Too long

I owe posts!! Things have been busy, which is better than dull, I suppose! Here's a quick one with some photos of Guy's hood for Raglan. I coulnd't get to Raglan this year, due to work committments, but the rest of the family went. It was the rainiest one on record and everyone was glad for warm and dry clothing. This one is hand-stitched, wool, lined with a cotton/linen blend and inter-lined with cotton duck for durability and warmth. Handmade thread-over-wood buttons close the front. They were a first attempt as practice for a later doublet.

Birthday books

A few weeks ago, I celebrated my birthday. Friends and family know books are just the thing as gifts and I am now the pleased owner of:

The English Housewife by Gervase Markham
The Good Housewife's Jewel
All the King's Cooks: the Tudor Kitchens of King Henry the VIII at Hampton Court Palace
A Sip Through Time

Can you tell that I like period cooking and brewing almost as much as sewing and embroidery?

Finishing WIPs

Since I last posted, things have been very frantic at work and my energy for writing has been very limited. My immediate supervisor was killed in a traffic accident and I and two other staff members have been trying to pick up the pieces of jobs that are partially finished. Add that to the fact the we changed university presidents this morning and it's a bit shambolic. I feel pleased to have actually finished a work-in-progress and posted it to its intended recipient this morning. This is for Lady Constanza,and the acorns are symbolize her membership in the Order of Ffraid. It is 100% wool, lined with a cotton-linen blend. The embroidery is a silk-bamboo mix from the Handweaver's Studio in London, using split stitch, stem stitch, and candlewicking knots. The long seams are machine-stitched, but all others as well as the seam finishes are all done by hand. Hopefully it will arrive by post in time for her to wear it at Ffair Rhaglen. Another box is also in the post for her husband, Lord Guy, but more about that later!

More May travels

We spent day two in Plovdiv mainly in the old quarter, visiting many museums. It was lovely.

It was also good to see the Roman amphitheater again and to see it is in better condition than during my last visit.

The road from Plovdiv to Veliko Turnovo goes through the Shipka Pass. It's the site of a crucial battle between the Russian army and the Ottoman occupiers with assistance from Bulgarian freedom fighters.

This monument doesn't  look all that big, but it's seven stories high and there are 1000 steps just to get to the entrance. Whew! You can see the snow clouds rolling in on the view from the top. The weather was dreadful that day.

Next we went on to Etara, an open air museum. It's built to look like an 18th century village from the Gabrovo region and has examples of virtually every industry from that time period that could be water-driven, including this fulling mill.

I spent a lot of time with the blacksmith and ordered a lot of ironwork for my house. He was very pleased to make sets of hinges for my gates, fancy door latches and locks, 100 decorative door studs, a door knocker, and a set of fireplace implements.

There were several weavers. This one worked on an upright loom to make panniers for donkeys from goat hair. The bags were very durable, but very scratchy.

Theere were also rug weavers, icon painters, a silversmith, a cutler, a woodworker (who made some amazing bowls), a potter, musical instrument makers, a furrier, a leathermaker, a coppersmith, and a wood carver.

More to come...

Summer in the village

It's very interesting to watch the cycle of the seasons in a small village. The neighbors have made two hay cuttings on the various hayfields in front of my house during the last two weeks and the technology used (or lack thereof) ranges from a communist-era tractor and standard baler to a horse-drawn cutter and a load of people forking the loose hay onto donkey carts to haul back to make into haystacks near their homes.

When I drive to work each morning, I pass groups of people of varied ages heading out to the fields to hoe and weed and water everything from cabbage to tomatoes to tobacco. Living in town, it was easy to forget that many people here still depend on subsistance agriculture to get by, but now I see the evidence on a daily basis. It's humbling, frankly.

The plums have been harvested and it looks to be a good year for apples and grapes. The wheat looks ready to harvest and the sunflowers aren't far behind. It's nearly time for the pepper and tomato harvest and soon the whole village will be scented with roasting peppers and simmerng lutenitza. It will be mouth-watering!

We're also enjoying watching the storklings learn to fly. Our pair had three young ones again this year and now that they are as big as their parents, that huge nest is pretty crowded! The adult male spends a lot of time on the chimney on the next house, just watching the kids flap around. I can't say I blame him!

In just a few weeks it will be time for the the Sabor, or village fair. That's the signal that back to school is just around the corner. Can't say I'm ready for that!

Looking back to May

The Monday after graduation, I travelled across Bulgaria with some friends and family to see Plovdiv, Etara, Bachkovo Monastery, and Veliko Turnovo. Leaving Blagoevgrad, we headed up through the mountain pass at Borovets. Lots of fog slowed our driving and there was still snow on the ground in some places. We had lunch at a charming little ski shack, "The Happy Duck." Please note the (rude)skiing duck on the chimneypiece!

On the way, we stopped at the Assenova Krepost, or Assen's Fortress.



It's far up in the mountains and the fog swirling around was quite creepy. We kept waiting for someone to challenge us for being there!

Plovdiv was lovely and we saw lots of interesting sights and shopped quite a lot. We even settled on a paint color for our house, based on this one:

We saw the remains of the Roman Odeon on our first day there and it has been beautifully excavated.

More about the trip tomorrow!

What's up with this site?

I'm not quite sure what the problem is with Blogger, but for the last week, no matter what computer I use, the program opens with an error on the page and I can't post. At this point in time I can write, but I can't add a post title. Very weird! ETA - after posting this, I tried to edit the post and could add a title.