Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts

Friday, February 17, 2012

Inspiration Fridays: My Dream World

So, we've properly established that I'd like to be a badass and live in a castle.  If you haven't picked this up, read this article, and then read this one before continuing on here.  We good?  Alright.

If every romantic dreamed that ever danced through my subconscious, or conscious, for that matter, magically came true, I would be a shockingly gorgeous, magical witch-princess who lived in a moss-covered tower, somewhere in England, with Danny, who was my husband, lover, and commander of my army.  Because, I'd have one of those in this fantasy.  An army.  All mine.  All ours, actually.  With lots of hot guys in it; but none of them would ever have a chance because, well, no one could ever beat Danny in a hot contest.  They'd be our minions, essentially- saving the lands from the depths of evil and corruption on Danny's and my orders.  Yeah.  That is how I'd like this to work.

 By the river Main, by Dionizije

 My humble beginnings would be just that.  Humble, and plain.  I'd feed geese, perhaps, my long blonde hair flowing in the breeze.  Although, in this mystical fantasy-world that is totally real in my head, I'm brunette, not blonde.  Why?  God knows.  I just think of myself as having brown hair.

 HBIC

 My epic castle would be in a lovely, hidden grove, only accessible by traveling through some type of labyrinthine tree set-up like this one.  The whole thing would be stunningly beautiful, because, yes.  If you're going to have a moderately creepy maze as the entrance to your house, the would-be-invaders might as well be impressed by your sense of taste and your confounding entrance when they attempt to destroy you and storm your castle.  That's how these things work.

Efidriade

 My castle would not be densely populated.  I like people, in general, but I wouldn't want them in my house.  A house is a sanctum, in my opinion, and is meant to be kept silent, so that, if one wants to escape into solitude, it is possible. However, it would have an okay number of people, all of whom I would have hand-selected for their sarcastic humour and ability to understand true fun.  Every pretty lady-in-waiting would be just as kickass as every one of the men, and wear their standard garter-dagger, as well as a sword.  Or, a mace, if they are really sassy.  The mace-wearers would be my favourite friends.
 
Kirkstall Abbey By (For the easily distracted)

This is my personal courtyard.  I sit here, sip tea, read books, and cast spells to my heart's delight.  Did I mention that I'm magic?  I'm magic.

 Fairy Nobasho

All of my clothing would be eloquently designed, except for my battle outfits, which would be desperately practical because I don't like dying.



I would camoflauge my castle and surrounding hedge maze with fog, making it just a bit harder to detect.  This would be accomplished using that magic that we've established I have.  Not only would this fog make me more difficult to overthrow, destroy, and/ or kill, it would also add a calming, though moderately creepy ambience to the whole scenario.  Fog is mystical, and I am too.  In my dream, I mean.

Starry Messenger

 My enemies would be obliterated because screw evildoers, and all of their evil deeds that they do. Because I like and appreciate culture, I would not wreck the shit out of their architecture or art.  Their buildings would be partially preserved so that history can look back on them, and appreciate my destruction of them, and also so that I have ruins to photograph now.

 La Belle Dame sans Merci by Sir Frank Dicksee


 This would be my painting because, on top of being a commander of an army, the head of my castle, a master hedge-designer, and magic, I would also be a painter.  That would not be me on the horse.  Flowers in my hair?  No sir.  A helmet would be on my head.  A battle-helmet.  Because I battle.

Medieval by Moyan_Brenn

This is the scene from out of our bedroom window, and what a view it is indeed!  Marshy marshes with some manner of something with an acqueduct or bridge thing attached.  I'm sighing in glee at the moment.  Just look at that.  I'm so glad we built our castle here!



Heart shaped book of hours from the 15th century, Amiens, Picardy, France. 
Original from Bibliothèque nationale de France

And... that's my spell book.  Because I can.

Happy Friday!!


Friday, January 13, 2012

Inspiration Fridays: I Just Want a Castle...

Who doesn't want to live in a castle?  I do.  Castles are the coolest.

While I was studying in London, I was able to visit many of them, including Canterbury Castle, below.  I wrote a post about it soon after visiting, but the structure was incredible.  By incredible, I mean it was old, historically important, and crumbling to bits.  Though it had been a residence of the monarchy of England, it apparently wasn't important enough to charge money for entry, or even to be guarded.   We walked right in.  I climbed around in it.  I stole a rock from off the ground, which was part of the Roman wall that surrounded it.  This was legal, apparently, because were there cops or Unesco Heritage Site guards or anything?  Nope.  It was a big, open space that, you know, happened to have a castle in the middle of it.  No big deal.  The UK has tons of those.

As an American, this pretty much blows my mind.  Living in a castle, or seeing one, is one of the pinnacles of existence, as far as I'm concerned.  I was in awe of every structure I had the pleasure to view that was built before about 1550AD because we just don't have any of those on our continent.  At some point during the first couple weeks I was living in London, I took a moment and bragged to one of my English friends that I had lived across the street from one of the oldest pubs in New York- it was founded in 1865!  With an utterly straight face she said something along the lines of "Yeah, whatever, my building is fifty years older than that and it's the newest building on my block"...  It's just different.  

But, this post is about castles, not pubs.  Once again, as I have hypothesized during basically every Inspiration Friday post from the past few monthes, I may only be inspired by castles because I read too many fantasy and historical fiction books, watch too many fantasy and historical fiction films, and play too many fantasy video games.  I'd play historical fiction video games if more of them existed.  Or, maybe I do all of those things because I love fantasy and historical fiction with a passion. Honestly, I'm rather certain this is the reason. I almost accidentally acquired a minor in medieval and renaissance history in college.  If I had been paying attention, I would have achieved that, but frankly, I didn't notice I had done it until I was about to graduate.  I just gravitate towards this stuff.  Reminders of times gone by, times in which I did not live, excite me.  Or, maybe I did live there.  Who knows the true nature of our existence?

Yet someday, I want to climb a castle tower in the middle of the forest and gaze out over the land.  I want to feel the wind whip through my hair as I do this; I wish to watch a hawk circle overhead. 


Well, I think I've established that I'm not just a hopeless romantic, but a completely lost one. Sounds fine to me.


Here are some castles and such in the British Isles.


Tintagel Castle

Windsor Castle

Restormel Castle

Castell Caerdydd

 The White Tower, Tower of London

Chepstow Castle

 Caerphilly Castle

Caernarfon Castle

Edinburgh Castle

Castle Stalker

Threave Castle


Caerlaverock Castle