And this is what I look like

Without caffeine. There's a reason I take my tea to events!

I found that little gem on line the other day- I don't even remember what I was looking for, but dang! One of my hats even! Now I have documentation for that funny little face I make just before someone dies messily...

Not a whole lot happening. This morning I dropped Wanda off at the airport. She's doing the Pacific tour- Hilo, Honolulu, Maui, and on out to Guam. She's not crazy about Hawaii- too touristy and crowded and she hates having to drive there. But she really likes Guam so I guess it evens out.

The rains have started in earnest, and everything is greygreygreygrey. And damp. And this morning I realized (again) that I've forgotten to get new wiper blades (again) and they really need to be replaced, as they're falling apart. I don't know how to change them, but I think I'm about to learn how.

Not tonight, however. It's time to crawl into bed and make like bear.

Not my fault!

The dog ate it, the cat threw up on it, my good dress was at the cleaners, friends came from out of town...

Ok, that's what the picture looks like to me. It's Charlemagne and one of his wives (probably Fastrada, who was a nasty piece of work), and it looks like he's admonishing her and she's not having any of that. Interesting from a costuming point of view- she has several layers of gowns, it seems, a scarf of veil around her neck and falling behind her, and a mantle or sleeveless coat. Pointy shoes, and her hair seems to be wrapped up with a turban or something. and geez, doesn't she have huge hands!

Sunday was fun- there were eight of us at breakfast- Wanda and I, Karl and Linda, Robert and Ilonka, and Liadan and Conchobar (hope I spelled that right). We were noisy and had fun. I kind of like it where there's lots of us.

We went home and I laid down for a nap as usual, but when I got up a couple of hours later, I had a migraine. Pretty miserable. I went back to bed in hopes of just sleeping it off. Didn't really work but at least I wasn't conscious.

Today (Monday) I went upstairs and sorted out my pile o' fabric.Trying to figure out what it all will be- Some of it is self-evident (like the orange coating wool) but some has not 'spoken' to me yet. But at least the pile is neater. Now I have to get the stuff off of the floor. Eventually there will be sewing happening.

Should have company on Thursday- a woman named Morgan who wants help with garb. Heh. Someone new to play with. Should be fun.

It's been a quiet week in Hotel Drachenwald...

But in other places not so quiet...

James and I day-tripped Summits Coronet- he suggested it rather have have me totally exhausted from loading and setting up and all of that stuff. We took a dayshade and chairs and such, and made do. The event to was ok- the tourney was very clean and Graf Berek won. Court went on and on and on and on... A bunch of local awards, and Geoffy had to blather on about everything. Then there were two Pelicans made. And then we packed up and left. By the time I got home I was really tired. Sure was nice to sleep in my own bed.

The new Frankish outfit worked really well, and I got quite a few compliments- especially on the hat. I was really happy with the hat, too. Need a little more padding in the back, but otherwise very nice. I'm thinking to do some more Frankish gowns- something comfy to wear while I'm trying to drop weight, and even after I've slimmed down, they'll still fit ok.

I found a cool picture online--> it's 12th c Spanish, and what's interesting is the woman's outfit. She seems to be wearing an opensided gown with no sleeves- almost looks like a gates-of-hell surcoat. But it's laced closed (or nearly so). A bit different from the usual French silhouette that is shown as an example of 12th c clothing.

And I think the fabric looks keen, with the stripes and the stars. And one more thing- the picture is titled 'Mariage', and it is supposed to be the woman being handed over to the new spouse. Funny- she doesn't look very happy about it...

I have a new keyboard! Hugh and Muireann were *giving* it away to a good home, and I snapped it up. Five octaves, all sorts of different settings. I ordered a sustain pedal for it, and next month I'll get a stand, and hopefully the music stand for it. I've been playing it a lot. Dug out my old hymnals and have been pounding my way through. Been more than ten years since I've played regularly, and oooh, it shows. But I'm getting better.

I'm hungry. I think it's time to go find something to eat.

A Carolingian Bucket!

It's at the Met-

Situla (Bucket for Holy Water), ca. 860–880
Carolingian; From the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Crannenburg, Germany, possibly made in Reims, northern France
Ivory with copper alloy gilt mounts and inlays; 8 1/2 x 5 1/8 in. (21.6 x 13 cm)
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.45)

Now the question is, is that walrus ivory? How sad for a walrus to give his life for a bukkit! :-(

(Really now, I just thought this was way cool...)

Report from 'Lainie's House of Pain

Poor Larry.

So the new squire needed livery, and a surcoat was a good place to start. Gold and black, quartered, and counterchanged. We went out and bought trigger (the most bomb-proof fabric for surcoats that I know of) and bias tape, and set to work. Larry did most of the work. I sat down and started stuff, to show him how to miter the bias at the corners, for instance. For awhile we had duelling sewing machines going. We had a bit of a setback when we discovered that we'd but it together backwards (why do we always find these things when we're nearly done?) and had to take it apart and put it back together. But it is finally done (after something like four days of work- and hard work at that). Larry took it home, and now I have to start sewing for myself!

I'm making an 8th-9th c Frankish outfit for myself, hopefully to have done this weekend. I have some red wool and some very nice green knotwork trim for it. My hat is almost done. Not sure yet what I'll do for veils. I have some habitai I could dye, but still thinking of heavier stuff. May have to re-watch some of the Charlemagne tapes for ideas.

Not much going on otherwise. Wanda was gone for a week, and I mostly slept or supervised the surcoat project. Pretty much over the little med reaction, which set in right after Sport of Kings. It was not fun.

Heading off to Summits Coronet this weekend. That'll be my last camping event for the season. After that I'm planning to get caught up on my sewing. (HA!) Maybe even deep-clean my room.

I need more bookshelf space. (Doesn't everyone?) And I still have all of the stuff downstairs to go through. No rest for the wicked...

September! When did it get to be September?!?

I was just getting used to the idea of August!

Well, I figured I'd better put up a post before someone started mocking me. (You know who you are!) And I kinda wanted to push the last one down the page a bit. The color that someone adjusted my bukkit to is just a hair too pink- it makes it look like some sort of contraceptive device. :-P

Lessee- the last couple of weeks have been interesting, in the not-so-fun sense. We adjusted my meds again about a month ago, and just about the time that my blood levels caught up to the new dosage, my body finally decided it didn't like.this.at.all. Incredible muscle pain and tension (more so than usual- a lot more), so basically I felt like a giant charley horse. Could barely move. So this last week I was in to see Anna (the shrink who manages the drugs we were adjusting), and we agreed to bring the dosage back down to see what happened. Well, I basically confirmed that it was the drugs and not some new and festive problem- as the blood levels dropped, I felt better. I saw a pen on the floor today and stooped over to get it- something I couldn't have done this time last week. So now we're back to where we were...

Needless to say, I didn't go to Crown. Cedric Rolfson won- I've never heard of him, likely because he's from Wastekeep. (I don't get east of the mountains often.) Name is kinda Anglo-Saxon, so I'm wondering if this will be a Saxon reign or another Viking ruler. I'm hoping that someone puts more info up on the Cathedral or on the kingdom website.

Wanda is out of town again. So I'm taking care of kitties. Susitna is being a putz though- this evening when I mixed up her mushy-food-and-vitamins, she decided that it would be a good time to hide. I saw her on the chair, turned to get the food dish, and turned around and she was gone. I wandered around calling her and looking in her favorite hidey spots but I can't find her. I guess she'll go hungry for awhile. :-P

Oh, woe is me. So sad, to be forced to eat leftovers... from the BBQ we had yesterday. Lamb kabobs. And rice pilaf. Yes, I know, it is a great sacrifice. But someone's got to do it, and as I'm the only human in the house right now...

James is very good at the manly thing of grilling dead animal parts.

Fire good! Bring trees!