Fruits of the season

We're eating lots of peaches these days from our own trees! The two peach trees that were left after the clean out of deadwood got pruned lightly in the spring and have repaid the work many times over. The fruit isn't very soft, but is it ever sweet!

We've got apples coming on as well. This tree produced excellent fruit last year and we have every reason to believethis year will be the same when they ripen. This tree still needs more pruning, but it is producing well despite that.

The things you learn by looking in the trash!

There's a large pile of construction rubble in front of my house, waiting for removal by the contractor. Over the course of the summer, it has grown sunflowers, thistles, and most recently a thorn apple. Thorn apple is also known as datura and although it's beautiful, it is very poisonous. My volunteer plant is just past full bloom and full of fruit, so I am guessing we'll have more next year. For the medievalists, this particular plant was one of those used in the "flying potions" attributed to witches. You can find a very nice article about it here at the Medieval Garden Enclosed.

                                                  

My house is pink!

All the exterior work is nearly at an end and the house is fully insulated and painted. Here are some shots with and without scaffolding. Please excuse the fact that what will be the front lawn someday looks like the Somme, They just knocked down the old wall with heavy machinery and are digging the footer for the new wall.

 

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...