Plans gone awry and catching up

I have really wanted to sew over the last few weeks, but other than a half-day spree, it just hasn't happened except in dribs and drabs, due to work taking first place. I did manage to make an under-gown for one of the other college members and cut out a gown for her as well. We also had a quick lunch hour shopping trip to a clothing factory here in town, where Kalina and Geri found some nice linen and wool for just a few leva a metre.

On a positive note, I've made some progress on the Thamesreach patch for the kingdom wallhanging project. And today I managed to cut out two pair of hosen in preparation for the Winchester Pilgrimage next month. Now I just need to get them all finished.

Easter dinner was the normal indulgence of lots and lots of tasty food (and candy) in good company. We had an awesome ham with a brown sugar glaze, scalloped potatoes, marinated salad, a relish tray and dip, devilled eggs, jello (of course!), strawberry pie and more of the cinnabominations from brunch. Just a few calories there! James - if you're reading this, the eggs were great and we had leftovers!

Cinnabominations!

Easter Brunch today is based on the most amazing Cinnabominations from Ravelry. Nom!!














I'll write more about the actual dinner later. Happy spring!!

One more day!

It's almost time for the next short break at my university and I am really looking forward to this one. It's been crazy busy since I got back from my snowy travels and I haven't had a minute to do anything creative. I have managed to use my evenings to get the whole house spring-cleaned and several projects laid out, so I'll be able to spend four whole days sewing. Bliss!

Made it!

It was a long, but uneventful drive home. We turned off the Plovdiv-Sofia highway at Ihitiman and went south the back way, around the reservoir (which was quite frozen!),and through Samokov. The roads were clear, but there sure were some piles of snow on the shoulder!

The revel tonight was excellent. We did more eating and planning than dancing, but it was really productive. We now know Filitza ia an amazing cook and will keep us all fed in proper medieval style. Nicky was no slouch either! Between the lot of us we had homemade wheat bread, homemade barley/spelt bread (both in nice little round loaves), two different green salads (one spinach, one lettuce and fresh herbs), pork stewed with carrots and onions, pork with caraway and coriander seed in red wine, chicken in rosemary and orange juice, and several nice local red wines. Nom!

There were nine of us and we've set the date for the next revel (April 18), agreed on the final version of the device, chosen a motto (Vita et sanitas, or life and health, which is the standard local greeting in Bulgarian), and heard a presentation from Serguey on languages used in 13th century Bulgaria and Byzantium. Sveta is going to work on dance instruction for the next revel and we're all going to work on starter garb for those who need it. Also, John is learning more dance music for the penny whistle and recorder. He plays in an Irish band and is excited about extending his repertoire. The enthusiasm is growing, which makes me really happy!

Heading home tomorrow, Revel soon!

Today was even more “interesting” than earlier in the week. The hall we used for the Burgas Fair is the war veterans’ club and there were more retired soldiers around than prospective students. Also, the hall was unheated, so you could see your breath as you talked to the few high school students who have braved the weather to attend. Payback from the Fates, indeed! We’ll be heading home tomorrow and I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed for a change. At least the snow has finally ended, so the drive home should only be about seven hours.

I’m really looking forward to the revel on Sunday. Almost everyone has confirmed and we’ll have a business meeting, dance lessons, and a feast with medieval food. We’re meeting in the Blue Room at the University, so we don’t get into the habit of meeting in someone’s home all the time (thanks for that tip, Guy!). The only catch is that I’ll need to cook something on Sunday morning after travelling all day Saturday. Oh well, it will be worth it in the end. I’m hoping we’ll sign off on the official petition to the Crown (to open the College) on Sunday. Alex is supposed to be working on it, so we can present it to the Queen at Winchester. I love how that sounds! We were originally shooting for presentation at the ID Coronet Tourney, but that was just too fast to get everything done properly. I now have my ticket for Winchester, which gives me even more incentive to get things finished on this end. We’ve got the (hopefully) final version of the College device and it looks very good. Jon even made a digital version that we’ll be able to use on a webpage, when we reach the point of actually having one! Nicky is also completing the documentation for our name. It is good to have reference librarians at your disposal! She is certainly one of our most participatory members, besides Sveta and Geri. I’m hoping both she and Sveta will also come to Winchester. Fingers crossed! We’ll be voting on officers this weekend and I expect I’ll wind up as Seneschal (unless I can talk someone else into it, so I can do A&S.). Nicky is already acting as both Exchequer and Herald and Geri will probably be A&S. Sveta has been acting as Chatelaine, so if those are all confirmed, we’re set for officers. Please note the distinct lack of fighters. We may wind up as a purely A&S College at this rate! The next revel is going to be mid-April and will be a Garb 101 workshop. I’ve made handouts for Sunday, so folks can get their fabric purchased and pre-washed so we can all get started cutting and sewing at the revel. We’ll have a lot of basic t-tunics at first, but several of the ladies are eyeing up full Bulgarian-Byzantine court outfits for the future. I’m trying to envision an entire College full of Second Kingdom Bulgarians. Wouldn’t that make an impression at a kingdom level event?! I’m hoping someone will want to focus on cobbling, since our current shoemaker is retiring and moving away from Blagoevgrad. I should probably try and get another pair of Tservuli before he leaves town.
I am going to have to do an update on my A&S 50 progress soon. I think I’m up to about 15 finished tasks and/or items for the persona challenge. One of the things I still need to work on is a more Bulgarian version of ordinary clothing. I’m currently wearing generic 12th – 13th century Western European stuff. It looks okay, but I can really do better in portraying my persona. Even Logan looked more true to his persona at his first event! That’s my goal for Rhaglan Ffair.

Payback

I gloated about another week without students and the last few days have been payback from the Fates. The weather was wonderful when we left Blagoevgrad on Sunday. Imagine, eight hours of sun, blue skies, freshly tilled fields, picturesque little villages, storks (really - half a dozen in a field near Shumen), and empty roads. All spent in a car with only one stop the whole trip for a quick lunch of kebapche and some gas for the car. We checked into our hotel in Dobrich, had a pizza, and headed to bed. I was hoping to see something of the town the next day, but we woke up to a bloody blizzard. Half a meter of snow by noon. And don't forget the gale-force winds driving sleet into your face. We went straight from the hotel to the conference center in the morning and straight back that night. We didn't even venture out for lunch. Dinner was another round of Italian from the hotel restaurant. The next day we woke up to no electricity. Swell! So we headed to Varna, hoping for an easy drive and a warm hotel. It took us three hours to get there and it was only 40km. It looked like this:
















Fortunately, we have a great driver, who packed tire chains and all necessary extras for our car. We even stopped to get some other folks out of a ditch.

Varna was more of the same - two days of driving snow and icy sidewalks. It was mitigated by a really good restaurant for lunch and Subway (Yeah, yeah, I know) for dinner, plus a quick run into an English language bookstore for reinforcements for my paperback stash. I had to take a picture of my colleagues at the beach, just for the record. That grey stuff behind them is actually the Black Sea. The were enormous breakers from the wind that surfers would love - If they didn't freeze!














The road to Burgas looked like this today:











You don't really get the whole effect, since the fog didn't appear until a little later when we hit the really hilly, narrow section of the coast road. It had been plowed the day before, but not since, so it was six inches of icy slush, bordered by four to six feet of snow piled up on the berm. My mother would appreciate this drive. It looked a lot like western Pennsylvania in January in 1970.

We'll be in Burgas until noon Saturday. The trip home should be okay, since it's all supposed to turn to rain tonight and wash this stuff away!

And I don't have to see them for another week...

Before the students get back from spring break, I will be going on the road with the Admissions team for a week of recruiting across Bulgaria. I'm hoping to hit at least a few museums on the way for some research, including the history and ethnographic museums in Burgas, the Historical Museum in Dobrich, and a return trip to the Varna Archeological Museum. After spending the bulk of spring break finishing budgets for the upcoming year and moving offices from one building to another, the time away sounds pretty good.