Welcome to GoldenSkyeByrd's Temple

Come on in and take up a seat.  Where ever is fine.  Perhaps a pillow?  Some tea?

But in any case, you have reached my domain.  As strange as it may sound this place is really an extension of all that I have learned from my Peregrine and Eagle friends.  I am quite at home being in the woods and also at home drawing my love of nature.  I am what I would like to call myself as a Peregrine Druid.  One who journeys, travels, and is a pilgrim of the mind and heart.  I encompass all things in the natural world and break them down as such.  I have found inspiration in art, music, and writing for a long time in the things I have observed.  Both on my own, with friends, and in my studies.  

I sincerely love birds, and have a deep passion for them.  My friends have also felt this inside of me, and some have even shared this great love.  I am always looking for new people to join me in a chat, discussion, or just share in the self expression and joy that these journeys have brought me.  You can always visit me in my Yahoo club, Autumn Magick.  Or if you want to hear a little more about what it is to me, in my philosophical sense go ahead and take a peak in here.  It may lead to more places than you can imagine.

Oh peregrine sweet pilgrim traveler of the world round, you rush and you dive in a great arch wielding the sky, circular scoops and patterns in flight fold your wings back holding tight, drop from the air without sight and grasp your talons to all that you command, one out of three successful are thee and come into my vision, of the eyrie heart your battle quest comes complete, helmet of slate blue and shield of a white breast, keeee is your summoning call to charge and you continue your pilgrimages of flight wander of the great world.

An adventure note: The summer of 1998 I had worked in a small zoo in Baraboo. I was not sure I would get the job due to lack of job experience, but I did. Now that I am back to school the animals are missed much. I love animals and always have. In the Oshner Park and zoo much of my work was also park duties so I was park ranger and zoo keeper wrapped into one. I have lots of animal stories from this experience alone. Some of them included a black bear named Minnie, two wolves- Jack and Sue, lots of prairie dogs, a great horned owl, two llamas- Nic and Lolita, two monkeys- Launa and Euwing, two brother bobcats that were not named but I had names for them anyway- Rex (dominant) and Romulus, also there were three white tailed deer (no babies while I worked, sniff*sniff*), three Canadian geese, three different kinds of pheasants, three raccoons, goats, sheep, a swan, many mallards- got to save one the last day I worked(: and a couple of turkeys (the male loved to chase the keepers all around, not fun.) Well those were most of my animals, but the bird lover in me spotted many more over the summer. You would be amazed at all the things that can happen over such a short period of time.  But in the years since, they have finished the remodeling that I had helped with at the zoo.  Making new pens and such.  Since then Rex died of heart failure, Minnie passed away that winter after I left, there is a whole new deer family, and the only pheasants are golden pheasants (the male also passed away due to stress when the new cages were built to put him and a female together, men ha!)  Thankfully on my visits back, the monkeys still remember me and the wolves do as well.  After a dull summer in between I found myself thrown back into the midst of loving my animal counterparts...

Another Adventure:  

I spent the summer (2000) in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness Area in the Upper Peninsula as an Intern Naturalist.  I truly felt that I have grown closer to my own spiritual horizons.  By experiencing and teaching others about Eagles, Peregrines, other wildlife and plants I became dependant on the natural world around me.  Bears, deer, raptors, animals of all sorts were ever abundant and I could find so much to confide in this wonderland.  The beach just down from my apartment lawn, provided me with an excellent escape from reality.  Agate hunting became an all time stress reliever.  Listening to Lake Superior crash is so soothing, much better than a nature tape.  In the mornings when it was calm out on the misty lake, loons would call.  Mergansers slip into the waters, little ones toddling over crests paddling to remain upright.  Then there were the moments when the red clay slipped into the waters off the land from heavy rain, churning angry and drunken with rain soaked skies.  In every moment of this summer, be it crashing lightning or calm misty mornings was a pleasure.  Then there were the days where blue clouds sailed puffing over the ridges up on Lake of the Clouds Escarpment Trail, where I would look for my sailor of the skies.  Watching waiting for my first glimpse of the Peregrine Falcon.  I was treated to an eagle scooping up a fish now and then also.  I could see to me what was my world in that overlook.  From rainbows end my memories grow fondest there.  This was the place I first met Joe Rogers.  Showing me the secret of patience and of the forest, Joe seemed to push me to know my environment.  To learn the plants, to listen to the birds, to watch and wait and understand what it is to be a Peregrine or an raven.  To look at the tiniest star mosses growing on the cliffs, to lumber like the bear among the June berries and blueberries.  Of course after he had his first pick.  To watch Ginger the dog leap after the chipmunks on trail in near miss all the time.  Such play, such joy compacted into his enthusiastic hikes, he could take me climbing any day.  Like the steadfast mule he would outlast you no matter what, even though he didn't look it.  Hardy mountain stock and years of this work behind him.  He knew all the bear trails and all the old miners trails, something makes me think that he is one of the last of his kind.  His wondrous stories filling the time till night drew its veil and the day had escaped you, time was not measured by the watch but by the suns rays.  Joe's living quarters consisted of the back of a truck built out of personal need his constructed topper and trailer housed anything from kayaks to canoes to a bed in back.  It had to, this is where he would be living for a good part of the year.  He knew all the special old growth trees, trees where people buried or left their mark to a loved one.  Leaving a spike so deep into the tree that even though this person you know must have loved the old growth hemlock, would eventually kill it.  I asked myself if this is what the persons wishes would have been, and I think Joe did too.  I had thought at one point my senior capstone for CIS Major at Northland College would be to document this with GIS data.  But in truth it leaves me saddened, if it were to me I would love to be the ashes of this great place flung far over where the peregrines fly so I could feel that great moment as a spirit and soar to my maker.  But this is me and I am over excited and indulgent in fantasy at times.  I kind of logged the emotions the trials I went through in Autumn Magick, it was a way for me to post and remember everything I had done at the park.  I collected a lot of willow for my dream catcher program, and found myself connecting very deeply my roots into this land.  Thanking the Great Mother for every gift she gave me as I was held in her sacred mountains.  I also reflected on my senior capstone I did on the Chequamegon/Nicolet National Forest for my Environmental Studies Major.  What it is to hear chainsaws in such a place that is meant to hear the silences of the woods.  To hear the whip-poor-wills or thrushes as the evening approaches to me is silence's song.  There are places in Wisconsin that have proposed power lines running wide swaths of edge habitat thorough the remaining homes of wild creatures.  Disturbance is not what we need to focus on, but giving back our oath to our animal and plant brethren is.  I saw this happen in my own woods, and wonder how can power lines have so much control over a place even as this.  I hated hearing the chainsaws around the apartment, little by little I saw my deer woods being cut back for our own selfish needs.  But in the process of finishing my time there, this semester I grew sad to depart my home that I had made among the people who worked there and the animals I shared it with.  If it be the deer mice that over ran the cabin apartment or the actual deer that bedded in the edge of the trees by it.  I missed hearing bear lumber crashing in the trees at night looking for the sweet thimbleberries that grew on the edges of the road.  I also came to understand the problems associated with documenting in State Parks.  The long amount of time to get the approvals and such.  It was a challenge to me to get Bob's slideshow equipment for the Visitor's Center,  but this proved more difficult.  It wasn't like my birding guides I dragged out, or checklists I made, but I was an hour and a half removed from this place I sought to stay connected to.  Delving last minute into finishing what I had started the pictures finally came to me, a summer of images no one could capture but myself.  To teach again the way of the Peregrine Falcon and the Bald Eagle on my own terms this time, as a reflection of what was makes me cherish it all the the more.  I know now that the park had suffered a change of administration, Joe may not receive his funding for another year of Peregrine work, and the trails had suffered from a small fire on the interior in about a 2 mile radius.  Smoke still puffed off the Little Carp when I revisited, things have changed for them and for me.  I personally and trying desperately to capture that summer into this, my Capstone, and trying to move on once again into the unknown.  Like that leap I made last spring, I will take it again and hope that I find myself once again as close to the people, nature, and my own happiness as I was there.  Joe made me want it, he gave me a reason to love this place.  He named one of those sweet peregrines after me, Little Autumn, I will forever picture among the bluebells as she took her first flight.  Posing for me for hours, mock kills, and play on the cliff while I sat patiently stretching remembering her movements.  And it was then that I truly fell in love with the Summer.  The kayaks through the mist were just another example of how much Joe had taught me, bringing the Porcupine Mountains to me as a dream in reality.  Thank you Joe Rogers for your gifts, thank you Bob Sprague for your guidance and encouragement, and thank you to my friends whom I shared this time of peace and knowledge.

Okay, Okay...

Enough about that.  Some of my other interests include drawing and Celtic studies.  I am  finished with school (Northland College)  with a bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies with and Natural Science Emphasis, and Computer Information Systems with a GIS Emphasis.  Whew!  But I grew up around Sauk Prairie, went to high school there (live out in the country) and have grown to love the wintering populations of Bald Eagles along the Wisconsin River.  I was born with red hair, my real name Is Autumn Joy Laird.  I have a habit of rooting around to find my family history.  So I am heavily into the genealogy pursuit.  Any Lairds out there? drop me a line.  Or if you looking for a place to get started I can help there too.  I am also into Medieval history, and have been a member of the SCA for quite some time now.  Medieval reenactment is just part of the fun, I think its being able to go out in the garb that I love the most.  I have an 1250's Irish Persona name Aíne Mari Lawird.  I have come to the nick name of Weird One, but its okay since it means a person of magic, and that is perfectly fine by me. I used to fight heavy weapons but have mainly dropped back into archery which I find much more enjoyable.  A warrior at heart I will never loose the thrill of watching a good tourney.

I have a passion for dragons and mythology.  If you catch me in the right mood you may perchance get to take a peek at the true Goldenskyebyrd of this site.  And among the winged bards I find my passion of the scaled beasts of lore.  My better counter part, a little wiser, a little stronger, and a little more solitary (if that's possible) is yes the great dragon.  After all I was born in the year of the dragon and come to call my elements that lie most natural in heart.  So now your beginning to see why some people call me a little bit strange.  But this is okay for without imagination how would anyone draw strength mine just lies embodied in the winged creatures of old.  My druid practices lead me to continually push my boundaries.  I strive to make each poem more beautiful  than the last and each picture more perfect in my memory as a vision of the gifts I was birthed with.  I will give nothing but the finest to my devoted Gods.  I have come to call on Herne (my beautiful green god of the forest) and of Brighid (she who lights the night with her flame).  Although in my search to find my path I have come to know other legends, stories, and Goddesses to which my voice may sing to.  I urge you not to place a critical eye on my choice of servitude, or religion, I wish nothing but happiness for each to find their own path and celebrate this exchange of knowledge.  For with tolerance and a little understanding we all come to know ourselves a little better.   And I guess this is why I chose to become a student of the environment, everything that I have chosen to make myself understand can in some way be passed on to others as a lesson of universal exchange - a wonderful circle of enlightenment. Now I am finding this to be true in whatever vocation I choose, as I am venturing into a new line of work in Planning and Zoning where I can be a steward for the land and actually take an active role in the protection and observation of my native home. This is how it should be and the journey continues as the seasons wheel in the solar life of the sun. Again Merry Meet and thank you for sharing in what I take so much joy in doing!

email: goldenskyebyrd@hotmail.com