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The tale of Taran, assistant pig keeper, has been entertaining young readers for generations. Set in the mythical land of Prydain (which bears a more than passing resemblance to Wales), Lloyd Alexander's book draws together the elements of the hero's journey from unformed boy to courageous young man. Taran grumbles with frustration at home in the hamlet Caer Dallben; he yearns to go into battle like his hero, Prince Gwydion. Before the story is over, he has met his hero and fought the evil leader who threatens the peace of Prydain: the Horned King. What brings the tale of Taran to life is Alexander's skillful use of humor, and the way he personalizes the mythology he has so clearly studied. Taran isn't a stick figure; in fact, the author makes a point of mocking him just at the moments when he's acting the most highhanded and heroic. When he and the young girl Eilonwy flee the castle of the wicked queen Achren, Taran emotes, "'Spiral Castle has brought me only grief; I have no wish to see it again.' 'What has it brought the rest of us?' Eilonway asked. 'You make it sound as though we were just sitting around having a splendid time while you moan and take on.'" By the end, Alexander has spun a rousing hero's tale and created a compelling coming-of-age story. Readers will sigh with relief when they realize The Book of Three is only the first of the chronicles of Prydain. Paperback: 190 pages Rating: 5 Stars Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. BYR Paperbacks (May 16, 2006) Review by Bill Tillman

For anyone new to this, lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod, a Welsh performing arts festival for the west coast of North America. Every dollar you donate through the blog buys you a ticket and a chance to win the spoon. Five dollars, equals five tickets, fifty dollars equals fifty tickets and fifty chances to win. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the donate button on the blog or in the right-hand column on this page under the Left Coast Eisteddfod Competitions button and be sure to note that your donation is for the lovespoon. Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2010, David Western --

So many drawings, so many features. After some consideration, and putting off the actual size/arrangement of daffodils, Dave liked version E, I liked version E, and others also mentioned liking version E. Dave and I both, however, felt like there were still some thin areas. (and we still want to change the flowers!) So, I stared at the drawing some more.

It isn't that I don't like negative space in a design. In fact, negative space is a great tool, and I think it contributes a good deal to the delicate look in a lot of my designs. It can contribute to the carving difficulty, too - long, thin, unsupported vines will have a tendency to want to break. That, I definitely DO consider!

So, now, all things considered, a thought entered my little head, and I started to drawing again. I realized, if I had vines stemming from above the twist, why couldn't I have them stemming from below the twist, as well? It might even-out one of the thin areas. Another thin area seemed to be inside the top of the "frame". It occurred to me that I could play a little with that vine, and somehow tie it back into the lower vines. This would also create separate areas for each daffodil. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but I also wasn't quite sure how the daffodils should really look, either. Big? Small? With leaves? Without? Hmmm... so in this first drawing, I drew two small sample daffodils.

A quick e-mail from Dave suggested larger daffodils And, I agreed with the comments about the flowers in last week's "F" design... if I liked any arrangement of flowers, I liked the arrangement where one was low, and the other higher. So, I tried to enlarge the flowers a little bit, and drew another arrangement. This time, I didn't see room for leaves, so - no leaves. Now the design is feeling more balanced to me. I think my only reservation is with the flowers. It may not even be a reservation, in fact; it may simply be that there are so many possibilities, not yet explored. That is often the problem with designs - deciding when to stop. Maybe Dave will have the idea for that final adjustment that makes us both say, "that's it!" We shall see!

Enough for now...

- Laura

For anyone new to this, lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod, a Welsh performing arts festival for the west coast of North America. Every dollar you donate through the blog buys you a ticket and a chance to win the spoon. Five dollars, equals five tickets, fifty dollars equals fifty tickets and fifty chances to win. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the donate button on the blog or in the right-hand column on this page under the Left Coast Eisteddfod Competitions button and be sure to note that your donation is for the lovespoon. Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2010, David Western --

I found myself very much in agreement with Dave's new, more tapered shape. It also left a little more room for me to play in the top part. My only regret is that the dragon was seeming a little small to me, and the eagle looked especially big. I had been having another problem, though, with my flower ideas for the top. I really like the little flowers like I'd been drawing - I had recently completed another spoon, in fact, using little flowers.

However, as you can see, these flowers are scattered upon a natural central vine structure in this design. I did not like the idea of creating a web of vines simply to support small flowers within the top area of our Eisteddfod spoon. Also, while these little vanilla flowers (both figuratively and literally) can symbolize gentleness and affection, I found myself yearning for a little bit more Welsh symbolism in this spoon. After this train of thought, and missing the prevalence the Welsh Dragon in the design, my mind went to daffodils.

So, I made some designs with 2 daffodils - I thought it could be fun if Dave and I each made a daffodil. To begin, though, I would need to establish a vine structure to tie the eagle into the rest of the design. I wanted to get that to the point where we were both happy with it, and then we could finalize two daffodils. So, I went about some vine-drawing again, this time deliberately leaving some space for daffodils. A quick email exchange with Dave revealed that he liked the 2 daffodil idea, as well. We had always wanted to have some part that we both do together, and two takes on essentially the same subject would satisfy that desire.

After all this thought, I started with Dave's expanded frame and drew up a series of new drawings, 4 of which I sent on to Dave. I included some daffodils, but asked Dave not to consider them - just to consider the main vinework. The daffodils (and some leaves) I drew here were just placeholders. We may want to make them bigger, or positioned differently... we could concern ourselves with that part next.



Dave and I now needed to consider what we liked or didn't like about the drawings - hopefully there would be a clear favorite. What do you think? Any favorites? Let us know! - Laura



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For anyone new to this, lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod, a Welsh performing arts festival for the west coast of North America. Every dollar you donate through the blog buys you a ticket and a chance to win the spoon. Five dollars, equals five tickets, fifty dollars equals fifty tickets and fifty chances to win. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the donate button on the blog or in the right-hand column on this page under the Left Coast Eisteddfod Competitions button and be sure to note that your donation is for the lovespoon. Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2010, David Western --

Well, after having a really good, hard look at the new knotwork, I am in agreement with Laura that it needs to come down a bit, so I am going to have a bash at putting it just above the dragon and getting rid of the circle idea. I think if I can fatten up some of the knotwork just above the dragon's head, it will give some visual weight to the area and will let me tie the knot in a bit more smoothly.

With the knotwork moved, there seems to be a 'tapering' feeling to the flow of the overall design, so I have widened the top area with the eagle a bit more and am tying the knotwork through. My hope is that we can surround the frame with the eagle and the knotwork and give things more of a three dimensional feel. It will make for some nasty carving problems, but should look pretty smart if we can pull it off!

















After looking at this newest outline for a while, I am feeling that it is a bit stubby and too short at the top.
























I have opted to paste a couple of photocopies together to see if lengthening the top section helps things at all. Although it feels a bit empty and airy through the top section now, I think that the overall form of the design is very close to right now and that Laura will be able to fill in this area with some of her lovely vine or floral ideas.
In the meantime, a quick reminder that you can win the finished spoon simply by donating to the Left Coast Eisteddfod. Every dollar you donate equals a chance at winning, so more dollars equals more chances!! Please consider supporting this worthwhile event and helping to further Welsh cultural events in North America!
Dave

Thank you for looking out for us. You do a great job.

Former member 'Rosario Haynes' has been suspended for spamming. It appears she was sending everyone gifts together with a solicitation to visit a cheap gas card site. We do not recommend that anyone visit this site let alone
apply for one of their cards. Sorry I let her through but still shes the first spammer weve missed in over a year so its not a bad record. I'll be more careful in future....promise:)

I should add that the site she is spamming is listed at the ripoff report website here: -

RipoffReport: EMarket Research, Consumer Incentive Promotions ...

and theres much more in a similar vein here:-

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=consumerincentivepromotions.com&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=676b7c10d9dd9bf1

Hi,


We are two young Welsh guys hoping to make a difference to our localcommunity and local business community. We hope to set up a socialenterprise to help educate and facilitate change to a greener way ofdisposing of waste and other environmental issues. In order to fund ouraims we have set up a waste management company that will put theenvironment above profit. We understand you are not in the UK but willappreciate anything you can do to help our cause, every little helpsright?


We have entered Barclay's take one small step competition in the hopeof winning funding to get us started and hope you can help us try togain support in any way you can.


To vote for us please follow
https://www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk/Entry/View/2258

And enter the code and click support this idea at the top right of screen.


If you'd like to follow our progress at facebook or our webpage please find the links below.


Thanks for your support.


Russell.


http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home# !/pages/Blackwood-United-Kingdom/Rocket-Recycling-LTD/124865177539382?ref=ts


http://rocketrecycling.net/

Website:

http://rocketrecycling.net

What is your interest in or connection to Wales?

I'm Welsh

Not all Mabinogion's are created equal. This version has not only the four branches, but the Four Independent Tales, The Three Romances. Result? None are done as well as could be leaving much to be desired. Redemption, that it is in clear English and readable. Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, and an intriguing interpretation of British history--these are just some of the themes embraced by the anonymous authors of the eleven tales that make up the Welsh medieval masterpiece known as the Mabinogion . Set in dual realms of the forests and valleys of Wales and the shadowy otherworld, the tales are filled by a dreamlike atmosphere. They tell of Gwydion the shape-shifter, who can create a woman out of flowers; of Math the magician whose feet must lie in the lap of a virgin; of hanging a pregnant mouse and hunting a magical boar. Dragons, witches, and giants live alongside kings and heroes, and quests of honor, revenge, and love are set against the backdrop of a country struggling to retain its independence. King Arthur's court provides the backdrop to tales such as "How Culhwch Won Olwen", in which a young man must complete many tasks before he can marry a giant's daughter. The work is divided into 11 disparate tales. Only the four of the first sections are explicitly "Branches of the Mabinogi," or stories of a youth. The youth is, according to a tradition followed by Gwyn Jones in her introduction, is Pryderi, the son of a Welsh King, Pwyll. Paperback: 272 pages Rating: 3 & a half Stars. Review by Bill Tillman

Patrick Ford has given us a college level version of the Mabinogion with a great many notes explaining the background and hard parts of the translation. A very worthwhile version to have in your library. First, "The Four Branches of the Mabinogi," from which the collective title was derived, consisting of "Pwyll, Prince of Dyved," Branwen Daughter of Llyr," "Manawydan Son of Llyr," and "Math Son of Mathonwy." These begin with a story about the conception and birth of Pwyll's son, Pryderi, whose death is one of the early events in the "Fourth Branch," and concern a variety of heroes, and what are clearly rationalized gods. (Evangeline Walton turned each of the "Four Branches" into a novel; and other writers have done versions of one or another of them.) Second, there are two "native tales," "The Dream of Maxen Wledig" and "The Story of Lludd and Lleuelys," about Roman ("historical") and pre-Roman ("mythical") Britain as imagined by the medieval Welsh. The 'Lludd" text, as we have it, actually belongs to the "Chronicle" tradition launched by Geoffrey of Monmouth's supposed translation from an "ancient British book." (Which, if any part of it ever had any existence, was NOT the "Mabinogion.") The name of Lludd seems to be Welsh variant of a Celtic divine name, "Nuada" in Irish, "Nodens" in old British inscriptions, and "Nudd" in other Welsh sources; the variation seems to be due to assimilation to his epithet, Llaw Eraint, "Silver Hand," which is explained in the Irish tale of how the physician of the Gods made new hand for Nuada Argatlam." (H.P. Lovecraft picked up "Nodens" for the Cthulhu Mythos, a use which is unrelated; but Tolkien, whose hero Beren also lost a hand, actually wrote an early article on the Nodens inscriptions, and the apparent offerings of metal hands.) He may be behind King Lud, the supposed eponym of London. As Ford points out, Lleuellys, usually given as Llevellys, and also modernized as Llefellys, clearly should be read as Lleu-ellys, and recognized as a version of the god Lugh: the name Lleu is also used for a character in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi. "Maxen," in which a Roman Emperor seeks as his wife a princess seen in a dream, seems to reflect an even more garbled version of a story known to Geoffrey, compounding several real people, including Helen, the mother of the Emperor Constantine. She was, in a medieval confusion compounding an honest mistake with local patriotism, believed to be British, and identified with "Elen of the Hosts." Ford drops this, as it seems to contain a rather high proportion of medieval hagiography and romance, and a very low proportion of archaic Welsh tradition. Third are two Arthurian stories in native Welsh mode. "Culhwch and Olwen," is an elaborate quest, dragging in, at least by name, most of the gods and heroes traceable in Welsh material, and some of their Irish cousins into the bargain, mostly as part of Arthur's court. "The Dream of Rhonabwy" is a visionary encounter with Arthur and his warriors (and anything else I could say would probably be controversial); a fascinating text, which, after a very grittily realistic opening, almost boasts of its authentically dreamlike obscurity. It breaks off in a manner most modern readers will find unsatisfactory -- and its arbitrary nature may have been part of the point. Ford does not include it; a pity, but it is probably the least readable part of the collection. Fourthly however Ford does not translate the three "Romances," "Owain" (otherwise known as "The Lady of the Fountain"), "Peredur son of Evrawc," and "Gereint the Son of Erbin," the first and last of which are clearly versions of Chretien de Troyes' Old French Arthurian Romances, "Yvain" and "Erec," while the second is related in a more complex manner to his unfinished and problematic "Perceval le Gallois." These seem to illustrate Celtic materials going out into wider European society, and then flowing back into Wales to enrich (and confuse) the native heroic and mythic tradition with ideas of chivalry. The version of "Taliesin," based, as noted earlier, on the text Ford had re-edited from manuscripts, is restored to its two-story version, as "The Tale of Gwion Bach" and "The Tale of Taliesin," and includes reliable versions of the poems attributed to the variously-reborn hero. Again, there was a real Taliesin, a dark-age Bard, according to Welsh tradition; but these poems, like the stories, are pretty much independent of anything he may have actually composed. But they *may* reflect some very archaic ideas about the magical nature of poetry, which were old when the real Taliesin was alive. Ford included as an appendix a translation of the notoriously difficult "Cad Goddeu," or "Battle of the Trees." Ford doesn't claim to understand its "real meaning," if any, only what it actually says, and it is very nice to have it. Paperback: 205 pages Rating: 4 Stars Review by Bill Tillman

New head chef arrives at Tyn y Cornel

The prestigious Tyn y Cornel Hotel, sitting on Talyllyn lake in the Snowdonia National Park, has appointed a new head chef.

Thomas Mansfield, 31, brings a wealth of first class experience to the hotel.

A proud Welshman, originally from Cardiff, Mr Mansfields arrival follows quickly on the heels of the appointment of Phil Thomas as the new general manager of a hotel which occupies what is arguably the best location in Wales, just below majestic Cader Idris.

Mr Mansfield said: Im delighted to be joining the new team at Tyn y Cornel.

Its a very exciting time at the hotel and Im looking forward to working with the best local suppliers to compile a new a la carte menu as well as a lunch and dinner menu which will change daily.

I also intend to develop our great value lounge and bar menu, which will feature many old favourites as well as some hearty new dishes.

Mr Mansfields CV is extensive.

He has worked at the Five Star St Davids Hotel in Cardiff Bay and the Newbridge Inn in Monmouthshire, a venue famously owned by Radio 2 DJ and TV personality Chris Evans.

He has also worked at the Three AA Rosette La Gousse d'Ail restaurant in Oxford.

Mr Mansfield has worked as head chef at the renowned Bullys restaurant in Cardiff and at the exclusive Park House members club in the city.

He acted as chef consultant to Llanerch Vineyard, often working alongside celebrity chefs Martin Blunos and Waless own Hywel Jones.

Mr Mansfield has also spent time as head chef aboard the $80million super yacht Lady Ann, cooking for a range of celebrities and royals.

http://www.tynycornel.co.uk