Travelling Time and Space

Summer is finally here. It's warm and muggy and I find myself paying more attention to my favorite webpage of the National Hurricane Center once again. Hurricane tracker at your service - that'd be me. It's a bad habit I can't seem to do without,

Trimaris' event season more or less ended with TMT. During the next months there aren't many events to keep us SCAdians busy. It will be just too hot and too muggy to be comfortable for long stretches outdoors unless they include a beach. swimsuits and icecream. Again, think winter in Drachenwald when everybody more or less holes up at home in front of the warm hearth to work on all kinds of projects. I'm still dabbling with and working on a project that might be worthy entering into Art-sci but I don't know if it'll be finished in time for Summer Art-Sci in July. It's a bit more ...ah, complex than what I've done in the past and will fit one of the new categories just nicely. It'll also be monumental in regard to documentation ... bleh :o) I'm not going to rush it and if it isn't as presentable as I'd like by July I'll enter it in winter. No sweat - summer is going to be hot enough. I'll still be plenty busy helping judge, fixing scrolls and teaching a class or two or three.

At TMT we tried out brandnew tent for the first time. It's 'just' a wall tent measuring 10x12 [12' wide and 10' long] and omigod do I love it. It's a great size and easily fits our queen sized bed, Finn's camping cot and all our stuff leaving enough room for tables and chairs inside in case the weather is miserable. I loooove it ! Thanks to HL Seannach we had a fantastic Scribal Tea and Their Majesties's pizza surprise floored everybody :o) It's good to be a scribe in Trimaris. We are incredibly spoiled. I spent most of my time walking back and forth between camp and scribes point with an occasional dash across the field to run to a meeting or to see the procession for Crwn tournament. While I brought my camera I didn't ..really... well, take photos, you know ? I'm really bad at that and I've gotten worse over the past year or two. That's why I don't have a picture of my new dress to show you either ... :o(

The modified/new wardrobe was wonderful. I was incredibly comfortable in my wool and linen outfit on Saturday and the blue dress without the sleeves worked just as nice on Sunday. I need to applique some velvet guards and ribbons to the skirt to spiffen it up a bit though. I guess that will go on my summer project list as well :o)~

One of my summer projects is presently taking over the floor in the den - the marquee. Since we now have a big nice tent for family camping I was thinking about making a somewhat bigger version of The Raspberry for when it's just me attending an event. Something I can pitch all by myself in about 10 minutes tops and has enough room for the camping cot and my box'o stuff. The radius of The Raspberry is about a foot too small or rather would be perfect if its radius were a foot wider. So the idea is to separate the marquee's walls from its roof, to modify the roof and re-attach the walls again after shortening them to appropriate length.  An easy enough fix :o) I'll let you know how it goes.

www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/enc hanted_ground.html

www.florilegium.org/files/PENNSIC/Enchnte d-Grd-msg.html 

Darth Vader being, may I say  'difficult' ?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFHdrVfCspU&a mp;NR=1

Why does it feel like I have been constantly doing dishes and laundry for the past two weeks ? I -know- I managed to do some costuming and finished up Navah's Laurel scroll but it sure feels like every waking minute was spend with soapy suds in the kitchen and doing the washer-dryer-fling ... *sigh*

Meh :o( 

Gode Cookery is now on YouTube !

www.youtube.com/GodeCook

My main focus has been the update of our wardrobe before TMT as it'll be the first event in a while that I'll be bringing my whole family - wheee :o)

So far I've finished the following

- 1 white linen Leine with trim at collar and cuffs for hubby

- 1 green linen-blend Leine with trim at collar for hubby 

- updated wool Ionar for hubby adding trim at collar and cuffs and buttons

- 1 white 16th century generic shirt with fake Blackwork-style embroidery at collar and cuff

- 1 butter-yellow wool dress with black velvet trim for moi

- removed sleeves and removed dirty hem altering length of blue T-front German dress pour moi. I'd like to add some black velvet trim on the skirt, maybe even some slashing, but that can wait

- 2 new aprons with varying degrees of decoration [smocking, white-work embroidery over smocking, fake Blackwork embroidery, fake white work embroidery] pour moi because I can't live without'em anymore

- 2 new headwraps pour moi

- 1 new Wulst pour moi

- 2 new linen Hemden pour moi 

Waiting on the production table are two tunics for Finndragon, a pair of 16th century pants and possibly doublet for hubby and a pair of bloomers pour moi again - Finndragon's tunics being top priority. Then, sometime in the future, there's a red linen-blend dress for me on the horizon but that'll be some time. First things first :o)

Our tent arrived Thursday night and we're fixing us some poles.

A certain Laurel scroll is coming along nicely :o) All other requested scrolls are taken care of and all we need to do is refill the coffers.

Life is good. 

Our tent is here - wheeeee !

:o) 

I'm a "foodie" - I love food and I love to eat [unfortunately]. Being a SAHM and having grown up in a family where there was always one homecooked meal on the dinner table I cook fresh pretty much every day. Finndragon has already picked up on that and loves to help chop vegetables and is an expert in topping pizza and rolling croissants.

Bento is taking my love for food one step further while teaching me portion control. A good flavor combined with a nice texture will make me forget that I'm actually full and given the right company I can 'graze' for hours. And though I'm not -fat- I don't want to grow any bigger, really *G* Taller, yes, but not bigger.

Creating Bento boxes not only for hubby but also for my own lunch makes sure I don't go overboard while still eating very well and definitely enough. Chasing toddlers and preschoolers only burns so many calories :o) We are now using 850ml take-away boxes until we get 'real' bento boxes - if I could only decide which one I want, grrrr - they make a decent size lunch for hubby and a good lunch-dinner-combo for myself [and occasionally I'll add a yoghurt or some fruit for an extra snack]

So without further ado here are the latest efforts in Bento :

Hubby's lunch and my lunch and dinner package : Spam Musubi, steamed snow peas tossed in some salted butter with garlic, beef with onions and soy beans stir-fried with a sweet honey-sesame sauce and sliced orange bellpepper as garnish and two Onigiri with portobello mushroom filling and pea-eyes. On the side is a tiny little dish of cherry Jello topped with  a spoonful of custard.

Look, it's a butterfly ! Pan-fried chicken with salt, pepper, garlic and a dash of Tarragon on a bed of noodles with more of the orange bellpepper as the wings. Snowpeas stir-fried with portobello mushrooms and onions and a left-over Onigiri on the side. As dessert there is a piece of cheesecake with a strawberry on the top :o) Yum !

Let's see, what has happened since my last update ...hmmm

Navah's Laurel writ is in full working mode now. It's all laid out and doing the calligraphy and the illumination are going to be very interesting. It's going to be pretty tiny ... pretty and tiny. Somehow small writs have become a real trend for me. I haven't done anything bigger than 8x11 except for Duke Martin's Duchy writ in a loooong time. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the calligraphy today and get the gesso down for the goldleaf tomorrow morning and then I have the rest of this week and next for the illumination. This is all I'll have to do scribe-wise until TMT, everything else is already covered and taken care of and crossed off of His Majesty's request list. Yay for industrious Trimarian Scribes :o)

Sometime this week our tent should be arriving in the mail. We finally broke down and ordered a simple 10x12 walltent for family-use. I'll turn the blue and white marquee into a smaller wedge tent sometime this summer for when I go to an event all by myself and can't find a spot in a cabin and for hubby's armor and/or for use as a bathroom or even a playtent for Finndragon we can always use "The Raspberry". Next thing on our encampment list are chairs/benches and a 6-panel chest or two. It'll be fun to be at events with hubby more often. He's even talking about getting back into armor ...wheeee ! It's been a while since I got to watch my Champion on the field :o)

Sunday was Mother's Day and after being treated to a breakfast in bed lovingly arranged and served by hubby and Finndragon I was allowed to venture off on my own. That -is- a treat, I tell you *L* The chance of shopping, browsing through a book store, -any- store without having to chase a toddler or at least keeping an eye on little hands on discovery tour is a rare one and a cherished one too. I opted for the library hoping to spend some time with a couple of nice reference books only to discover that the library was closed ...grrr. Oh well, there are bookstores which are just as nice even though that usually means suffering eyes bigger than my wallet. Halfway across the bridge I took a wrong turn and found myself headed for a used bookstore instead. It was once of those trips that were meant to happen. Only 10 minutes into casually browsing I discovered the first beautiful facsimile, the "Tres Riches Heures de Duc de Berry", which I own but not in such a scrumptious leather binding. From there on it was like I had opened the doors to a magic lair filled with the most exquisite books on book arts of the Middle Ages and my eyes almost popped out of my head when I finally found a facsimile of "The Visconti Hours". Oh - my - god ! I counted my 'blessings' and hoped it'd be enough since I hadn't brought my creditcard and after a pleading look, turning my wallet upside-down and inside-out and handing over my last riches it was MINE ! Mine, mine, mine ! Muhahahaha !

The illumination is so heartbreakingly beautiful in its vibrant colors it takes your breath away. I can't stop drooling over it :o)

Hmmm, whatelse...

I need to sew one hemd for myself and at least one more tunic for Finn. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow night during A&S Night at my house. Beldthora wanted to come over for some help on a norse underdress and I can easily add my sewing stuff to the set-up instead of claiming half the room for painting. And to continue the sewing saga I feel the need for a change in accent pillow covers coming up. Sometime soon I think a trip to JoAnns will have to be in order :o)

Alas, for now it's off to take care of some more laundry and floor-mopping so the munchkins and I can take off for Kids Campus this afternoon :o) 

After my husband declared he wanted to tag along for TMT I discovered that that involved a bit of sewing on my part.

TMT is usually the last camping event here in Trimaris heralding the arrival of high summer with its blasting heat and energy drenching humidity and the time of quiet withdrawal with projects into airconditioned houses and homes - think winter in Drachenwald.

Hubby doesn't have much garb, mainly because he hasn't been really all that actively playing for the past 3 years, and even less nice garb for a hot summer event. [One of my first SCA gifts to him right after we started dating were two woolen tunics ... heh, naive as I was I thought he'd need them here *giggle*]. Tim loves all things Irish and so it's not surprising that he picked an Irish persona for play in the SCA. That is the reason I now know about ionar and leine and while my first attempts weren't bad, they aren't good either.

Yesterday I finished the first of the items I promised hubby for TMT : a seafoam green linen-blend leine adorned with a piece of green and blue trim I have held on to for the past 5 years [and that just looks fabulous as part of the leine]. Hubby tried it on last night after I came back from the local group's meeting and it fits just perfectly. Yay me :o)

So today I'll embark on the adventure of altering hubby's existing white linen leine. The fit is horrible at best and while hubby assures me he loves it as it is I can't stand to wtach him fussing with it since it tends to want to crawl up his neck and over his shoulders. Gah ! Anyhow, I'll copy the layout and measurements of the pieces for the green leine and that'll solve those issues. and give hubby a second proper and comfortable leine. He already has one ionar and for court I'll make him another one using the very pretty cotton gold brocade that I have. It's a geometric pattern so it's not girly and won't look out of place. There is quite a bit of talk about gold threaded fabric in Irish legends [I even found the description to a red polkadotted leine ...heh] so I should be  somewhat out of the realm of fantastic conjecture.

And then I have to see if I can maybe whip up the same outfit for Finndragon ...*giggle* 

"FROM LAUREL - KWHSS 2008 in Drachenwald
The bid for Known World Heraldic Symposium 2008 has been awarded
to the Shire of Thamesreach in the Kingdom of Drachenwald. The
event will be held the weekend of September 5-7, 2008 at
University College, London. "

I -so- want to go. Of course for the time being we have plans to go to Germany for Christmas and it's an awfully long time to bridge from September to December .... gnnph. But, man, it'd be nice :o)

Since 4 o'clock this afternoon I have a new dress - yay me :o) It's ready to wear although I would like to applique some more black velvet ribbon for some extra 'oomph'. I used the butter yellow wool to whip up a quick and very simple German Renaissance style dress with the simple t-guard front and a black velvet guard on the skirt. It is short-sleeved so it'll be wearable in Trimarian summers and comfortable in the fall. Maybe I'll add sleeves later or even sew some tie-on sleeves that'll look as if they are actually attached for later. For now, it'll do just fine.

Next on my to-do list is a new smock [German : Hemd] to go under it. Most of my old ones suck since I created them when I knew even less about sewing than I do now but it never stopped me from at least trying. All of my garb except for one bodice and a skirt is sewn entirely by me, not to mention most of hubby's active wardrobe and of course Finndragon's stash of outgrown garb *sigh* That reminds me that I really have to whip something up for the two of them before TMT since both will be coming along for the weekend [which is too cool for words *G*].

I fixed hubby's Renaissance shirt/Hemd but there's still the pair of pants from hell with its issues that needs fixing and he can't wear the hemd and the pants and not have a doublet/Wams of some sort. Meh :o/ Maybe I'll go irish on him again. He'll love it and I have some scrumptious, deliciously luxurious linen in red and white that'll work.