Put them in a safe place...

When we were packing to go to Beorgwic back in October we found ourselves short one bag of Viking clothing. Caitlin's dresses and Tom's tunic and pants were nowhere to be found. We searched the house from top to bottom at least 3 times over and we racked our brains to try and remember what had happened to them when we'd come back from the previous trip. I knew they were all in one bag together, as I remembered packing the stuff that needed washing all together. I knew they'd gone in the car when we left our friends' place in Canberra. But after that I had no clue.

Eventually, the night before we were due to leave for the 4 day dark ages reenactment camp, we gave up and broke out the sewing machine. Adam and I together sewed 6 garments in about as many hours.

It was just a little traumatic.

Tonight, when Adam went to the filing cabinet to look for the family's birth certificates, he pulled open the drawer and found...the bag full of the missing Viking kit. But no birth certificates, except his, which we don't need right now.

I wonder what I need to go looking for in order to find the birth certificates?

Winterfest 2010

We've been time traveling again. We even packed our kit in our TARDIS to get there (I mean, I knew we were buying a big car when we got the VW van, but ye gods, the amount of stuff we can fit in there is incredible! It really is bigger on the inside).

Our weekend was spent at the Winterfest Medieval Fair at Parramatta Park being part of the living history display.

I wove bits of wool and melted bits of glass and watched jousting. Adam did some wood turning on the pole lathe and helped one of our new group members get started on making a pair of shoes. We had a scrumptious lamb stew for Saturday night dinner cooked by Adam and Jess over the camp fire. The kids beat each other up with our collection of rubber weapons and did a little bit of wood carving and pottery.

The very lovely Deb (aka Oonagh), from Canberra, was brave enough to come and stay at our place on Friday and Saturday night (we didn't camp over, it was easier to come home and besides, the cats like it better if they get fed) and she brought me the new linen underdresses she has made for me because she is awesome and actually likes to sew. Unlike myself, who, although I'm assured I am awesome in several ways and incidentally can sew, hates doing it and therefore doesn't.

It was lots of fun.

And I failed to take even one single photo.

ETA: But luckily other people did.

Around the cooking fire. Photo credit: Deborah Lane (oonaghsown)

Saturday night dinner. Photo credit: Deborah Lane (oonaghsown)

Making glass beads. Photo credit: Deborah Lane (oonaghsown)

Deb and I hard at work sitting at the craft display. Photo credit: Deborah Lane (oonaghsown)

Other Winterfest pictures around the net:

"Winterfest 2010" by Avaery on Flickr

"Winterfest 2010" by Stephen Finlay on Flickr

And a couple of videos too:

Blacktown Medieval Fayre

I have a new apron dress! This is very exciting! No, really!

It started with a beautiful length of handwoven woollen cloth made by the very talented Pat which I bought at the Armidale Easter camp. I made a piece of tablet weaving with the intention of using it for the straps on the dress. The cloth and the braid sat looking at me expectantly while I dithered for weeks on account of really having no idea what to do next. Then this morning, I was talking to Deb, and the subject of how much I hate sewing came up, one thing led to another, a little bit of barter came in to play, and the next thing I know she's hand sewing my dress for me, with an antler needle and hand-spun woollen thread and using hand-made brass pins no less! And the best bit? Not one scrap of either the cloth or the braid was wasted.

Me in my new apron dress with Deb, seamstress extraordinaire.

We were at the Blacktown Medieval Fayre with the Ancient Arts Fellowship as part of a living history display this weekend.

The Ancient Arts Fellowship encampment

Adam had his pole lathe set up and we had the tent with our replica Viking bed on display.

The kids hanging out in our tent

The group's camp kitchen attracted much interest as various meals were cooked, lunch on Saturday was coq au vin, Saturday dinner was beef stew with dumplings while Sunday lunch was pumpkin soup with bacon and sour cream followed by a lamb stew.

Adam in the kitchen

Beef stew with dumplings

The Craft Geteld

The Craft Geteld housed a display of textiles crafts, we had drop spindle spinning of both wool and flax, tablet weaving, sewing, naalbinding, embroidery, viking wire weaving and finger loop braiding happening at various times during the day.

That empty seat next to Deb is where I spent most of today.

There was jousting, fighting, executions, pike and musket drills, theatrical swordplay, plenty of market stalls and even free pony and camel rides. Tom had three camel rides and neither Adam or I were there to take a photo of any of them. Independent kids are such a trial!

I was going to throw a whole bunch of other photos in here too but my Flickr upload is taking for freakin' EVER and I am very, very tired. So I'm going to bed. But I may add more photos in the morning. Or I might not. Who knows!

Don't forget to head on over to Unknown Mami's to see what's being shared by all the other fabulous Sundays in My City bloggers!

Friday Fragments & Link-fest No. 16

Hosted by Mrs4444.

A few fragmented bits of the week just gone, go visit Mrs4444 for more!

****

It got cold enough during the week for Jack to want cuddles, but none of this sitting on laps business for him! Just under the chin is his preferred perch. In between me and my laptop.

Being sat on and purred at has a somewhat soporific effect. It also tests one's touch typing skills.

****

We went to Lithgow Ironfest on the weekend

We set up our tent, complete with authentic Viking dog, Tom and I did some weaving, the kids all did some wood carving (and all cut themselves), we watched the equestrian skill at arms and jousting displays, we talked to people and pretended we were relaxing in the sun as the wind encouraged out tent to become airborne. Then, just as the day was finishing up and we were getting ready to break camp and head for home, huge black clouds rolled in and dumped wet stuff all over us. So we packed up a wet tent, in the rain, and off home we went.

Ironfest is lots of fun, especially if you're one of the people doing Napoleonic reenactment, they get to play with things that go BOOM! Fortunately it turns out Clara isn't bothered by either gun or cannon fire.

****

I managed to remember how to do Viking wire weaving and was going to take a photo of the piece I'm currently working on, only I've somehow misplaced it between putting it on the coffee table next to my laptop at the start of the evening and reaching for it to photograph about 2 hours later. Either my brain has fallen out or one of the kids has hidden my Viking necklace in the making. Anyway, here's a photo of the first bit of wire weaving I did back when I learned 6 months ago.

ETA: Aha! Found the missing wire weaving - it was down the side of the lounge cushion that I didn't lift and check under three times. You know, as opposed to all the cushions I did do that with.

****

And now, links to lure you off into the labyrinth that is the internet. Be sure to tie your piece of thread securely to the entrance and don't forget to be back in time for dinner!

• Richard Tulloch enthuses about the Dutch Book Week Boekenweekgeschenk (Book week present) books as train tickets scheme.



• Tor.com have been hosting Moominweek in celebration of the fabulous children's books by Tove Janssen, check out the index post for links to all things Moomin.



• I'm not much into perfumes, but this site made me wish smells were downloadable because I really want to know what "Bonfire" smells like

Sundays in My City

Hosted by Unknown Mami

Last Sunday I wasn't in a city, instead we had traveled back 1000 years and were in a pine forest near Armidale camping out for 4 nights with over 400 other people. I keep promising myself and others that I'll produce the definitive post-holiday post but I still haven't recovered enough for my brain to be up to the task, so you're getting a pictorial teaser instead.

Tom cooking quail



Our tent, complete with replica viking queen-sized bed



Battle lines



Markets



Bonfire on feast night

The past is an awesome place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there all the time, as David noted, when we arrived at Cruickshanks Cottage for 4 days of farmstay bed and breakfast indulgence after the camp, that shower felt damn good.

New stuff, some made, some bought

Every Monday night this term Adam has been taking himself off to pottery classes. Tonight, on the way home from the Discover Mahler concert we stopped off at his teacher's home to pick up his finished pieces.

1. Decorated tiles, 2. Frog on a leaf, 3. Wol, 4. Dragon lidded pot, 5. Pot and lid with sleeping baby dragon, 6. First attempt using the wheel

He has also made us a chesky so that we don't have to hide our esky in the tent when we're at reenactment events.

It's a chest that's large enough for our rather large esky to fit inside. Which means it's kind of huge. So it's probably a Good Thing that we also got finally got this:

My new VW Multivan

I had been planning on calling it The Blimp, Adam was putting in a vote for using The Zepplin instead, but as it turns out I'm leaning more towards calling it The Loungeroom (on wheels).

It even has a table - it's between the two seats there and can slide out and open up to a fairly decent sized top.

Let's take a closer look at that back seat shall we? Not even a week old and look at all those paw prints! Clara is completely confused by my sudden insistence that she sit on the floor of the van, not to mention being very put out that she can't see out the windows from down there. I feel mean, but then I think of those great big black claws on the leather upholstery and cringe.

Those paw prints happened on the way to the dog park where Clara has been playing while I weave. I decided to try something a bit more interesting and threaded up a kivrim pattern and gave it a go. I think I ended up with the threading slightly wrong but decided it didn't really matter for the purposes of a test piece, I'll get it right next time hopefully.

First attempt at a kivrim pattern

I finished that piece and am now working on a simpler (and really rather boring) pattern which I'll probably use to trim one of the kids' tunics. Then I'm going to focus on getting some lengths done to sell at reenactment events, I need to choose patterns that look interesting but are relatively quick to weave. Hopefully the wool I've ordered from Bendigo Woollen Mills comes in time for me to use - I'm getting pretty fed up with the colours I have at the moment.

Sunday in my City - Photos from my phone

Hosted by Unknown Mami

The building works at my kids' school - they're getting a new library, new loos and 2 new classrooms, all part of the BER government spending spree.

The demountable classrooms that used to be where all that building work is going on had to be relocated to the oval, so the kids are missing half their sports field till it's all completed. Luckily there's a local park with a nice big oval just up the road so the kids can walk there for sport.

There's a bunch of other work been going on around the school too, one of the buildings had a new roof put on, lots of painting and re-carpeting has been done and part of the playground has been resurfaced.

I mourn the loss of the pavers, they were so much more aesthetically pleasing, but OH&S decreed that the trip hazards must go. It doesn't look so bad really.

Back at home we've had some very persistent visitors to our back deck lately. They hang off the flyscreen at the door and screech demands for food. I gave in.

The cardboard box really needs to be replaced with a proper bird feeding platform one of these days.

On Saturday we headed off to Berrima for a combined groups training day for reenactment combat. I wasn't fighting, unless you count finally conquering the tablet weaving that I'd been avoiding finishing for months because the cardboard tablets I'd improvised while at a friends place were so horrible to use. Adam collected a nice batch of bruises, Tom and Caitlin spent the day climbing trees, Clara basked in the abundance of attention from dog-lovers galore and David gave his iPod a good workout.

I took some pics and vids of the combat, here's a small selection:

Anglo-Saxon cooking spree

This little book has been sitting on the shelf in the kitchen for a while now waiting for someone to feel like embarking on a culinary adventure. Around about lunchtime today Adam declared that he was going to cook an Anglo-Saxon feast for dinner. So he did (with the odd anachronism thrown in).

The book is Tastes of Anglo-Saxon England by Mary Savelli and the blurb on the publisher's website reads thus:

These 46 easy to follow recipes will enable you to enjoy a mix of ingredients and flavours that were widely known in Anglo-Saxon England but are rarely experienced today. In addition to the recipes, there is background information about households and cooking techniques.

Adam decided against wrestling with a new bread recipe and went with the dinner rolls recipe he'd used just recently. This time I have a photo. Tom helped cook them and was therefore convinced that he should be able to eat as many as he wanted - I think he scored three in the end.

Dinner rolls, some with poppy seeds

Our main course was Bræde Sceapen Flæsc, otherwise known as Lamb Roast. The leg of lamb was placed in a baking dish with a mix of chopped carrots and onions, stock, cider, flour, ground coriander seeds and dried sage leaves poured over it. It was then covered and slow baked, resulting in tender meat in an absolutely scrumptious gravy - the fat content of which we will not be thinking about!

Roast lamb with delicious gravy of evilness

Dessert was Bæcen Æpplas (Baked Apples). Cored and peeled apples were stuffed with chopped pear and peach, breadcrumbs, cinnamon, butter and honey and baked till the filling was cooked and bubbly. They weren't particularly photogenic but they were utterly delicious.

Half-way through eating his apple Tom said "Can I have another bread roll?" to which I answered "No!" A moment later he announced in great surprise, "For some reason I'm already full!" Yeah, that would be the vast quantity of meat, baked veggies and bread rolls you'd already eaten Tom...

Baked Apples

And, just because cooking three things at once wasn't enough for him, Adam also made Æpplas Syfling (Apple Butter) with honey, pepper, mint and cumin. We tried some on the bread rolls, rather nice but VERY sweet.

Apple Butter

I'm stuffed.

It's a lovely day for a battle.

We went to Berrima today and completely failed to go to any of the fabulous antique shops, or historic buildings and little museums, or the cafes, or even the pub. Instead we spent the whole day at the village green for a combined groups training session organised by the Ancient Arts Fellowship.

It was a beautiful day, perfect weather for not wearing a long-sleeved Viking dress. So I wussed out and didn't get dressed up :P We took Clara with us and for a little while, just after we got in the car this morning, we thought she was going to make excited puppy squeaks for the whole 1hr 20min trip. But she settled down and contented herself with trying to fit on the one seat with Caitlin so she could see out the window properly.

Just after everyone arrived at the park someone discovered a baby magpie on the ground - it had fallen out of the nest. WIRES was called and the kids got to look after "Fluffy" until the WIRES person arrived to collect the little ball of fuzz.

Fluffy the baby magpie

Clara was in seventh heaven, there were new people to say hello to and other dogs walking by and new smells to smell and new trees to investigate and people giving her massages and and and...

Clara happily ensconced on her picnic rug

Having a combined training session meant that there was a fairly large contingent of fighters on the field, something most groups can't manage on their own. I've uploaded a whole bunch of photos and videos to flickr so you can head over there if you want to see them all, I'll just pop a couple up here as a teaser.

The battle lines approach each other with caution

Action shot

Spears, swords, javelins - it's carnage I tell you

Click here if you can't see the embedded video

While Adam collected a nice assortment of bruises I alternated between a bit of tablet-weaving and a lot of trying to find the right angle to take photos from - bit of a challenge that, on account of the fighters wanting to stay in the shade and it being somewhat dangerous to stand too close to them. Right at the end of the day I got a quick lesson in nålebinding which, if I can remember how it goes, adds another Viking craft to my repertoire.

Then I retrieved Caitlin from the tree she'd spent most of the day in

and we headed home. Clara flopped on the floor of the car and was sprawled out fast asleep before we'd gone more than a few hundred meters.

Beorgwic was...wet

We left home rather later than we had intended for our trip to Beorgwic, the annual event hosted by the Ancient Arts Fellowship at the Danelaw property in the Southern Highlands. As we drove south I tweeted my fear that we would be putting the tent up in the rain, what I didn't quite anticipate was that it would also be be dark. Pitch black dark. We put the tent up in the rain and freezing cold by torchlight. I am so very glad that putting up a geteld is incredibly quick. (Many thanks to Talisien of Blue Draco for making us such a beautiful tent - it was perfect!)

Our tent

You'd think that with a start like that I'd have been feeling utterly miserable but the truth is I was having fun. I scare myself sometimes. Unfortunately going to bed very cold with wet hair and wearing my furry hat left me with an ear infection that got slowly worse over the course of the weekend, the agony peaked on the drive home so it didn't really spoil my weekend but it did leave me feeling not my best. (Turned out in the end to be a combination of external and middle ear infection, I've had that once before and I suspected it was heading that way. That part not so much fun.)

The kids were great dealing with the wet and cold and went to bed without any complaints being very careful not to let their sleeping bags soak up the puddles on the ground under their airbeds (does this sound like fun yet?). I was so very glad we'd decided to grab dinner of sorts when we'd stopped for petrol about 90 minutes before arriving at the camp.

We woke to drizzle and mist 1000 years in the past. It took Adam a very long time to get the fire going so we had cold breakfast - bread, cheese and fruit - before heading off to do crafting workshops. Adam did blacksmithing and made a cloak broach and I learned how to do Viking wire-weaving (more on that in a later post). Then we had porridge for lunch.

Our fireplace became a favoured gathering place during the day for many of the camp's kids who had a great time alternately poking at the fire with sticks and at each other with rubber weapons. It was...noisy, but at least our fire didn't go out!

Tom and Odin

Caitlin, Emily and David

Dinner for the kids was served early in the tavern, a huge improvement on last year when the kids ate at the same time as everyone else, whinged about the food and generally made dinner time rather stressful.

The kids at dinner

Dinner for the rest of us on Saturday and Sunday nights consisted of a four course feast of deliciousness provided by our hosts. Saturday was meatballs in a creamy sauce, then red wine beef and honey roasted vegetables followed by lamb cider stew and topped off with saffron custard and ginger biscuits. Sunday was lombard chicken pasties, then pork and honey roasted veg, lamb stew again and pears poached in red wine with cream for dessert. Top that off with a drinking horn or two full of beer and mead and all is well with the world!

I got a little bit of tablet weaving done, loosed a few arrows at some targets and generally hung around talking to people and not caring what the kids were up to. That particular approach came a little unstuck when Caitlin almost managed to get herself lost in the bush en route back from the Danelaw fort 700m up the road - she was set on the right path by others who were heading to the fort through the bush and came hurtling down the path to the village with tears streaming down her cheeks having given herself a huge fright and a useful lesson in the do not separate from your companions rule. The kids had all gone up to the fort together via the road and then some had headed off into the bush while the others had gone back via the road and then somehow Caitlin had ended up ahead of the bush bashing contingent who had then retraced their steps leaving her on her own. Or something, I never did quite work it out.

Me tablet weaving



The archery range



The village green



The tavern, complete with beer garden out the back



View from our tent looking towards the village

When it came to pack up time on Monday the kids did not want to leave, I on the other hand was well and truly ready for a shower and clean dry clothes, it seems a long weekend is about my limit for living in the dark ages! We capped the weekend off by packing the tent away in the rain and crossing our fingers that we wouldn't get bogged on the way out of the forest and then drove home through a hail storm. The tent is currently up in our backyard slowly drying out and I'm already looking forward to next year.