Here re couple of resources for anyone who wants to know more about the Romanyi and their way of life:
The Patrin Web is one of the best, set up and maintined by Romany people, but this resource, lthough for role playing games, is also very well done.

Thoughts on campfires...

When I was a child in Ireland, my mother usually struggled to cook on a temperamental little Primus burner, that had to be primed and pumped with determination before it would fire up - when it defeated her, my father would laugh and put it away and light a campfire. He'd let it form glowing ashes, then tuck potatoes in around the edge and cook some fish or bacon in a frypan. While we ate, he and his brothers would sing and play old Irish songs. These were the best meals I remember.

We moved to England in the 50s and my mum got a portable gas stove which did everything well, even cooked Christmas dinner. But we often joined the gypsies, who always made my father welcome, around their camfires and relived old times, frying fish in butter and hacking off thick slices of local bread.

When we first came to Australia we were delighted to find that the travelling showmen had a campfire tradition as well. The best campfires of all were those set up by the Maori Troubadors, a group of singers and dancers whose show attracted huge crowds during showtime. During the day, they would bury half a pig in a fire pit, and at night, they would light the fire and invite their friends to join them. They too would sing and play under the stars, not the country and western and romantic ballads they presented in the show, but beautiful stirring Moari music that soared into the night.

My dear brother in law Sonny Neville was a musician and a master guitar player. he loved our camp fires and we knew whenever he came to visit us after we settled down, that we would have to light the fire and bake the potatoes. Sonny would sing and play for us from his amazing pepertoire of rock, ballads and spanish love songs. When he died, the music ended for a while, but now our son Chris is learning to play the guitar, so we will have music again.

We continue with the campfires - they are mostly in the backyard now, but ocacasionally at the beach. I guess this is one tradition that will never be forgotten in our family.

Farewell, dear fellow traveller

Leonie, you will be sorely missed, and the candle lit to remember you by will never be extinguished in my heart, where the flame of those who touched my life burns in perpetuity. Lead the way my friend, travel with carefree abandon and in peace, where all of us will one day rejoin you.

Forward - a thought poem

transcendent life
through birth
existence,
experience
toil, grief,
joy
all the colours
of passion
presented
each moment
for the reaping
youth hesitates
considers
agonizes

death provides transport
to the other side
of a stony wall
the reaper
moves
gracefully
back and forth
delivering
essences
of friends
enemies alike
to the other side
fear wonders
what if I?

more fellow
travellers,
since passed
generations removed
from life newly made
taking spent mortal remains,
most sadly too
those with lives
far to short
grief will
wonder
why?

there
not so
far from here
stands a wall
a wall not there
when I was young
of cold dark stone
evoking fear
and nostrils
sensing the sweetly acrid
stench of death
I have learned the limits
of mortality

the wall of
stoney perception
what was
set in motion
is not mortal
but eternal
so I too shall pass
delivered by
my new confidant
the dark gowned
figure
through stones of
not stone
but ether
knowing
as we are grieved
we are also joyfully
received

as days pass
fear grows
the reaper now stand closer
rarely am I out
of the dark figure's gaze
time moves
only forward
and the stones of the wall
again reveal
they are but ether
after all

in the reapers gaze
I stand and now look back
without fear
he now is
a familiar
a companion
encouraging acceptance
now as age advances
all senses
and all colour
mindfully yet
unhesitatingly
mine

the wall while marking a line
between the mortal and
eternal
offers
joy
reuniting
spirits of
familiar souls
to continue in eternity
forward
here in the mortal world
the legacies
of lives lived
continue in ripples
eternity offers
no here or there
only forever

without fear
now
all senses
all colour
unhesitatingly
mine
each moment
a small piece of
the eternal
in body or ether
I am

aletta

For Leonie, till we meet again.

Silky Comes to Dance With Us

Leonie love the Magic Faraway Tree. She told me it was one of her favourite childhood books. All of us who loved the Faraway Tree loved sweet, gentle Silky. Silky has come up from the tree especially to be here and dance within the magic circle that is filled with love.

Circle dance

time to go…
they say the journey is a long one:
change of robes

-Roshu

Dedicated to Leonie - by Megan Warren

work of Megan Warren 2006

For Leonie - From Karen Roberts

We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic
And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when that fog horn blows I want to hear it
I don't have to fear it
I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
Then magnificently we will float into the mystic
And when that fog horn blows you know I will be coming home
And when that fog horn whistle blows I got to hear it
I don't have to fear it
I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float into the mystic...

Van Morrison

Much love to her wonderful soul on the next phase of her journey...Karen Roberts

The Last Dance With Me

We had laughed and cried and said
we would dance for many more years Leonie
But... the fates intervened
with their scissors
snipping the thread of life so suddenly

So, I'm dancing for you now, as I have never danced before
Leading the celebration of your life
Here in the Gypsy Camp.

Form a circle everyone
And dance the last dance with us.

Candles for Leonie from Fran Sbrocchi

For Leonie