Well, I'm back from the Witchfest and I have to say it was wonderful! I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Firstly a big thank you from Usky for coming down with his family - it was great to meet them all and I hope they enjoyed the Witchfest.

My talk went well (I'm going to post bits and pieces from it on the blog soon for anyone that wanted to get to the Witchfest but couldn't) and a lot of people said they enjoyed it. Heck, I enjoyed doing it too!

I think I was the only speaker to run my own free raffle afterwards (for the two paintings I blogged earlier this week) and I think that was appreciated. Certainly at the main raffle, the first prize winner chose my pastel painting as their prize.

I also got to see my book for the first time! It was a weird experience because prior to this is has only existed as a manuscript... Capall Bann have done a wonderful job on it. It looks just the way I hoped it would, even down to the font and the layout!

I did a book signing (duw, but I felt self conscious sitting there waiting for people to come and get their copy signed - but a big thank you to those who did!)

The day before the Witchfest I was asked to do the closing blessing ceremony - it was rather short notice and there was no incense allowed in the building (because it would set the fire alarms off) so early on the Solstice morning I went and picked a great bag full of Rosemary from my garden and incorporated that into a blessing ceremony, along with the Welsh blessing Mr Penry kindly wrote for me (mentioned in yesterday's post.)

Apparently last year's closing blessing had been very 'hands on' with lots of singing and chanting (at least, that's what some people told me) but I kept this deliberately low key, concentrating on the blessing side of the day and winding down...

Well, I shall try and catch up on some posts today, and get on with my book!