Other News

Happy Birthday to my Sweetie!

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Preparation moves along for this weekend.

Those of you who are coming to help in the demolition festivities don't forget to bring your work gloves and sturdy shoes. We'll provide hard hats, safety glasses and hearing protection.

Tools we could use or use more of:
sledge hammers
cold chisels
wheel barrows
pry bars and wrecking bars
reciprocating saws
cordless drills/drivers
shovels
rakes
other implements of destruction

Please put your name on your tools so they get back to you.

I'd like to remind myself that taking the hemming of the navy petticoat to the last Tuesday night practice outdoors will limit my productivity as the sun sets earlier than 9pm, especially when overcast. Perhaps the yellow knitting would have been a better project idea. You'd think I would have learned this from the hemming of Roland's daggy hood, yellow by daylight, purple by candlelight was brutal. Eh, at least I got it started.

My black cotton/linen petticoat that was my first bit of cartridge pleating ever has now been successfully converted from a back closing petticoat to a front closing petticoat. Note, back closing petticoats are a pain. Apparently I sewed on those hooks and eyes for life as I was only able to remove the hooks and those eyes are stuck on. It is nice to have a garment that I made back in 1997 still be functional and made well enough for me not to be ashamed of it 11 years later.

Despite inspiration from Pennsic and conversations, etc., I am committed to slowly working through my little unfinished projects before starting on something new. I should gather a mend pile as well. I know there are a few items in need of buttons, and mendy bits that I noticed before war and in the great laundry task after-war.
So I need to:

• finish re-hemming the navy petticoat
• finish tacking in the lining on a blue square-necked doublet
• make a few more cloth buttons for the brown wool doublet
• sew button holes and buttons on brown wool doublet
• do the hand sewing on a couple of plain coifs and forehead clothes
• finish hemp boned pair of bodies, lacing holes on second side and edges

that looks like an ambitious enough list so far...
I should take pictures of my finally finished shift and the converted petticoat closure for posterity.

The 2,000-year-old skeleton of a Roman greyhound has been donated to a Lincolnshire, England charity shop. The bones were first discovered at the Lawn in Lincoln in 1986, and are believed to date to the Roman era.

After we used Metro Bath and discovered that others used them with favorable results, I figured I'd ask first this time.

We're in need of recommendations for a kitchen cabinet remodeling. Yes, I know, we don't use our kitchen except for parties, but our cabinets are in dire need of an upgrade (resurfacing or replacing) and we'd like to add a few drawers to some of the lower cabinets, etc. So, any recommendations for companies/contractors in the DC Metro/Silver Spring area? We've got one rough estimate from Home Depot, but I don't remember being thrilled with the options at the time.

Our floors and appliances are fine, we have no complaints about our countertops (they are good enough for us) but we need new cabinet doors and surfaces, hardware, etc.

So, any recommendations out there?

In a series of videos posted on YouTube, Midrealm HR specialist Syr Kyppyn Kirkcaldy offers suggestions for recruiting new members to the SCA and how to keep them.

Not everyone goes to Pennsic! SCA members in Wisconsin who did not attend the War gathered recently in Marshfield to trade blows, practice their skills and have a relaxing day of fun. Reporter Adam Rodewald of the Marshfield News-Herald visited the event.

Gavin Menzies, who in 2002 theorized that the Chinese reached the America's 7 decades before Columbus, has a new theory: Leonardo da Vinci's drawings were based on scientific encyclopedias brought to Italy in 1430 by a Chinese fleet.

I'm tired. With the help of Philip and John I got a lot of little things done, partly in preparation for this weekend and partly because they've needed to get done but I keep forgetting about them or I can't do them when I'm home alone - moving the vent for the hot water heater, painting a section of garage sheathing that you don't see unless you are on the roof, caulking the really high roof edge of the garage, etc. Tomorrow is putting up drywall in the rec-room and taping and mudding the rest of the dry wall in the garage. Also finally got through to the plumber to see what he can do to resolve the issue of the propane line he installed that the building inspector won't pass because the plumber used a new material that isn't covered in the current building codes.

The big dumpster container arrives tomorrow and I pick up the jack hammer on Friday. The new-to-me 15 year old Audi goes in for its repairs on Thursday morning so it will be out of the way for the weekend. Thanks to my brother for finding the necessary parts at a much reduced price than the garage's distributor was offering. I'm lucky that he's a master mechanic and knows where to go for quality parts at good prices. The down side is his focus is mainly high-end German sports cars.

Does it make sense that I clean up my house before a bunch of friends come visit for the weekend to help do demolition?

I hate insomnia.

In your heart are you a Viking? Here's your chance to prove it to the world. The heavy metal group is sponsoring a Viking video contest in which entrants are encouraged to "Create a video of yourself and your friends inspired by Viking lore!" Caution: No raping, pillaging or burning of churches allowed!

Patrick Anderson, President of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., has announced that Renaissance Magazine will offer a discounted subscription for SCA members.

Viscountess Elashava bas Riva, of the Kingdom of Northshield, shares her thoughts and photos of Poorman's Pennsic XVI which took place recently in the Shire of Falcon's Keep.

New research by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage in Malta may show that the island was a center of the wine trade in the 3rd-4th century BCE. The archaeologists are currently mapping wine production sites and will present their findings in Rome this fall.

I was feeling so poorly that I blew off heading down to Danville, VA for a weekend of family and family-friends. First I tried to go to bed early in hopes of getting up early and getting on the road. Yeah, not really. I did sleep for 11 hours though. I took a nap on Saturday and skipped Violence and BBQ up at the Toscano's in lieu of bonding with the couch, napping more, watching random movies on TV (Enchanted, Happily N'Ever After, Gridiron Gang, last part of To Wong Foo...) and in general just being a bum. I slept another 11 hours on Saturday night, and did more of the same on Sunday. The list of things I accomplished is pitifully small; ironing Alan's clean falling bands, finishing the conversion of an old skirt from back closure to front closure, tidying up a bit in the den, putting shoes away from Pennsic, a nice soaking bath. Terrible really.

The non-sucky parts of the weekend were having Kirsten-company for those portions of Friday night and Sat morning that I was awake, getting rid of the KWAR2005 t-shirts that were languishing in my basement, snuggling with my sweetie, and a cool dream that left me with a vivid image.

First of all, I'm not a terribly visual person. It's mostly helpful in that all the gross commentary etc doesn't bother me one  bit, and gross imagry doesn't stick in my brain. So when I get a visual, it's pretty rare, and pretty strong. The one thing I clearly remember from the dream (aside from trying to fill out scrolls in peace, directing folks to court and no one believing me, and dealing with piles of pillows and cloaks) is that Isobel was in Viking. She wasn't just in a T-tunic meeting the spirit of the day, attack_laurel was in an ivory pleated silk underdress (Birka style) with a fitted red wool apron on with lovely embroidery, brooches and tasteful jewelry. She was striking and lovely and perfectly period and it is now seared in my brain. Y'know, perhaps I was thinking of lisettelaroux instead. Someone, get pictures or Lisette at Coronation, please.

So, a chat on the phone with Dr. Mom says my ick sounds like allergies. Allergies?!?! That's some pretty severe allergies. sigh. Perhaps I need a DR appt tomorrow.
hack- cough

Richard Garriott, known in the Kingdom of Ansteorra as Don Shamino, will become the next space tourist when he blasts off in the fall of 2008 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a 10-day stay on the International Space Station.

On July 26, 2008, Their Majesties of the Kingdom of the Outlands offered Morgan Rowanwaif elevation to the Order of the Laurel.

Well...can you pick out MY son? :P



And doesn't my sister make a beautiful bride?

New research on the sinking of the Tudor ship The Mary Rose speculates that the ship may have been lost due to the lack of English language skills by the mostly Spanish crew. The theory might help explain the cryptic shout of "George Carew, to another English ship, that his men were 'knaves I cannot rule.'"

Marie Giroux reports that her lord husband, James the Fletcher, has posted photos and video from the recent Ansteorra Queens Champion event.

Damian Noonan of the Telegraph recently published the "Top 10 links for Romans in Britain," an annotated list of online resources for students of Roman Brittain.

700 years after the Knights Templar were eradicated by the Catholic Church, the Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ has launched a court case in Spain demanding that the Church exonerate the Order and return assets worth EU€100bn.