrickfergus, whom has already requested a copy of my stock list to see what else he'd like me to work on.
Long eared owl, alert after landing
This gorgeous specimen was gifted to me by the Jubilee Veterinary clinic. It was put down by the exotics vet there, as the wing was too badly damaged for the bird to ever fly wild again.
The vet is a firm believer that if a wild animal cannot heal well enough to ever be returned to the wild, we should have the grace to let it 'escape' a life of captivity. I share his thoughts on that matter.
Female Kestrel all fluffed up, resting
Found by the school of falconry when they were out flying their birds for pest control. No obvious signs of illness, but there were TONS of oddly shaped plant seeds in between the feathers, well and truly hooked. I think they may have had something to do with the cause of death as ever I had trouble removing them. |
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If you're not following me on Twitter, here's what you've missed.
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If you're not following me on Twitter, here's what you've missed.
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If you're not following me on Twitter, here's what you've missed.
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If you're not following me on Twitter, here's what you've missed.
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If you're not following me on Twitter, here's what you've missed.
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If you're not following me on Twitter, here's what you've missed.
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Magic!
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Dec. 21st, 2009 @ 03:08 pm
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It was nothing short of pure magic as far as I was concerned. Coming into work, night-shift in the pub, with clear skies and sogging streets, and leaving for home some minutes after 2am with everything covered in a blanket of snow. Snow actually settling on the ground is a rarity in these sea-towns! The next morning everyone walked about the streets with their mouths wide open.
Needles to say, temperatures have dropped and the 'Norn Iron' way of saying it's cold, Baltic, is living up to it's name. I find myself muttering about the house, covered in my bright blue slanket, which seems to scare the hell out of wee Oscar.
Speaking of scaring Oscar, our handyman dropped off a gift which had Oscar unsure and scared for the better part of the morning. Joe knocked on the door, and was asking if I had any use 'for these', as he held his arms up I saw two pheasants (one male, one female) tied by the neck. He said that the game keepers had gifted him with a bunch of birds, but he had one pair left over. Hung for two days, and ready for eating, regards of Clandeboye Estate. Cheers!
Took the time to take the skins off both, which were still in good condition surprisingly enough. Both birds were in fine shape, and given the skins will keep well enough during tanning I assume I'll be able to do the pair of them justice. Oscar was gifted the 'juicy bits' in our "waste not" traditions, but only ate a wee bit of the pieces.
Bangor Auctions has provided me with oodles of frames at a good price.. and hey, it counts as recycling as well! Morrígan needed something more fitted, so she's getting a custom frame at a whopping £80. First and probably last piece I'll get custom framed :/ The rest is starting to come together nicely, and I'm both curious and terrified of the build-up date creeping closer. The 28th of January seems far away, but when I look at how much there is to do I get shivers down my spine.
The the big feast on the 25th of December this year I am pleased to say it'll just be Mr. Richardson and myself. I'm looking forward to some quality time and feasting together and just snoozing off these busy days. Imbas Creations is doing incredibly well, and we're nearly done with this years torcs... ready to design next years! Hopefully they'll be up at the start of the next year, but it might be a wee bit later. Either way, it's something to look forward to! |
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If you're not following me on Twitter, here's what you've missed.
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