Winchester, Day Two

So, after a chilly night in a too-small sleeping bag, I was up and around several hours before anyone else, due to the time difference for me. It was quite nice to go sit in by myself the walled garden and watch the birds. I wish I had the camera that morning, but I didn't want to rummage around for it and wake up my tent-mates, so you only get a description. There were ducks (ordinary mallards) living at the Hospital and one of them flew up from the river to perch on the roof ridge next to the weathercock. It was quite amusing to watch him balance! Even better was the hawk who caught a meadow mouse not ten feet from me and flew off to breakfast on it. It was quite the feat.

Once everyone else awoke, we had tea - yum! - and apples, and bread and butter. Then it was time to start the Pilgrimage. Lore Rafe sent us off in groups of three or four, after taking a portrait of each group. Here are some of us waiting our turn to leave.



Edith, Constanza, and I made up a group and we were among the early departures. The path was along the river, shady in spots and quite sunny in others.




We encountered swans and cygnets...



Other pilgrims...



a blind beggar, a pair of young ruffians, a poor widow, and several learned folk who tested us on our ecclesiastical knowledge and ascertained that we knew how to be pilgrims.

We saw a beautiful castle...



and finally made our way to Winchester Cathedral. (Oh-bo-de-o-do... Makes you hear the song to read it, doesn't it?) We saw Jane Austen's grave, the Winchester Bible and some truly lovely architecture. We finally succumbed to heat and hunger and made our way through the gaping tourists ("Might I ask why you're dressed like that? Oh, may I take your picture?")and found an excellent pasty shop. Then it was back to the Almshouse to watch the afternoon fighting demonstration.





Some of us were a bit tired by then.




After the demo was over and the crowd cleared, Their Excellencies Daffyd and Chiara held court, then it was off to the feast.




It was a lovely evening, ending up around a makeshift "fire" of lots and lots of candles on the green. There was singing, poetry, and storytelling and it was perfect, really!

Long time, no see...

The Winchester Pilgrimage was amazing, but it's been crazy at work catching up after the time away, so no blogging till now. I flew over to London on the 28th and had a nice evening of pizza and packing gear with the daughter and SIL.

We took the train to Winchester on Friday and were lucky enough to get a table so we could spread out a bit for the hour-long journey. Once there, we headed to The Old Gaolhouse for some lunch and to meet up with Genevieve. After lunch the SIL and I and all our gear (lots of rucksacks and tents) settled in at the Royal Oak (Yes, another pub. Why do you ask?) while Constanza, Genevieve, and Nadia (we met up with her between pubs) went off to the Knitting Library at the Winchester School of Art to do some research. It was a hard task, but someone had to watch our gear! The Royal Oak claims to be the oldest bar in England and I'd believe it. And they mix an excellent Pimms! Eventually the ladies rejoined us (after much knitting goodness) for a round of drinks before we headed out to the site of the Pilgrimage.

Once we reached the Hospital of St. Cross & Almshouse of Noble Poverty, we set up our mundane tent in the meadow behind the church, whilst those with period pavillions set up on the green.



Here's our modern tent. It looks lovely next to the church, don't you think?




After we got everything set up - which was a rather hilarious undertaking, because I'm pretty sure a non-native speaker wrote the English directions for setting up that tent... well, you can imagine - we checked in at Troll, got our tokens (amazing pewter pins of St. Swithin's basket of eggs made by Lord Robert), got into proper dress, and settled in to the Hundred Men's Hall. We then had an evening of traveller's fare, singing, poetry, and handwork. And some drinks, too.



Then off to bed to be ready for the morning Pilgrimage. More on that tomorrow....

Well, that was fun!

Yesterday was most interesting. We had a 5.0 earthquake simultaneously with a nasty thunderstorm and things were really hopping for a while. I was sitting in my living room at 7:30 pm sewing and listening to the storm blow, when the furniture started moving too. That was a little much for me, actually. We had a bunch of aftershocks throughout the evening and the best one was at 10:30 - it made my bed feel like a hammock swaying in the breeze! The epicenter of the 5.0 was only about 60 km from here, just over the border in Macedonia. The US summer school group who are currently on campus were more than a little freaked out by the whole thing. I told them we aim to provide as many thrills as possible!

Despite everything, I think I'm ready for Winchester. In fact, I'm packed!

High tech, low tech

I saw the new Star Trek movie last night and loved it. It felt true to its roots and made everyone cheer in places, which is one of my signs of a good movie! Listening to the Bulgarian fanboys guffaw at Checkov's accent was priceless as well!

The other good thing that happened yesterday was getting tablets delivered. A while back, I asked a friend who's a woodworker if he could make me some thin, wood tablets for weaving. He said eventually and I left it at that. Well, he showed up at my office yesterday afternoon with thirty! Wow- they are beautifully sanded and finished. His comment was, now do you need a loom? Of course, I said yes. Thanks, Christo!!!

Looking back a bit to Crown Tourney

As part of my A&S 50 challenge, I wanted to at least enter at least one display between now and the end of the challenge. I was a bit reluctant to do so without lots of preparation, which really means I probably would never have done so. But Genevieve "encouraged" me to enter the smocked apron I made for Constanza into the A&S display at Crown Tourney, so I did. My documentation was miniscule because I wrote it on the spot from memory. The whole thing was was fun, so I expect I'll do it again, but with some advance preparation. Here's the result - a lovely thank you for entering!

Rusty today

Nope, not my skills, just the fabric I've been working on. The color, that is! Guy's new tunic is done and looks pretty good, if I do say so. Seems like I've got the neck closing he likes down pat now. It's from Timothy Dawson's booklet about eleventh century men's clothing in the Eastern Roman Empire. You can also see it on his website here. For some reason, the colors are washed out in both of these photos. The rust color is much stronger than this and much closer to the tunic I saw in the Byzantine Museum in Thessaloniki. Too much flash, I guess. Now it just needs some tablet weaving for the cuffs and collar in navy and white to be more like the Museum exhibit. I also think it needs a leather belt, so I put mine in the picture.

New tunic:













Really Old Tunic:











I also finished the embroidery on a set of commercial napkins. They were a freebie with a recent linen purchase. I like leaves....can you tell?

Flowers and "thank-you's"

I took a break from sewing today to shoot some garden pictures. The spring bulbs are all done and the early summer stuff is coming out nicely. Three years ago, my colleague Ivan gave me a peony from his mom's garden. Peonies are notorious for disliking being moved, and often refuse to bloom for ages. Well, this year is it! It has four, big, fat buds and I can hardly wait for them to open! Thanks, Ivan!











There's also columbine everywhere, in loads of colors...











Some white iris,












Johnny-jump-ups that have self-seeded in every corner of the garden,










A foxglove that is also self-seeded and growing inches higher daily,















And the ubiquitous zdravets (or cranesbill geranium) found in every garden in Bulgaria.











I did actually get some sewing done, too. Guy's new tunic is done, except finishing the seams, and I'll do that tonight while I watch TV. Photos when it's all done! I also finished a thank you for a Lady who has been very helpful in finding and sharing music resources for medieval dance. This scissors fob is for her. There's a second "thank you" gift to come for the second Lady who has also been most kind in assisting in the same endeavor, but hers is not yet at the photo stage. I hope to see them both at Winchester, so I need to get the second one finished!