The Sinister Scribe

Since Barb has got me thinking of Tuesday’s as sketch/art days, I decided to work on a scroll blank during quiet time today. The color copy is the inspiration for this one. I like this style because it is so much like doodling. Granted my versions are usually not as airy as the original piece. Which is okay, I like that chock-full-a-doodles look but I’d like to work on the light-and-airy look too. Maybe the next one.

But alas, QT is over and I must jump back into the thick of things. But do go over to Barb’s blog and check out this week’s Sketch Tuesday, Sam and I are in it. (we’re the first two listed)

It just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. *groan*

Today was one of those days. I just tried to do too much and am paying for it now. Or I will be once I pay the parking ticket.

Went to Fall RUSH today. Was supposed to be helping at the event. Almost attended the glass bead making workshop. But I was saved from another expensive hobby by my own forgetfulness… Bob’s keys and wallet were in the van and he needed them so he could leave for a business trip. So I packed the kids back into the car. (Did I mention it was pouring rain?)

Got back to the site and found our lunch buddies…. and got a parking ticket. (Did I mention I THOUGHT the handicap lot was OK to park in for this event?)  Can you say OUCH? Lunch was good, but Jessie got sick in the car. (just tired and cold) Needless to say, we didn’t go back.
So I’m off to sell some beloved books to pay for the ticket and devour some chocolate truffles that one of our wonderful RUSH crashers gave us.  Too bad there isn’t any wine in the house.

Well, I can’t tell ya ‘coz it would ruin the surprise for somebody. I’ve finally made myself take the time to spend a little time here and there to work on scribey stuff. This took me 2 30-minute sessions.

Inside the letter will be guilded. The letter itself will be blue with white work inside. Kind of similar to this. The design is a conglomeration of different styles. I’m not trying to reproduce something specific to a particular period of time. I hope the recipient likes it.

Since Bob has promised our presence at Estrella next year, the planning has begun.

I’ve worked up a beginning budget and it seems doable. If we can save $200/mo starting with July, we can do it. We can save that much IF we don’t eat out and IF we adhere to a strict grocery budget. I’m thinking of putting one of those thermometer icons on the fridge showing our goal and how much we’ve saved. LOL!

One of the things included in the budget is a tent. Midwest Tent has a Norman wedge for a doable price. We’d still have to do the supports ourselves but buying the tent from them is about as much as it would cost for the treated canvas. MTs tent won’t be available for order until September though. I also need to ask them if it can be set up like the viking tent here.

I keep seeing reference to experienced folk saying it is cheaper to make the tent cloth yourself but I am just not seeing that. The Sunforger treated canvas is $5 - $7 per yard and the place I found it at $5/yard had a 50 yard minimum. If I calculated correctly (12.5 oz per yard times 50 yards is 625 ounces) it should weight about 30 pounds. So say $50 for shipping and $250 for fabric. $300-ish. The Viking/Norman wedge at Midwest tent is $370. Hmmm… $70 more and someone else does the sewing with two colors of fabric no less. Me likey! There is however, Highland Tents, that is having a sale on SF flame-retardant canvas for $5.85/yard. Twenty yards of that with shipping should be around $200 but then I’d have to sew it. *sigh* Much to think about…

And much to do. Bob and I need more garb. Hmmm… need to add some money to the budget for fabric. Sam will need garb too. Jessie is set thanks to a good friend with a daughter a little older than she is.
Then there is shoes. For Bob and I at least. Maybe the kids. This could wait if budget demands but it would be nice to be able to make them. I found a medieval shoe list and am waiting for my first post to be approved.
Last, but not least, there is Eilidh’s AoA scroll and a few other scribey things. I need to get them done so that they can be delivered at Estrella. I’m going to have to alternate sewing with scribing I think. ‘Course all this means that Queen’s Prize and the Beekeeping classes will have to wait until 2009.

Yawn. Back to the present. I need to finish packing Bob’s lunch and get to bed. Sam has packed his since he goes to a day camp for the next 2 weeks. It starts at 8:30 a.m. so he’ll be getting up earlier which is good. Right after camp we go back to our serious homeschooling schedule.

My quandry over a name for my 10th century Danish persona is nothing but worse. At first I liked the name Ithunn (pronunced EYE-thewn with the “th” being aspirated as in “that”.”) Now, I am now so sure.

Bob and I had intended to submit new names at Lilies but didn’t get a chance. So of course that gave me time to go back through the Viking Answer Lady’s Norse Women’s Names page, this time looking specifically at Danish spellings. Several new possiblities came to mind: Thyrwi (pronounced THEER-uh, with a soft ‘th’, I think) or Thorwe, Thorkatla, Thorfinna, Thorgard. The neat thing about the names that start with “Thor” is that the short form of “Tova” is used. This just happends to be the name of my friend from high school with whom I still communicate via email.

As far as last names… well… so far I like Arnbiorn (eagle bear). I’m still not clear whether it should have -dattir, -dottir or….?

We did it! Our first overnight camping trip in years.
We arrived Friday evening in time to see the fireworks. It was really hot still and we pretty much just climbed onto (not into) our sleeping bags once camp was set. I was very itchy and worried that I wouldn’t make it through the night but a Benedryl helped a lot.

Next morning came way too early but we managed. Bob made a great breakfast of scrambled eggs and ham, coffee and tea. It was greedily consumed!

The day quickly became hot and much of it was spent trying to escape that. My linen coif was usually wet. I need to make several so that I have a clean one for each day and a spare for court if necessary. The lake was a blessing and a curse. It did make the heat more bearable but it also made sunburn inevitable. None of us weren’t burned too badly. We kept applying sunblock but the water would quickly wash it away.

Both Sam and Jessie did very well in their first lake swim. The all the swim area was about shoulder height on Sam. At one point he was being tossed in the air (flipping too) and came up with a big grin. Maybe instead of swim lessons, we just need to go to more lakeside wars? Jessie was not sure about the squishy mud at first, but soon discovered it made great mud pies.

By late afternoon we were all overheated. Sam was looking kinda bad so we decided to pack it up. We were really hoping to make it to court and the heraldic display competition (This is what those tabbards were for) but didn’t think we could make it. As it turned out, we were packed up just in time to make it to the 6:30 p.m. judging line-up. So we made it to that and left right after.

I feel bad for not usually being able to make it to court. I like to see who gets recognized for what. I still don’t know if Amlesmore won the heraldic display competition! But right not it is just not possible (or pleasant).

So we’re home now, recovering. Planning what we’ll do different for next year at Lilies.

Today will be spent packing everything (including the kitchen sink) into the minivan so that we can leave when Bob gets here. ‘Course I need to clean out the minivan first. Then there’s shopping for food.

I finished Jessie’s Eura dress. It is very cute with the machine embroidery on it. Mine is put together but the seams need finishing. I am crazy going to do those by hand. I figure I can wear it at least once without all the seams finished. *fingers crossed* The bottom hem is done though.

The only worry is that the adapter for Bob’s CPAP won’t get here on time. It is due to arrive today… sometime. UPS usually delivers by 4 or so if not earlier.

One last thing before I hit the shower. From the Norse2 email list I found Scanglas AB. They are a company in Sweden that does museum quality replicas in glass, pottery and metal. Some really cool pieces from the Viking era. No prices though. I am sure they are beyond my budget anyway. The pottery pieces I could probably give a good go myself, but the metal items I think I would rather buy.

OK. Better get going!

WARNING: incoherent drivel follows

I have Benedryl incuded blahs this morning. I love what it does for me… reduces the swelling and itching when my dermatitis gets really bad, BUT I hate what it does to me… very foggy hard to think blahs.

So, I am thinking it is time to take this to a Dr. *sigh* Even though I know the triggers for it (yeast breads, sugar & caffeine) sometimes it gets really out of hand (like around THAT time of the month) and it would be nice to be able to take something other than Benedryl that doesn’t make me so mush-faced in the morning. At least now I can time a flare-up with a Dr visit. LOL! I’ll just eat all those no-nos for several days before my appointment and the Dr will get a good look at the problem. Before I could never time it. Now… I just gotta find a Dr. :\ I’ve been putting that off and need to just do it.

I’ve just about finished sewing for Lilies. I made another dress for Jessie and really like the way it came out. I have the fabric cut out to make a similar one for me from the stash Ismay sent. The pattern is based on the 10thC Finnish one mentioned in this PDF . The article mentions that the sleeve/shoulder piece was all one with a neck hole cut in it. I did it in 2 pieces as the cutting diagram shows. It sure makes finishing the neck hole easier! Ok, so it is not Danish, but at least it is the right century.
I think after this round of sewing, I’m going to take a break from it and get back to some scribey things. I have several side projects I’d like to do, not to mention the preprints and AoA that are lying there forlornly.

Night before last we gave the new mundane tent a test run from the front yard. It was just the kids an I. Oh, and Kirby. We definitely need to bring Kirby’s crate when we camp. He was a little overwhelmed with the new situation. Jessie went back and forth (and back and forth) between her sleeping bag and the air mattress with me finally settling down on the air mattress. Sam did great and settled right down with Kirby next to him. Thanks to Benedryl, I settled right down too. Very good considering how loud the frogs are in our front yard. LOL!

Ok. Better go get breakfast. My stomach is waking up.

because Mom’s a wimp… a scatterbrained one at that.
While I did remember to reserve a boarding spot at the vet for Kirby, I forgot to actually take him there. Whoops. We’re sitting there at dinner when Sam said, “Mom, aren’t we supposed to take Kirby to the vet?” It was 7:30pm. He was supposed to be there at 6:30pm. The vet closes at 7:00pm on Saturday and there is no receptionist until 5pm today.

At first we thought that just Sam and I would go. Dad and Jessie would stay home with Kirby. Then after getting ready this morning… very freaking early this morning, Bob calls me over to see the radar output on the computer. Lots and lots of rain and lightening. *sigh*

With luck we will go on Saturday of next weekend. We gotta go! If only because I made those freaking tabbards.

Between all the usual goings on, Bob and I are trying to come up with new SCA names that have a Norse background. Here are my pics so far:

• Gerðr - The name Gerðr is from Primitive Scandinavian *garðior, or may be related to Old Icelandic gerðistún, “garden”.
• Arndís or Disa -dís is identical with the Old Icelandic dís, “goddess, priestess, female guardian spirit.” Arn- eagle
• Geira - The feminine form of the name element Geir-, which is identical to the Old Icelandic geirr, “spear.”
• Geirdís
• Iðunn
• Ketilgerðr -The first element Ketil- or Kætil- is from OW.Norse ketill, originally “kettle” but meaning also “helmet” or “chieftain with helmet.”
• Végerðr - The first element Vé- is identical with Old Icelandic vé, “temple, sanctuary” and related to Gothic weihs, “holy”.

I think I’m leaning towards Iðunn or Végerðer at this point. I think.