May Crown

First project of the summer...replacing the rotting deck.  Kelly ripped off one set of stairs and demolished them.  The second set of stairs is currently still in place, so the yard is still accessible from the deck, although the entire deck will need to be replaced also.





Last weekend, I went to the Toppenish Rodeo grounds with about 800 of my closest friends.  Cammie and I were both perplexed about the location of the spa.  We never did find it.


I had made a few tweaks to the yurt so now it is about the right size and shape.  I still need to do a couple little things to the canvas walls and make a couple of longer rafter (uni) rods for the doorway.  I also need to get an additional rug for inside and cut the floor tarp to size.  I'd also like to paint the door...I'll have to find a design I like.

Cammie and I went together (just us two), and camped with Bekah, Lauri, James and a new friend, Craig (aka Aenor, Juliana, James and Grimm).  We shared a common kitchen and dining area and shared meals, cooking and cleaning.  We had a great time together and will definitely have to do that again!  I think we even came up with a household name...something that means Hodge Podge...maybe in Turkish.  Maybe I should ask my Croatian neighbor how to say and write it in her language...she doesn't like the Turks...



Cammie stole my phone and got a picture of me doing some fingerloop braiding.  I only wish my hair didn't look so...weird.



The fingerloop braiding was to make a favor for a gentleman who asked me to be his inspiration for May Crown's tournament.  The winner of this tourney gets to be Crowned Prince for 3 months, then elevated to King for 6 months (or thereabouts), and his consort becomes Princess and Queen.  If you enter the tournament, you have to commit to serving if you win.  If you don't want to serve, you shouldn't enter this tournament--there are lots of other tournaments that don't have this kind of obligation.  In fact, you have to kneel and swear an oath to serve should the fighter prove victorious.



This is Martin le Harpur, whom I've known for 20 years from my days in Shittimwoode.  Cammie got to carry the flag as we processed in.  I wish I had a flag to bring into the tourney field...or a nicer dress.  I was going to wear the red one, but I ended up getting pancake batter all over it.  Grrrr....



I took a panoramic photo of the "unbelted" entrants and their inspirations--we were on the "belted" (aka the knights') side.



There were around 100 entrants to this competition, so the chances of my becoming queen were pretty slim, and as it turned out, he was finished by the third round.  It was a fun experience, though, and an honor to be asked by a knight and an old friend.

Bekah/Aenor was inspiration to James.  She looks stunning in this blue gown, trimmed in hand embroidered flowers...she did it herself.  Her first project!  Awesome!


But first, plenty of sunscreen.


We got back home, dirty, smelly and tired, but we had a great time.  I discovered that Cammie needs new garb.  Desperately.  We're going to make a few new tunics for her this Thursday.  She wants an Elizabethan dress like one of these:

  

Although maybe not quite so fancy...

 
Maybe something more like this.  I might make it a few inches shorter so it's not a trip hazard for the kiddo.

She wants to shoot archery, Youth Armored Combat, learn blacksmithing, weave, and cook and she's well on her way.  We have to get her practicing with the bow & arrows, and get her armor kit together.  She volunteers to help Master Grendal the Blacksmith at most events we see him at (or tries to--I'm going to make her a leather apron, I think), and she made an apple dessert on site, from scratch, using the ingredients we had on hand.  Dude!  She also picked up a small lap loom at the event.  I'll have to teach her how to warp it up and give her some yarns to play with.

Looks like I've got quite a bit of work ahead of me...

Traveling Teacher

It's been another busy week here at Chez Surprise!

The weekend was spent down south for Accademia/Ithra and visiting friends and family.  I drove down to Heide's with Cammie.  We pulled in and had a cuppa and got to bed by midnight.  A3 had a friend staying the night so there was a lot of giggling, but they were shuttered away in her room having a great time.

We woke up early and started getting ready.  And get this:  I forgot to bring my undertunic.  I quickly pulled out one of my class samples for the undertunic class I was scheduled to teach, and quickly sewed it together on Heide's machine, nicknamed "Satan".  It behaved well for me for the duration, so threw all my stuff into the car and we headed over to the happenin' town of Scappoose to teach at the high school.  Heide and her eldest, A1, joined us later in the afternoon to sit in/participate in a dance class.

I taught two classes:  one on Viking Undertunics, which had 3 students and a model, and Bog Coats, that had 8 or 9 students.  There were one or two who didn't show up--possibly one that said, "I'll be there!" and then doesn't show.  I had one or two do that to me and decided that all students need to be pre-paid or I wasn't going to save them a spot.  For some classes, it's not a big deal to add one more at the end, but for others, the teacher needs to have all the kits prepped and assembled.  For Bog Coats, I just needed to have enough handouts printed--the rest of the supplies were brought by the students.  For the most part, the students caught on and had a great time.  I had a couple of students who were doing a lot of "show me that again..."  In the end, they all got it and had a coat ready to sew together (not enough time in the class to do that).  However, it'll be the last time I teach it--I think I'd rather teach a simple rectangular constructed coat that is documentable.  

That night, we got back to Heide's and we had a little stir fry and rice and I made cookies for them.  I've written down the recipe for the cookies 3 or 4 times for her, but she says she keeps losing it, so maybe I'll just publish it right here.  :)
Karen's Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks butter, soft
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
chocolate chips

After a very restful night in A3's room, we got up to do a little Geocaching and dropped in on A1's senior photo shoot.  We got her some flowers for her pics and even though it was very cold, she kept on smiling and looked fabulous!  We had lots of laughs and several of her pics reflected genuine joy.  This is one of my photos where she was transitioning to the next pose.  We were cracking jokes about how silly those professional photographers talk to models... "Be ze tiger!  Be an angry tiger!  Show me ze anger!"  I guess they were quoting "Zoolander" and some other silly movies (that I haven't seen or remember).

At about noon, we headed down to visit with Mike & Laura and Mr. M.  We went out to lunch at a lovely little cafe about 5 minutes away from their house.  I got a thing with potatoes and chicken sausage that was really simple and GOOOD!  I want to try to recreate that at home.

Mr. M. and Cammie got acquainted and hit it off.  I was still a person of suspicion, so I tried to hold him for a minute and he wanted to go right back to Cammie.  She's just a natural caretaker and friend.

Monday was a long day at Children's again, but it marked the end of the medical trial.  We finished up the short term science experiments for Ben, but still have a couple of follow-up appointments for lung function tests and blood draws.  Kelly took the day off and he drove down after lunch so he could take the afternoon shift and I came home to pick up the girls from school.

After they got into the car, I suggested we do a quick shopping trip.  I promised Cammie a birthday shopping spree and Emma needed a couple things for her cosplay costumes.  It's really blurry, but this is what Cammie selected for her wardrobe.  It included 6 shirts, 3 pairs of jeans and 3 dresses.  We might add a little color to the peach dress since it's almost the same color as her peaches-and-cream skin.  The white frock shirt is really cute and we added the teal shirt underneath, which turns out to be a perfect match.  The great thing is all these pieces ended up being just over $100.  Emma's two items totaled $36 for a pair of boots and pants.  I got one sweater and a couple of kitchen items.  I love that store!

Today was a day of "normal" (whatever that means...) and tomorrow is back to the "abnormal" (more doctor appointments).  But for now...sleep.  Too many late nights and early mornings.

A Dry Month? Hardly.

It has been 31 days since I posted.  Time flies like an arrow!  Fruit flies like my kitchen!  Well, a few of them do.  Just when I think they're gone, I see one.  Not millions...just one. Weird.

Lots of things happened this last month...

We had a sweet 16th birthday for Emma.  It was a mellow occasion marked with two friends, cake, and pizza.  They just wanted to watch anime and eat sugar and starch, and change into different costumes.  I tried to make an interesting cake, which was a double red velvet with chocolate frosting--yes, that's a full cake mix on the bottom square and a second cake mix for a two-layer circular cake.  With her are Miss E, her bestie from 4th grade, and another Miss E, her new bestie from high school.  New bestie decided not to wear her prosthetic in the evening...it gets heavy, she said.

I finally got my long arm back from the repair shop which needed something like $3,000 in repairs, all of which were covered by the extended warranty I purchased for $400.  Totally worth it!  I'd look it up, but it's dark in the room and I'm tired.  Maybe I'll look it up tomorrow if I think of it.

While I was waiting, I got a couple quilt tops finished and I need to start quilting them.  I'll have to find some backing fabric to finish these.


The school moved its annual Jog a Thon to the fall instead of the Spring, and it eliminated the fall magazine sale.  I like that.  I was getting so tired of foisting stuff on friends and family whose kids were also selling the same stuff.

I went to an SCA event that turned very rainy and muddy.  By the end of Saturday, the river had risen a couple feet and everyone was evicted from the site.  I hadn't planned on staying the night anyway--it's too late in the year to camp that close to the snow line.  My yurt is not Mongolian-winter-ready, which means I don't have it lined with a heavy wool blanket on the walls and roof.  Maybe someday, but for now, it's just canvas.  I have fleece that I can line on the interior walls, but I'd really need a roof liner to keep it really warm.

I got a picture of lovely Bekah by the river.  I don't know why so many of my photos are coming out blurry when it's set on 'auto'.  Ugh.  This is supposed to be a better 14 pixel camera and I'm getting lots of crap photos unless I'm standing absolutely still.  I've gotta find my red instant camera again.

They had an excellent food contest.  I love this pig!  SO cute!  And it looks delicious!  And edible!  Now this event's theme is "Banner War", and you can almost see the banner lying across the pig, but they have another event in the Spring called "Boar's Hunt", which this would be ideal for.  I don't think it'll keep 'til May...

Ben was enrolled in a medical study for a new CF medication.  This means several hospital visits, lots of EKG tests and blood draws.  He's such a trooper about it!  He will be well-compensated.  Since this is a short 2-week study, we'll be done in a few days.  There will be a long study probably starting in February, that he's likely to be enrolled in.  You can also see his feeding tube button, or as I called it, "Baby's First Piercing".  We have to pull it out and put in a new one every 3 months; he's actually due to swap out button now.

Bekah and I had a tea party last week, just for fun.  We made cucumber sandwiches, chicken salad on croissants, scones with jam and Devon cream, lox and cream cheese, turkey and swiss rolls, spinach salad, lobster bisque, and of course, tea.  It was a fabulous feast and I had leftovers for a few days.  Bekah folded the napkins all fancy, too!

Tonight we went out to celebrate Miss Cammie's birthday!  She chose the local Teppanyaki/Bennihana place as her restaurant of choice.  Because it was Thursday, Bekah joined us for dinner and a show!  Ben decided to fill in as chef...OK, this was at the end of the meal.  He really enjoyed the show, though it was sometimes loud and bright so he covered his ears.  He enjoys all the silly puns and juggling from the chefs, though.

I tried to get a sweet family photo, but Emma put up bunny ears on Cammie.  The camera, sadly, didn't click when I wanted it to.  This is the next frame, Cammie turning back and saying, "Heyyyy!" while Emma giggled.

Another attempt and Emma hid behind her book.  Ah well.  It's a charming photo of the birthday girl!

As for me, I've been coughing for at least a month since I had my cold.  I have inhalers and cold and cough remedies galore, but nothing seems to work.  Hopefully it'll clear up soon!!

Over the Mountains and Back

I've returned from the Crown tournament last weekend, held just south of Yakima, WA.  I headed out on Friday after meeting up with Kelly and the two littles at school during the field day for grades 1-3.  Four (or five?) schools get together and compete in running, relay races, soccer kick, sack races, and more.  It's a lot of fun!  The older kids (grades 4 to 8) help wrangle the younger ones, sell refreshments (hot dogs, soft drinks and sugar), and generally have a half-day of school running around outside with their friends.  The weather cooperated, which was a big relief, and Ben got through his events without incident.

Kelly was able to get away from work early enough to catch most of the events, but by the time I got there, they were all over.  I arrived late because I couldn't find my keys, which turned out to be one of those "there's a hole in the bucket" stories.  I had been packing the car that morning and had set my keys down on a chair in the garage.  I also set down some things I was going to load into the car...without realizing it, I put them on top of the keys.  So when I needed to unlock the car to begin loading, I couldn't find them.  Gahh!  It took more than an hour of tearing the house apart to realize that they might be in the garage, move the pile of stuff (soft things--nothing heavy to crush the keys), and uncover them.  I just about screamed.

After a quick visit at the school, hugs and kisses to the two littles and Kelly (Emma was still at her school), I got in the car and headed down the road.  Over several rivers, through the woods and over the passes--stopping at a view of the valley over Ellensburg to pick up a Geocache--I arrived at my destination!  I pulled up to my camp site with the Baron and Baroness of Aquaterra and several other friends, and began to assemble the 12' yurt.  I had help for the first ten minutes or so, but their services were needed elsewhere, so I set to work assembling it myself.  I was quite sure it could be done solo, and in about two hours, the chore was complete.

That night, however, I discovered muscle pains I never knew I could have...my arms were killing me! All that lifting and adjusting and shifting....ooof!  I hurt from my shoulders to my palms.  Sleep was difficult that night, mostly due to the arm discomfort.  I was too tired to think, "Maybe I should get some Tylenol..." but I did take some the next morning.  I also have determined that I need to invest in a foam pad for the cot--it's just too firm.  Neighbors Lord Nigel and Lady Emma recommended the kind they sell at REI.  She says that it's more comfortable than their bed at home and she sleeps like a baby.

On Saturday, I wandered over to the Arts & Sciences pavilion where I signed up for the sock knitting contest.  They didn't provide anything for the contest except for the directions, so you had to bring your own Cascade 220 and needles.  They recommended size 5-7, which seemed enormous.  I brought size 4, and wondered if Cascade 220 would be too bulky to wear.  But I thought it would be fun to participate anyway, and maybe I could wear them for my sleeping socks at events.  The nights get really cold in An Tir where the temperature can be in the 80s during the day and drop to 40 at night.  The sign up for the sock contest started at 9:00 but the knitting didn't start until noon, so I spend some time winding the yarn into a ball and visiting with some artisans at the 11:00 Artisan Geek-Out.  There was a woman turning sheepskins into vellum.  There was another making chain mail armor (which is a modern misnomer--back in the day, it was called "chain armor" or "mail armor", not "chain-mail"; it's like saying "chicken bird" or "beef hamburger"...or "tuna fish".)  Another gal was weaving velvet (sooooooo soft!), and yet another had large painted game boards.

After about 30 minutes hanging out there, I wandered off and found the Comune dei Pavone camp, where a lot of the artsy people are camped, and talked with HL Isabel (well, she squeaked and whispered--lost her voice from a laryngitis), who said that she had wrangled a couple of judges to help me finish my Journeyman rank for Costumer's Guild.  We compared schedules and decided that between 3:00 and 3:30 we could start.

In front of their camp, Ariel had set up the very small yurt she built for her little brother many years ago.  They called it the Squirt.  It's made with one of those round baby gates from a million years ago!  Now that her sons are reaching teenagerhood, they're too big to camp in it anymore, so it's for sale.  I thought briefly about getting it for Ben...

At noon, I watched some of the procession--the parade of fighters and their households who introduce themselves to their Majesties and request permission to be part of the tournament--as I cast on the first few stitches of my sock.  This part of the event would go on for a couple hours.  There were nearly 100 men and women signed into the lists to fight for crown.  That's the biggest I can recall ever seeing.  Usually it's around 60.  All too soon, and long before the line had significantly dwindled down, I had to go to the Ithra staff meeting.

The meeting for Ithra ran two hours and was largely productive.  I have a short list of things I need to do today--posting the old handbook online, for example--and I got a chance to meet a few people who are the upcoming movers-and-shakers in Ithra.  There was the Regent (I think we're only going to have one) and myself who were the only fully-licensed Chancellors, and Sarra, who was unable to make it to the event.  We all agreed that we need to train up a bunch of Chancellors, and right quick.  Baroness Stephania took notes, so hopefully those will be available on the Yahoo list soon.

Once the meeting ended, I headed back to camp to get the Journeyman stuff, and made my way back across the field to Comune dei Pavone present it to the Costumer's Guild judges, Mistress Isolde, Mistress Godytha and HL Isabel.  As I may have mentioned before, I didn't remember what things I had presented in the past for Junior and Senior ranks, and the records of what I had presented did not survive the database (although I received the gems for achieving it, the data was missing) so I started from scratch.  I had organized all the documentation in the binder, laid out the pieces as we went through them, and I presented my works.  They asked questions and challenged me on my choices ("Is this linen or cotton?  Why did you chose this fabric?"), and brought up some very interesting perspectives on a couple items.  They seemed to really enjoy the Bog Coat article I wrote...Isolde described it as a garment that is "peri-oid"; it has the correct silhouette, but not the right construction.  Mistress Ariel popped in and out during the presentation, and afterwards offered her congratulations.

I was able to catch the final couple of rounds of the Crown tournament where Count Ieuan ("Ian") was in the finals with Squire Leith.  Sir Octomasades was the third contender, but he lost to Leith, and Ieuan won best 2 of 3 against Leith.  Count Ieuan was king once before in January of last year, when he and his wife had a tiny baby.  Now their daughter is a toddler, and Her Royal Highness is expecting another baby.  Ieuan is pictured above wearing yellow, riding on the shoulders of the knights.  His wife is to his left, also in yellow.  Leith is riding on the shoulders ahead of him, wearing blue and black.  Carrying the final two fighters around on the shoulders after the tournament is a tradition in An Tir...I don't know about elsewhere in the SCA.  Generally speaking, when an "unbelted" fighter gets to the final rounds, knighthood is imminent...this happened once before that I recall when Duke Darius got Silver Rose at a May Crown tourney back in 1990 and was offered knighthood that day.  Leith, however, was not offered it that day...or the next--I have heard rumors why this might have been the case, and I hope that given his skill and time since accusations were laid, the knights' council will revisit the issue.  I've known Leith for a long time; he's a great musician and artist (he's a Laurel), but I don't know much about the fighting aspect.  It's not my battle however, so I will withhold further opinion.

Later that night, I went to visit with the Comune dei Pavone but they were just sitting down to dinner and waiting for the Royals to come join them.  It seemed I was not welcome to stay--the only person who shared pleasantries with me was a lady I'd never seen before, so I excused myself and wandered off.  Most of the group were busy in the kitchen, but I was not invited to stay and be social--I had already eaten--and clearly they were not ready for drop-in company.

The evening was spent with Tessa and her campmates while I knitted on the sock.  Later, I wandered around with Lianor and we ran into Duncan--a horse guy--and we had a great time chatting with him and his adult daughter.  Duncan offered to let me ride his horses, and we made some preliminary plans to make that happen.  Eventually I shuffled off to bed at around 2 a.m., when I checked my phone--and yes, Facebook--and discovered that HL Raffaella had been offered the Pelicanate.  Pelican?  Not Laurel?  Foodie, artisan, costumer's guild officer, organizer of the A&S Geek-Outs...  What the--?

I woke up in the morning with the camp behind me cooking bacon.  My entire tent smelled like bacon, and I think their kitchen was just two feet from my head.  I was starting to get a little nauseated.  I probably have bacon spatter on my canvas.  I got up, got a cuppa tea, and began knitting again.  Here's what I had done a couple hours before turn in.  I actually got the heel nearly complete, too, but sadly, the contest was not mine to win.  Due to my time spent in the meeting and presenting for Journeyman rank, I lost a lot of hours of knitting time.  Another competitor spent all night knitting and got BOTH socks done.  I came in third with another knitter getting up to the toe of the sock...just a few inches longer than mine.  In the end, I discovered that I put the heel on the wrong side of the sock, and it may be too small to fit me anyway.  I'm going to have to frog it all out and start again, but it was a fun experiment.

At about noon, I started packing up and was completely done by 3 pm--car packed, ready to hit the road.  Their Excellencies of Aquaterra had gone in to pack up the Baronial pavilion on the eric, and my Shittimwoode neighbors (not the Bacon-neighbors) were almost done with their camp and were going to assist at the eric, and I was headed that direction as well.  However, on my way, I saw that Tessa had a spare tire on her car.  Her right front tire was bald and pitted and had a bulge on one side...oh, it was a bad-lookin' tire...and her left front tire looked almost as bad.  I offered to follow her into town to make sure the other tire didn't blow out on the way.  We made it into town without incident, and while they were fixing the tires, we did a little Geocaching together!  The first was called Muggle Central--right on a busy street at a landmark feature--and the second was behind some newly-built barbed wire fencing.  We gave that one a miss.  We followed up with a couple more in Yakima and had dinner there at Bob's, then met up with a very tired Lianor and we caravaned home.  I arrived home at about 9:30 and Ben was still awake enough to need a big hug.

Stepping Back (in Time)

I dropped Cammie off at a friend's house and took Ben out to an SCA event.  We first spent some time playing at the climbing structure, which has swings and a really fast slide.  After an hour or so, his very good friend, Mr. L showed up with his mom.  While he wasn't too keen on coming to the event at first, he finally agreed since Ben was going to be there, but after a couple of hours, he wanted to come to another event in costume.  Lauri and I sat and chatted for a while (with seemingly constant interruptions from people asking questions, mostly about Ithra, which is undergoing some changes in the near future). I wish we had more time to catch up, but she had to leave around 2:00.

After Ben participated in a scavenger hunt, he discovered the joys of Youth Armored Combat!  He went out and swung a stick for 20 minutes or so.  Jolgeirr, who was in charge of YAC, asked, "why it's taken me nearly three years to get this boy over to the field?"  I laughed, but I think that had he been part of it a couple years ago, it might have been disastrous.  Now that he's had a year or so of Karate under his belt (his purple belt, in just two short weeks!), I think he's got a bit more control.   I know Cammie will LOVE getting involved in YAC as well...maybe I'll introduce her to it at May Crown, if she goes with me, and if they have YAC activities there.  I'll have to do some research.

After he finished with that activity. We said our goodbyes to our friends and hopped in the car and headed back to town.  We stopped to get Ben a jacket, since he left home in his SCA clothes and didn't bring a coat.  While we were at the store, we looked for a nearby Geocache, but this one apparently looks like a small rock...it was a sea of rocks.  We gave it a miss and went on to our dinner date near the border.

We had dinner with Mom & Dad where Dad pulled out a copy of the Naval Special Warfare magazine, the Blast, where he had his story published!  To make things even more interesting, the waiter seemed really familiar...when I first walked in, I was thinking, "Isn't he the guy who used to own that restaurant down the street?"  After we debated it for a bit, I texted Tara (who was at a volleyball tournament and couldn't make it) and asked her what the name of that guy was.  She replied "Mario".  Dad asked, and he confirmed, that he was Mario.

We had a great dinner, great conversation, and the weather held up for the evening, so afterwards, Ben and I went to hunt for a couple more Geocaches (he doesn't like to hunt in the rain--and to be honest, neither do I).  We found one overlooking the water, where this cute snail was hanging out.  I love snails!  I don't know why but these guys are so darn cute and mysterious.  This looks like the same variety of snail that I found up at Mt. St. Helens last summer, but he was about half the size.  After that we another one in a bird feeder before it got too dark to search for more.  It was a long drive home and he was fast asleep when we got there.

Sunday was a slow start, except for Emma's alarm waking me up at 6:15 again.  I could hear it from my bedroom, two closed doors away.  Ugh...  Crawled back in bed.  Went to Burlington around 1 pm to pick up Cammie.  Ben and I searched for four Geocaches before meeting up with them, and grabbed one more after.  I also went to the outlet store and got a few shirts--several of them for $10 each--and a couple pairs of summer pants.

This next week is going to be a little nutty, but we'll manage.  Cammie will be away at camp all week, so it's one less kid to chase after, but we're still double or triple booked for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.  I'm still hoping to do a little sewing tomorrow.  The machine was out to fix a pair of pants, then put away without getting any quilting done.  Maybe between loads of laundry tomorrow.

Weekly Update

It's amazing how this blog has almost turned into a weekly update of what I'm doing and where I'm going.  Let's see...last week was really crazy.  Everything happened.  Tuesday was three hours of dentistry where we took Emma to the ortho, got her wires off; took everyone to the dentist for routine cleaning and Emma had her broken tooth worked on a bit more; then back to the ortho to get the wires put back on.  There was only about an hour left in the school day, so I opted to take them home instead, and then take Cammie back for a Girl Scout meeting.  Wednesday was the usual early release and karate.  Friday was CF clinic for Ben, Cookie Rally, and driving to Portland.  Ben's lung function tests were pretty much off-the-charts good, so we have to keep up the therapies and hope that he maintains that good health.

Girl Scouts Cookie Rally was that evening--it was nice that they held it on Friday so we didn't have to worry about going to bed late and being tired the next day.  We partnered up with another troop that ran two booths and our combined troops ran three more booths for money management, poster making and cookie tasting.  A few of them got the chance to put on the cookie costumes and entertain the younger Brownies and Daisies.  They did great!  They even did the flag ceremony and rocked it!  I'm so proud of all these young ladies...despite how goofy the can be...

Right after the Cookie Rally ended, I hopped in the car and drove to Portland for 12th Night.  I thought it was going to take four hours, but given the lack of traffic and higher speeds I was able to shave 45 minutes off that time, arriving at Sharon & Jeff's at 12:15.  We sat and chatted and went to bed around 1:00.  We knew we had to be up and off to the site fairly early to sign in at gate and they needed to be at a 9:00 meeting.  I wasn't welcome at this meeting (for Peers only...I'm not there yet), so I went to the merchants area and looked at the goods.  While I found a few things I liked, there wasn't anything I needed.  I knew I needed to get some linen for upcoming projects, but I also knew I could get a better price online or from Fabric Depot on sale.  I ended up spending most of that hour chatting with new author, KateMarie Collins, a longtime friend of mine.  It was great catching up with her and sharing stories about kids and daily life.  She shared a recipe with me that I'm going to have to try...it's a tortilla soup, although I may modify a few minor things--there's a lot of "can of this" and "can of that".  I'd probably try to put in fresh tomatoes instead of canned.  It sounds delicious, though!

The rest of the event was great, although I didn't get any photos of anything.  I was sitting in a place that didn't afford a good view of a lot of the court proceedings--the Royals, the awards, the swearing ceremonies, the elevation of Laurels and Pelicans, a Knighting, and the Coronation itself.  (I borrowed this photo from Lisa Kelly...hope she doesn't mind since I did a little name-dropping there.)  The new King & Queen have decided to do a German Kampfrau thing this reign.  Funny thing is I was thinking about making some German Kampfrau...but now I don't want to look like a camp follower by copying them.  Maybe I'll stick with the Turkish stuff for a bit longer.

The knights swear fealty with their swords.  It's gotta be a rather unsettling feeling to have all those sharp things pointed at you...I guess it's a trust thing.

I had dinner with Ariel and her girlfriend, Sarah.  I showed her my binder of Costumer's Guild entries, which I was unable to present for the rank challenge; there was no official guild business done at the event.  Not sure exactly why, but I was told that nothing was organized or that the challenge officer had stepped down and wasn't replaced...in any case, there was nothing going on.  I left all the clothing pieces back at the house (where I was staying...not my house) and just carried the 1/2" binder around with me.  It was small enough that it wasn't a burden.  I was able to share it with a few people who were really happy to see it, especially when they got to the last page and the HOT SOCKS!  At least, that's what Duchess Hludwige called it when Mistress Isolde jabbed her and showed her the photo. Ariel was impressed, too!

We got back to the house at about 11:00 and settled down fairly quickly.  It was a long day.  The next morning, we had breakfast--it was supposed to be a breakfast meeting, but no one showed up for it.  Afterwards, Jeff was thinking about taking the dog out for a run, and I suggested that we go visit Fabric Depot.  Sharon eagerly agreed and off we went!  We found a couple pieces of linen for my Scholar project.  Now that I finished the Journeyman stuff, even though I will have to tweak the entries a bit and be ready to present it at Ursulmas (if it gets organized), I decided to start making Kelly a full set of Scandinavian clothes for him to wear.  I might base them all on the Greenland finds, which should be fun.  I have to teach and write a bunch and do about 20 hours of service to the guild...so it'll be a year-long project, I figure.

On the way back from the fabric store, we stopped in for a visit with Mike & Laura and baby Malcolm, and to deliver a special quilt for him, pictured on the bed behind this glowing couple.  I'm so excited!  He's due any day now, so I'm anxious to get news of the delivery.  It was a short visit, but Mike gave us a tour of the house and all the rooms and hallway they've finished up, the progress on the bathroom in the Garage Mahal, and the studio and music rooms upstairs.  It really looks like a comfortable home, and they're pretty much ready for baby!

I took Sharon back to her place, packed up the last of my things and made a deal with her to buy 11 yards of her linen at the price she paid for it--$4 a yard!  Two pieces are 5 yards each, and one is a 1-yard chunk.  She also gave me links to a couple of really great sites where you can get killer deals on linen in different weights.  One of the sites sells 1-2 yard pieces of bolt-ends, so I may be able to get some really great deals on end bits to make costumes.  This works out really well when making tunics--one yard for the front, one yard in the back, one yard for the sleeves...if you're using different dye lots, it doesn't matter so much...it's medieval!  The Bocksten man tunic had different color sleeves than the body of the tunic.  White is even better...no dye lots to match!

A few weeks ago, I ordered a Geomate Jr. to use for geocaching, and I took it out for a test seek.  Unfortunately it was too dark to find it and I didn't have a flashlight, but at least I know that one cache is going to be easy to find!  I thought I'd try to look for a few more today, but I ended up waiting over two hours for a new customer to come by with a quilt top.  It's a lovely fall-colored queen-size.  She wants a simple stipple all over it, which I will be able to finish up pretty quickly.  Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be equally nice, so maybe I'll go for a walk.

I pulled the loom out of the garage and wove a couple of feet of cardweaving yesterday.  It felt so good to work with the strings again!  I want to weave a couple more pieces before the event in 10 days, where I can sell them on commission with Gypsy Caravan and hopefully pay for my gas and weekends...and a bunch of linen I just purchased...  This is one of the weaving pieces that I started some time back and I'm debating whether or not to sell this one.  It was meant to be something for me, but I may go ahead and set it out for sale.  If it doesn't sell, it was meant for me.  If it does, I can always make another one.  Eh...I'll sell it.  I'd like to make one or two more to add to the four or five I have already.

Oh, and yesterday we had a handyman come out to give us a couple of quotes on work we need to have done.  The kids' bathroom needs to have the floor fixed...and we may have some mold under the floor after the flooding.  Kelly took him around and showed him some other things we'd like to get done over time, and while they were talking out front, he noticed that there were signs of water damage under the siding.  I think some of the weatherproofing might have failed on the sunny side of the house...ugh.  Hopefully it will turn out to be minor and inexpensive...but you know it never is.  I'm hoping to get hardwood floors this year and tear up all this worn out carpet.  It's 15 year old carpet that is really only meant to last five years.  Maybe I'll have to seriously consider getting a part-time job just to pay for home improvement and repairs.  I'm barely organized enough as it is...not sure how I'll manage that.

However, having people coming by today got me motivated to clean up a bunch.  I still have to clear off a table and the island, and I'd like to box up a bunch of stuff to take to GoodWill.  Maybe later this week.

The week after...

So the Christmas holiday slipped on by.  When you last heard from me, we visited Uncle Don and Marjan, who had an open house.  We saw a few other rellies there, too, but went for the big visit with them on Boxing Day.  We spent the day there, exchanging gifts, eating turkey, and getting told to shove it...ah, happy memories!  The week following was spent kicking back, going to the movies, and working on some projects.

I don't really make resolutions anymore.  I usually break them within two days, so I make general guidelines for what I'd like to do this year.  My thought this year (not exactly a resolution) is to walk more and use more "whole" foods, especially for lunches.  I don't really like the little frozen meals, so I think I'll see if I can come up with a bunch of lunch recipes--fruit salads, chicken & feta salad, low-cal but filling sandwiches, etc.  More fruit and veggies, less crap.

On the business end of things, I got the new part for my long arm, a "roller encoder", part of the stitch regulator system, which was covered by the warranty (which I had to renew) but would have otherwise cost me...



...TWO HUNDRED FOURTEEN DOLLARS AND NINETY-NINE CENTS!  For a piece of plastic!  I was concerned because it's smaller and a different shape than the old one, but I was happy to see that it fits and works great!


To celebrate, or perhaps just to make sure it worked, I put this quilt on the frame and quilted it up.  This needs a binding on it and it's ready to pass on to its new owner, a young boy who isn't even hatched yet...whose name, according to rumor, is Malcolm.  "Mac."  I think I'll have to give him a nickname better than Mac.  Like Micky MacMaster.  My brother's name is Mike.  His wife's maiden name is Master.  Makes sense to me.

Here's the coat I finished a couple days ago.  It needs some button closures, and I need someone to help me fix the hem (the lining is longer than the outer part of the coat), but otherwise it's ready to wear!  I am happy with the pattern pieces, although I think I've proven that I need to adjust the length, so I'll have to put the muslin pattern back together again and have someone mark the length for me.

Today, Cammie and I went to a Geocache that I had visited once before.  We admired the frosty cobwebs on the greenery on the way.  She brought some swaps to trade for goodies in the bucket.  She chose a small kitty toy and left a yarn zombie behind.  There weren't many swaps in there.  Maybe next time I'll bring extra swaps to leave behind.

Two of the kids go back to school tomorrow--the older one doesn't go back until Monday--so after I drop them off, weather permitting, I'll see if I can find a couple more Geocaches.  I had gone to look before, but my GPS was so poor, it got me within 20 feet of it...not quite close enough to narrow it down.  I did find, however, if I enter the GPS coordinates into Googlemaps, it'll pinpoint it exactly on the map.  Or at least, I think so.  Tomorrow will be the test to see how close it really is!

Back to School!

I picked up the kids after a half-day of school yesterday and took them out to lunch.  They posed sweetly while I took a couple of pictures.  Cammie got a very funny man for her teacher this year.  Emma's favorite teacher last year married his brother...must be a great family!  Ben's 3rd grade teacher is the same one that Cammie had two years ago, and he decided already that he likes her.  Hopefully the feeling is mutual and that we are beginning the year off right.

Last weekend, to celebrate Labor Day, Cammie and I went medieval camping together again.  Kelly thought that he might have to work, Emma didn't want to go, and Ben has such complicated medical needs that taking him camping for a long weekend is almost unthinkable.  In a lucky twist of fate, Grandma Pauline called and asked if Ben wanted to come stay with her for a few days along with his cousin, Miss A.  It was quickly agreed that this would be a great idea, and I gave Cammie the option to come with me or stay with Grandma.  She quickly volunteered to come with me, just like when we went to July Coronation, this time camping near Avelyn & Michael and their kids, as well as another couple, Liz and David and their two little ones.  They had called ahead and made a land reservation.  Due to the small children in our group, we requested a quiet area to camp.  Really, we just wanted to be camped in a place NOT next to a loud, obnoxious, vulgar partying crew.  There are a couple of them...singing rude lyrics that young children will repeat in the daylight, usually at the most inconvenient times...like in church or school.

We arrived on site and found our land reservation was in section D, just past the equestrian fields, on the far side of camp.  Down the hill.  As far away from the center of town as you could possibly get.  Had we known that this was going to be such a hardship, I would have packed up all the gear they had already unstowed and driven up the hill and found an empty space.  Next time we'll have to remember to ask for a "quieter space within easy walking distance of the erics"...that is, the center of "town".  Avelyn's feet are in really rough shape, so climbing up and down that hill a few times a day nearly did her in.  My calf was cramping, and my feet were really sore...even now my right foot feels like I have a pinched nerve.  I might have to go see my foot doctor pretty soon.

We set up our small 12' diameter yurt...I realized that the pitch of the roof is too steep, so I need to adjust the tension cable to make it looser--longer.  I also need to make the roof cover a little bigger; the fabric should hang about 6" below the ropes around the edges.  Right now if the wind blows just right, it unhooks and gives passers-by a peek-a-boo of activities within.  The other changes I need to make is making a bigger smoke hole cover and a door.  I'm thinking about making a wood frame and stretching the canvas across it.  Maybe I can paint it in a traditional Mongolian or Turkish manner to look like a door.

I picked up some fuzzy, flat hangers at Target for hanging my costumes up in the yurt.  Not only does it have a bar across the bottom for hanging socks and towels, but the fuzziness grips the dresses so they don't slide off.  The great part of the lattice walls is an unlimited amount of hanging space inside.  Then I hung 12 yards of polar fleece around the inside to keep it a bit warmer.

I spent a bit of the weekend assisting with the Equestrian championship as grounds crew for competitors--keeping score of the events and resetting the equipment--talking with friends, and climbing up and down the hills.  I missed the Exchequer meeting that I should have attended, the Costumer's guild meeting I wanted to attend, and most of merchant's row.  Cammie spent a bunch of the weekend playing with the other kids and climbing up and down the hills to walk a merchant's dog.  She made a deal with this merchant that if she walked the dog three times a day, she would earn a hat from her booth...and this is what she received!  A real fox-fur trimmed hat in a Mongolian style.  She's so pleased with herself and the hat that she wore it on the first day of school!  I'm betting she's going to wear it most of the winter, too.

On Sunday, I went up to the top of the world to get my car to begin packing up, and took this series of photos of the campsites.  What you can't quite see is that at the far end of the field, there's a steep drop off that goes down to where we were camped.  The Olympic Mountains in the background were a lovely, romantic touch.  The first picture has almost no "mundane" objects, other than a few slightly modern-looking tents.

The center part of town where the armored combat tournament were held.  The final rounds were just about to start while I was up here.  I was disappointed to miss it, but very happy to hear the results were for four-time Prince Ulf and his wife, Caiomhe ("Kee-vah").  Ulf was known, for a while, as "Ulf Princess-maker"; each of his four reigns he elevated a different lady to Princess, the last of which was his wife.  When he reigned with Princess Bernadette, they decided to give me a rather amazing award--one I treasure above all others--the Red Flame of Tir Righ.  It reads, in part, that I was chosen because I "inspire and further the image of Medievalism within our Principality."  Bernadette announced to everyone in court that it was not only for dressing the part at all times, but for all that I do with the University of Ithra.  It's only given out twice a year, and I was the 4th one to ever get one, so it was quite an honor.  

The other end of the field...a few cars in this one as people were packing up, but still lots of medieval pavilions.  I got to see a few people I hadn't seen in years, including Patricia & Hagar who moved to Alaska about 10 years ago.  

I was sitting in the shade just before the tournament finals when I overheard some silliness behind me.  Duchess Dagmaer was interviewing some of the Who's Who of An Tir and asking some really interesting questions.  "If you had the choice, in the Middle Ages, would you rather contract syphilis or dysentery, and why?"  It was being video taped and will air at 12th Night in January...it'll be interesting to see what they do with this.  

We went to court and spent a long time listening to great speeches, watching people kneel before their Majesties and receive awards, listen to the stories of valiant acts and heroics, witnessed elevations of Knights and Laurels, and enjoyed sitting with my back to the sun.  In the meantime, I snuggled with young Mr. E who behaved himself very well for such a long time while his mom, Avelyn, took pictures (and for a little while, a nap!) and dad, Michael, stood behind the Royals as Herald.

At the end of Sunday, I decided that I couldn't possibly sleep in that painfully firm cot one more night, so I opted to pack up a few things and go spend the night at my in-laws' house where Kelly had taken the other two kids.  I could catch a shower and get a snuggle with my sweetie.  I called ahead to make sure they knew I was coming, but didn't get the entire camp packed up, so I knew I'd be back in the morning for breakfast and to pack up the rest of the gear.  Unfortunately, I got there at 10:30 and the whole family had already gone to bed.  I took a long, hot shower, washed the stink and most of the dirt off, got into clean jammies and slept really well.  I got up in the morning before everyone else and got ready to head back.  Ben crawled out of bed shortly after I did, so I gave him a snuggle, Kelly rolled over and said about five words, and Cammie climbed out of bed, put on her hat, and we headed out.  I didn't see anyone else in the house...sleepyheads.

We arrived back at the site to finish breaking down the yurt, pack up the car, have breakfast, and say our goodbyes.  I helped Avelyn & Michael pack down their yurt & kitchen, since we shared some of the space and they brought the majority of the kitchen materials, and Cammie entertained the kids a bit.  We drove home, waiting three ferries to get home, just as we did to get there.

Now we're back to the ol' grind and trying to figure out the best schedule for karate, school, doctors, and all the other stuff we need to do.  It's a juggling act just to get the basics done some days.  But I'm getting a little bit of knitting done while I wait.  This is yarn that Heide gave me when I was visiting her from a project that hopped over to the frog pond and I'm busy transforming it back into socks.  I love this self-patterning stuff.  The grey colors are actually quite a soothing, almost bluish, color.  

Grandma apparently took Ben to a garage sale where he found this book on a table and became enamored with its contents of our National monuments and parks.  The really amazingly funny thing is--we already have a copy of this book.  Kelly bought it when he was about Ben's age!  He pored over it and dreamed about going to all the great monuments of our nation.  Great minds think alike.  Looks like we might be making a few road trips in coming years.  Wish we had an RV or a trailer to take across country.  We'd just need a place to park it when we're not using it.