Faire to Festival

Exit one W, enter another

2010-09-16T19:51:00.003-05:00

My mom and dad started going to Texas Renaissance Festival in the mid Eighties... I was not a healthy child, so often, I'd be up sick with my mom watching me, and some of my earliest memories involve laying on the couch, my mom at her sewing machine, and some tape playing in the stereo- yep, I did say tape!

Most often, the music playing was from an amazing group called Wyndnwyre. Comprised of three (now four) talented musicians on hammer dulcimer, flute, harp, guitar and fiddle, the mostly instrumental, occasionally vocal pieces have been, to me, what faire is all about- before E Muzeki, before Circa Paleo, before I ever even GOT to go to Faire, Wyndnwyre's music embodied the spirit of it to me.

I was checking the music schedule for TRF this year, as opening is a scant three weeks away, and Wyndnwyre is nowhere to be seen on the schedule... I know acts change, and move on, but for 20 years, Wyndnwyre has been the constant for me- I have been a student of music, so music is important to me... and this, Wyndnwyre, has a sound that cannot be mistaken for anything else. I will miss that sound.

In other W music news, a certain group I have loved from afar is coming back to TRF after a many year absence. I have never had the opportunity to watch Wolgemut in person, only purchased their music off iTunes after the Fanboy raving about them to me. They are very traditional, but in the style of the hard rock of the day. Welcome back Wolgemut!

Autumn Vagabonds

2010-09-06T19:07:00.006-05:00

A Vagabond Song

THERE is something in the autumn that is native to my blood—
Touch of manner, hint of mood;
And my heart is like a rhyme,
With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.

The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry
Of bugles going by.
And my lonely spirit thrills
To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.

There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir;
We must rise and follow her,
When from every hill of flame
She calls and calls each vagabond by name.

Bliss Carman. 1861–?

August's cruel dominion has at last passed. The heat of the day now stays within far more reasonable double digits, the rain has returned to pour onto the parched land, and the wind carries with it a hint of the Winter to come.

Being that it's south Texas, I am fully aware that we will languish under 90+ degree days for likely another month, and that rain will still fall in dribs and drabs and that it's still has hot as Satan's Forehead out there... but there is HOPE, now- August always seems hopeless to me, a summer that will never end, am oppressive heat that threatens to bake everything green and living in its wake. But here comes the breeze, here comes the rain, here comes FAIRE SEASON!

In all honesty, for me, the only season it ISNT time for faire is Summer, but Autumn heralds the time when my 'real' life can resume!

Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF) opens in 32 days, and I know we are all starting to get that antsy feeling going on... that itch to get the garb out, to pack the camp gear, and GO! Work? what's work? I dont wanna work, I wanna bang on the drum all NIGHT!

Ive still got quite a bit on my plate that needs to be done for TRF, but mostly, it's stuff for me, and really, it can be done before All Hallows Eve weekend... but, still, the weather will be warm, which means wings and fun Faerie garb instead of the heavier stuff. My Mark I wings failed (the edges of the hangar came through the back pad and would cut my back) so I am attaching them to a shaped armature made of welding cane Hubby had lying around. If I could find MORE of it, I's make new wings, but, I cant find long enough lengths to really do much with, so I've mended the old wings and will attach them to the new armature with 2 part clay epoxy and JB weld, which I'll then likely cover with SOMETHING (grass, petals, I dunno) so it's *pretty*. That's my major need-to-get-done.

Otherwise, planning the meals and needs of two major camping weekends. Ive been requested to make my now 'famous' Monkey Bread opening weekend, so that means one thing there to be packed, though I think we will avoid bringing the whole kitchen if at all possible. Snacks will be in the form of dried sausage, nuts, babybels, crackers, dried fruit, etc, and for drink there's LOKI! My apple pie spce is shaping up nicely- I just always need to remember that it will be too strong for a while until it mellows the edge off the clove.

Otherwise, it's time that i start making lists, winnowing them, checking them, so we can be more than ready to go when Opening Weekend comes around!

Ramping up to TRF: Magic Wrinkle Remover

2010-09-06T16:12:00.005-05:00

Ive become addicted to this stuff, as I hate ironing, and, it's HARD to get an iron to work at camp! lol

http://www.faultless.com/magic.asp

It works better than the Downy stuff, which is hard to find anyway, and it's an aerosol, which makes spraying it on easier. I have to wear those wrinkle loving Lands End cotton shirts at work and all I do is take out of the dryer, spray on, and pull the dryer wrinkles out.

I plan on taking it with me to faire as skirts tend to especially get wrinkles, as do chemises, smocks, tunics, etc, and, while you maybe dont want to have pressed seams, you might want to look less like you slept in them then night before!

anyway, done plugging, but still, gotta say, i LOVE this stuff!

By the by, hopefully, one more blog tonight- lol last night was CRAZY for a Sunday so I never got to it.

Medieval diet aids healthy eating message

2010-09-05T12:34:00.000-05:00

4 September 2010 Last updated at 19:13 ET
By Jane Elliott Health reporter, BBC News

Food historian Caroline Yeldham says the medieval diet was largely a healthy one.

The Horrible Histories series has been a great success in teaching children about the lives of the Romans, Aztecs and Egyptians, among others.

But could history also hold the key to encouraging our children to eat better?

Dr Iona McCleery, a lecturer in medieval history at Leeds University, believes it could help experts tackle the growing childhood obesity problem.

Armed with plastic skeletons, Iona and her team - who are funded by the Wellcome Trust - will be travelling round schools in the Wakefield area of Yorkshire, to teach about the effects of a medieval diet as part of the three-year "you are what you ate" project.

She said: "We will use history to develop a less preachy approach to modern health.

Snacking was much less socially acceptable so that is something we can learn from”

"We'll be asking questions such as 'how do our relatively low activity levels interact with our diet in contrast to soldiers and labourers of past times'?

"This project will completely transform public perceptions of the past. We'll be looking at things like how fruit and vegetables were at one time considered unhealthy and how we used to have a much spicier diet than we do now.

"Through food festival stalls and cooking demonstrations we will also reach people who don't usually go into museums to encourage them to think about how the past affects their own eating habits."

Peasant role models

Dr McCleery said that, whereas in the past it was the rich who risked weight gain, today poorer people are more more likely to become obese.

"Interestingly it was the peasant class, whose diet would class today as healthy," she said.

"The poorer you were, the higher chances you ate more vegetables and had more mixed grains in your diet.

"The poor were semi-vegetarians who simply could not afford meat and social status. Wealth is very much associated with diet."

Food historian Caroline Yeldham agreed, saying that highlighting modern eating patterns and contrasting them to medieval diets would make people think about what they ate.

"The medieval diet was very fresh food. There were very few preserves so everything was made fresh and it was low in fat and low in salt and sugar."

Meal times were more a family and community focus in medieval times and Caroline said this was a positive force.

"Dining was very ritualised either in the family or household and was a formal activity. People were eating together regularly so although snacking was available, it was not a focus.

"Snacking was much less socially acceptable.

"There are certainly a much wider range of ingredients than we tend to eat today - more herbs and fish, rather than imports which were a small part of the diet and used as flavourings.

"There are some very famous people who became obese such as Henry VIII and Wolsey. But you did not see young people who were obese.

Most food in medieval times was seasonal.

"Medieval people were much more physically active than we are.

"They were like rugby players. When they were very fit and active they used up the calories, but after an injury or illness, that was when their activity level went down and they became obese.

Child health experts at Mend, a programme which aims to encourage obese children to be more healthy, praised the scheme.

"Being creative with food is a great way for children to learn about different foods," they said.

"Looking at what our medieval ancestors ate is an interesting way to get children to think about how their diets differ from their ancestors."

Saxon boat uncovered in Norfolk's River Ant

2010-09-05T12:29:00.000-05:00

4 September 2010 Last updated at 05:51 ET

www.bbc.co.uk

Five animal skulls were found near the hollowed oak boat

A Saxon boat has been found during flood defence work on a Norfolk river.

The boat, which is about 9.8 ft (3m) long and had been hollowed out by hand from a piece of oak, was found at the bottom of the River Ant.

Five animal skulls were found near the boat, which has been taken to York for treatment to preserve it.

The Environment Agency had commissioned work to take place between Horning Hall and Browns Hill when the discovery was made last month.

Once preservation has been finished the vessel will return to Norfolk, where the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service want to display it at Norwich Castle Museum, an Environment Agency spokeswoman said.

Environment Agency project manager, Paul Mitchelmore, said: "This is the latest in a number of remarkable finds on the project.

"We are pleased that the Environment Agency has been able to uncover items that contribute to the knowledge of the rich history of the local area."

Scent of tragedy lingers in a 650-year-old perfume bottle buried by victim of pogrom

2010-09-04T00:04:00.002-05:00

By Maev Kennedy

www.guardian.co.uk

Medieval cosmetic set is part of treasure trove found under ancient city wall

When the tiny stopper is delicately eased free, a mere wisp of scent imprisoned for over 650 years is released.

In a unique experiment, scientists at the L'Oreal perfume institute in Paris tried to analyse the ingredients of a perfume whose precious container survived the Black Death, which annihilated a third of the population of Europe.

The young Jewish woman who wore the pretty silver bottle dangling on a chain at her waist was probably murdered or driven out of Erfurt, the ancient capital of Thuringia, east of Frankfurt, a victim of savage pogroms as communities sought somebody to blame for the unstoppable march of the plague.

There was too little left to analyse the components of the perfume, though the scientists proved the wadding packed into the bottle was cotton, not wool or flax - an extraordinarily rare material to have travelled from Egypt or the east to a small town in Germany. Too much had evaporated of the volatile perfumed oil, possibly from roses or jasmine, for analysis - and yet a faint green herby smell, a little like the ubiquitous 1970s hippy scent of patchouli, lingers in the bottle.

"It does have a smell, how extraordinary," said Karin Sczech, a German archaeologist and curator of an exhibition which opens next week at the Wallace Collection in the West End of London. She sniffed deeply, having previously accepted the scientists' assurance that no trace survived of the perfume. "But there is something, surely."

She has worked for the last 10 years on an extraordinary treasure hoard of gold, silver and gems found in 1998 under an ancient wall in Erfurt. There were cups and jugs, coins, rings, brooches, dress fasteners, belts, a love token formed as a fingernail-sized padlock, in all over 3,000 coins and 600 pieces of gold and silver, fabulously rare examples of secular medieval metalwork.

The perfume bottle is part of the only surviving medieval cosmetic set, complete with ear cleaners and tweezers. The most beautiful piece in the hoard proved the owner was Jewish, a solid gold wedding ring modelled as a tiny Gothic temple, inscribed Mazel Tov - good fortune - in Hebrew, supported by dragons and clasped hands and containing a little gold ball so that it still chimes like a bell. It is the most glorious of only three ever found and would have been one of the owner's most precious possessions, buried at a time of anguish for Erfurt's Jews.

In September 1347, 12 ships arrived in Sicily from Constantinople, loaded with luxury imports - and the Black Death, which began to spread northwards like a bushfire. Region after region was ravaged; records say so many died so quickly there were not enough living to bury the dead. Vicious rumours also spread that wealthy Jews were poisoning wells, and a wave of pogroms began.

Sczech believes the Erfurt treasure, the most spectacular of several Black Death hoards found across Europe, was buried before the slaughter in late 1349 when 1,000 are believed to have been killed and any survivors driven out.

"It was so carefully packed and hidden - we do not believe this was done in haste."
• Treasures of the Black Death, Wallace Collection, London, 19 February - 10 May

I have cold blogging feet

2010-08-27T20:03:00.002-05:00

Probably because I know there's only one person who actually reads this blog!

Anyway, Ive tried to blog something, anything, every night this week, but... nope.

So, today, I will blog.

I wish I had the wit of Hyperbole and a Half (www.hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com), and half her readers- do you know that's all she does? be clever? *sigh* I got a TON of clever in me! (and yes, that's a plug, cause, she's awesome. I wanna draw cool MS Paint pictures like her, but, welll... I guess thats called copying...)

Ok, anyway, today, I wanna talk about music.

I am really trying to branch out, to listen to groups like Blackmore's Night, those that are in the same feeling as faire mucis but may not, in fact, use bagpipes, or sing in Gaelic.

Thing is, I really dig SOME Blackmore's Night, but the guitar pieces... they have such medieval melodies if they would just PUT THE ARPEGGIOS DOWN! It ruins songs I might otherwise love cause there's this flamenco guitar in there.

Also, Blind Guardian- love a few (The Elder, Skalds and Shadows, Once and Present Secret) but why cant EVERYTHING be awesome like that? The world NEEDS more hard rock bard music!

And dont even get me started on Celtic Women, Celtic Thunder, etc. Sorry, it was cool when you were an offshoot of Anuna, but when there's nothing one bit Celtic about your music? I gotta pass.

I love music, I'm an ex choir girl, music makes me happy- I just want MORE!

(and I'm still pissy at you, Tangerine Dream, for making it nigh-on impossible for me to get Loved by the Sun any other way than to pay $45 for the Legend Tangerine Dream soundtrack!)

You Heard it Here: The Sims are getting MEDIEVAL!!!

2010-08-19T19:59:00.002-05:00

The Sims Medieval Provides a Fresh Setting, Innovative Gameplay, and All-New Features Unlike Anything Ever Seen within the Franchise

Go back in time and get medieval! The EA Play Label of EA today announced The Sims Medieval, a new series currently in development that places the popular Sims characters from The Sims game into the Middle Ages and brings players robust, compelling gameplay never seen before in the history of The Sims. For the first time, players can create heroes, venture on quests, build and control a kingdom, and play every Hero Sim character in the land. Creativity will soar as players tell stories like never before full of drama, romance, conflict, and comedy.

“The Middle Ages is a time of intrigue, legend, and excitement. It offers a perfect backdrop for a brand new series from The Sims studio due to the limitless stories that can be told,” said Scott Evans, General Manager of The Sims Studio at EA. “The Sims Medieval offers a new way for players to experience The Sims which we hope fans will enjoy, and it features gameplay that fans of strategy and role-playing games will find appealing such as controlling an entire kingdom and quest-based gameplay mechanics.”

The Sims Medieval offers players a chance to build up a medieval kingdom, controlling characters from all walks of life, from Kings and Queens, to Knights and Wizards, Blacksmiths and Bards. It provides a host of storytelling possibilities in the form of quests, from crafting a legendary sword to arranging a royal wedding, to protecting the kingdom from an evil sorcerer, to finding the fountain of youth. Every quest plays out differently depending on which Hero Sim the player is controlling.

The destiny of the kingdom rests in the players’ hands. Will players build up their kingdom through internal expansion, or perhaps look for a more imperial type of domination, expanding their rule by conquering territories? Will they take on quests in pursuit of fame, or focus on the health and wellbeing of their people? The choice is theirs! With the start of every new game, players will be able to select a new ambition for their kingdom, and embark on a new set of stories.

Everything in The Sims Medieval is crafted to create an immersive medieval world, from the quest-based gameplay, to the medieval objects such as swords and stocks and thrones, right down to the warm look of the characters, and the painterly approach to the world itself. Players can choose to customize every new Hero that comes to the kingdom, including selecting their traits and their fatal flaw. Players get close to their characters, not only sending them on epic quests, but also making sure they carry out their daily responsibilities such as healing the sick, trading for exotic goods, or forging armor. From having a baby to competing in a royal tournament, what happens to their Sims is up to the player. The time of romance and chivalry is back with The Sims Medieval.

Developed by The Sims Studio, The Sims Medieval for PC / Mac will be available in spring 2011 and has not yet been rated by the ESRB. For more information about The Sims Medieval please visit the Official Website.

Rare medieval artefact discovered on River Thames shore

2010-08-19T19:52:00.002-05:00

BBC News, 8/3/10

A rare medieval roof finial which was found in the River Thames offers an insight into how London looked 600 years ago, experts have said.

The object, which dates from the late 12th Century or 13th Century, is in the shape of an animal and would have embellished the ridges of tiled roofs.

It is thought the object was made in the Woolwich area and brought to the city with other pots and roof tiles.

The object was found by the Museum of London during a survey.

Roy Stephenson, head of archaeological collections and archive, said: "This find is relatively rare in the collections of the Museum of London.

"It gives a fascinating insight into the lost roofscape of medieval London, which we know relatively little about."

He added: "Some of the more common place roofs would have been thatched. But here we have evidence of a decorated tiled roof, possibly from a prestigious private building."

The finial will now be cleaned and more research on it will be carried out.

Actress uncovers 500-year-old church vault by accident

2010-08-17T14:43:00.003-05:00

An amateur actress uncovered a 500-year-old long-lost vault at a historic church after accidentally putting her foot through the floor tiles during rehearsals.

Published: 6:21AM BST 13 Jul 2010

The underground vaults and tunnels beneath St Mary's Church, in Redgrave, Suffolk Photo: Sonya Duncan

Kathy Mills exposed the entrance to the secret chamber that had been hidden for centuries as she rehearsed a scene for an upcoming production of the musical Quasimodo at St Mary's Church, in Redgrave, Suffolk.

She dislodged a marble flagstone near the altar of the 14th century building and her foot vanished into a dark void below.

Mrs Mills, who is in her 60s, suffered a swollen ankle.

But she was amazed to be told she had uncovered a mystery tomb containing coffins thought to contain the remains of the village's aristocracy stretching back centuries.

Just weeks before a geophysicist had used state-of-the-art radar to map out where the long-forgotten vault was.

But if it was not for Mrs Mills' intervention experts would still be seeking the hidden entrance.

The church is now hosting an open weekend to give the public a chance to glimpse through the hole and see exactly what they have been walking above over the years.

Mrs Mills, of Redgrave, said: "I was just doing a rehearsal for the production and I walked onto the flagstone, whether it was already loose I'm not sure, but my foot went down.

"They lifted it up (the flagstone) and you could just see some mud and sand underneath. It's possible my foot went down eight inches. I wondered where I was going. It was quite a shock.

"I was thrilled when they told me I had discovered this vault they did not know was there. One or two people have now started calling me the Tomb Raider."

Rumours had been rife for decades that an intriguing labyrinth of passages and tombs lay under the ancient slabs of the church, now owned by The Churches Conservation Trust.

Bob Hayward, chairman of Redgrave Church Heritage Trust, said stories had passed through the generations of how people walked through the tunnels as recently as the 1920s, but records of their existence cannot be found.

In a bid to establish fact from fiction, the group employed Malcolm Weale, of Geofizz Ltd, from East Harling, near Thetford, Norfolk, two months ago to analyse what lay below.

Using ground-penetrating radar, Mr Weale identified a large space, about 6ft deep, extending under the altar and into the adjacent vestry.

Trust bosses were set to leave it at that until Mrs Mills dramatically put her foot in it last week.

The damaged flagstones were lifted up and a light lowered down.

A tunnel was discovered with a set of steps descending into the ground visible in one direction and a cluster of about six coffins tucked inside a dark chamber in the other.

It appears timbers holding up the floor tiles had rotted.

Mr Hayward said: "It's exciting. You think you know these places but you don~t until something like this happens."

The coffins are thought to belong to descendents of the local ruling Holt family.

Sir John Holt became lord of the manor in 1703 and an imposing memorial to his life sits above the newly uncovered vault.

But the chamber is believed to have been built deep in the 1500s by the Bacon family although their remains are located in another tomb beneath the church~s font.

Archaeologists plan to go down into the vault at the end of the year to assess if any of the other supporting timbers are rotten and to record what's inside but they will leave the coffins as they are.

St Mary's Church will be open to the public this Saturday and Sunday, between 10am and 4pm, where a video camera will beam images from inside the vault onto a projector screen.

The church boasts Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, King Henry VIII's famous and powerful chancellor, among its illustrious former rectors.

Medici Family Cold Case Finally Solved

2010-08-15T13:00:00.003-05:00

Malaria, not murder, was responsible for the deaths of two members of the clan that dominated the Florentine Renaissance.

By Rossella Lorenzi Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:35 PM ET (news.discovery.com)

THE GIST
Francesco I de' Medici and his second wife, Bianca Cappello, died after succumbing to malaria.
Their almost simultaneous deaths raised more than four centuries of speculation on whether they were poisoned.

Ferdinando dei Medici, depicted here, was in fact not behind the deaths of his brother, Francesco, and his sister-in-law, Bianca Cappello.

Scientists who exhumed the remains of several members of the Medicis, the clan that dominated the Florentine Renaissance, have conclusively dismissed the theory of family murders, solving a more than 400-year-old cold case.

Malaria, not poison as long rumored, killed Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his second wife, Bianca Cappello, according to research to be published in Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The couple died a few hours apart in October 1587 after 11 days of agony. Their almost simultaneous deaths led to speculation that they had been murdered.

"It appears it wasn't poison. We carried an immunologic investigation and found evidence of the protozoan parasite Plasmodium falciparum. ... We are talking of the most deadly of the Plasmodium species that cause malaria," Gino Fornaciari, professor of forensic anthropology and director of the Pathology Museum at the University of Pisa, told Discovery News.

The founder of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and a patron of the arts and sciences, Francesco (1541-1587) was more interested in alchemical experiments than dedicating himself to statecraft. When his wife, Joan of Austria -- the ugly daughter of Ferdinand of Habsburg -- died, Francesco married his beautiful, long-time mistress Bianca Cappello (1548-1587). She lived only one day longer than he.

Although the original death certificates attributed the couple's demise to tertian malarial fever, rumors soon spread that Francesco's brother, Cardinal Ferdinando (1549-1609), had a hand in the their deaths. It was said that Ferdinando, who was at risk of being excluded from the succession, never tolerated the presence of the new Grand Duchess at the Medici court.

The rumors were further fueled by the fact that Francesco and Bianca fell ill a couple of weeks after Ferdinando came to the villa at Poggio a Caiano, near Florence, where the couple lived.
With Francesco's death, Ferdinando became Grand Duke -- the last great Grand Duke of the Medici dynasty.

"He ruled with great skill and was the real beginner of a very rational trend in the government of Tuscany," Cristina Acidini, superintendent of Florence museums, told Discovery News.

A supporter of the arts, Ferdinando bolstered commercial and industrial activity, and arranged a series of strategic weddings in the family.

However, the controversial death of his brother remained a shadow over Ferdinando's legacy.
Ferdinando should be fully exonerated, according to Fornaciari, who in 2006 questioned the results of a toxicological study that pointed to arsenic poisoning as the cause of Francesco's death.

"I believe that the high arsenic concentrations found by the researchers were due to the frequent use of arsenic mixtures in embalming. Francesco died of pernicious malaria," Fornaciari said.

Fornaciari and colleagues detected Plasmodium falciparum's histidine-rich protein 2 in spongy bone samples belonging to Francesco, whose skeletal remains were unearthed from the Medici Chapels in Florence in 2004. Analysis could not be conducted on Bianca's remains since her burial site remains unknown.

The researchers used bones of Cosimo I de' Medici, Francesco's father who died of pneumonia, and Joan of Austria, Francesco's first wife who died in childbirth after producing her seventh child, as control samples.

As expected, Cosimo's and Joan's bones were all negative.

This study marks the first time that this immunological technique has been used to detect ancient P. falciparum proteins in bone samples.

"Muscle has been considered the best tissue for the detection of P. falciparum malaria because of its abundant red cell content," anthropologist Raffaella Bianucci, at the department of Anatomy, Pharmacology and Legal Medicine of Turin University, told Discovery News.

"Obtaining a positive result in bone samples is important because it opens new possibilities to test ancient skeletons," said Bianucci, who identified the traces of the parasite in Francesco's bones.

Top food was olives in time of the ancient mariner

2010-08-14T21:40:00.002-05:00

Thu Aug 12, 1:56 pm ET

NICOSIA (Reuters) – A huge quantity of olive stones on an ancient shipwreck more than 2,000 years old has provided valuable insight into the diet of sailors in the ancient world, researchers in Cyprus said Thursday.

The shipwreck, dating from around 400 B.C. and laden mainly with wine amphorae from the Aegean island of Chios and other north Aegean islands, was discovered deep under the sea off Cyprus's southern coast.

Excavation on the site, which started in November 2007, has determined that the ship was a merchant vessel of the late classical period.

"An interesting piece of evidence that gives us information on the conditions under which the sailors of antiquity lived, are the large numbers of olive pips that were found during excavation, since these pips must have been part of the crew's food supply," Cyprus's antiquities department said in a news release Thursday.

The excavation is shedding light on seafaring in Cyprus in antiquity, commerce between the island and the Aegean and the sizes of the period's cargo ships, it said.

Olives and olive oil are a staple of the Mediterranean diet and their consumption over hundreds of years has been well documented.

Italian archaeologists discovered that some of the world's oldest perfumes, made in Cyprus, were olive oil based. The commodity was also used to fire copper furnaces.

Apart from the amphorae, or large clay wine jars, two lead rods with remains of wood were found.

"This especially rare find enhances the importance of the shipwreck and strengthens the possibilities of finding preserved wood from the ship's keel," the department said.

(Writing by Michele Kambas, editing by Paul Casciato)

Well, I'm back

2010-08-14T18:11:00.003-05:00

I know, life gets in the way.

Life has seriously happened to me!

In January, I lost my job.

In July, after a heartfelt, hat in my hands letter, I got a job back at the place I left for the position I was fired from.

In the interim, I was writing fanfic and generally being creative (big surprise there!)

I'm happy to be employed again (the faire habit kinda requires money!) but I do miss my days of solitude too. I also miss not having a ton of time to play WoW...but... money feeds the Faire addiction!

Anyway, projects for the coming TRF season:

I got a Moresca Faerie bodice at Scarby, and, as I personally know one person with the same one, I am beading it to make it 'custom'. Here's one side, nearly done, against the LOVELY sari fabric I found at Joann (30% off!)

With that sari fabric, (poly, I might add, lol I'm not rich!) I made this skirt:

I'm ordering a new pair of wings (just no time to make new ones) and helping hubby get together a Robin Hood/Aragorn outfit together.

Also planned is a loud, glaring wool skirt made from these coordinating fabrics my grandmother gave me:

So, that's the scoop. Opening weekend of TRF is coming up soon, so I'll update with pertinent information, and progress pics!

Another Texas Renaissance Festival Season is Past (for me, at least)

2009-11-20T09:34:00.003-06:00

Another TRF season has come and gone- at least for me, that is.

And I have to say this was the best one in a LONG time!

Too often, we focus on who's where, go go go, and we lose sight of the magic of Faire, that indescribable peace and tranquility (and energy, and excitement) that washes over us the moment we get through gate.

What is it that MAKES Faire?

Is it Sholo standing guard, smirk and all?

Is it the smell in the air- pine needles, and smoke, and food and wine and horses and, lol, yes, patchouli and incense?

The sounds? Circa Paleo with a mournful fiddle? Wyndnwyre playing a jig? Belly dancers jingling what they've got, hawkers shouting their wares (pickles, anyone?) The roar of laughter at Sound and Fury? The peal of Cast in Bronze heard aaaalll the way from camp?

OOh- or is it the tastes? mmm... Gyros at the Greek Agora, Mufalettas! Pierogi!!!Steak on a Stake! Mead! Cider! LOKI!!!!

Or the flash of silks, the warm glow of velvet- the awe of a finely made gown, the blushing beauty of truly great tracts of land, and the bonniest knees this side of the pond...

the weather... sometimes warm enough for nearly-naked chain maille, or cold enough for the richest Tudor styles... so dry you get faire boogers for days, or so wet youre losing shoes in the mud!

ALL of it is faire!!! And ALL of it is what makes it a second heartbeat to me, a pulse under my skin- a magical spirit that shows me how I am not REALLY alive until I pass through those gates.

Ok, enough waxing poetic. Down to brass tacks.

Observances:

* In my humble opinion, Jenny O'Connor has reached divine status. Circa Paleo is a perfect showcase for three amazing talents- E Muzeki was great, but this- this is epic.
* The increase in cost for Cider is absolute hogwash. Cider at the store does not cost any more than beer, so why am I paying Mead prices for it? Bring your own, smuggle it in...
* The new camping area that's been cleared is great- good sandy soil for drainage, however, the grass hasnt built up yet, so if it rains, you WILL get stuck.
* If you leave your new walking stick outside your tent at night, it will walk off (cant be angry at anyone but myself)
* if you have a new Faerie in your party, she WILL garb up and go play even if it IS raining!!! (dammit!)
* Clan Procrastination is a group of true awesomeness, and you need to meet them.
* Flammable things, even dry, can, in fact, refuse to burn.
* If your boobs are smushed by Pendragons, try a Moresca Pirate bodice- WOW! There's my cleavage! (and yes, i LOOOOOVE my Pendragons and will always support them with far too much money... BUT! I found my boobs!)
* Everyone needs a la Paloma Elizabethan Tallhat- EVERYONE!!!

This year, there were moments of faire perfection- Circa Paleo playing in the lanes with children, elves, faeries and gypsies dancing in shafts of sunlight- what a memory to hold. watching the joust for the first time (how could I have been going for 10+ years and never seen the joust?)

And while the bees may have been an exceptional nuisance, and the weather meant that the Mundanes were out in hordes, I cannot remember a better season at faire!

With luck, I'll have my pictures done this weekend...

Artistic application of Fungi in the Renaissance

2009-11-13T10:21:00.003-06:00

Ok, we all know I have a 'thing' for fungi. They are neither plant nor animal, and are seriously awesome! Sweet Lady Escarlata over at Faire News sent me a link to this great website dedicated to fungi of all sorts, and oh look! An article on th e usage of fungi stained woods in renaissance wood inlay art!

Chlorociboria aeruginascens, the green stain fungus

Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for July 2008

by Jessie Glaeser and Tom Volk.

Please click TomVolkFungi.net for the rest of Tom Volk's pages on fungi

This month's fungus is the beautiful blue-green cup-fungus Chlorociboria aeruginascens and its close relative, Chlorociboria aeruginosa. It's actually a very common fungus, although it is more common to see the green stained wood than to actually see the fruiting bodies.

They are members of the Ascomycota, belonging to the family Helotiaceae of the order Helotiales, which includes other cup fungi such as the yellow Bisporella citrina and the purple Ascocoryne sarcoides. The order Helotiales has inoperculate asci-- this means that their asci (which bear the ascospores) do not open by a hinged lid called an operculum. The operculate cup fungi in the order Pezizales are much more well known and include morels, black tulip fungus, and various kinds of faerie cups, such as Microstoma floccosum, Aleuria aurantia, Sarcoscypha occidentalis, and Geopyxis carbonaria.

The two species of Chlorociboria are very similar to each other macroscopically and only differ microscopically by the size of their ascospores. The spores of Chlorociboria aeruginosa are typically larger (9-14 x 2-4 µm) than those of C. aeruginascens (5-7 x 1-2 µm). These two fungi are distributed throughout the temperate forests of the world and are the only two species of Chlorociboria found in North America. New Zealand has 15 species, some of which like highly rotted wood while others prefer harder wood.

The stunning blue-green Chlorociboria cups can be stalked or unstalked and are 2 - 6 mm in diameter. Most of the time you don't see the actual fruiting bodies but the brilliantly green-stained wood of hardwoods, including poplar, aspen, oak and ash. Woodworkers call this wood "green rot" or "green stain." Chlorociboria species are not considered "true" wood decay fungi as are the white-rot and brown-rot Basidiomycetes [click here for more explanation about how basidiomycetes decay lignin and cellulose], but these ascomycetes may be soft-rot fungi that can cause small amounts of erosion in the wood cell walls. It is also possible that they do not degrade the cell wall directly but colonize wood decayed by other fungi earlier in the decay process.

The discoloration is caused by the production of the pigment xylindein, which is classified by chemists as a napthaquinone. This pigment exists in several different forms of various colors within the wood cells; the combination of a yellow-orange form with a blue-green form results in the dazzling blue-green coloration of the colonized wood. Xylindein can inhibit plant germination and has been tested as an algaecide. It may make wood less appealing to termites, and has been studied for its cancer-fighting properties.

Woodworkers have prized Chlorociboria-stained wood for centuries. Dr. Robert Blanchette at the University of Minnesota showed that 14th and 15th century Renaissance Italian craftsmen used the wood to provide the green colors in their intricate inlaid intarsia designs. Using electron microscopy, he was able to show that green-colored wooden splinters taken from the Italian artwork were identical to Chlorociboria-colonized wood obtained in modern northern Minnesota. Click here for more of these beautiful inlaid wood pictures. In the 18th century, English woodworkers in the town of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, started using small splinters and veneers of the green-stained wood to form highly detailed pictures of animals, flowers, local landscapes, and geometric designs, which were often inset into the lids of small wooden boxes. These antiques are called "Tunbridge ware" and are very valuable today.

The growth conditions for wood colonization are largely unknown and are being studied by scientists at the Center for Forest Mycology Research in the Northern Research Station and the Forest Products Laboratory of the U.S. Forest Service in Madison, WI. The goal of this research is to develop ways to inoculate wood with stain and spalting fungi in order to create "value added" materials from low value wood species for the woodworking industry.

We hope that you enjoyed learning about these little green-stain fungi. They're fun to find in the woods. It's even fun to find the green stained wood without seeing the fruiting bodies. You can read more about them and the use of their pigmented wood in the following articles:

Blanchette, R.A., Wilmering, A.M., and Baumeister, M. 1992. The use of green-stained wood caused by the fungus Chlorociboria in intarsia masterpieces from the 15th century. Holzforschung 46: 225-232.

Kuo, M. (2004, November). Chlorociboria aeruginascens & C. aeruginosa. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/chlorociboria_aeruginascens.html

This month's co-author is Jessie Micales Glaeser, who works at the Center for Forest Mycology Research, which is a part of the USDA Forest Service in Madison, Wisconsin, where I worked from 1989-1996. She is interested in wood decay and wood-stain fungi and is also a competitive fencer!

If you have anything to add, or if you have corrections, comments, or recommendations for future FotM's (or maybe you'd like to be co-author of a FotM?), please write to me at
Thanks to Hal Burdsall and Dan Lindner for reviewing this page. Thanks to Bob Blanchette for the generous use of his inlaid wood pictures.

Learn more about fungi! Go to Tom Volk's Fungi Home Page --TomVolkFungi.net

Return to Tom Volk's Fungus of the month pages listing

More pictures of inlaid wood from Bob Blanchette.
All of the green is wood stained by Chlorociboria

Learn Gaelic just by being on Facebook!

2009-11-12T19:24:00.002-06:00

Ok, by now we all know that it's super fun to change your FB language to English (Pirate)... but did you know it has an option for Gaelic as well? Considering that all of us good FB lemmings know what all the buttons do, why not change thing up and learn how to Comment in another language?

(oh, yeah, and Lingua Latina is an option too...)

It's that time again!!!

2009-11-11T19:07:00.002-06:00

Vote for your favourite Ren/SCA Musicians!

Vote in the 5th Annual Renaissance Festival Awards of 2009

Do you have a favorite entertainment group that performed at a Renaissance faire near you? Is there a band on the podcast that you absolutely love? What's your favorite Renaissance festival? And vendor?

Once a year, we compile a list of the most-popular Renaissance Festival performers currently performing at Renaissance faires. From now until December 31, 2009, you can vote for your favorites at faire. The following day, I will tally up the votes and compile a podcast to be released in February featuring all of your favorite groups of 2009.

About Us

Kristen Roger

Kristen Roger grew up and lives on Long Island in New York. When she was little, her folks used to take me to a few local Ren Faires at both Sands Point and the Unitarian Fellowship in Huntington. She was hooked from a young age. It was so inspiring - all of the colours and the garb, not to mention the crafts, and of course the joust. She always wanted to go to the big one in Tuxedeo, and plan on it, hopefully this season. She hopes that people will hear our podcast, and come to be as inspired by the music itself, as I was.

Marc Gunn

Cats. Irish music. Drinking songs. Nowhere else but from the bright imagination of Marc Gunn would those three elements be so neatly integrated. Yet Gunn, sometimes called "the hardest working man in Celtic music" around his hometown in Austin, is an accomplished musician and entrepreneur who not long ago headlined at the Oscar party for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with the Brobdingnagian Bards, a musical comedy duo who perform at Renaissance festivals nationwide. I addition to the Renaissance Festival Podcast, he also hosts an Irish & Celtic Music Podcast and publishes the Celtic MP3s Music Magazine.

Joe Haydu

Joe Haydu has been called many things, most of which cannot be repeated in the presence of ladies, children, or men lacking extra-ordinary constitution. After discovering the Renaissance Faire Podcast and the Brobdingnagian Bards in 2007, Joe volunteered to help out and has been producing the podcast ever since. When he's not at his day job as an engineer, Joe is also an amateur guitarist and music teacher in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia. He hopes to record an album of Celtic music and start playing at Faires in the near future.

Tony Artym

Tony Artym grew up and lives Minnesota. When he was little he parents took him to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. Years later he would start going every year to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and loves it even more. He introduction to podcasts was Renaissance Festival podcast when it first started in June 2005. Today Tony is helps with the Ren Fest Awards, the Hall of Fame and also run the Ren Fest Podcast Facebook group. When he is not doing that or out at the Renaissance Festival, he works on lots of other projects like filmmaking, writing, going to conventions, family projects and traveling.

From Artist Michael Dashaw- if Elves played D&D

2009-11-08T00:12:00.003-06:00

Wandering Monsters

This piece was done for a competition over at CGSociety, the theme for which was "Strange Behavior." So there's a lot of strange behavior going on in this piece: If you ask the girls, they'd tell you that all the nerds engrossed in their role-playing games were the strange ones. But to me, it's the girls themselves, so judgemental and scornful of anyone with different interests, beliefs, or priorities who are the strange ones to be judging others.

I used 3DSMax to mock up the railing and the entire city in the background, because who wants to sketch out repeating patterns of intertwined ballustrades without guidelines?

Here in the close-ups, you can make out all of the game detail for the RPG they're playing: It's based in a human office, and the figurines all have laptops and briefcases and donuts. The manuals and dice are all in Tengwar, J.R.R. Tolkien's written language of the Elves.

not mine, but awesome

2009-10-29T22:33:00.005-05:00

Stuff for your period camping dreams...

2009-10-29T20:27:00.003-05:00

This website was listed in the (yes, annoying, but makes me a dime a month) ad list on the side of the blog: http://www.woodchests.com/Default.aspx?CategoryID=1

They have a special pirate section, but the wooden 'coffers' are what excite me, and the PRICES arent bad either! Thinking I need one (or two, or ten) for my various projects, and my BPAL oils, maybe for my jewelry at faire!

How to Make Mead at Home Easily | eHow.com

2009-10-29T19:46:00.000-05:00

How to Make Mead at Home Easily | eHow.com

How to Make Mead at Home Easily
classicalgeek Member
By classicalgeek
User-Submitted Article
Article Rating: (3 Ratings)

Mead is ridiculously expensive to buy, and very easy to make. With only a small amount of time and attention, for a minimal investment, you can have delicious mead any time!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Instructions
Things You'll Need:

* 1 gallon of filtered or spring water
* 2 lemons
* 2 oranges
* 32 fl. oz. of honey
* pot
* bottle
* fermentation lock
* siphon
* wine yeast
* cork
* drinking straw
* knife
* juicer

1.
Step 1

Juice the lemons and oranges. Remove most of the white from the peel and cut into thin strips.
2.
Step 2

Add water, honey, juice and rinds to pot. Boil for twenty minutes.
3.
Step 3

Rinse bottle with hot water. Let mixture cool and pour into bottle. When temperature reaches 110F, add yeast.
4.
Step 4
Fermentation lock filled with water.
Fermentation lock filled with water.

Add fementation lock and fill with water.
5.
Step 5

Allow bottle to sit in cool dark place. Check every few days. When yeast dies off and falls to the bottom of the bottle, siphon, disturbing yeast as little as possible, into a new bottle. Put back into its place.
6.
Step 6

Repeat step 5 until mead is clear. Replace fermentation lock with cork. Age mead by waiting. Check every few weeks by removing cork, putting a straw into the bottle, holding your finger over the end of the straw, empty straw into glass, and replace cork. When your mead is ready, serve!

Austin Celtic Festival!

2009-10-26T21:09:00.002-05:00

Austin Celtic Festival is coming up pretty soon- it's the first weekend of November, on the shores of Lady Bird Lake. This is always a great time, and shoudl be especially nice if we keep on having the lovely weather we have been having. Fado has a food booth (yum!), Caedonian Kitchen sells their award winning haggis, and there are loads of shops to browse (inc. my favourite bookstore, the Aerie, out of Dallas.)

And dont forget the amazing musical entertainment! Everything from traditional to Celtic Rock!

Hope to see you there!

http://www.austincelts.org/festival/

A Rennie Truth

2009-10-25T17:59:00.001-05:00

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Elle Blog: Book Review: Wolf Hall

2009-10-24T17:32:00.000-05:00

Regarding Henry VIII: Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall

Hilary Mantel’s tenth novel, Wolf Hall, is the kind of high-brow, complicated historical fiction that can strike fear and intimidation in the heart of a casual reader on sight, clocking in just shy of 600 pages. That and its storied subject matter, King Henry VIII’s unruly reign and break from the Roman Papacy as seen through the eyes of the book’s counterintuitive protagonist, Thomas Cromwell, made me wonder whether my grasp of Tudor history was up to snuff (even if I have caught The Other Boleyn Girl a dozen times on cable). And yet, from the first chapter, where we’re introduced to the young Cromwell, who must escape his debauched father’s free-wheeling fists, intellectual insecurity falls away and all attention is turned to Cromwell’s narrative, moving with a crackling intensity that reminds you of The West Wing rather than your freshman European history class.

Mantel’s novel, chockablock with eye-popping details of Sixteenth-Century London, differs radically from other fictionalized versions of Henry VIII’s court, thanks to her unusual choice of tour guide. Usually depicted as a merciless political fixer and held responsible for the tumultuous, sometimes murderous English Reformation, Cromwell is the voice of reason in Mantel’s hands. We root for his rise to power—from blacksmith’s son to the Earl of Essex—as he uses his wit and instincts to aid the king in divorcing Catherine of Aragon and taking Anne Boleyn as his Queen. Our unlikely fealty a neat trick that breathes new life into this familiar tale of power and seduction, but it’s not the only reason Mantel scored the esteemed Man Booker Prize for best English-language novel of the year last week (and with it $82,000 and a sizable bump in sales).

It’s hard not to be awestruck thinking about how Mantel, a former social worker, managed to write with such pinpoint historical accuracy (she researched the period meticulously) while still crafting a mesmerizing political thriller that feels undeniably modern and intimate, due in large part to the swift, nimble dialogue that never wades into clichéd period-speak (no ye oldes here). Just be sure you’re not too awestruck that you’re hesitant to pick it up—even if it is really heavy.
And conveniently enough, Wolf Hall is being published today in these here former colonies. Talk about good timing!

—Candice Rainey

Follow ELLE on Twitter.

Posted at 04:53 PM in CULTURE FLASH | Permalink

Introducing Circa Paleo

2009-10-22T19:13:00.005-05:00

If you've been around Texas Renaissance Festival for long, you probably discovered the wonder that was E Muzeki. Unfortunately, the group split, with several members forming the new venture Wine and Alchemy. Many fans, however, were not just devotees of the skilled dancing, drums and guitar of the former E Muzeki; they were utterly enamored of the lead fiddle and beauty that is Jenny O'Connor.

Well fans, I'm happy to say that Jenny is back, and better than ever!

Circa Paleo (PAY-lee-oh, and not pah-LAY-oh as I keep wanting to say it) is the new group debuting at faires throughout the States- they are currently performing at TRF in the Sherwood Forest area (where Tartanic plays). As fans of Jenny, and the talent she brings out in those around her, we couldnt be happier!

From the Circa Paleo Website:

Jenny O’Connor

Violin, Fiddle, Guitar

The inspiration to learn violin first came when I was 17, as an Irish violin aire was playing on the family stereo. It was the only instrumental piece in an album of vocal folk ballads and had been played unnoticed countless times throughout my childhood, but at that moment I was totally captivated. The slow, simple melody spoke to me of the emotion of someone from the distant past, asking that I remain still and simply listen. That day I dug out our broken, dusty heirloom violin, untouched for decades, and began a journey of learning which continues to this day.

My studies ranged from classical violin to folk fiddle, and my interest in Irish and Celtic music soon spread to other cultures. I was drawn to the musical traditions of Greece and Eastern Europe, and the civilizations they defined. Being especially enchanted by the tough spicy culture of nomadic Romani people, also known as Gypsies, I was naturally led to the country of their origin, which is believed to be India. More recently I have explored the sounds and lives of Mongolia, Armenia and Persia…all strong influences in the first circa Paleo release…

In partnership with Greek bouzouki player and guitarist Mark Varelas, we founded E Muzeki and discovered the nation’s Renaissance Festivals. We were introduced to an amazing concentration of listeners with an eager ear for the exotic sounds we offered. The generous support of these listeners and fans offered us the opportunity to travel the country for seven years of joyous musical performance. This tradition of sharing continues, in a new way, with circa Paleo.

Joshua Amyx

Plethora of Percussion and Hand Drums, Saz, Guitar

The cycle of the sun, phases of the moon, the ebb and flow of the tide; these are rhythms of the world. They are joined by the drawing of our breath and the beating of our hearts; the rhythms that are life. Our paleolithic ancestors began by rhythmically beating their chests, struck sticks and stones together and chanted in unison, discovering that sound into rhythm is simply and profoundly captivating. These realizations gently guided me to lend my hands to this universal component.

My introduction to world percussion and the deep traditional rhythmic structures of world music left me no choice. I unreservedly embraced the mystery rooted in this enduring, unyielding ingredient of the universe. And then, there was caffeine. With a superfluity of tea and coffee at my side, I knew that there was only one course of action: immerse myself in this depth of sound and groove. Clutch it, to the very end, or be lost. Lost, but heavily caffeinated.

Jay Elkins

Guitar, Stick and Mallet drums, Percussion

I have a more formal and classical history than my bandmates. Come to think of it, I’m the only member of the band old enough to have a history. I survived the public school band program in Texas, I scraped by long enough at the University of Texas at Arlington to fake my way to a Bachelor of Music degree, and I spent an eternity one summer traveling and competing as a member of the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps in Madison, Wisconsin. I spent too many years as an educator, adjudicator, composer and performer in the Houston, Texas area while studying music composition, percussion performance, and instrumental conducting at the University of Houston Graduate School of Music. I’ve played, conducted and/or taught gazillions of musicals, variety shows, concerts, contests, halftime shows, private lessons, master classes, clinics, and marched in so many parades I needed therapy. No, really, ask any of my ex-wives.

Trained primarily in Western music (that’s Western as in Hemisphere, not “Country and…”), the opportunity to learn and perform new styles and new instruments from other cultures around the world is very exciting for me. For years I’ve been a diehard renaissance festival patron mostly to drink beer and sing dirty songs with Iris and Rose, but also for a chance to experience the magic of artists like Owain Phyfe, E Muzeki, Wolgemut, Cantiga, Istanpitta, Wyndnwyre, and other phenomenally talented musicians who travel the renaissance festival circuit. The opportunity to be a part of Circa Paleo has made a dream of mine a reality; a five-day weekend.

And that now perhaps I, too, can be a part of the magic.

Circa Paleo's new CD, Eleven Lives, is simply amazing- it's Jenny & Friends in FINE form! The energy of their performances cannot be denied- and the dancer they have with them is a lovely girl, talented and definitely a kindred spirit. I'm including some of the pictures I took at opening weekend TRF- I know many of us don't make it down to Sherwood when we're at TRF, but you NEED to go see this group!

You also need to pick up their new CD... but, you dont have to take MY word for it!