My Father, a Tribute to a Kind Man

This blog post is going to be longer than usual, and even so, how can one summarize one's feelings and memories of a person within the pages of any medium. It's an impossible task as there are so many fond memories, so many things to say and so many little details about a person that makes them unique. Nevertheless, I am going to make an attempt to jot down some things about the wonderful man that was my father. Thus, I will focus on my most precious memories of him, and in doing so, try to give justice to the amazing person that he was. I also want to mention that this blog post is quite late in the making. My father passed away over two years ago, but until now I have not had the heart to finish it. As some of you know, I haven't blogged about anything else either, though maybe I should have - but it just didn't seem right to do so, before finishing this.

Who was my father? An American and yet not an American. He was born and raised in USA but in some ways he little resembled what some consider to be the American archetype. Of course, there is a lot to be said of archetypes - naturally, one cannot judge a person by their nationality alone, and nevertheless there are archetypes of just about every nationality there is. I guess archetypes say more about culture in general than it does about people. Nevertheless, many associate Americans with chattiness, that wasn't my dad - his personality was more laid back and less out there. He, like I, enjoyed listening and only chimed into a conversation when he had something thoughtful to say. He was the type who let his actions speak for him, but he wasn't shy or unsocial in any way. Instead, I would describe him as calm, mild mannered and empathetic. He had many characteristics of an introvert and yet he always seemed comfortable in crowds. He was in fact very easy going, and had a wonderful sense of humor. A person can be many things, I guess, and he had a complex personality - a rare combination of traits that made him unique and very loved. 

Other parts of the American soul, he had in spades. He was an alpha male in all the best meanings of the word - hard working, family oriented, a man of many talents and a great role model in many ways. He believed in self reliance and what he didn't know how to do, he soon found out, and made sure he did right. Anything from carpentry to cooking, he mastered, and since he picked up new things quickly, he did so quite speedily as he went along. Anything you asked him to help you with, he did, without a moment's doubt. Happily even. In that way he was the very embodiment of the American dream in its original form - he realized his dreams through hard work, and nothing seemed impossible to achieve with him around.

One of my first memories of my father is of waiting for him to come home from work. I looked forward to that every weekday. My mother would be in the kitchen cooking and I'd look out the window as soon as I heard the sound of a car outside, hoping to see the red Opel that he was driving. I'd ask, "is daddy coming home soon?" many times and my heart would swell every time that red Opel entered our driveway. I was always so happy to see him, and of course I'd run to welcome him home. Strangely though, what I remember most vividly today about him coming home is seeing the headlights bouncing off the garage wall and running to the window to see that red car. It's weird how memories work sometimes. 

Other early memories I have are of him reading bedtime stories for me, sitting on the floor beside my bed. I had a thick book filled with stories for each day of the year. "365 Bedtime Stories" it was called, but we didn't follow its almanack, and he would read several stories for me every night since they were really quite short - they were like a quarter of a page with a picture to go with them. I remember there was one about a princess called Aurora. That was my favorite (mainly because it had such a pretty picture) and he'd read it to me on many occasions without complaint. That was the man he was. Kind and gentle. He'd read to me every night even though sometimes he was so tired he'd almost fall asleep himself right there on the floor beside my bed, with my book in his hands. I still have the book somewhere, I'ts one of those things I'll always keep.

Of course I have memories that any daughter of a loving father has. Like the ones of him giving me a push so that I could ride my first bike (I couldn't start without him), of him taking me to ice skating practice and bringing hot chocolate that was always a little too sweet (he loved it that way) or of trying to coax him into taking a swim with me in the lake that we lived by (one of the coolest lakes in the country, brrr, I know now why he wasn't always so keen). Many little moments, that seem to have gone by so fast, where did time go?

I remember being fascinated with dad's camera. He had a DSLR and its many dials and buttons had me hooked. It was magical to me how he took so many nice pictures. Though sometimes I wished he'd shoot faster - as a kid I was always on the move and standing still for a photo wan't always what I had in mind. His interest in photography stuck with me though, I'll always associate photography with him, and all the many wonderful memories he captured in his view finder. I'm so glad to have them all, and I'm glad that he was not always behind the camera himself.

When I was a teen, I went through one of those awkward phases - who doesn't? I remember dad smiling at me often, and me being confused as to why. Like many teens I was confused about a lot of things back then. But now I know why he smiled, and I regret not smiling back very often then. What I wouldn't give for one of his smiles now. He smiled because he loved me of course, but as a self centered teen I was too stuck in my own little world to see it. Dad smiled a lot. Reflecting back, I think he was simply a very happy person, with a big soft heart. What a wonderful thing for a father to be.

When I married, dad walked me down the aisle to my future husband. Mom told me later how proud he was at that moment, thinking of that brings tears to my eyes. It was wonderful to have his large hand to hold on to, walking down to the beach where I got married, all jittery, emotional and with my heart pounding. I also love the symbolism of it - the most important male figure in my life handing over the role of protector to my husband. It is a beautiful tradition, feminism be damned - it's not about that to me. To me it is a show of trust, acceptance and welcoming my husband into the family. That he did, without a moment's doubt. He never questioned my choice of life partner, he loved my husband like a son and was happy to see us happy. That was who he was; a welcoming person.

When we moved to our house, dad, handy that he was, never said "no" when we needed help. I remember tearing out the old kitchen and building a new one with him, mom and my hubby. Dad was easy to get along with and he cooperated with such ease. Everything seemed to go smoothly with him around. Mom and I would assemble kitchen cabinets and drawers, and dad and my hubby would fit them together and attach them to the walls. My hubby would cut the floor tiles, dad would mix the adhesive cement paste, mom would scrape it on the flor and I would put out the pattern I wanted. We were a small, well oiled renovation team, and dad was my go to guy if I needed advice - he always had such wise things to say.

Dad was never one to pretend he was something he was not. I remember being on a trip with him, mom and my hubby, sitting in a restaurant just about to order some wine to go with the food. When the waiter asked what wine he'd like to order he simply said "nothing too expensive, they all taste the same to me". We all had a good laugh with him, it wasn't the most tactful thing he could have said, but it was so typical of him. He was not a fancy man, he was honest and down to earth, and he never minded laughing at himself. I loved that about him.

My father was a wonderful painter. He painted with oil and almost all the paintings at his and moms house were of his own make, beautiful and colorful. Sadly, he hardly painted anything after I was born - he only painted a handful of paintings that he made for me. I treasure them all. One of them was of a motif that is very close to my heart - a place from a book that I love. I always dreamed of having an interpretation of it on my wall. Having him paint it for me took the motif to a whole extra level of meaningful. He gave it to me on one of my birthdays, it was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes and I told him so. He replied that my reaction put tears into his eyes as well. We hugged and I stupidly tried to put a lid on my emotions, thus ending that wonderful moment. I love that painting, I love that memory, and I love that the giving of the gift affected him as much as it affected me receiving it. I will never forget how beautiful that moment was. 

Lastly, I would say that dad was stoic. He never burdened anybody, even though we would't have minded him doing so. Five years ago dad found out he was dying. Yet he never let on how it must have affected him. He simply kept on smiling, being his usual loving self, sometimes perhaps even more so. I remember visiting him and mom, walking into the front door asking "now, who should I hug first?", "ME!" he exclaimed in a happy voice as he jumped towards me and gave me a big hug. I will always treasure that moment. It was so unexpected and wonderful in every way. Dad knew he didn't have much time left with us, yet he didn't show any signs of self pity, mourning or bitterness. He treasured every moment and made the most of life, right up until the end. I hope to take that aspect of him with me, treasuring every moment life has to give, smiling my way through hard times, showing love towards my friends and family and aspiring to follow the wonderful role model my father was to me.

/MrsHjort

Day 4 - Bells and Clock Faces

We're still in Martinikerk. There are things to see inside you see. Like the bells, a short history video about the city and the church and a bell organ (is that the right word? It's the one that came to mind at). It was a nice surprise.

You're getting a bonus shot today. I think you can guess who this is, but for those that are not so familiar this is Mr, the apple of my eye and the inspiration for one of my BotS series' main characters. He's not as crazy in real life, though he sure likes to goof around. He doesn't like having his picture taken though, so getting to shoot him is rare. I'm working on getting him comfortable in front of the camera, but I can't really say anything because I'm the same way. I like being the one behind the camera :)

On a different note, I never stop being surprised of just how much difference the raw format makes. It's so cool how it can save pictures like the bottom one. It totally helps not having to worry about exposure as much as I used to.

/MrsHjort 

Day 23 - Joy

If you like birds, Riva del Garda is a nice place to visit. Not to say that there are rare birds there, I really wouldn't know, but there are plenty of them and there were baby birds everywhere when we were there. Some of them were pretty used to people too, as you can see. Mr could hardly contain himself with joy as these ducklings marched towards him going "pip pip pip" :) The mother was nearby and kept a watchful eye on them, but she let him pet them for quite a while. If I hadn't had my camera so close at hand I would have been jealous, but getting to preserve this moment was a pleasure.

/MrsHjort

Day 22 - Superman

As we went out on our morning walk along the mini mountain path, I stepped up the last steps of the stairs and found this - the light shining down on my hubby as he stood there, looking out on the city as if he was its protector. An unreal sight, almost magical. "Hold it right there!" Guess if he was pleased as I showed it to him :D

/MrsHjort

13 Hours of Christmas

So, as I was crazy enough to sign up for a 12 hour challenge on Daggerbay, here goes! Here's 12 hour of Christmas with our jolly, loud and exuberant family :)

8:24 
I wake up with my usual sleeping buddies, meaning Mr and this little lady, who continues to watch over my morning routines hehe. It's the morning of Christmas eve, which is when Swedes celebrate Christmas, and the family will come over in the afternoon - meaning, lots to prepare!

9:22
Rather than showing you a bunch of shots of me cleaning our house, I though I'd share this little Christmas favorite of mine - this knitted Santa my grandmother made me back when I was a child. She was a wonderful lady, who always knitted us beautiful things. I still get tear in my eyes thinking of how much love she pored into it all. I remember how she apologized for running out of the red yarn half way up the red coat of this wonderful creation. That was my Grannie haha,  I've always loved it... How I miss her!

10:06
Mr is the boss in the kitchen, he's so much better at it than I am and I'm very happy to let him run the show. He's a wonderful cook! I have to watch my weight with him around. It's way to easy to eat too much when everything he makes is so delicious. Here he is preparing one of the upcoming Christmas dinner dishes, and enjoying a Swedish Christmas drink - glögg (a sort of mulled wine, that we drink with almond flakes and rasens).

11:42
I've long since given up on trying to convince the rest of the family to restrict the Christmas prezzies to the children alone. Most Swedish families don't buy Christmas presents for everybody, you see, but do "secret Santa" or some kind of raffle instead, and some even do Christmas games where you have to win your presents. Not our family though, nope! We go above an beyond haha! This isn't even all of the presents, it's not even half of them! It's a big hassle to buy one for everybody - and I hate shopping - but I have to admit, nothing beats the atmosphere of antecipation and joy that they bring. The children can hardly keep their fingers away waiting, and we have to keep them from examinering the presents a little too closely.

12:01
Getting snow for Christmas in Sweden is more unusual than you'd think, or well at least it is where I live. I'd say the chance is about 50/50. You see, we live by the second largest lake in Sweden, and it helps keep the area warm in the winter. So, if you go up to the "highland" from where I live, you can go from this, to a whole lot of snow in a short distance. It's kind of nice in the autumn, because it delays the cold and keeps our streets free from ice a bit longer than everywhere else, but it decreases our chansers of a white Christmas, and it delays spring. Sometimes it even freezes over, and that's when you know spring will be unusually late. It's a very cold and deep lake... It's very rarely freezes though. Also, being so deep, it seldom gets warm enough for one to want to go for a swim in it - it takes a lot of time to heat all that water. It's beautiful though, and very clean. As you can tell, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship to it haha.

This is the view from our attic. The lake is in the distance, and, as you can see, we didn't get any snow this Christmas. There was ice-rain though, a lot of good it did us, ha!

13:02
The first guests arrive! My parents, always early and just as happy as you see them here. Sweden is like that. If you're expected to come at a certain time, people will show up right then, and not a moment later. Being more than 10 minutes late is rude, and it's better to show up 10 minutes early. Many of my friends from abroad shake their heads at that haha! But anyway, these are my parents. Swedish mother, American father. They met on a stroke of luck when on a holiday in yet on other country, and now here they are :)

14:10
I don't know how common these are outside of Sweden, but we eat these "prince sausages" every Christmas, along with loads of other traditional food, like meat balls, Jansons frestelse, herring, turkey and much, much more. It's where the word smorgasbord comes from - smörgåsbord. Since our family is kind of large, we do potluck. It would simply not work otherwise, and so each of the guests bring their assigned dishes, and, as hosts, we try to coordinate the best we can. That's where Mr comes in, and I'm very happy to leave all that stuff to him :)

15:58
This is Mr carving the Christmas ham. That's the super star of the Swedish Christmas foods and it's preparation is a science of its own. Mr has been experimenting for years to get it better and better. First you have to pick the right one, be it a pig or wild boar, then it has to be boiled and baked in so or so many degrees for this or that long. Mr has gotten really good at it - even I who don't particularly enjoy ham, like the way he makes it.

16:15
Tada! All the dishes are finally heated and ready! They're so many they don't even fit into the picture, that's not even mentioning the desserts. We actually forgot one of the dishes in the refrigerator this year - my mother's orange and walnut sallad. It's one of my personal favorites, yum! I cannot believe we forgot it.... eeeer well, okay then, yes I guess I can really, there are just so many dishes (and I've got a cold, so my head isn't quite screwed on right), so, it's a wonder it doesn't happen more often really haha. Oh well, it tasted just as good this morning as we ate some of the leftovers. That's a wonderful thing to have every Christmas day - lots of yummy leftovers when you're too lazy to make breakfast. We'll have leftovers for days, even though we sent all our guests home with food too!

17:27
After dinner things calm down a bit, and we all sit down, too tired from eating all the food to do anything sensible. Just like it should be. Food is half the spirit of Christmas in Sweden. At this point, we just sit down and enjoy each other's company, catching up about whatever and talking about nothing in particular. I really enjoy when the whole family gets together like this, both my side and Mr's. All the people I love under one roof, what could possibly be better? If the food makes up one half of Christmas, family makes up the other.

18:02
The Children's wait is over and Santa has finally arrived! It's all a bit weird though, as all the presents have been under the Christmas tree all day, haha, but luckily the children don't think of that. Mr was worried he wouldn't be able to fool them this year - the girl in this picture was a bit suspicious last year and suspected it was him under that white beard. So, he bought a better costume and though up a better cover story to explain why he had to leave all of a sudden. He was so happy when it worked! The magic of Christmas got to endure a year longer, yey!

19:19
It's desert time! After everybody has opened their presents, it's the perfect time for sweeties. In this picture you'll see two of the Swedish classics. First, there's the orange rice, which is not to be mistaken by rice a la Malta... seriously, don't! Or my father in law, who made it, will explain it to you, in full detail haha. That's actually also one of the traditions. Not a Christmas goes by without that particular lecture. He has also made the other sweet in this picture - the controversially named ball... Don't ask, I'll just leave it at that ;)

20:51 (bonus)
Our evening ends with Christmas quizzes. They're not usually about Christmas, or the same questions would pop up every second year or so, but about trivia in general. I'm the worst at that sort of thing! Mr though, won both of them, the brainiac that he is. Just don't tell him I said so ;)

So there you go! 12 hours of Christmas, plus one extra bonus hour. I've never made this challenge before, it was a lot of fun!

Merry Christmas everybody!

/MrsHjort

CCC - August: Calm Afternoon

I was very happy to win the August competition. It's the first contest of the calendar series that I've won this year. That's always a great feeling, but this was even more special...

You see, I got a new camera for my birthday this year. I turned 30, and my family had all pitched in and bought me a brand new Nikon D7100 together. They're just the best (thank you, thank you, thank you!)! This win, is extra special because this is one of the very first photos I shot using my new toy, it's the first time I tried the HDR function that I had been longing for, and it's the first one taken with my new camera that I entered into a competition. That made the win all the more special to me. It was so great to be able to tell my family about the win when they asked me how I liked my new camera :)

/MrsHjort

Day 23 - City Life

I'm a bit late, sorry. I was just so exhausted after work yesterday... Mr and I just crashed on the sofa that evening. Add some good food, a bit of nice wine and a few hours of snooker (Shanghai Masters) and you'll have our evening. It was lovely! Just what we needed.

Anyway... I just found this shot and thought it would be fun to add it to the challenge, on account of the cyclist. I'm really enjoying Craig's series of action shots from the races. I can't believe how many gorgeous shots he has. Check it out his collection if you haven't already :)

/MrsHjort

Day 14 - Robert the Bruce

This is an ancestor of mine, or at least he may be, genealogy can be quite tricky it seems. You see, a relative of mine researched the family tree a while back, and for a long time, we were sure that we stemmed from the Scottish royal family. Later, he found out that somewhere along the line two people with the exact same name crossed paths, and we could have stemmed from either one of them. So, either I carry a bit of royal blood, or a little dash of blood from a certain tailor. Funny huh? Anyway, we're definitely sure that there's Scottish blood in there, and that's pretty cool no matter whom it came from. That connection makes Scotland special to me.

/MrsHjort

Day 22 - Aged

I can't help but wonder how this would have looked when it was brand new. The fine apartments of the castle were all beautifully decorated and filled with wonderful details such as this. It must have been stunning! Though as beautiful as it must have looked back in the day, I think I like this better, not to live in mind you, but as a subject for photography.

Speaking of photography, I've gotten a brand new camera (Nikon D7100) as a birthday present from my family, and I'm having so much fun checking it out! All the new functions are so much fun to explore. I was just outside in my garden testing the HDR-settings and I'm very satisfied with the results I got. It's so much easier than the way I used to do it. As a matter of fact I've just entered one of the HDR shots from today into the Calendar Corsair Challenge for this month at DaggerBay. So you'll get to see it in a bit over a week. Time will tell how it all goes.

/MrsHjort

Day 20 - White Door

An other Saturday and we're hosting yet another birthday party. It's quite fun do get to celebrate my birthday almost the entire month haha. This time it's with my family. We had planned to invite them all earlier, but both Mr and I were sick back when we had planned to host the family dinner, so we had to cancel. We're still not 100% well, this dang cough just never ends, but we're definitely well enough to celebrate, eat cake and enjoy ourselves.

As usual Mr prepared my cake, and as usual he has outdone himself! He tries to make the cakes larger and more yummy each year haha. So, this year it's a 8 layered cake, with 30 written in blueberries on top, and a lot of fruit and berries inside. Yum yum yum! I'll try to take a picture and show you the masterpiece.

See you tomorrow

/MrsHjort

Fun in the Sun

Spring has arrived, no scratch that, summer has arrived, skipping spring almost entirely this year. Here's a picture of someone who very much enjoys the sun and the feel of fresh new grass under her little kitty feet. The cats are always so happy when they get to go outside for the first time of the season. If you've ever seen cows released into the fields, you know what I'm talking about. They may not be as jumpy and intensive, but they're positively giddy and go around smelling everything like it's the first time again.

I'll see you out in the sun :)

/MrsHjort

Day 7 - Portrait of a Hearty Mother

I've always loved this shot. It spot on shows just how this person is. I've never known quite what to do with it in post-ed though. It never occurred to me to try B&W, yet it proved the best choice - the building behind the subject is a bit too dominant, and this way it does not steal the attention away from her. It's much better this way.

So this concludes my week of square cropped black and white portraits. I was worried I wouldn't make it - not all pictures do well as square crops - but I managed to find seven of them. It's been an interesting challenge.

I don't know it the challenge will continue one more week yet, we'll see. But I'll keep the possibility in mind and have a think on what theme to go for.

Cheers

/MrsHjort

Day 6 - Portrait of a Playful Man

Many of you will recognize this person, and the kitty too I think. This is Mr and Freya :)

I shot this for a contest about three years ago but I ended up going with a different picture since this one didn't quite strike my fancy at the time. The shadow on the right bugged me and the lens I used made a shadow in the lower right corner. This was before my external flash... Now that I've added a vignette to the shot those thing do not bother me as much anymore though...

I'm glad this finally got to see the light of day. It's one of those rare pictures where Mr doesn't look uncomfortable. Maybe because he is holding Freya haha, she on the other hand, looks a bit like she'd rather stand on her own four paws. They make a cute pair nevertheless :D

/MrsHjort

Day 5 - Portrait of a Cunning Boy

Here's an other candid portrait. If I remember correctly, I shot it just after getting my Sigma macro lens. It eases the process of taking candid portraits a lot because, using it, you don't have to be as close to your "victims" haha. It makes it much easier to catch family members unawares. Man, now it sounds like I'm a creep haha! I love those little moments you get though. They're so genuine, and I love the mood they create, like this one, pure curiosity :).

As some of you know I lost my photography spark this winter (the lack of colors outside depresses me), and I haven't really my camera to that any social events lately. I'm gonna have to start doing that again. Having found so many old nuggets in my shoebox made me realize how fun it can be.

Cheers

/MrsHjort

Day 4 - Portrait of a Gifted Teen

I love doing candid portraits whenever I can manage. With a big DSLR camera and an external flash it is hard to stay unnoticed haha. But occasionally someone is distracted or have drifter away in thought enough for me to catch them off guard.

I sometimes wish I could be invisible... the cloak in Harry Potter comes to mind. Man would I love one of those! Imagine what great candid portraits I would get! Especially of those loved ones who are uncomfortable in front of a camera...

Mr is one of those people. If I had a nickle for every "uncomfortable picture" I have of him I would have enough money to buy a brand new camera haha. It does not keep me from trying though. Sooner or later I manage to get him :)

/MrsHjort

Day 3 - Portrait of a Thoughtful Friend

Since the portraits are a series, I am aiming to make them look similar to each other. This means that I end up doing more or less the same things to them in post-ed. It's a bit mundane, but a good exercise, and it's still fun. Especially since I work with portrait of people that are dear to me. Editing them makes me smile.

I've always loved the portraits I got from this particular photo-shoot, but since the colorful sky was so beautiful I've never even thought of doing them in B&W before. The background looks great this way too though, don't you think?

Cheers

/MrsHjort

Day 1 - Portrait of a Strong Woman

I didn't think I'd make it an other week, but I decided I'd at least give it a shot. So, this week I'll be focusing on portraits - something I don't do very often, as I'm not that comfortable with doing them. And, to make things even more unusual, I will be going with black and white portraits - I love colors, and for that reason I've never stepped into the realm of B&W if I didn't have to for some reason. Hopefully I'll learn to get more comfortable with it as I go haha. I'm still sticking to the Nic collection though, which is (thankfully) easing the process of editing B&W a lot! Finally, I will aim to do square crops - I don't do that very often either.

So here's to making it a really unusual week, hopefully it will be fun :D

Cheers

/MrsHjort

17:57 - Right where I Left You

There just had to be a shot of Freya in the bunch. She's too much a part of the daily routine to skip. She's right beside my pillow as I wake up in the morning, she follows me around the house wherever I go, and she's always sitting in the window when I get home from work to welcome me home. Talk about loyalty.

Aren't pets wonderful?

/MrsHjort

Busy Busy Busy

As you most likely gathered by my last post, there's a lot to do right now - starting a new site is a lot of hard work! Don't get me wrong though, I absolutely love it! I'm totally addicted to Dagger Bay already! Creating a place for the spirit of our old home to live on in is so much fun! There are so many new ideas and discussions floating around. It's very inspiring! We are so fortunate! So many amazing people have chosen to join us, and they've brought a truckload of enthusiasm and zeal with them. So, let me say thank you, to all of ye fellow pirates out there! If you read this, I want you to know how thankful we all are for your input. We want our new home to be worthy of you! Keep those creative juices flowing ;)

Cheers

/MrsHjort

New Beginnings

It's a brand new year, filled with new possibilities, surprises and adventures! Time to move forward and start fresh. And, with that in mind, what could be more fitting than a new favorite online hangout spot?

As some may know, the well known site Worth1000 has changed owners and is in the process of moving. Nobody likes change, but I have kept an open mind throughout the process and have been willing to give the new place a chance. As it turned out, the new place offered is not even a shadow of the awesomeness that is W1K. Thus, for many reasons, of I which won't ramble on about here, I have chosen not to stay on...

Instead I chose a fresh new home. And what could be better than a place developed by one of our own? A well known "Worthian" who knows what the site is about and has been a contributing member of the community for a long time. Color me impressed when I heard the news that a new home was in the making, and my jaw dropped even further when I saw what this one person had accomplished in only one month! It's so much more than that other place, and I just know it's going to be grand when it's finished!

My new home is being created by a generous person, who has put in hours and hours in it's making. It is called Dagger Bay and it's growing, fast! Just one week ago we were only a handful of members, and now there's 119 of us. Now if that's not impressive I don't know what is! It's a true testimony to just how awesome this place already is. When most of a community's most active members move to the same place, you know it's good. And that is just what has happened here. Wow!

Dagger Bay is currently just a forum, but things are happening fast and soon we will be able to host all sorts of contests - effects, photo, illustration, writing, multimedia and strips (BotS)! We're aiming at adding more familiar features as time passes and, in time, I think it has the potential to become even better than what we had. The drive and passion of creation drives us forward and I just love the joy of it all. Dagger Bay has found its way into my heart faster than I could ever have imagined.

I hope my shameless promotion of Dagger Bay hasn't scared you away haha. I just really really want to get my feeling across. Please come join us! If you know us, let me tell you that we're still that merry old bunch you're so familiar with, and if you don't, then I'll tell you that you couldn't find a better community out there, com join us and find out what a fun gang we are :D

/MrsHjort