Blogs

This superb design, the official West Coast Eisteddfod: Welsh Festival of Arts 2011 t-shirt ( designed by Celtic Jackalope ) is available for purchase now from this site.

HOW TO PURCHASE

Simply send $25 ( if you are in the U.S. ) via PayPal using the 'Donate' button on the right hand column on this page. If you are outside the U.S. please send $34. Both amounts cover shipping costs ( U.S. and Global priority shipping ) THEN email your postal address to americymru@gmail.com . Please allow 2-3 weeks for shipping. A proportion of every sale goes to support the West Coast Eisteddfod: Welsh Festival of Arts.

Shirts are double sided with attractive large three-color back print and smaller version printed on the left chest. Shirts are high quality 5.5. oz pre shrunk 100% cotton.

Shirt designed by renowned Celtic Artist: Maxine Miller and produced by CelticJackalope.com.

For more information on Maxine Miller's Work and other CelticJckalope Products, please visit: http://celticjackalope.com

Well I guess most people know the rules by now so without further ado here are this months winners:-

1. Gillian Morgan 88 points ( 68 ranking points plus 10 for quality and 10 for 'traffic', Gillian has blogged consistently on the site this month and our log files indicate that her posts have been well received. View Gillians blog on AC here )

2. SwanseaJack 59 points ( 49 ranking points plus 10 for quantity. Swansea Jack continues to be the most prolific blogger overall on AC. Twice winner of the coveted 'Gold Sheep of Excellence' we confidently predict that Swansea will be the sites first three time winner. View SwanseaJacks blog on AC here )

3. Zoe Brigley Thompson 22 points ( 16 ranking points. View Zoe's blog on AC here )

Fabulous digital prizes will be awarded to our three winners today and Gillian will receive a copy of Aled Lewis Evans, 'Driftwood'. For details of our June 'Top Blogger' prize see below. To view the current weekly leaderboard and peruse the rules of the competition go to this page

If you would like to congratulate our winners please feel free to do so in comments on this page

The Dead of Mametz is a crime novel with an unusual setting, set as it is against the backdrop of the famous battle of Mametz Wood during the Great War in the summer of 1916. Several events also take place in Barry and Swansea. The central character, Thomas Oscendale, is a captain in the Military Police who is charged with investigating the murder of two soldiers of the Welsh Regiment and, subsequently, that of a local Frenchwoman.

Overview

It is early July 1916, the third year of the First World War. The soldiers of the Welsh Division are poised to begin their assault on the German-held Mametz Wood.But there is a murderer in their ranks.

Captain Thomas Oscendale of the Military Police is in a race against time to apprehend the murderer and to find what lies buried in Mametz Wood. He is not alone. Sinister forces on both sides have taken an interest in his investigation and are closing in.

I have been informed by my publisher that my "Welsh-tern" Dragon & Hawk is now available in paperback!

Normally Champagne Books releases a novel in ebook formats first, then paper in about four to six months. Well, ta-da! This has only been two months, so I am totally excited!

SO... for those of you who love the feel of a real book, here is the link:

Dragon & Hawk paperback

Can't wait to get my promo copy!

Jude

Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog, all material 2011, David Western --


I've been beavering away on the sections of the Americymru spoon which our prize winning design ideas are to fill. Everything went very well and the front face of the spoon is almost completed! A bit of tweaking and some judicious shaving here-and-there is all that is required now!





I'm more than pleased with the beautiful grain and colourful figure of the birch used for this year's spoon. It is gorgeous stuff!! Like last year's spoon, the carving has gone very well and the wood seems to handle all the various design ideas without getting crumbly or cracking. I think itwill be a lovely spoon when it is done!

I really sweated about carving Laura's Daffodil design...both because we worked together on last year's spoon and I know how elegant and delicate she makes her flowers and because I decided not to fret cut through the design. Usually Laura's flowers have their surroundings cut away sothat they can stand proud without the weight of the background pulling them down. This year I didn't do that, so there was pressure on me to get the flowers nice and light and not have the background become too obtrusive. Hopefully, I've done it right and Laura will be happy with it.... otherwiseit is back to the drawing board for me!!! I positioned the Daffs design at the foot of the dragon's body so as to make a symbolic link with the ground. I also thought the earth makes the right metaphor for growth and that is what our Eisteddfods have been all about over these last 3 years!!

The Harp design came out very well too! The harp seems nice and full and stands out clearly from the background with the text bringing some action to the big space on the right side of the circle. I think this design will certainly illustrate the importance of music both to the Eisteddfodand to the Welsh people. It's location at the Dragon's heart is also critical with the metaphor a simple and fairly obvious one!



The Awen was another design I sweated over a bit. I was tempted to fret cut it out to really make it bold, but in the end I decided to stay with a very simple and elegant low relief carving. Because of its etherial nature, I felt it was ideally suited for the wing area of the dragon as it would have an association with flight and with other-worldliness (is that a word...it is now).



The Dragon's head is nicely set off with this lovely little piece of abalone inlay. (In case I am about to take a hammering from the environmental crowd for using abalone, I cut this particular piece from an old ashtray I found at the Salvation Army Store a few years back. It seemed a shame for something sobeautiful to be used for that purpose, so I have recycled, using it in dozens of spoons over the years.....besides, I don't even eat seafood!!!) The figure of the wood perfectly accentuates both the body and the back scales of our dragon and brings some extra zip to the Celtic knotwork....niiiice!!





So there it is so far! I hope that now you can see it is, indeed, coming along, you will be inspired to donate a few bucks to the Eisteddfod for your chance to win it!! Someone will be taking it home after the Eisteddfod (and no, you don't have to be present to win) so enter now and enter often!!!

Your donation (whether exceedingly generous or very close to the bone) will be used to make our Eisteddfod better and better!! Help hoist the Driag Goch amidst the sea of tartan and shamrocks that is Celtic North America!!!

Anyone visiting the site in the last few days will have noticed that we have adopted a new look template. We did this for three reasons. Firstly AmeriCymru has looked the same for the last three years and we felt that it was time for a change. Secondly the new two column layout allows us to present more content and links on every page on the site whereas the old left hand column only appeared on the homepage. Last but not least.....Ning, our platform provider, has introduced a new Design Studio and will be ending support for our old template sooner or later .

We recognize that the new layout will wreak havoc on existing page customizations. Indeed we have weeks of work ahead re-formatting blog posts etc BUT the new Design Studio makes it very easy for members to customize their home pages in a great many interesting ways. We will be holding a 'Homepage Layout Design Competition' later in the year once people have had a chance to familiarize themselves with the new feature. Home pages on AmeriCymru can be personalized and used to promote goods and services and we will assist anyone who opts to use the platform for this purpose. Of course home pages can be customized 'just for fun' as well.

To access the new feature simply click 'My Page' on the top navbar and look for 'Customize my page' in the left hand column. Click on 'Customize' and the 'Design Studio' drop down will appear. Please have fun and feel free to be creative with your page but bear in mind that we will NOT be providing technical support, SO unless you know what you're doing ( with CSS and LESS ) don't alter anything in the 'Advanced' tab. There is plenty that you can do without editing the code directly, but if you are able to do this or get someone to do it for you, then the sky is the limit.

Another side benefit of all the recent upheaval is that we were able to examine every element on the old site and analyze its effect on page load times. As a consequence we ditched a great many features that were slowing the site down. We also decided to do away with background colors in page modules in order to facilitate easier readability. Soon we will introduce a number of new features in the activity feed which should greatly increase participation and interactivity.

So there you have it We have been striving recently to increase speed, interactivity and readability. We even coined a cheesy marketing b/s acronym especially for the occasion:-

Welcome to AmeriCymru S (peed) I (nteractivity) R (eadibility)! Because your time on our site is special to us

OK...once you have finished groaning and guffawing at the apocalyptic awfulness of the above piece of over ripe gorgonzola, please try out the new Design Studio and let us know your thoughts below in comments.

The New Design Studio

If you've got a google account, google has unveiled a new recommendation system, Plus One.

To sign up and use plus one to help us tell the world about how awesome Wales is, first sign up for a gmail account at: http://gmail.com

Next, sign up for google plus one at: http://www.google.com/+1/button/

Last, google "americymru" and click the plus one button next to the title of the entry (see graphic below, in which I have helpfully circled it in red):

Use plus one to promote what you think is good, especially Wales and Welshness!

Thousend's gathered to join in the triumphant celebrations of the Swan's promotion to the premier league. Well done the Swan's

The Great Fair of Saint Thomas Ye Martyre is heldin May and October in Haverfordwest. Untilrecentlyit was situatedon the Green, (loads of complaints in the local paper), close to St Thomas a Beckett's Church, beforemoving to the edge of the town.

Fourteen years ago Itook my twin grandsons to the opening of the May Fair, when they were four years old.Suspendedabove the crowds, they watchedas the Town crier rang his bell, the vicar said a prayer and arichly caparisoned Mayordeclared the revelry could begin. Harry and Oliver twirled round and around, unaware they were taking part in an ancient custom.

There were hot dogs and candy floss,but nobear baiting or cock fights and no slabs of sticky gingerbread either, which were a feature of the medieval fairs.

To provide sweetness and moistness, iron rich molasses or golden syrup was used in the gingerbread.Nita does not have a gingerbread recipe in her book but she does have one for Ginger Cake.

Aswell as ginger, cinnamon is used. Spices, highly prized and priced in the Middle Ageswere introducedto this country by the Knights Templars when they returned from their foreign travels. (No Gift Shoppesthen).

Nita's recipe is undated, but the inclusion of powdered egg suggests it was wartime. I've substituted a fresh egg.

Method:

Take 12 ounces of Self Raising flour, half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, 1 ounce of powdered ginger, 1 ounce of cinnamon, half a pint of hot water, 1 egg, 2 tablespoonfuls of treacle or syrup, quarter pound oflard (butter for me,darlings), quarter pound of brown sugar. (I would add a good spoonful of marmalade for the flavour andthe chewy piecesof peel).

The next part is simplicity itself, which is whatI like. Put butter, sugar, treacle in a bowl and pour over the hot water. Mix and allow to cool. Add beaten egg and the rest of the ingredients. Mix again. Bake in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes. (Molasses burns easily, so be careful). I have made this with honey insteadof treacle and it's good. I mix the juice and grated rind of an orange with icing sugarand pour it over the cooled cake. This is not Atkins, so don't worry about the carbs girls.