Pre-Winchester Planning

In May, i'll be going to Insulae Draconis for the Winchester Pilgrimage. There are going to be at least five in our lot, which makes me very happy. It will be Lady Sofia's first event outside the College and I think she will really enjoy it. On the family front, Lady Constanza, Lord Guy, and Lady Catherine are definitely coming. Huzzah! Now we need to convince Logan's good lady that she would enjoy it too, so that they will come on pilgrimage with us. Between now and then, I have two projects to finish - a wool kirtle for Constanza and Guy's fencing hood. It's absolutely manageable, because both projects are over half complete, which is a switch from my usual pre-event rush. Just because I started both of them last summer doesn't mean anything about my time management ... or lack thereof!

Post-equinox celebration

Here in Bulgaria, we wear martenitzi to keep us strong and healthy in the upcoming year. They are red and white cords that are traditionally tied around your wrist on March 1 by family and friends. I have taken mine off today, because I fulfilled the ritual by seeing the first returning stork of the season. I've actually seen three so far today, without ever leaving the house. Several of the neighbors have nests on their chimneys and the birds are returning to their summer nesting grounds. They are amazing to see!

Trees and shrubs and flowers, oh my!

I wa inspired by the lovely weather to stop after work yesterday and look at what the garden center had to offer. I came home with a 5 foot tall weeping pussy willow, a lilac, some hazelnuts, forsythias, hydrangeas, rhododendrons, and a climbing pink rose for the arbor. More work, but how pretty it will be in the future! Now I have to decide where to put a small pond and fountain! And I think I will go to the Wednesday open market and see what the local producers have on offer to add to my garden. Could be fun!

Spring, at last!

It's been a terrible winter here, with lots of snow and ice and bitter cold down to -30 C. We're finally getting a taste of spring and this weekend has been glorious. My snowdrops are in full bloom and the daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths are in bud. Becausse this is my first spring in this house, I had no idea what would come up in the garden. What I have is around 25 years worth of un-separated bulbs. It won't help them bloom this year, but I've started to separate and replant them after tilling the beds. I finished up my first two clumps of daffodils and stopped counting replants when I hit 100! Wow! Next spring should be amazing.

Mom and I have agreed that the view from the walled garden is amazing. We sat drinking our breakfast coffee in jeans and t-shirts today and the Rila mountains were our snow-capped backdrop. It looks like something out of the Sound of Music, really!

I'm off now to relax a little and work on the fencing hood I promised to Lord Guy many months ago. Luckily for me, he has now registered his arms and it gives me ideas for embroidery. I have just three major WIPS right now - the hood, Laady Constanza's Ffraid gown, and one of a pair of kingdom kneelers. if I keep at it, I think I can finish them all before Winchester Pilgrimage in May and perhaps even get some embellishments done on some of my own dresses. We'll see!

ILL is my friend!

I've been contemplating some book purchases for research and I was really interested in a new (first ever English language!) translation of John Skylitzes Byzantine History. It's available on Amazon.co.uk, but only in hardcover at 75 British Pounds! So I asked our university library to borrow a copy for me on inter-library loan and it arrived today. I'm on the second section about Leo the Armenian (already!) and it is excellent. Even better, I just re-checked the price on Amazon and it comes out in paperback in three days at 1/3 the price! It's a win all around!

January Revel update

We had our first revel of the year last Saturday and it was quite fun. Our group is pretty fired up since our name was passed by Laurel in December - so we are now officially the College of Saint John Of Rila (incipient). We're waiting for word on our device, which we also hope will go through smoothly. Anyway, the news was inspiration for a lot of personal heraldry, which we worked on at the revel. Robert, Sorcha, Guido, Sofia, Theodora, and Gunther all have good designs made and are in the "living with it for a month" phase before submitting.

"Live with it for a month" was the best advice I ever received when working on my own heraldic device and I hope it will be useful to my friends. My own first version was far too detailed and would have been a nightmare to paint or embroider. What I chose in the end was a clean, clear design that is easy to use in almost any form and one that I really like, even a few years later (Argent, five linden leaves vert in saltire within a bordure gules).

We followed up the heraldry research with a feast, which was very tasty, if non-period. We had determined earlier that this would be an ethnic potluck, rather than a medieval one, so we had Pad Thai, Enchiladas, stuffed eggs, cherry cheesecake, cream horns, and black bun. Yum!

New Year's gift

I just received a gift of Churchkhela from a Georgian student. I've never seen it before and now I want to know two things: how can I make it at home and is it SCA period??