Athterath

I have a bachelor's degree in anthropology with a minor in English. Currently most of my time and energy go into homeschooling my 15-year-old son. I'm a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and as part of my participation in that organization have been trying to learn as much as I can about life in southern Ireland between 850 and 950 C.E. I've also learned a lot about a number of crafts as practiced in various parts of Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and find that subject fascinating.

I'm not allergic to anything, as far as I know.

I like rich, bold colors, especially jewel tones (sapphire blue, emerald green, ruby red, etc.). My favorite color is blue. I dislike any indefinite shade (off-white, greenish, "with maybe a hint of [whatever]"), pastels, and everything in the khaki-putty-taupe-beige family.

I like strong, distinctive flavors--dark chocolate, sharp cheese, spicy salsa, and so forth. I don't eat a lot of sweet fruits, preferring tangier ones (raspberry rather than strawberry, for instance).

I favor musky, woodsy, and herbaceous scents (though I also enjoy many florals). Lavender, cloves, sandlewood, cedar, ylang-ylang, and amber are all favorites. I'm not a fan of perfuming things that aren't food with food smells (like vanilla, peach, and cinnamon).

I'm passionate about ecological responsibility, and always excited to see clever and creative re-use of materials. I'm completely turned off by the word "disposable". If it can be made from sustainable, biodegradable materials, I think making it out of petrochemicals instead is idiotic.

I've a classic take on beauty--symmetry, balance, proportion, and the like have a big impact on what's pleasing to my eye. I'm not a fan of the Jackson Pollock approach or the "so ugly it's cute" school.

My curiosity is near boundless, and I really enjoy trying new things.

I'm unquestionably and proudly a geek.

Lunar imagery resonates with me, as do corvids, stags, and turtles.

I am pagan, in the generic sense, but not initiated into any tradition. My family celebrates the solar holidays--solstices, equinoxes, and the days that mark the midpoints between them (those most often termed, in modern America, "Imbolc", "Beltane", "Lughnasadh", and "Samhain")--to lesser or greater degrees. The winter solstice and Samhain are those we do the most with.

We treat the winter solstice as the beginning of the solar year. We hang wreaths (symbolizing the Wheel), decorate a tree (representing the World / Life Tree; we festoon it with emblems of all the joys we want the next year to bring us, and those for which we were grateful in the past year), and exchange gifts (reflecting the bounty life brings us, and all the gifts the return of the Sun will cause the Earth to bring forth).

Samhain is the last holiday of the year. We honor our dead (both those we've known and our long-gone ancestors), offer hospitality to benign spirits, shield our home from malignant ones, and sometimes do a bit of divination. It involves meditation, foods and imagery that connect us to our past, and candles (including some in Jack-o-lanterns).

I don't often use sigils, hieroglyphs, pictograms, and the like.

I like to cook (including baking), am an intermediate-level hand and machine sewer, have done a fair amount of counted cross-stitch and have lately been enjoying more traditional embroidery (primarily using chain stitching and long-arm cross-stitch, with a bit of laid-and-couched work). I've also done some leathercrafting, made a couple of pieces of brass piercework (with a hand drill and jewelry saw), woven a couple of baskets and a few lengths of ribbon (the latter using weaving tablets), and made several pairs of shoes (though not particularly well--I'm still trying to develop some competency in that arena). I enjoy making toys and games. When I was a kid I made a lot of things from saltdough, and I recently bought supplies to start doing that with my son. We're thinking of trying some papier-mâché, too.

My musical tastes are pretty eclectic. I've never been able to enjoy American country music much, but there are at least a few songs or artists in every other genre I've tried that appeal to me. I like my jazz cool, my blues gritty, my rock gutsy, and my folk songs energetic. I'm big on well-crafted lyrics, well-developed melodies, and powerful rhythms. But the one thing all music I love has in common is that it has the power to evoke strong emotion.

Artists I enjoy include Bessie Smith, Miles Davis, The Animals, Nina Simone, Joan Jett, Prince, Bob Marley, Robbie Robertson, Scott Joplin, Queen, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Ethel Waters, Rick James, and a host of others.

Trying new artists and types of music is fun for me.

I've been reading science fiction and fantasy since I was a kid. I don't generally care for adaptations, finding what works best in a movie or on TV rarely works best in a book.

I like Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Spider Robinson, Terry Pratchett, Christopher Moore, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and dozens of others. I'm a pretty voracious reader, and love getting turned on to new authors.

I'm on Swap-Bot for two reasons. First, I like making things and practicing new skills, but find myself putting off the big projects for fear I won't be able to make the room or time to finish them. Signing up for swaps means giving myself a deadline to work to and projects of a manageable size to complete, so I get the fun of creating without the stress of a major undertaking. Second, I really enjoy handling, looking at, and using handcrafted items. When I sign up for a swap, there's at least a chance that I'll get something beautiful, skillfully made, and unlike anything I could've made for myself. That's what I'm hoping for, and what's most likely to inspire me to give a heart.

The icon I'm using here is from ShifterCat, who has generously made a number of such images available for free for non-commercial use. I found them on IconArchive.