In case you were wondering

why I go back to Raglan Fair, year after year, this photo by Lady Agnes des Iles should say it all.

 

 

 

The banners are the work of Lord Nicholas de Estleche dictus le Tardif. (and they are huge - 2 meters wide or so!)

Post Raglan musings

     I really enjoyed Raglan this year, despite being busier there than ever. I was reservations steward and I found that as much as I love talking to everyone and meeting new people, I have to schedule in a little down time away from the registration  tent. Plans afoot on that for next year.

     I loved participating in the fencing prize-playing as a time keeper for both the Free Scholar and Prefect bouts. I got the best seat in the place and could really concentrate on the fighting. It was my first time as time keeper and I hope it will not be the last.

     I taught a class in making basic thread-wrapped buttons that seemed to be well received. I also took a basic naalbinding class (for the third time) and this teacher was really good. Mistress Rogned actually made sense and now I can naalbind. I had a private lesson in sprang from Jahanarabanu and I think that may become a favorite activity. Her lord, Eldgrimr, made my sprang loom and it is a lovely thing.

     Our first student heavy fighter from the College of Saint John of Rila came to Raglan this year and after jumping right in and helping to set up around 10 encampments, he was authorized as a heavy fighter. He fought in the bridge battle and the Oxford Roll, as seen here.

 

He got his first two archer scores with his longbow.

And watching him become Lord Samuil Simeonov was just great. Good job, Sam!!!

 

More musings to follow...

Okay, Raglan's over and it's time to try and post a little more often...

So, back in March I posted some photos of a pile of black and white fabric in my living room. This is what it looks like now*.

It was the center of the Linden Manor encampment at Ffair Rhaglan XI, which just ended on Monday. I am so pleased at how it stood up to wind and rain and am planning many, many updates before its next use! 

Also in this photo you can see a few of the banners I made for various household members and friends. I completed 12 new ones for the Fair and have commissions for 6 more for next year. Lord Samuil made the wonderful banner stands, which greatly improved the look of our encampment. Vivant for Linden Manor!

* photo courtesy of Sophie Sherwell

Once again, catching up

It seems as though I can DO things or I can blog, but not both. I don't quite know how to find a balance, but I need to try a bit harder or things just won't get recorded.

To catch up a bit, we had our first official SCA event at the College in quite some time. It was called Bows and Blows, and needless to say featured archery. It was our first attempt at the sport and fortunately, one of the Kingdom Archery Marshals, Lady Constanza, was willing to fly out from the UK to run things for us. We had 16 first-time archers and the hardest part of the day was getting them to pause to eat lunch. When the archery finally finished, we  headed to my house for crafting and feast, after garbing up. It was too cold for the kids to shoot in garb, since most of them are in poly-cotton starter kit. Here's a selection of photos, beginning with one of Constanza and her longbow.

 

 

It was a really good day and the kids committed to another event in October, again featuring archery. They're also planning Bows and Blows II for April 2016.

 

 

This is what they looked like after shooting and fighting. It was a long (but very good!) day!

 



Spring is really coming!

My tomatoes have sprouted! As have the indigo and the foxgloves! 

Any guesses?

Can you tell what I've begun this weekend??

There is a 4-seat couch under there!

So ready for spring to arrive!

I have a terrible case of spring fever, so I gave in to it and started my seeds for my vegetable garden and the long-awaited herb garden today. The vegetables I started today include various heirloom varieties of tomatoes, peppers (sweet and hot), eggplants, pumpkins, gourds, asparagus, and melons. I have lots of other seeds ready for things like beans, carrots, beets, and corn, but those will be seeded directly into my raised beds when spring is really here.

For the herbs (and dye plants!) I've got indigo, false saffron, lady's mantle, sweet woodruff, sweet marjoram, German chamomile, lamb's ear, St. John's wort, rosemary, borage, thyme, wormwood, rue, chives, spearmint, sweet basil, catnip, parsley, sage, bee balm, fennel, celery, and rhubarb. Again, there are more, like dill, which will be directly seeded later.

Not that there's much to see, but here are the first planted seed trays. You can certainly tell which ones have been watered already!

 

Not that you can tell from that picture, but the trays are actually in the conservatory, so they will get lots of proper sunlight. I need to take some daylight photos of the conservatory, so I can show off the lemons and kumquats on the trees and also the lovely blooms on the camellia and azalea! 

 

Most of the new flowers I'll be planting this year will also be directly seeded, but a trip to the garden center is in order, to get more seed trays for the ones that do need to be started indoors.