J. minus 9. Here are the tales of the bold adventurer Master N______ and his constant companion and man-of-all-work, Peregrinning. Today's adventures all involved a single substance, well-known and easily-available, though dangerous unless treated with respect.

( Of Familial Absences, and Adventurous Travel )
( Of Physical Feats, and the Value of Silence )
( Of Displays of Military Prowess )
( Of Robots and Space Travel )
( Of Motorcycle Jumps and Jungle Treks )

And Hippo Birdies too!

J minus 10. N. and I went to the Independence Day celebration and country fair in Chelmsford Center this evening. We enjoyed hot dogs and hot roasted corn on the cob, and came home with a good-quality Spider Man blow-up doll ("noOOo, daddy, it's a balloOOon!").

What, you say? You were there too, and it all got rained out? Why, you're absolutely right. We waited patiently in a fairly short line for about half an hour, hoping to get to ride the children's train, only to have the ticket booth close just as we stepped up, because someone showed them a weather map on their phone. Within a minute (of quick-stepping it back to the car), it was raining buckets. We waited out the time in the car, where I taught N. about how to turn on the radio, windshield wipers, and air conditioning, and he learned how to turn on the dome light. We wandered back after the rain let up (and ate the corn, which was wonderfully tasty and dreadfully hot, so we had to wait five minutes for it to cool down enough to eat), saw the train had departed permanently, and gave up to come home. Perhaps tomorrow morning will be a better time for the train...

J. and family walked from the Hotel to Castello Sforzesca, had lunch at the Cafe Magnifico, and J. and her mom walked all the way to the Duomo. Their laptop is out of juice (yes, they're getting advice on how to deal with it), so they've been posting through a public terminal in the hotel lobby. We'll see what the situation is at the hotel in Storo tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I have obtained J's new Elizabeth Behr book, a few tomes for myself (including Flight vol. 2), and had a fairly good day at work. N. went to sleep right quick (though it was Daddy who was falling asleep in the middle of sentences in the long-winded Dinosaur book). Oh, and I went out and turned off the dome light of the car. :-)

Will I see any of you at the Chelmsford parade tomorrow? Anyone have a favorite fireworks display to recommend?

1. Please welcome: lissa510, mare_in_flames, sileas_1, woodwindy.

Introduce yourselves around if you would like.

2. Needless to say, it's been raining in the North Country. Not too bad, but things are wet. I do not know what it's like at the Northern Region War Camp site, which is maybe an hour north. It's is supposed to be good for the weekend.

3. I am feeling rather craptastic, but part of that might have been because I forgot to eat today. I have recently had two chicken sausages, a banana, a little toast and a croissant, and I am eating a peach. There are chicken legs in yellow curry sauce, largely because when I tried to use the knife to get the plastic off the red curry sauce, I lopped off the top and wore part of it. Done with the peach. Now drinking Green Mountain Red Raspberry.

4. Last call on two excellent Great Big Sea tickets for July 12 in Toronto before I put them up on a ticket site. Molson Center: Section 102, Row M, seats 9 and 10. $140 for the pair, which is less than I paid for them.

5. OK, then. theresat and l3arcelona -- and the Kona -- are two hours away! Yay!1. And the trip to Bhakail yields four more friends, including one from Nova Scotia.

6. If you are going to Northern Region War Camp, please say hello and grab my camera and take a picture of me.

 Yes, I am a cultural pygmy...and to prove it...the MOVIE MEME!!!

Entertainment Weekly's list of the top movies of the last 25 years.  Feel free to comment, I did.

Go through their list and BOLD the ones you have seen and underline the ones you own on video or DVD. 

Holiday weekend, trip to Lancaster planned for Sat and I'm coming down
with either allergies (hope) or a cold (I so hope not). Lots of sinus
pressure and stuffiness. Some scratchy to my throat but that could be
the smoke at the meeting last night.

Damn.

I've spent the morning working on inventory for Pennsic. I need LOTS more mugs, but I'm turning them out at the rate of 5 or 6 regualr ones and 2 or 3 big ones a day - that should give me enough by the time I leave. Have I mentioned I don't like making mugs?

I want to have 50 or so of the baluster-type drinking jugs for Pennsic. I'm about a third of the way there. I've also got a half-dozen large London-type conicals, a couple of York-type embossed conicals, a few Surrey Whiteware small cups, and a few five-lobed cups.

I've also been working on other stuff. Cookpots have been popular, so I'm making a variety, including several types with lids. Frying pans, chafing dishes, lanterns, candlesticks, urinals, chamber pots, washbasins, assorted jugs and pitchers, bottles, costrels, dishes of various sizes, serving wear, plates, spice jars, storage jars, the list goes on and on. I probably need to make [Unknown LJ tag] some new ceramic spindle whorls, as well. And he needs to make me some pestles for mortar and pestle sets.

Anyway, just a quick water break, then it's off to start marinating pork for tonight, and then back to work.

Please note:

I just checked the Pennsic University class schedule.

My 2-part class on Medieval Egyptian Socks has been listed under Middle Eastern Clothing.  It is NOT listed under Knitting.  Not even Part 2, which is described as follows:

Hands-on session for practicing the techniques of the socks.  Audits welcome, but hands-on limited to knitters comfortable working in the round on double-pointed needles.

As appropriate, please direct interested parties accordingly.

(ETA the "Pennsic" context because I'm an idiot who can think of nothing else this month, and it is conceivable that there are at least a few people who might be capable of Life Beyond Pennsic during July.  I might even know some of them.)

Happy Sock Day!

The fashion of the day is the Flame Wave pattern, in Cascade Fixation, color 6995 (dark plum).

 

Extracted from the Word doc:

Food of Eastern Europe
http://www.gallowglass.org/jadwiga/SCA/slavic/slavicfood.html
What information do we have about Slavic, Hungarian, and Russian food in period? Some samples may be served. AS 4 Sat., 8/2, 2 PM
May be $1 or $2 depending on whether I have samples

Dayboards & Sideboards
http://www.gallowglass.org/jadwiga/SCA/cooking/dayboards.html
Tips and tricks for creating the SCA-specific lunch or dayboard, as well as a discussion of the period 'sideboard' type service.
AS 4 Sat., 8/2, 3 PM
Handouts $1

Using the Modern Library for Medieval Research
http://www.gallowglass.org/jadwiga/SCA/libraries.html
Discussion of techniques and tools to use for library research.
AS1 Sun., 8/3, 3 PM
Handout $1

Known World Librarians Meeting
If you are a librarian, a library groupie, a library, or anything like it, come join us for gossip, information exchange and fellowship.
AS 3 Sun., 8/3, 7 PM 3 hrs.

Scented Oils
http://www.gallowglass.org/jadwiga/herbs/oil&water.html
Use essential and fragrance oils to blend a body oil for yourself based on medieval scents. Discussion of pre-1650 scents and processes.
Materials ($4)
AS 13 Mon., 8/4, 11 AM- 2 hrs.

East Kingdom Herbalists and Apothecaries Guild Meeting
Meeting/discussion of East Kingdom and other herbalists. First 1/2 hour business meeting, followed by general discussion. AS 6 Mon., 8/4, 3 PM 2 hrs.

Wildly Weedy Herbs
http://www.gallowglass.org/jadwiga/herbs/weeds/
What weeds of today were useful medieval herbs, and how were they used? Walking not required.
AS 6 Mon., 8/4, 5 PM 1 hr.
Handouts $1

Medieval-style Mustards
http://www.gallowglass.org/jadwiga/herbs/Mustards.html
Hands-on mustard sauce making, with discussion of medieval recipes and techniques.
AS 13 Thur., 8/7, 12PM
$1 for supplies

New and Advanced Research Tools
Discussion of new and/or free tools available to aid in historical research, including citation managers, specialized search engines, sharing tools.
AS 4 Wed., 8/6, 12 PM
Handouts 25 cents

Behind* the Herb-Wife: Herbalism, Feminism and History
http://www.gallowglass.org/jadwiga/herbs/Beyond_herbwife.html
http://www.gallowglass.org/jadwiga/herbs/WomenMed.html
Lecture/discussion on the history of the herbalist and of women in healing, with particular attention to differences in modern historiography and popular views.
Age 13+
AS 4 Thur., 8/7, 3 PM
$1 for handout


*I'm pretty sure this was originally "Beyond the Herb-wife" but such are the vagaries of transcription.

As usual, handouts will be posted to my website, but I'll try to put the updates here too. The handouts posted here as of July 2 are schedule for fixing and updating!

Ok, this sounds too good to miss (even if it is right after Pennsic)

Not The Messiah (He's A Very Naughty Boy)
http://www.manncenter.org/calendar/view.asp?id=10046423

(Thanks to riversol for finding it)

I do.

I spent part of the day straightening my apartment.  I ran a few errands.  Then mid afternoon I took a shower, took care with my hair and make up and put on my favorite "dressy but casual" shirtwaist dress (it was 1988 after all, not that I wouldn't wear the same style today if I could find it), and had my mother drive me down to Bryn Mawr for what would ultimately be a life changing date.  (She drove me so I wouldn't have my car there.)

My first with

joef_johnm.

 

Well, ok, my first official date -- the week before we had gone out for coffee after running into each other at the comic shop.  Not, as I learned later, quite as coincidentally as I thought at the time.  Yes, two things are true: 1. He stalked me and 2.  He got me at the comic shop.

The restaurant we went to for dinner is now a bank and the movie theater (where we saw Roger Rabbit) is part of a parking lot.  The date, however, hasn't actually ended.

Happy 20 years hun... lets' try for 20 more shall we?