Family Pagan/Wiccan Resource PagesOakGrove! FamilyPagan/Wiccan Resource Pages Regular Features:Amberflame'sHearth:Essays on aPagan HouseholdOak Bark:Disjointed MadRamblingsArmchairActivism*OakGroveOpinion PollPaganParenting:Arts, crafts& linksOak& Amber's Handfasting AlbumFestivals&GatheringsReligiousRights &Legal AidHerbal MedicinePagan Humor&other fun stuffCool LinksPagan MerchantsPrayercall:Visit theHearthfire ShrineGuestbookDedicationAwardsThe BroomCloset: Ever know a Pagan to throw anything away?OakGrove Archives* Link opens in new window for easy return to this page.Merry Meet and Blessed Be! It's nice of you to dropby and visit. I hope your stay is a pleasant one. Maybe we canlearn a bit from one another, or maybe not, but whatever the destinationwe'll have fun along the way!What's New?Posted 7/14/03: Oak's Book Review: PentaliaFor twelve year old Alexandra Elizabeth Bosk and her littlebrother Michael, it started as just another ordinary day, at least untilthey found themselves running to escape a mysterious blue fog and fallinginto a hidden cave - and the strange, magical world of Pentalia, a fantasynovel by Amanda Evans and illustrated by Susan Tate.Written for children ages eight to twelve, Pentalia takesthe reader into a fantastic journey to save the king of a land where trollsattack without warning, seemingly solid objects are portals to new locations,and magic crystals can transmute matter and enable humans to understandanimal speech. While the story takes intriguing twists and turns, and explorespsycho-social concepts that will keep older readers' interest, the modest109 page length and simple language utilized throughout make Pentalia aperfect introduction to fantasy for the younger reader too. Concerned parentswill be pleased to know that although there are some scattered segmentsof violence, they are not overly graphic or gory in description. And, whilemagical items turn up regularly, there is no mention of witchcraft, wizardryor other reference to anything even vaguely associated with "the occult,"so you probably aren't going to be put into the position of having to remind any well-meaning individuals who the parent is, if they find this bookin your child's possession.Rated on a scale of, say, one to Harry Potter, I haveto give this book a.. well, I've never read Harry Potter so I don't knowwhat to rate it exactly. But I do think most children from beginning readersto those around the 6th grade level would enjoy this novel. Older or moreadvanced readers may find the writing style a bit juvenile, but will stillprobably enjoy the storyline. All in all, I have to recommend this bookto both Pagan parents and to anyone else looking for ways to introducetheir children to the exciting world of fantasy.Pentalia copyright © 2001 Amanda Evans, is publishedby Sunflower Press, Austin, Texas, ISBN 0-9647783-0-0 with a listed price$13.95. You can buy Pentalia online at www.pentalia.com. Posted 7/8/03: Let's see, what hasn't gone wrong lately?This spring, the rear end in my old (usually) reliableIsuzu Trooper finally gave up the ghost. Not that I didn't have a littlewarning. It's been making noise and vibrating for, oh, about five years,ever since the first high-speed fourteen hour drive from east Tennesseeto Tulsa, Oklahoma and back. It never occurred to me when I bought thething that the differential could be dry, but apparently it was. By thetime I got back to town, the driveshaft was flailing around threateningto beat its way through the floorpan. "Well," I figured, "the damage isalready done. Might as well drive it until it breaks." So I tightened upthe pinion nut and secured it with a bit of thread sealer, topped up thegear lube and continued to drive it. That worked until earlier this year,when I found myself on another trip to visit my Mom in Alabama. I was just about to hit Chattanooga when the rear endbegan to make what my first wife used to commonly refer to as "a funnynoise." But this was not the same noise the engine in her car used to makewhen she'd drive it for a week with the oil light on. This was more thesound I'd imagine would result if you were to toss a chain-link fence througha high-speed industrial chipper-shredder, sort of a roaring/screeching/metal-rendingsound. I quickly weighed my options. I could either pull over and be strandedtwo hours away from both home and my destination, or I could limp alongat a greatly reduced speed and hope nothing actually flew apart beforeI got there. Being the adventurous sort, I naturally chose the second optionand immediately dropped down to 70 MPH for the duration of the trip, enduringthe vibration by clenching my teeth (to keep my fillings intact) and mycheeks (to keep from flying out of the seat and hitting my head on theroof.)Amazingly, I made it. When I got there, the rear end wasactually smoking, but the car still moved of its own accord. Not so amazingly,I had to replace the entire rear end. Oh well, it was bound to happen sometime,so about $700 later I was back on my way home. The car performed flawlessly,and I made it into the driveway with five minutes to spare before I wassupposed to meet our daughter Willow at her school for an awards dinner.I ran in for a quick bathroom break, grabbed my camera and jumped backin the car to head for the school. I backed out of the driveway and madeit another 200 yards before the timing belt broke.That was another $130, since the next day I had to havethe car towed in and repaired while I was at work, but it should hold theengine for a while. Now at least I can worry about other things, like theleak that sprung in the fuel tank. To find (and fix) that, I had to removea protective skid plate that surrounded the tank. This item was standardequipment on the '86 Trooper, because this was a rough, tough, off roadin'machine. Ironically, it was also the reason the fuel tank rusted throughbecause it rubbed on one corner. Tank is now patched and the skid plateis serving to hold some junk in my garage. I don't off-road much anyway.What I do enjoy is websurfing. This also became sort ofan adventure this summer because the cooling fan went bad on my PC's powersupply. It still turned, just not very fast. It also made its own "funnynoise," sort of a "grunk-grunk-grunk.." sound. After a few hours of this,the CPU would overheat and the PC shut down until it cooled off. Then itwould reboot and run fine for another couple of hours, or sometimes evendays, before dying again. After several weeks of this aggravation, I finallylaid my hands on the power supply from an older PC. This unit wouldn'tfit my case but the cooling fans are identical, so this weekend I changedout the fans, an ordeal that took a couple of hours. After everything wasback together and working fine, the replacement fan started making itsown racket, sort of a sewing machine sound, and was apparently the reasonthe old PC was trashed in the first place. Oh well, no matter. I've since found another used powersupply and have verified that this one has a good fan motor. When I havetime, I'll use it to replace fan #2. And that should take care of the problem. And I can finally write the book review of Pentaliathat I promised Amanda over a week ago. Without earplugs.At least unless something else goes wrong. - OakPosted 6/14/03: Sometimes I can't tell whether it's becauseI'm getting older or if the world is just spinning faster, but it seemsharder and harder to keep up with everything lately. They say the memoryis the first to go. I'm not sure that's exactly right. My personal theoryis that our memory is somehow tied to our hair, because it seems that themore of it I lose, the less I can recall (at least of what happened beforemy first cup of coffee in the morning.) I believe it was Liath McTire,author ofNotes from The Little Witches Coven and Marching Society,who postulated that the Pagan community needed an equivalent word to "crone"for older Pagan men, eventually suggesting the term "crank." I could livewith that - Goddess knows I feel a bit cranky sometimes myself. I thinkI'll look up ol' Liath and see if he ever expounded on that thought (ifI don't forget!)Got a bit of a spiritual recharge last month at the annualMay Moon Madness festival, a private Beltane festival held near Gatlinburgin the beautiful mountains of Tennessee. It's always good to get away fromcomputers, work, telephones and the rest of the mundane world, but thisyear there was the special treat of live entertainment by EmeraldRose, a four-man Pagan group specializing in Irish-Celtic music. I'malso glad I took some cash with me because Amber and I are now the proudowners of personally autographed copies of their CDs' Celtic Crescent,Bending Tradition, Rants & Rambles and Fire In The Head(so eat your hearts out!) If you've never heard Emerald Rose, you owe it to yourselfto check'em out! I just got another treat, this one completely unexpected.Here's a retelling of an old Irish legend, rewritten for younger readersby Amanda Evans, author of the fantasy novel Pentalia.(Thanks for sharing, Amanda!)A Faery Tale: The Story of Etainretold by Amanda EvansNote: The Irish have legends that tell of a raceof people, the Faery, who look just like normal humans, but are immortaland invisible to humans, unless they want to be seen. Pronunciations:Etain (ATE-tawn), Aengus (ANG-gus), Midir (MY-ter), Dagda (DAHG-duh), fithfath (FEE-fah), Fuamnach (FOO-ahm-nahkh)Once upon a time, long ago in Ireland, there lived a beautifulgirl. She was the fairest maid in all the land and the daughter of a king.Her name was Etain.The maiden had golden tresses of hair and cheeks as redas the foxglove flower of the mountain. Her eyes were blue like thehyacinth blossom, and her skin was as white as the snow. Her bodywas slender, long, and soft. Etain was the most wondrous maiden thatthe eyes of men had ever seen.On a fine, spring day, a nobleman came to visit Etainand her father. He rode a white horse and wore a mantle of green. At his side, he carried a sword, and a silver shield hung over his back.The man dismounted and said, "Oh great king, my name isAengus Mac oc, and I come from the land of Faery in quest of your daughter,Etain. My foster-father, Midir, king of the Faeries, wishes to marry her."Etain's eyes grew wide with excitement at the thoughtof going to live with the Faeries... (continued)Amanda Evans is a children's author and former schoollibrarian. Her fantasy novel, Pentalia,written for ages 8-12, is available at www.pentalia.com.Can't find it? Check the OakGroveArchives!For the latest news and events of interestto the Pagan community, OakGrove recommends Wren'sNest at Witchvox.com!Like this site?Please CLICKHERE to rate it with WitchCrawler,the Pagan search engine"Where Witches Search The Web!"Got a cool site, favorite merchant, questions,festival announcement, comments or suggestions?Write to letme know! Copyright © 1998-2003 Oakdancer. All rights reserved. |
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