Thursday, September 27, 2007

Monsters are everywhere, some hidden in plain sight.

I was part of the SCA for years, however I have not been going to events for about four years. Now I am glad. I found out a few weeks ago a story about some one I knew. This story was confirmed last weekend. So what could this story be?

Well when James moved down here one of the household showed great interest in him, as he was a fighter. He joined the household, the Marines (known as the squids). I had known most of these people for years. Bruce was part of the group. I had known him for about 5 years. When we went to Pensic and camped with them we had some issues. Bruce and James did not get along and this caused us to pull away from the household, but James was still part of it. We came home from Pensic with a very common souvenir, I was pregnant. Once we had our son we found we just could not manage merchanting at events and a baby, so we decided to stop doing events for a bit. Our son is now 4 and we started looking at the SCA again. It turns out that it was a good thing we had stopped going.

It turns out that Bruce is a pedophile. He was preying on children in the SCA and had been doing it for years and years. Kids I knew! The children of people I had known for years. He was charged and is now in jail. My response when I found out was shock, not that he did it, but that he was still living. I knew some of the people hurt by this and the people around them. I have no idea how Bruce made it out alive.

I know that people think I am over protective of my kids, maybe even paranoid some times. Now I don’t think I am. I am glad that I have never let any one take care of my children outside of daycare/pre-school. Why, because this monster was in my home, with my baby. I used to spend time in their home every week and see them at fight practice. His wife offered to baby sit! I cannot think of how I would be feeling now if I had let her baby sit. I think about how I knew this man for years and never much though any thing about him, he was just one of the fighters and an ok guy, friendly but not my type. James disliked him and that is a big reason for why we had stopped hanging around that particular group of people.

There was nothing about this man to put up flags. He was for the most part known as a friendly helpful guy with a bit of a temper but over all a good guy. I never saw him act inappropriately with any one, let alone a child. There was nothing to let any one know who he really was, or what he really was. How can you tell? The reality is that you cannot tell who is the predator, the pedophile, the child molester. How many people do you come in contact every day? Can you tell if some one is a pedophile? I cannot, but I do know that they are out there. I am going to stay over protective of my kids. A pedophile can be behind any face, even one you know.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Hamilton Pagan Pride Day 2007 was an excellent event

The Pagan Harvest Festival 2007 at Gage Park Hamilton, Ontario seems to have gone very well. It looked like a good time was had by all. Even though the day started off very cold and windy, it did warm up enough in the afternoon so we could unbundle and enjoy the day. I love the new layout used for the vendors, bring us all closer together and in the same area was a great idea. From what I could see there was a very nice mix of vendors with lots of unusual and unique product. I could only see so much as I was playing with my kids, as we “looked” at all the vendors. So I did miss out on a lot of the vendors, but I did like what I saw.

From what people were saying the workshops were well done, informative and small enough to still have a lot of individual attention. I never did make it to the kid’s area but I did see kids with their mosaics. The live entertainment was a nice mix of music and dance.

The entertainment was
Heather Dale www.heatherdale.com
Cold Barn Morris Dancers no web site was given
Castalia www.castaliamusic.ca
Jenn Ryan www.myspace.com/jennryanmusic
Tahira Badre and her Desert Gypsies www.tinkerwoman.com
RiverSong no web site was given

They also had an announcement for Hamilton Pagan Pride Day 2008. The featured guest speaker will be Laurie Cabot, also known as the “Official Witch of Salem”. She is an ordained High Priestess descended from Celtic ancestry. Having practiced Witchcraft for over forty years, she founded the Cabot Traditions of the Science of Witchcraft and the Witches’ League for Public Awareness, an anti-defamation organization aimed at correcting the many misconceptions about Witchcraft. She is the author of Power of the Witch, Love Magic, Celebrate the Earth, and The Witch in Every Woman. Sound like she would be an interesting addition to next years HPPD.

I look forward to next year.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

It never hurts to ask for advice, even from some one like Sir. Richard Branson

Last week James found an interview with Sir. Richard Branson where he said that if you had a business and wanted some advice to send an email. There was a link so you could send an email. It took James to www.virgin.com, and there was an email address for general and press questions in the “contact us”, “your questions” section, point #3. So James emailed them telling them that we were a small business and that we did not want any thing from them but would very much appreciate it if Sir. Richard Branson would give us some advice on how to improve our business.

Within 7 days we received an email back. One of the Virgin staff actually took the time to look at our website www.medievalmagic.ca and let us know that they liked it and felt that Mr. Branson might be interested as well. And seeing as all we wanted was some advice they will forward the email to him. Wow. Even if he is too busy to respond it is nice to know that some one in his office took the time to look. They actually followed through with his offer for advice; it was not a hollow gesture. Sir. Branson and Virgin are now my hero’s even if we never hear from them again.

I have to say that I would be incredibly grateful if he did find the time, even 10 minutes out of his busy schedule to take a look at our site and email us some advice. As it is it means a great deal to me that they took the time to read the email, respond to it and actually look at our site. They must get millions of emails. This is my way of saying thank you.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

The Magic Cauldron Sept 2007

The Magic Cauldron
Newsletter of www.medievalmagic.ca

September Newsletter


What is new with Medieval Magic.

Okay people as we told everyone last month we are moving this month. So here is the scoop.

We are moving on Sept.17. It will be an all day thing so no orders or commissions will be processed till after. We will be taking a couple of days to do inventory to make sure of the quantity and quality of all items. This is to ensure no loss or damage caused by the move. So all orders received will be processed on the 22nd. for shipment on the 24th.

We appoligze at this time for the delay. But you as our customers have come to expect the best we can give and we wish to continue to give it to you all.

We will be adding and producing some great new products for Halloween and Christmas. Look for our new ceramics line as well as some new and unusual supprises. If there is anything you would like or need us to find or make we will be checking e-mail every day.

We do have a few custome orders for the holidays, but still have room for a few more.

If any one wishes to pay with cheque or money order please contact us when you place the order so that we can confirm our new address. This will start the 1st of September. The system will be updated with the new information on the 18th.

Special Promotions

None This Month.

Monthly Coupon

No coupon this month.

Contest Winner

Our courent contest for a $10.00 gift certificate will continue till September 30, 2007 as planned. You must find this picture to enter. Just tell us the day and what the sku # is.

Festivals

Festival Season is over and we wish to thank all our customers for there support this year. We did better in sale this year and received great feedback from you all about the new site and company look.

As our goal is to bring our Customers the highest quality and variety we would be happy to hear from our readers about any items they would like to have available. Please click Here to let us know.

If you would like to submit an article, question or Business Ad for the newsletter, we welcome your submission. Please see the Newsletter section on our site for submission deadlines and conditions.

Owners
Medieval Magic

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