Wanderings of Wyrm

Canoe trip, 28 km split over two days. Sunny weather made the experience enjoyable, though low water levels required me to get out and drag the canoe in particularly shallow areas. Other than that, very nice and peaceful. Sadly I didn't think to pack my fishing rod, which frustrated me when I noticed the abundance of pike and perch in the stream. The land based fauna was quite plentiful too: roe deer, herons, redhawks, ravens, a big woodpecker that woke me up in the morning, and some handsome Motacilla cinerea with their bright yellow bellies and long tails (imagine a white-tailed wagtail but yellow) flying about the stream catching insects. Once I made camp I discovered a handsome Geotrupes stercorosus beetle. In Swedish folklore they bring lots of luck, and righting one that's fallen over on it's back will forgive ten of your sins. I sure do need a little surplus luck. Once the sun set I noticed a brown toad. I also saw a fox, though it was dead in the stream. I tried recovering the cranium, but no luck.

I didn't have any special glasses to observe the eclipse with, but it was interesting seeing everything go reddish/orange, and a very sudden temperature change to go with it. These two pictures are taken 20 minutes apart and are unedited (although taken at different angles). If you glanced at the sun from an angle, slightly out of the corner of one's eye you could see the moon covering the sun's surface (about 85% here) but unfortunately I couldn't get my camera to pick it up. Nonetheless a very memorable evening ☀️

The astute observer will note that the particular raven I used is the same as the one on the battle banners of the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, which they flew while invading England during the late 800s. Fun sidenote: I gathered the whalebone itself while I visited the Faroese islands last year, on the very same day as Brent Hinds - singer and guitarist of Mastodon - passed away. If you're wondering if Blood and Thunder was played at any point during the creation of these grips, the answer is Yes, Yes indeed it was 😁 https://youtu.be/v-Su1YXQYek?is=h7ArFgE3VjRLC5di

Here's the finished faroese whalebone knife grips for my Swiss army knife. On the day of the an almost total eclipse no less! It'll be 86% with 100%=total eclipse, the next time around we'll have that in my parts is in 100 years. The black sun is literally rising. Will send pictures of course. Only step left now is waiting for the epoxy I applied over top to dry, both to reinforce the whalebone (as there are some hairline cracks) and to protect my design from wear. I kept the design quite minimal by my own standards, only featuring two simple Ravens in Nordic animal style, with a sun wheel to go with it on either side. I also squeezed in the year of manufacture in roman numerals, as I fully intend to pass this on to my future children as a family heirloom.

I have made two pairs of belts for myself, with both featuring reconstructed brass buckles and belt ends analogous to finds from viking era archeological sites. One, a more muted black belt with a simple braid design and another more vibrant one featuring 9 red othala runes and and a striped black-and-red section where the eyelets go. I only realised after the fact that I had unintentionally mirrored the red, black and yellow pattern on Valentina on my belt (with the brass studs being a stand-in for the yellow stripes with a bit of imagination). Pretty cool. The greyish black colour comes from staining the leather with a simple stain you can make at home with steel wool, rusty nails and some vinegar.

As promised - a batch of plum wine has begun fermenting in the cellars of the Lonely Mountain Brewing Corporation. The quality controler and head fermenter Göran is at the scene ensuring smooth progress. This is actually the biggest batch of alcohol I have ever made, coming in at a full 12 L. As for ABV of this I have no idea. I go by gut feeling and when it comes time to try the potency I simply sample however much is required of the final product to get me and the braver of my friends cross-eyed. Usually not much. Sometimes a batch tastes like burnt plastic even on it's way down the hatch but it always does it's job 🤠 Inviting people to have a drink of my homemade booze always make me feel like Gul'Dan in the release cinematic for Warlords of Draenor when he offers the blood of Mannoroth to Gromash Hellscream: "Drink Hellscream... and claim your destiny". Pardon the WoW-posting, but some of my followers do really know exactly what I'm talking about 😁 https://youtu.be/TLzhlsEFcVQ?is=nQdJk73Mhl5-EP0r