Owls, Falcons and Acorn Folk Club

Although the day remained grey and sprinkly we decided to head out into Exmoor to the Falconry & Animal Farm. The latter part is really sort of a petting zoo but the Falconry is wonderful. We spent about two hours seeing a variety of owls and falcons fly to the hand and to lures. Among the birds were a barn owl and two eagle owls (one Indiand and one European) plus a tawny eagle and a peregrine and a safar falcon. For a donation to a save-the-owls charity in West Africa I was able to have the tawny eagle fly to my hand. It was really quite wonderful. I haven't been that close to a raptor since my twenties when I tried to get a falconry apprenticeship back in Florida. A lot of memories came rushing back. They offer treks up on the moors to see working falcons take small game. Soon they plan to offer eagle walks as well. There was a fellow there who was doing a falconry day and had been working with the birds all day long. What a great opportunity. Nothing like this is possible in the States because of the laws concerning raptors. I don't really know what the laws are like here but I would be tempted to come back and stay at the B&B on the farm and do a raptor week. *wry grin* I doubt it will happen but it is fun to think about.

Back in Minehead we headed over to the Old Ship Aground for the Acorn Folk Club night. One of the women, Eileen, up at Dunster Castle has invited us and she welcomed us very warmly when we arrived. It was a lovely evening with lots of good folk tunes. I wish I lived where this was happening every month. I really miss our Tuesday Night Singing Group at times like this. I put my name down and went on in the second half, singing Jack in the Green and the Sun King Cycle. Eileen and her friend Marion were the featured singers for the evening and they ended with a really affecting song that Eileen wrote about living in Minehead. It was a really lovely, lovely evening.

Russell had left about 45 minutes earlier than I did which meant I had to awaken the hotel staff to get back in (it being locked up by the time I got back at 11:30). *sigh* Russell had been working on his photographs but found a disk error on my laptop and get involved in fixing it. We got to bed quite late!

Tonight it Booty Night, the last big ceremony of the Hobby Horse. It will be followed by more music at the Old Ship Aground. Then tomorrow we're off to Wales. I don't know what access will be like in Portmeirion and Monday is a Bank Holiday. Hopefully I'll be able to check in sometime soon.

why one journals

I started this in my friend wldrose journal entry about why journaling. I thought it probably belonged here instead.

Why do any of us write journals? I think varies day to day. Mostly I write because that way I can remember what I do and to conteract the fact that my brain is like like steel sieve. I write in Lj instead of blogger where I started out because I value the community aspects of the place. Sometimes I worry that my Lj is less literary than my handwritten journal was. (I started journalling as part of The Artist's Way where part of the *point* is literary.)

It is interesting being in England and keeping a hand written journal (even though I brought my laptop). There is so much more ephemera on a trip -- I have pasted in postcards, attraction brochures, etc., along with handwritten notes and places to later paste in my Lj posts when I'm back home with a printer. I think I need to do more ephemera at home (it is mostly movie tickets) but OTOH I mostly go to the same restaurants and things so there wouldn't be all that much *new* paste in. Hmm. I do notice that I do less and less hand-journaling as time goes on. When I first started my Lj postings were pasted into a handwritten journal. Now occasional handwritten entries punctuate pages of Lj posts. Maybe it is time to read The Artist's Way again. :-)