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Showing posts from May, 2021

Blacktown City Medieval Fayre

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Me with Sabrina the Wedge-tailed Eagle and handler The Blacktown City Medieval Fayre took place at Nurragingy Reserve on the weekend of the 22nd-23rd of May. Run by volunteers from the Blacktown City Council, and many re-enactment groups, it was a large and enjoyable event.  There were a range of stalls selling food and medieval wares, and many demonstrations by re-enactors. The highlight were the jousting, fighting and the birds of prey demonstrations. Unfortunately I was only at the event for about three hours and was not able to see everything, but I was able to catch these three: One of the lady knights The jousting involved several trained horsemen and women who are professional jousters and participate in competitions around the country, some even overseas. There were quite a few broken lances, and it was a very exciting event to watch. The knights and ladies also demonstrated their skill at tasks such as collecting rings with a lance and hitting the quintain while riding pas...

Wingless: A New Last Chapter for The Six Swans

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I miss my wings. I miss the feeling of soaring through the sky untethered, the wind ruffling my feathers.  The witch  thought she cursed us but really she set us free. Free from rules and expectations.  Free from the human forms that bound us to the ground.    We were boys when we were turned into swans. Now we are still boys in the clumsy, over - large bodies of men. Everything feels wrong. In the years we were birds ,  our human bodies somehow kept on growing without us. They are foreign to us now , c overed in pimples and body hair ,   filled  with strange urges.  How can we tell our sister she didn't set us free, rather chained us back to the earth we had escaped?  She sacrificed so much. She was nearly burned alive. Her feet still bear thick red scars from the flames and she stumbles when she walks. I don't know how she could ever forgive her husband but she says she has. I know when he sleeps at night she still wanders the graveyar...