guenievre

Well, deep in context of the SCA anyway.  And there are enough Pelicans out there that I think this could lead to an interesting conversation.

I keep having the same conversation with nikulai (and a few other people, but he comes to mind first). It's on the nature of service, and the different motivations thereof. He thinks I'm on crack rock on this one, but hasn't convinced me of that.

See, the way I see it, there are two reasons one might do work/service/etc for the SCA. The first is you're just that noble a person, and you really want nothing more than to help out. I know people like this, I admire them greatly, and I'm not one of them.

The second reason is that you do work/service/etc because it's almost incidental to some other goal you have - you want a camp to stay in at Pennsic, so you offer to run it, or your art is cooking, so you want to plan a feast.*  Still, in this example, service to Barony/Kingdom/SCA is NOT actually the point of your actions in this example, whether it happens or not.

I suppose the third reason might be you're doing it for glory, but honestly I think my rose colored glasses are thick enough and tinted enough that for the purposes of this conversation I'm going to assume those people don't exist I'm going to ignore these people as they're not the interesting question here - I acknowledge their existence, but didn't really want to talk about them.

Anyway, so my question is this - does the motivation behind someone's service *really* matter? I mean, the results are theoretically the same in either case, assuming competence etc in whatever it is one is doing. Still, I can't help but believing reason 1 is somehow *better*/more worthy than reason 2....

*I use these examples because they're mine, as I don't want to get into some brouhaha over saying somone else's service isn't service. As I don't know anyone's motivations but my own, well, I can't say that in the slightest.

"Typical" vs. "Probable" vs. "Possible". I find myself pondering this one a lot, both as a cook and as a costumer. (And I think the fact I do both may influence me in odd ways.) As much as I am interested in authenticity, I find I draw my "lines in the sand" in some very odd places in comparison to others, and I'd like to discuss that a bit, as it's something I think that everyone comes to different conclusions on (which is great unless you assume everyone has the same line...).

So. Me first, I guess. Unlike many people on my friends list, I find that I am somewhat tempermentally unsuited for having true, living-history style reenactment be my primary goal. (Though I'd still like to try it sometime, and wish I was a bit geographically closer to some of the groups I know of.) There are several reasons for this:

1. The biggest reason is that doing only the persona you can afford to do... doesn't interest me at all. I joke about having a "princess complex", and to some degree that's true - "flashy" noble garb, not "gentry" is what interests me, and obviously (for those of you who know me) I don't have that kind of cash. So, I do what I can, but I don't necessarily stick to what I can do "exactly right". (I.E. I'll do garb tht probably ought to be in silk brocade in wool or linen or even (gasp) cotton velvet or the like).
2. I get bored very easily. And I like to improvise. It's one of the reasons I don't do Elizabethan, though the bling appeals to me very much - I'd feel constrained by all the existant stuff, that isn't really there when it comes to 14th century costuming and certainly isn't there for food. On the other hand, going really-early-period, where there's so much less info, would also drive me crazy - yet another reason it's good to be part of the 14th century Mafia.
3. This is the part that gets me into trouble, especially on the food side. I rather enjoy combining recipes, etc - compatible ones, of course, from similar cookbooks (ie two french ones from 1410-20). I'll be perfectly honest about having no proof that it *was* done, but do I think what I'm making is a possibility? yes, I do. Which leads back to the costuming thing, specifically things like the bias-cut overgown (stealing techniques from other garments to do something different, etc).

Well, that was rambly. And it didn't really sum up where my line is. But I'm not sure I can do that more succinctly - so... that being said, where's yours? (Yes, I wrote this because I want to have a conversation, so please, comment away, even if it's to tell me I'm full of it...)

So soucyn mentioned that I made a nifty pie for Celtic Cattle Raids, but said I had to talk about it. So I finally got my camera unpacked, and so now I can. One of the A&S competitions for this event was "Best Celtic use of a Cow - No documentation required. No further guidance provided." I hadn't intended to enter, because as y'all know, I Am Not Early Period and so the whole Celtic thing is completely foreign territory.
Then my muse decided to bash me about the head with a rolling pin on Friday. (Yes, this one - it kinda hurt.) 

So I came up with the idea to make a (14th century) beef pie with Celtic knotwork on it. Celtic use of a cow, right? And, being me (my motto IS "Nothing by Halves") I decided to gild it, as shown:

 

And for those of you who are *really* cooking people, here's the rest of the documentation (Normally I'd have more, but this was done on the fly while the pie baked. The pie was tasty, but could have baked a bit longer. Oh! And I finally got to use my 14th century pie pan by Eadric the Potter - quick review: it was wonderful. Between the butter in the crust, and the rough texture of the pie pan, the pie popped out of the pan *amazingly* easily and didn't stick at all.


( Still two pages worth of docs, thus the cut: )

So, when last we left our heroine, she was pondering the differences between hobbies and mental illnesses. The jury's still out on that one, but we'll assume hobby and go from there... ::looks nervously over shoulder for men bearing white coats::

( Pre-MTT Food Rambling )

( Midsummers Twilight...Before the Tourney )

( Midsummer Twilight... Almost Tourney! (aka authorizations) )

( Midsummer Twilight... Tourney!! )

So I got back in armor today - went to the baronial practice which was much less attended than I figured it would be. I figured it would be sparse, given that it's Easter and all, but somehow (having never been a member of a practicing religion) I'm always surprised, somehow, at how many people end up at church or doing family stuff on holidays.  ::shrug:: not a big deal, really, whatever makes people happy, it's just always odd given that I don't take many holidays at all very seriously.  Either way...

So we showed up 45 min late for practice - took longer than I thought to get the Pennsic reg. forms printed - but much to our surprise we were the first people there.  In the end, there were only 4 heavy fighters (including me) and 3 rapier fighters there.  I fought a bit... and died a lot. (Not a surprise).  And I have some very pretty bruises on my arm now. (Poor Athos! I don't, at the moment, wear any upper-arm armor, and he hit me full force there and then started apologizing, which really wasn't necessary - if I didn't intend on getting hit, it'd be REALLY stupid to walk out on the field, but oh well. I suppose I have a slightly different idea of fighting that some new people, given that I've watched my husband for a few years now.)

The baronial meeting was quite quick, nothing major to report and it went quick, so we came home to shower and then back out to dinner. The interesting thing (and the only reason I am posting this, really) was that I realized something about fighting.  One of the reasons I'm having such fun doing this is because it's the one thing SCA-wise that I've really given myself permission to suck royally at, as a beginner.  Most A&S stuff I somehow expect myself to have some level of competence with, just on an... academic level, if that makes sense. (The theory being if I can learn enough about something, I can make up that way for not having done it before - thus I tend to jump in on the deep end of any project I do.) This, on the other hand, is SO outside my realm of experience - having been a very bookish child who didn't like getting dirty/sweaty (still don't, but I'll make exceptions) that I have *no* expectation of being good ANY time soon... not that I won't work at it but I won't beat myself up if I'm not.

But then, I have everyone else to beat me up... thus the icon...(seal...seal...seal...club!! or actually tourney sword from rene d'anjou's tourney book) EDITED TO ADD - The icon is back!

OK, so I have a dress - some of you have seen it, if not there's a fuzzy shot of me in the outfit here.  It's green/blue shot linen, with great big circular cuffs over the hands. Well... when I made it, and the pink wool dress that goes with it, apparently I was too gentle with the fabric in prewashing, as the hot-pink wool dress of brightness is now a size that would fit a somewhat busty 12 year old (speaking of, anyone know any very small girls or women who might want a dress? they'd have to be VERY short, as it's about 5 inches short on ME).  The green dress? well, it's now not-quite-ankle length (it previously just touched the floor) and no longer can be closed in front. (And yes, I've gained weight since I made it, but not THAT much).

The thing is, though, I adore the green fabric, and especially the cuffs on the sleeves.  So the question is - do y'all think it would be silly to make another GFD, out of some fabric I don't care about, and put a wide guard of the green fabric on the bottom and attach the sleeves from the current dress? Thus making a dress I can still wear under another gown? Or should I just kiss the dress goodbye and find someone who it will fit to give it to? (or perhaps cut it up and make accessories out of it...)

---

While I'm on the subject, how do you, dear readers, wash your garb, both before and after you make it? I've had SUCH mixed results - I wash things in hot before I make them then never wash it in anything except cold water, and it STILL shrinks (this is the 2nd GFD I've lost like this).  I don't REALLY want to go to drycleaning, and while handwashing is an option (one I try and use when I remember to prepare/pack for events in a timely fashion), I've had other dresses that I wash all the time and it's not an issue.  I know, I know, I shouldn't be cleaning things all the time anyway, I should just wear proper smocks and wash those. But... I'm a klutz and spill things for one. And even if I manage to have a "neat" day, I still have hem issues (and am too in love with puddle hems NOT to have hem issues). And while yes, I could just take stuff to the drycleaners... it just seems wrong somehow...

---

Also, pondering more fighting stuff for N.  I want to make him an actual appliqued heralidic surcoat (because, well, fighting stuff is fun to make, and his current one looks good from across the field, but if you get close to it, not so much - the paint is flaking and it was only made for Ymir). The thing is if I'm going to make a fancy appliqued one, I don't want to use cotton trigger, so I'm pondering what variety of linen/wool would actually hold up to being hit...

---

We went to Buckston last night - would have stayed for dinner, but it would have been the 3rd time I had mexican in 4 meals, so that would have been a little much. OK, a lot much. But I had lovely henna done on my hand, and *almost* got the smocking done - would have gotten done except for the henna, and except for going outside to watch the new trebuchet being fired. 1 liter waterbottles make interesting splashes if they land straight down from about 50 ft...

Someone, I have no idea who, put the latest Abercrombie and Fitch catalog, displayed to some young hunk or another (quite hot, actually - shirtless guy with muscles who apparently fell over in the ocean while catching a football) in the women's bathroom. This is not a bad thing, even if A&F is kind of creepy, but it seems somewhat unfair as I'm SURE someone would complain if the guys did something equivalent...

But then, I'm feeling very random today. Last night I got a lot done, but ended up waiting for Nick to get done attaching his aventail to his helm before going to bed. Unfortunately, this occured sometime around 2. And so even after a giant cinnamon latte with extra expresso, I'm kind of dead. Actually the caffiene is making me perky but my brain isn't actually working. It's kind of entertaining, except for the part where I can't focus on anything. (ooh, shiny!)

Meanwhile, all I *have* to do for Ymir is finish the neckline of and paint N's new heraldric fighting houppelande, and sew myself some hosen (yay warm feet). Also go grocery shopping/clean house, but that's not too bad. I gave up on new garb for me, so I"m going to wear the same thing I wore last year :-(. Oh well, with luck I'll even have some time to work on KASF stuff. Though as a side note, I'm feeling vaguely perturbed that my husband's fighting garb is nicer than my real garb. ::sigh:: I mentioned I love my husband, right? If y'all ever needed proof of THAT, well, here's exhibit A:

It's roughly based on orle's seen here, here, here (this one's fun!), here and here. Yes, I expect to be resewing pearls after every event. Although I may make another one, this one is a LITTLE bigger than i wanted it to be, it ends up looking vaguely turkish.

So I've gotten tagged twice by the guilt meme. I suppose I REALLY ought to do it now - I started to before but I think I got hung up on the fact that I really don't feel "guilty" about liking any of these things. ::shrug:: I like what I like, including fluff fantasy and southern cooking...
( Guilt! )

Now I tag:-
zihuatanejo zihuatanejo island42 melaniesuzanne and ramblinheritic
to complete this same Quiz, Its HERE.

Ugggh. Coffee wearing off, leaving crankiness in its wake. This is bad. Must continue to hide in cube and avoid all coworkers... :-) Otherwise....

So the other day I got bored, and decided to start an amazon wish list, mostly because I found that there were a WHOLE bunch of books on all sorts of things I'm interested in that I don't have yet. Also, most of these books are available used, which means as soon as I get my bookshelves put up, I'm going to have to start funneling a few bucks a month towards buying them.

So, anyway, I figured I'd post this on here, both a. to save someone else doing the searching, if they were interested in this kind of thing too, and b. in case someone had ideas of other things I should add, or recommendations for/against anything on here.

My interests are, in order, anything late 14th/early 15th century France, medieval cooking (mostly French), 14th/15th century clothing, chivalry, and womens' daily lives, esp. those of the higher nobility (peasants bore me, mostly because I probably am one in real life ::grin::.

Without futher ado, here's the list - http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html/103-9501246-2878249?layout=compact&id=2J96GQQSLEGG4&items-per-page=100&sort=priority&filter=all&x=10&y=7

Damn I'm tired. That's kind of the summary of this weekend...

No, really, I am thinking about taking a nap when I get home...

Ok, so that's not very detailed... when last I wrote in this, I still had a dagged sleeve to do, most of my houppelande, a hat, etc etc etc. It all got done, amazingly enough - maybe not quite to the level I would have liked, but it was wearable. And got lots of compliments..

The only problem, of course, was that I didn't sleep - for like 42 hours. and then I got dragged out last night...

Of course, Matt is REALLY amusing when drunk, so...that was ok .

More details and pictures later...