| Abraham Lincoln on Invading Foreign Countries |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|07:02 pm] |
I wish I had run across this Lincoln quote a few years ago. It was made by Lincoln in reference to Polk's invasion of Mexico (because of Weapons of Mass destruction, I think) while Lincoln was a representative:
"Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure....
"If today he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, “I see no probability of the British invading us,” but he will say to you, “Be silent; I see it, if you don’t.” |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|02:56 pm] |
yesterday, I ran out of carpet rod to make legs for some stools. I resorted to using a 35-year-old rod that I had used to mount a partizan (I had removed the partizan to display a fighting spearhead, but I've found ash shafts since. I bought new carpet rod today.
For some time, whenever Kim had eerided using pine for camp equipment, I had smiled. I had used pine for over twenty years with absolutely new problems. Howewver, what I saw today--and the last six months to be truthful--has wiped that grin off my face. Is the lumber yard going through a cycle, or has economic exploitation just thrust substandard pine on the market. Finding 2x8x6's was difficult a month or so ago; looking through coset rods today was disheartening. Perhaps it was because I so recently saw the quality of 35 years ago. Today, sections were glued together, sometimes not lining up. They were dinged, and they were at a bend.
If this is the sort of thing available in the UK, I eill never again smile at Kim's warnings. These sucked! |
|
|
| Artifact Illos |
[Jun. 28th, 2009|12:15 am] |
Does anyone know where I can get any illos of actual wolf tooth and/or boars tusk pendants from Northern Europe in the Viking Age? Not recreations without provenance, but provenance?
Thanks! |
|
|
| It arrived |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|10:36 pm] |
|
The pack of stuff from Boone arrived today. Quick response, and nice stuff. Boar tusks, shark teeth, seal teeth (because they ran out of wolf teeth, and they said tht seal teeth looked similar) and a couple strands of small beads. these are terra cota beads from North Africa that are between 800 and 1000 years old. I'm, of course, going to assume that they are a thousand years old :) I've put a strand in with the other stuff I have from the Early Middle Ages (a seax, a coin, a bent pin and a pottery fragment). |
|
|
| Visit the Viking |
[Jun. 20th, 2009|07:41 am] |
In 1892, the city of Chicago planned a world's fair to commemorate the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. The US government paid to have copies of the Columbian caravels made and donated to Spain, so they could be donated to the United States after being towed across the Atlantic. In Norwaty, twelve years had passed since the discovery of the Gokstad ship, and the Norwegians--feeling that the US had forgotten the true first Europeans in North America in their deification of Columbus--arranged the construction of a 1:1 copy of the Gokstad ship. It was then sailed across the Atlantic on its own power, was taken through the Erie Canal to the Great :Lakes and sailed/towed to Chicago. It was called The Viking, and it was a high point of the Fair. Afterwards, it went down the Illinois River to the Mississippi and then to New Orleans, where it spent the winter of 1893-4. While there, it became the property of the city of Chicago and was towed back up the Mississippi to rest alongside the Fine Arts Museum of the Fair (by then the Field Museum and now the Museum of Science and Industry). She remains the only ocean-going vessel to have made this trip. The ship was refurbished and donated to Lincoln Park, where it was displayed in the zoo for over 70 years, then put into storage and eventually stored at Good Templar Park in Geneva, Illinois. It has gone thru years of neglect, repair and is now being strengthened and repaired for permanent exhibition. She is still a majestic lady.
On Sunday, 21 June, the Park will host the 98th annual Swedish Day, allowing people into the park, to see the ship and to see the other elements of the festival. Micel Folcland will be there, in a Viking encampment. This is our second appearance, and the local crowd loved it, giving us a lot of compliments and encouragement. It was great fun last year and probably will be again this year. For more information, see http://www.swedishday.net/
The park will also be open for visitors the next weekend, but there will be no other festivities. Hope you can stop by and enjoy the festivities. |
|
|
| Heat Stroke |
[Jun. 19th, 2009|08:55 am] |
|
A local coach died of heat stroke a couple days ago, so the airwaves have been full of heart stroke warnings. And you know? I think I've been coming dangerously close to it for the past couple days. Lifting heavy things in hot weather, doing a lot of running back and forth, feeling a bit nauseous, sore and headachey. However, just by chance, I've always sat down in the cool and taken a rest and tried hard to push myself, which is one of the ways to avoid heat stroke. But not because I want to avoid heat stroke--at least, not that I've done that consciously. I'm just lazy... |
|
|
| Another Book Recommendation |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|08:24 am] |
While talking to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) salvianus, he alluded to the fact that Penelope Walton Rogers' _Cloth and Clothing in early Anglo-Saxon England,_ which I hadn't picked up because I thought it was too early (but then I loved _Woven into the Earth,_ and it was too late). We got it yesterday, and the pictures of cloth and notes on its production are great (and not merely restricted to the era). Yeah, some of the stuff is not relevant, but it's beautifully done. If you are interested in early medieval English textiles, it's an excellent resource.
A side note on _the Great Warming._ It has only two chapters devoted to Europe; the rest of the book concentrates on the rest of the world and are probably of great interest to generalists), but those two chapters kick ass. I'm still recommending that even specialists might like the book! |
|
|
| Whass happening |
[Jun. 13th, 2009|05:23 am] |
|
We're doing a recruiting gig at the farmer's marjet today. It's supposed to rain like crazy; it looks dry right hnow, feels dry, so we'll be heading out. Will the civvies be interested? Will we run home wet as heck? well, I have plastic to throw over stuff, so...it's an adventure! |
|
|
| Micel Folcland 2009 Calendar |
[Jun. 11th, 2009|09:41 am] |
These are the dates for Micel Folcland events nnd appearaces for the rest of the year. Note that this is not a final schedule and may be amended:
13 July--Market at the Square
21 June--Swedish Day
4 July--Market at the Square
11-12 July--Rockome Garden
23 August--Quad Day
12 September--Laid back day at forst Glen
11 October--Hearth night & William Short Visit |
|
|
| 1066: The battle for Middle Earth |
[Jun. 10th, 2009|07:46 pm] |
(Hmmm, I wonder how they got the money to film this...)
Phil Scott, Regia bro from across the pond, sent me a CD with "1066: The Battole for Middle Earth." It arrived today, and Julie & I are watching it. Thus far some very dodgy parts and some very good ones. The latter are mostly the ones featuring Regia, but there are little touches--not the acting or costuming of the leads--that are very well done. But you can certainly tell who is Regia and who is not just by the costuming!
Subdued coloring, plenty of interstitials and captions so far. The cinematography isn't bad when we're dealing with the more intimate parts, but large scenes have been somewhat disappointing so far. They certainly haven't used CGI to puff it up!
No hobbits so far... |
|
|
| Knife & Sheath |
[Jun. 9th, 2009|06:51 am] |
At Folcland Fest, a knife was not readily available for kitchen chores, and we used one that was not strictly accurate; it was scale- instead of whittle tang. With the help of the good Ragnar from Ragweed Forge, I bought a nice Mora knife. I ground off the logo and then polished the hilt--unfinished wood--with linseed oil (boiled of course) and pumice.
Right now, I am sewing on a sheath for it. It's heavy leather. Instead of using metal rivets, I'm stitching it with linen (I considered hemp, but the linen was at hand). Julie is on a kick of making the encampment as non-ferrous as possible. We'll see if this works or if the knife--a sharp sucker--just slices through the cords :) I'm about half done right now; when I'm finished, I plan to stamp STEIKARA-HUS on it in runes (Younger futhark because it's Old Norse for kitchen).
We also didn't have a cutting board. I made a couple--one with a tafl board on the back--and will be attaching the scabbard to the board. We'll be set...as long as I don't forget to bring it... |
|
|
| Let's Talk Nails |
[Jun. 8th, 2009|08:00 am] |
Yesterday, I transferred my supply of Tremont cut nails from the original little square cardboard boxes to a transparent tray that is supposed to hold beads and other little things. The storage squares were 2 inches long, and my longest nails are 2 inches, so it worked out. I had to pull out the boxes, open them, etc., etc., so this new setup should help choosing what size and type to use.
It did get me thinking a lot about nails, and I thought how the response of one snarky reenactor to an MoP was a good sample of how *not* to talk to MoPs even if it's darned funny. At a rendezvous, a MoP saw a smith making nails. The MoP said, "I didn't know they had nails back then." The smith replied, "That's right, they didn't. After all, they scotch-taped Jesus to the cross!"
I should glower disapprovingly at this treatment of an MoP. It's hard to glower disapprovingly when you're giggling. |
|
|
| Our Kitties are Spazzes |
[Jun. 7th, 2009|10:48 am] |
We got the kitties some new toys: "mice" that hve the texture of pinecones and feather tails. they like them so much they even play with them in our presencve (they generally disdainfully look at toys, then we find them later someplace different with the cats lookiung innocent and saying, "hey, I don't know how that got here. I'm too mature to play your Uncle Tomcat games. I'm not a feaking kitten!").
This morning, woke up to see VIII staring at the law mower (yeag, we still have the electric lawn mower inside). Then he got down on his belly and reached under in avain attempt to grab his toy. I rolled the mower away, and he happily grabbed the little toy and was joined by brother and sisters. It's gone again. They probably--as they always do--smashed it under a piece of furniture or something. It'll turn up again when I lewast expect it--just like all their other toys--when they figure out how to get hold of it or rediscover it... |
|
|
| The Great Warming |
[Jun. 5th, 2009|07:13 pm] |
I got the new book by Brian Fagen, who was the author of _The Little Ice Age._ The new book is _The Great Warming_, and it deals with the Climate Optimum that preceded the little ice age. As such, it is much more relevant to the early Middle Ages, in which I am greatly interested.
Fagen is a fine, understated writer, and I have found the book to be a delight. I keep reading slowly and marking down passages from it because it describes English Pre-Conquest culture so well. I am only up to page 30, and it has already assumed a position next to Howarth and Lacey's exceptional books on the same time period. Warming deals with much more than England during this time, so I may selectively rad parts of it...but thus far, that has not been so. Go out and grab yourself a copy if you have an interest in the period. |
|
|
