Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

I just received six bottles of Mead from Hidden Legend Winery. It used to be a difficult thing to get mead. No wine shop near where I live stocks it and I have had to travel 30 miles to a shop that does carry it. But this problem is starting to be a non-problem because of the internet. More and more states are allowing wines to be shipped from out of state and this is great news for mead lovers.

If you are a mead lover you might want to check out their meads and if you have never tasted mead but are curious about it you definitely have got to check their mead out. They have some award winning flavors including their chokecherry which is a gold medalist at the 2009 Tasters Guild International Wine Judging. You can see a bigger picture of these meads and learn more about them on my website here: Six good bottles of Mead

If you are interested in making mead you might want to check out the mead section of my website. I have everything there you need including video tutorials, recipes, tips and more. The Joy of Mead

If you don’t know a lot about mead the picture above tells a lot. It shows how mead really shines  -in the variety of flavors and colors. Mead is very different than grape derived wines in that as a plain honey mead its great but it is like a blank palette that really can take on the characteristics and flavors of different fruits and spices. The variety of flavors and colors seen in the picture above is a good testament to that.

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I have been slowly processing my trip to Japan and adding information, thoughts and pictures to my various websites and blogs. Yesterday, on my medieval castle website,  I created a new page about Shuri Castle with lots of pictures and information about it. It’s quite amazing to me how Japanese castles are similar to their European counterparts in some ways, yet very different in other ways. For example, these castles all employed very large stone walls, used terrain to their advantage and used concentric circles as a good technique for defending the castle. Anyway, I have all this stuff about Shuri Castle here.

 Thinking about going to Japan?

If you are dreaming about, or considering a trip to Japan I have to highly recommend the good people over at Esprit Travel and Tours. They have the kind of travel services that just bring things to another level.  A good example of this is their “In the Shadow of the Samurai - Spring 2010″ tour.  This is the kind of tour that really helps you see and understand the real deal in Japan. They will visit the famous castles, collections and real samurai houses. With a tour like this you really get a good feel for the real thing.

You can learn more about Esprit travel and their Samurai tour here. I am not affiliated with this company, they were just really helpful to me when I was planning my trip to the land of the Rising Sun.

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In an earlier post (here) I posted a picture of a medieval castle and asked for people to identify it. Somebody sent me a guess that maybe the castle is The Rock of Cashel in Ireland. I took a look at a bunch of photos of the Rock of Cashel and I am not so sure. I think that this is not the castle in question. Maybe you could take a look and give me your opinion. - and thanks much to the person who contributed this suggestion.

But, while looking up the Rock of Cashel I did discover it has an interesting creation story. Here is the legend about this castle:

“The legend of this castle says that in 432 St. Patrick came to Cashel to baptize King Aengus. It was during this ceremony of baptism that the devil flew over Ireland and he was hindered by the Slieve Bloom Mountains and took a bite out of the peaks. After reaching the opposite side of the mountains he spat out what he had bitten off and it is this rocky formation that formed the Rock of Cashel. There is a gap in the Slieve Bloom mountains which is called “The Devil’s Bite”. This gap can be seen north of the Rock of Cashel. The symbolism of the shamrock also comes from a story from St. Patrick and Cashel. The story goes that during the baptism St. Patrick plucked a shamrock to explain the mystery of the holy trinity.”

Isn’t that cool? If you are interested in Medieval Castles I have lots of stuff about them, including mysteries and secrets about them on my website: Medieval Castles

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How to make a Spartan Helmet

This is a downloadble project where I give you the template and show you how to make a spartan helmet out of paper mache and cardboard.

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