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!

Ah has new buhkit!

New bukkit is purty!

(Actually, it's not violet. You already know what color it is...)

(edit: All right, some goofball has changed the color, so now it looks orange. Geek. :-))

Wanda and I went shopping today and brought home much kill, err... stuf. First we had to go to Office Depot for printer cartridges. @#$%^ those things are expensive! I got mine, Wanda bought a new printer, and it is currently in the box in the middle of the kitchen.

We also went to Ross, and I got a nutcracker (they're already out! And it's flippin' August!), a package of heavy wooden hangers for the sewing room (those goofy plastic things will not hold up to a houppelande!) and mah buket. (It's small enough that it tucks in at the desk.) Wanda got a bunch of clothes.

Then we went to Goodwill out on 122nd.Wanda found some clothes and stuff, and I didn't bother to look for clothes (it just depresses me) but I headed right to the fabric- and scored! 5 yards of ivory rayon faille, 8 yards of a pale green linen/cotton blend, and 8 yards of silk shantung, in a lettuce green. And I had a $10 off slip, so I got the whole thing for the low, low price of $6.12!

Heh.

I'm going to make myself a new cotehardie, fat or not fat. I can always take it in later.

And I found my orange hairbrush. Life is looking up. :-)

But I'm not even unpacked yet!

Since Annie has begun the mocking, I suppose I should put up a post.

I slept pretty much all day today, attempting to recover from the weekend. We went to the Sport of Kings, here in Three Mountains, which is basically a four-day collegium for fighters. (Mostly- there were a few non-martial classes too.) James took classes, and I mostly cooked. Saturday night I fed 16 (at least I think that was the final count), and did it with two Coleman stoves. Heh.

We had:

Salad
Perre (a pea soup)
A Tart of Greens (a quiche with spinach and mustard greens)
Chyken in Hocchee (chicken stuffed with garlic and grapes)
Chicken in Oranges and Lemons (and an assortment of spices)
Beef Y-Stewed (beef stewed with red wine, currants, onions, and spices)
Losyns (lasagna noodles layered with cheese and spices)
A dish of carrots and mustard greens (I had to wing it- the fennel for the dish I'd planned had gone bad)
Strawbereye Tart (strawberry puree, eggs, sugar, breadcrumbs- comes out Barbie pink and very tasty)
Rice Pudding
Cheesecake (with blackberries)

All of the recipes (except the carrots) were from 14th-15th c texts. Was very tasty. And I have determined that James and Amalric together are a danger to Western Society. Add Korwyn and you approach critical mass.

(And it rained during pack-up. The Volvo is still half-full of damp gear and I have no stamina for cleaning up yet.)

... that vile, toad-faced...

I have the music theme for Dolores Umbridge stuck in my head, and it will not go out! AARGH! [bangbangbang] Smacking head on floor does not help, either.

Was interesting how it started with a cute, sparkly little tune, and then got heavier and more sinister. And how her clothes got deeper and more violently pink as the movie progressed...

Yeah, saw the movie again with Larry and Cathy (my third- I saw the last one in the theatre four times, so I'm still ahead). After a small adventure- the website I'd consulted for movie times was WRONG and we had 2 1/2 hours to kill, most of which we spent at Jo-Ann's (until they closed). Cathy and I are both dieting, and Larry was pretty broke, or we might have gone for ice cream. But they did in fact eventually let us in. Couple of mildly interesting previews. Eh, I was only there for the movie.

As usual I saw more this time. James is right- those things in the stair well at 12 Grimmauld Place are house elves- under bell jars. If anything, creepier than the heads on the wall.

Why is it that Gary Oldman looks so good in 19thc-ish clothes? That plum/black suitcoat is wicked nice. I wouldn't mind having one (one more thing for the sewing pile...)

Wish we'd seen more of Tonks. And I really liked Kingsley. That was a good casting.

We'd better get the other two movies done fast- the guy who plays Fudge is over 80, and won't last forever. Michael Gambon is not spring chicken, either.

Would have more to say, but I'm tired.

In other news today, I got a cortisone shot in my knee today. Hurt like a bitch and still doesn't feel all that great. They said it would likely be a couple-three days or so, and then should get better. Hope so. Tired of gimping around!

"Message in a bottle..."

I have the Police stuck in my head because they were on the muzak at Goodwill today... It reminded me how much I like Sting- I should maybe fork out some money for some of his tunes.

So I found parts of my SLUG outfit today-

**CRASS COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!**

The SLUG Queen contest and coronation is Saturday the 11th of August, at Broadway Plaza. Y'all should be there- it's the Silver Anniversary, and 25 years of sliminess is worth celebrating!

**END OF ANNOUNCEMENT**

I'm going with a Harry Potter theme- black pleated skirt, white blouse, striped tie, my pointy boots, the big hat, grad robe, etc. Still need something silver to go with. And have to figure out how to incorporate some fruit...

What else this week?... Had an appt with physical therapy, and we're hoping to strengthen some muscles to help make up for rattly joints. OHP has OKed *one* more visit, rather than the 3x/week for 6 weeks that really needs to happen. Bother. Also had an appt with Anna, and we're boosting my Cymbalta for a bit, as I've been in a funk (a lot of it because of the pain and aggravation from the arthritis) and being depressed is not good for me. Worth a try at least.

I found a gorgeous dress for Annie- slinky, red, long sleeves but the shoulder caps are bare. It will be killer on her. Need to send that out Friday or Saturday.

I want ice cream and there is none in the house. Poo.