Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Tag: 2021

  • Celtic Fest Ohio 2021

    Celtic Fest Ohio 2021

    This past weekend Ohio Renaissance Park hosted Celtic Fest 2021. The day featured many regional, national and international bands, dancers, etc as well as vendors and just general good times. I went in an effort to see and talk to as many wenches as I could as well as just to spend some time in one of my favorite places. The night before, so Friday night, storms cut through the area where the fest resides and this lead to insane flooding (waist deep in places) and a lot of panic amongst the vendors and performers who were spending the night onsite. It also caused a power outage that lasted until about 2pm on Saturday.

    As we headed out on Saturday morning, we were honestly not sure at all what we were getting ourselves into. I just knew that after the night they just had we needed to go and support some of these vendors we love. We got there about 11:30 (Gates were set to open at 11) and found out that the gates had been held until noon due to the power outage while they worked to get generators running to work the sound systems. Jameson’s Folly played at the gate as we waited for opening.

    Once inside we walked up to A Wired Viking where I picked up a pendant I purchased in advance and a necklace for my sister for her birthday both made by the lovely Felix. We also picked up a large beard bead for Seth, a ring for him and a bracelet for me. I forgot to get photos with the three wenches who work in that booth, because I suck.

    After this we walked around, said hi to many friends and wenches, got free commemorative Guinness Pint Glasses, took pictures, watched a couple of acts, gave cards to potential wenches, and generally had a great time. Here are far too many photos.

  • Otherworld: A journey

    Otherworld: A journey

    On May 30th we ventured to the East side of Columbus to explore Otherworld an interactive art experience in Columbus. Our party consisted of myself, my mother, my sister Traci and my friend Johnna. The exterior of the museum is unassuming and resides in an old strip mall.

    Once inside the lobby offers clues to what lies inside, with fun lighting, beautiful murals and interesting creatures. Once we got our wristbands we ventured inside.

    You can choose your own path, your own adventure. We wandered from room to room, exhibit to exhibit, laughing, touching, playing, discovering, and generally having an amazing time. Some rooms you have to crawl into. Crawling under a child’s bed in one room leads to a room with a giant narwhal and clouds you can sit on. A room full of neon spider webs had a ringing phone. Later in a control center we realized you can “call” the phone and speak to someone in the room. I am about to super photo dump. It goes without saying that this was an amazing experience and we plan to go back taking respective husbands and boyfriends.

  • Vaccinated Shenanigans

    Vaccinated Shenanigans

    So…I have been up to stuff. I am fully vaccinated, so I have begun meeting up with more friends who are also vaccinated and doing fun things.

    On May 8th Seth and I met up at Brother’s Drake Meadery with my mom, sister Traci, friend Johnna and her husband Andy, and my sister’s friend Boggs and his girlfriend Amanda. We did their “tour” which right now means doing a flight of 5 meads together. I tried their Purple Rain mead, which is Blackberry, blackcurrant, blueberry and honey wine and it is delicious!!! Then I had the flight. And then I had a glass of Battleaxe which they describe thusly, “A sweet cranberry melomel infused with vanilla and juniper berries. Unapologetically tart upfront like cranberries with a smooth finish that is sweet and hints at the vanilla and juniper infusion.” All I know is that it is delicious. We left with 2 bottles of Purple Rain and one of Battleaxe to go.

    Amanda, Boggs, Traci, Karla (mom), Seth, Me, Andy and Johnna

    I chose our movie(s) for Girls, Ghosts, Ghouls for the month of May/June, so we recorded that on the 17th of May. I chose Nosferatu (1922) and Shadow of the Vampire (2000). The recording hasn’t released yet, but should be coming soon.

    On the 22nd we headed back to our favorite boardgaming bar, The Forge Tavern, for their Fancy Dress Pirate Party with Pirate’s Creed. Seth and I shared a table with my friends Liz and Todd. My mom, sister and my sister’s boyfriend, Erich, were at the next table and my friend, Susan, and her family were right behind us. Seth and I did a Rum flight, the Sugar Island Rum was my favorite. Pirate’s Creed put on an amazing show. I bought their album in a bottle. There were several wenches on site so we took a wench photo. Overall it was just a really good time.

    On the 22nd we celebrated my nibling, Sadie’s birthday early in the afternoon. Then we met up with my friends and co-hosts Jenny and Rebecca to go to a drive through Dinosaur exhibit. It was ridiculous, but fun, and we laughed a lot.

    Okay…this is too much. More shenanigans to come.

  • Fat Wheels: A Fat Babes Club of Columbus Event

    Fat Wheels: A Fat Babes Club of Columbus Event

    On Sunday I wandered down to Mayme Moore Park to attend the first event for the Fat Babes Club of Columbus event, Fat Wheels. It was inspired by the Chubrollz events in CA which provides a safe space for fat skaters, skateboarders, etc. I threw on a white tank top from Blood and Thunder, my black Shells Bells bellbottoms from Moxi and headed out to skate and make some new skate friends.

    These ladies put on such amazing, open, welcoming events. I got to chat with a lot of skaters of various levels of experience. And I even got to get an amazing girl, who’s grandmother was a derby skater, onto skates for her first time. Hell Yes! I got no photos at the event because I was having such a great time and socializing.

    Elizabeth, Hannah, Jae and Krystal who started the Fat Babes Club are amazing and I can’t wait to see what other events they have in store for us this year, including more Fat Wheels meet ups. The video below is from their instagram and you can see how fun it was.

  • Witches of Legend Oracle

    Witches of Legend Oracle

    My wonderful husband, Seth, backed a kickstarter for me for the Witches of Legend Oracle by Annabelle Lewis. The art was just so gorgeous that I couldn’t resist. Seth would call me in to show me updates and new cards as they were created, additional tiers that were added, and so much more. The deck was fully funded, starting production and then, Pandemic. After a bunch of delays the decks finally made their way to Annabelle, and then on their way to us.

    AND MINE ARRIVED TODAY!!

    I am a little excited. Opening the box I saw black tissue paper and a sticker saying Thank you for supporting my small business.

    When you opened it up you saw a beautiful black velvet Tarot bag.

    Under the Tarot Bag was a Reading Cloth.

    Also included was a gorgeous enamel pin of Nyx, prints of Hecate and Medusa, and stickers of Medusa, Hecate’s familiar and The Morrigan.

    And, then there is the deck itself. It comes in a nice box, but it is a little big so I will probably use the velvet bag. The book is really nice and has space for adding your own notes for each of the cards. I love it a lot. The deck itself is gorgeous and comprised of 34 cards. The art is ink and watercolor and the palette is primarily monochrome with hints of gold. The deck has beautiful gold edging and feels wonderful in the hand. I am so excited to begin working with it.

  • Tarot Impulse Purchases

    Tarot Impulse Purchases

    I have mentioned before that I am slightly obsessed with/addicted to Tarot and Oracle decks. I have many. I want many more. In the last week I got two Tarot decks and one Oracle deck in the mail. The tarot decks I recently impulse bought from Zulily (they had a collection all about witchy stuff). Seth kickstarted the oracle deck for me pre-pandemic, but then pandemic, so they just finally arrived stateside and were shippable. I am going to make a separate post for the oracle.

    So, Tarot Decks: I picked up the Modern Witch Tarot Deck by Lisa Sterle and the Tarot of the Divine by Yoshi Yoshitani.

    The Tarot of the Divine I was familiar with because a friend, lady gang member, wench Mary bought it and I was enamored, but hadn’t picked up a copy yet. It is “Inspired by deities, folklore, & fairy tales from around the world.” The deck itself has matte, textured cards that are pretty thick but feel nice in the hand. The box is really nice and I think I will use it to store the deck. The book has color photos of each card and explanations of the inspiration behind each card. I haven’t tried reading with it yet, but I really like the vivid imagery and the folklore backgrounds.

    I was not super familiar with the Modern Witch Tarot, but I liked the imagery a lot and decided I would pick it up too. I am not sad that I did. It is a deck based on the Smith-Waite deck, but with a wonderfully diverse imagery. The box is really nice for this deck as well. The cards are thick and very glossy which makes them easy to shuffle. This is another deck with vivid colors. And the book is super cute. Again, I haven’t read with it yet, but I am excited to do so.

  • How the hell is it already April?

    How the hell is it already April?

    It’s April. Crazy. March flew by and I barely noticed. We had my birthday, Seth’s birthday, my sister-in-law Niki’s birthday. Traci and I went to New Orleans. I got my first dose of the Moderna Vaccine. I made a new friend through roller skating and got to try out my new babies for the first time. I dyed my hair blue/teal. Generally it was a good time.

    We recorded and released the first episode of Girls, Ghosts, Ghouls Podcast! (you can listen/watch here.) We also did a live reading of Hop-Frog; Or, The Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs by Edgar Allan Poe. I bought a new mic after the first recording and am waiting to receive a ring light so the visual and sound on my end will be improving.

    We have officially announced this month’s film which is…Psycho!! I am a huge fan of Hitchcock’s work, even if he was kind of a disaster of a human, and Psycho is one of my favorite horror films of all time. I also have a bunch of stories around the film, so I am going to ramble a bit which I’m sure will be exciting for all.

    I added the footage of our most recent live reading of The Masque of the Red Death by Poe recorded on Saturday April 3 below. The beginning is a little odd because we were having issues getting the live stream to work, but after some chatting and silliness the reading is pretty fun. So, enjoy.

    This month we are obviously recording another episode. My mother, sister, friend and I will be going to a socially distanced drag show. Seth and I got new hiking shoes, so we are planning to go hiking soon. I am going down to Newark this weekend to take some photos for a story I am working on. So much happening.

    Oh, and I gave the blog a spring cleaning. What do you think of the new layout? Yes? No? Let me know.

  • 4 Days of Blogging

    4 Days of Blogging

    I recently ordered a new Tarot Deck (yes another one) The New Wave Tarot. I had been eyeing this one for some time from LastCraft Designs and then they announced that this printing would be the last ever, so I jumped in and pre-ordered. Per their site, “Each card features digital collages of 1980s musicians such as The Smiths, The Cure, Siouxsie Sioux, Joy Division, Berlin, Yazoo, Duran Duran, Adam Ant, Erasure, Depeche Mode, Clan of Xymox, The Go-Gos, Cyndi Lauper, Culture Club along with esoteric imagery inspired by the Rider-Waite and Thoth tarot.” Even if I never really read with it the imagery is wonderful and a deck with Cyndi Lauper in it is perfect to me.

    In this deck instead of the normal suits: Cups – tea cups
    Wands – eyeliner
    Disks – LP Records
    Swords – microphone

  • 6 & 5 Days of Blogging

    6 & 5 Days of Blogging

    I have been binge watching The Muppet Show since it dropped on Disney+ on Friday, and I have been so enjoying the sheer joy and chaos. Some of the episodes I have seen and some of them are new to me. Watching them with my husband has been an absolute joy.

    I have mentioned before that I am a huge Muppet fan. In fact in May I will be getting a tattoo of Kermit on my thigh. The tattoo is being designed by the artist, Bishop from Munkehed Tattoo in Newark. It will be a framed portrait and I sent him these photos as inspiration. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

    I am really hoping that he will be able to incorporate the Jim Henson puppet into the tattoo as well. This is just the start on a full leg sleeve I have planned of all Muppets and Jim Henson creations (labyrinth, dark crystal, fraggle rock, etc.)

    My favorite episodes I have watched so far are: Vincent Price (I feel like this goes without saying), Joel Grey, Paul Williams, Ben Vereen and Zero Mostel. The Zero Mostel episode has one of my favorite sketches from when I was little. The poem in this sketch was apparently written by Jerry Juhl in the style of Edgar Allan Poe.

  • 7 Days of Blogging

    7 Days of Blogging

    Do you share your birthday with anyone famous, or any holidays?

    I share mine with several fun celebrities: Billy Crystal, Michael Caine, Quincy Jones, Tamara Tunie, Chris Klein, Stephen Curry and Simone Biles.

    Also, Albert Einstein, whom I have an unnatural affection for because of this. It is also Pi Day, which has led me to own/buy many items with a Pi theme. As well as many items with Einstein on them. I have Pi posters, have done 5ks just to get a Pi medal, have Pi clothing and Pi jewelry. I have Einstein posters, bobble head, Pop Figure, books, shirts, socks, postcards, magnets, a little plant pot, jewelry and an action figure.

    The Einstein thing happened because of a conversation with a teacher in 7th grade. Him:(looking at calendar) Today is Einstein’s Birthday. Me: It’s my birthday too! Him: So that’s what’s wrong with you? Me: ??? Thanks? Him: (shrugs, laughing) You know what I mean Me: (Laughs) Yeah…

    Does anyone else do this? Become obsessed with things because of loose associations? Just curious.