Travelling Time and Space

Last night I began dabbling with a new look and new content for my webpage.

I felt it needed a different look, a better design, and of course more content. So far I'm pretty happy with the new look. A look that also suits my current persona much better than the old one; more German, more proper in the typical formal German way :o) Now it's on with the content which I considered a bit 'thin' on the old page. I have a few ideas already laid out as you can tell from the navigation.

So stay toned for further changes and additions.Finndragon is begging for access to the computer to play with a phonics program and I have some laundry to take care of. Catch you later!

Two more weeks and it's been a year since that fateful day when the King and Queen and the Laurels of Trimaris announced their desire to elevate me to the Order of the Laurel.

Much has happened since then; time has zapped by in a whirlwind of events, both mundane and SCA, and luckily I did find time to ponder a few aspects regarding my new role. This thought process was helped along a lot by aiding two dear friends, one a Peer, the other a fellow scribe, in their journey to a Peer-apprentice relationship. Just like teaching educates the teacher, acting as a sort of sounding board helped me figure out a few of those details I would consider important were I to take on an apprentice anytime soon. Of course my understanding of an apprenticeship and the role of the Peer in it is heavily influenced by my time as apprentice to Terafan :o)

Keep in mind that these are -my- views and mine only. Other Peers think and do things differently and if you disagree with any of the thoughts expressed here, chances are that an other Peer is a better fit for you *S* You are welcome to disagree and I welcome debate but it's very unlikely you will change my mind about these ideas expressed here.

• I'm not actively hunting for an apprentice. If it happens, it happens, but I'm not desperate :o)
• I think that being a student, an "apprentice on probation", for a set number of months before becoming an official apprentice is good for both parties; you get to test eachother and there is no akwardness when you decide that this isn't working for either of you.
• I cannot see myself taking on more than one or two apprentices at a time. My apprentice will have a premier claim to my time, attention and resources second only to my real family and I do want to make sure that I'm able to honor this claim to the fullest.
• I feel that being in fealty to my Laurel as an apprentice lend a whole new level and depth of commitment to our apprentice-peer-relations hip and I plan to continue this tradition.
• I do not believe in sharing apprentices or sharing associates :o)  During my peerage ceremony I swore to share my knowledge regardless. I feel that if you already have a devoted relationship with one Peer you do not need another just for learning/teaching and so far I haven't really seen a double-association (multicolored beltage) that works well and/or makes sense to me. That being said, I know from my own experience that there is a lot of benefit and value in fosterage to another Peer especially for long distance apprenticeships.
• I like medieval pomp and pageantry so I'm all set with notes on how an apprenticing ceremony should be done in my world (provided the apprentice-to-be isn't opposed to the idea). I love medieval apprentice contracts aka indentures and definitely would write one up for the occcasion. I also like to give presents and have a really cool idea for one that I would love to give as a "signature" gift :o)
• I suck at keeping in touch by telephone but I'm always quickly available via email and my experience with Terafan has shown me that long distance apprenticeships can work if both parties involved work at it making an effort to stay in touch. I'm sure it works a lot better for self-starters than for those who want more guidance and actual company from their Peer but it is do-able. Anybody interested in becoming an apprentice to me need to know that due to the nature of my husband's profession we are likely to move out of kingdom at some point.

So there. That's my contribution for today :o) I'll catch you later with maybe some more ponderings and musings.

There is nothing better than waking up to an ILL notification in your mail box.

Just saying :o)

I think a quick update is in order :o)

Not too long ago this morning I dropped Finndragon off at the bus stop for his school, then went home for some leisure time before having to head out for work myself. Fortunately today that 1h between Finndragon leaving and me having to head out doesn't have to be spend doing household chores. Yay :o) Hubby is still snoozing in bed; he caught a cold and even stayed home yesterday to fight off the worst of it in quiet solitude (which tells you how bad he felt).

Finndragon's love for his school is still going strong and so is mine. On thursday last week we attended our first parent education night at his school and again we learned more about Montessori making us appreciate and love the school even more so. Finn's a lucky bug for being able to attend it.

Friday night I taught a persona class at the A&S night I host at I my place. We had a great turn out with a good mixture of old, not so old and really new members which was great and the class went really well, in my opinion. I might add this one to my "stash" of available classes, in case somebody is interested in me teaching it again.

Saturday we had a party in honor of his 5th birthday. We had originally planned to hold it at a beautiful children's park, not too far away, but crappy rainy weather and Obama's visit attracting about 20,000 people to the park right next to it made us move it to our apartment. It was a lot of fun! A traditional kid's birthday party with games, crafts, cake and presents and grilled hotdogs for lunch, and while we never got around to the games because the kids were busy coloring, playing with Finn's toys and digging through the sandbox on the porch, everybody seemed to have had fun. I know I liked it much better than any Chucky-Cheese, Ollie Koala's party we have been to so far ...

Sunday we spent a lazy day at home with a long walk through our beautiful neighbourhood and then headed a few blocks downtown to noodle about the Main library. Each of us came home with a huge stack of books.

We have a cookies dinner coming up and I finally managed to decide on the recipes for the menu and sent them out ast night. I'll be teaching two classes at Michaelmas-Scriptorium (Care and feeding of 15th century Flemish drolleries and Making brushes, in case you are curious) and I'm negotiating a medieval pigment workshop with a group of scribes a bit south from us on a weekend with no event. Busy, busy, busy :o)