My daughter’s face for this year. I don’t know what she was, but she had fun dragging her father around the neighborhood while she collected hoards of candy and he froze his tootsies off in the cold weather. I stayed home and handed out candy to trick or treaters. I only remember one toddler’s costume. He was completely bundled up as a chicken. He was so young he had very little idea of what was going on but smiled at the thumping of the candy bars I tossed into his bucket.

Broomstix!

Follow members of SCBWI have come up with a new e-zine for the youngest Pagans. Their first issue (Samhain 2006) is now available. Pop on over and have a look-see.

WolvenWold was host to Soule Feste 2006, Elk Creek, MO. It was the perfect ending to my first year of being a published, touring book author/illustrator.

The grounds were lovely. Even though the owners have been there a number of years (8 if I remember correctly), they have done a lot of work to reclaim the pasture areas and wooded lots to native plant life. Once you get off the graveled entry drive there is little if any human intervention in evidence. Camping is where ever there is a clearing in the brush. There are two “buildings” of sorts which house toilet facilities. After a summer full of port-a-pots and public restrooms that were often less than clean, these out houses were very refreshing. Let me explain. Each bulding is a rough built cabin-like room. Inside is a seated area under which a bucket resides. This is where you sit and do your business. After you make your deposit, there is a large barrel of sawdust with an old can on the other end of the room, you fill the can with sawdust from the barrel, cover your deposit in the bucket and walah. All done! When a bucket becomes full, a staff member removes it and places an empty one in its place. All the full buckets are emptied into a composting bin somewhere else on the grounds. The whole operation was truly amazing and what’s more it DIDN’T smell.

The festival itself was very laid back, workshops happened in a lazy way and everyone was very calm, except for one very young Paganite who didn’t like being put down for sleep unless Mama was with him.

The only drawback to the entire weekend was the unseasonalble cold weather. I was not prepared to be sleeping in a tent where I could see my breath puff out before me. I, unfortunately, forgot to pack my warm sleeping bag and ended up piling on every article of clothing in my possession at night to stay warm enough to sleep.
I did manage to get a picture from this event, although it was at the tail end of the weekend, so we are all rather disheveled from the proceeding days of camping. Of course, everyone was miles taller than I am. All except little Bela who is almost 2 now. :))

I am now in the studio for the remainder of the year, my first appearance of 2007 is planned for early April. WooHoo. Then I get to start with the packing and unpacking all over again.