Apparently this weekend was the 25th MTA held at Jamestown. I guess after making a big fuss for the 400th Anniversary, celebrating a 25th seemed kinda eh. But it was cool to see the variety of camps and troops. I hadn't seen the grand parade before, so I played paparazzi a bit on Sunday towards the end of the day.


After all the stress of ramping up and surviving the 400th, it was nice to be a bit more laid back. Lara, the new fort manager, asked us what we wanted to do and let us have our ease. Since Sandy's mom was in the Barracks, it seemed a bit crowded on Saturday, so I spent time knitting on my Tudor stocking outside the Buttery to draw folks in, checked on Dexter doing medical demos in the Gov's house to spell him a bit, and pretty much bounced around. I did have a small triumph in that the apricot almond custard needed to be removed from the Dutch Oven while Sandy and Carla were out looking at the sutlers and it was just Diane and myself. So, I managed to lift the pie plate out without cracking and dropping anything, and also without burning myself. Hooray! The food that was made on Saturday was extremely yummy and even sustained us some into Sunday.

Sunday was a smaller staff, so I worked with Jennie and Lara in the Barracks cooking simple pottages. I was able to take a few breaks and visit with others, drool over Eadric's pottery, chat with the nice folks of Grey's Company, buy the last of the amazing Canadian's knives (although I still need to arrange payment), and at Alan's direction, bought a nice chafing dish and pitcher so Alan can start doing period coffee preparation at events instead of using the camp stove and metal coffeepot. Yes ladies, I was asked to buy more pottery. Force my hand...

Alan and I exited the fort around 4:30pm, changed and got on the road home. We didn't encounter much traffic since we took 301 home to avoid the stretch of hell between Fredericksburg and Springfield, but we were dogged tired when we did get home. I've got an aching neck and sore feets, and Alan has an aching shoulder from a pinched nerve in his neck that he's visiting the chiropractor for. We've survived James Fort yet again, to play another weekend.

 The weekend was fun, but I've got a terrible cough now and have for the past two days. Took a sick day today, napped for 3 hours, will likely head to bed early-ish tonight.

Friday night we took Mike and Kirsten out to Mannequin Pis for tasty Belgian food and a fun relaxing dinner out for a change. Yummy escargot, pleasantly strong gamey flavored wild boar sausage, and the yummy pot of chocolate, with the black currant lambic to drink. Little slice of heaven.

Saturday was Yule, so we had to make some dishes to take. After a breakfast of waffles, Kirsten helped me start a crockpot of split pea soup with parsnips and a hambone, and we put together two cheese tarts. Since we had dough left over, and some ribe pears, Kirsten put together a few ginger and pear mini-tarts. But then I had over ripe bananas, so we put Corby to work on some banana-nut muffins. Only the soup and cheese tarts went to Yule, but the pear tarts and muffins were quite tasty for snacks and breakfast the next day.

We headed up to Yule a little later that afternoon to allow others sufficient naptime, and made it in time to chat a bit before the evening got started. The murder mystery was well planned out and rumors of rotten Spaniards and the impending Armada attack abounded. The food was fabulous, especially the beet tart and the spinach tart. There was a well timed culmination of all the clues and the final dramatic blow up to coincide with the end of the meal and transition into gaming and gossiping for the evening. Everyone looked fabulous and did an excellent job of staying in person, even discussion of Marvin's small Eastern bowles coach, the wii one.

I can't recall what we did on Sunday. It must have been fun and/or relaxing. There was a snuggly fire in the fireplace, some delivery pizza and I think a viewing of Shrek 3. Monday was a blissful day off, so I took Mike and Kirsten shopping at Costco for stuff, especially since we needed more tissue boxes in the house. They seemed to have a good time and stocked up on more than a few basics. Corby got on the road home to the pups, and Kirsten and I decided to brave the Container Store in search of boxes to use as drawers for storing our DVDs down in the basement. Sadly our search of the entire Container Store and IKEA online turned up no boxes measuring 16w x 15d x 9h. Alas I think they will have to be custom made.

Squire Philip came up to attend the Monday night fighter practice, and help Kirsten with some projects around our house, before attending the Tuesday night practice as well. I woke up feeling like crud yesterday, but got up and went to work since I knew I was sleeping in the way of progress. While the attic stairs installation will take a bit more than originally estimated (since a ceiling joist runs directly perpendicular to the door in the green room) so a box will have to built and that project will take longer than time allowed. Luckily they did fix the crack in our bedroom ceiling, and with Kirsten's masterful drywall skillz, it looks fabulous, and just requires a coat of paint. Scott even fixed our bedroom door and the hall bathroom door so they actually latch, since he wasn't busy installing the attic stairs. I admired the work of others and crashed in the basement for a nap under our snuggly Kirsten-quilt.

And I think that gets us caught up. hooray, new episode of Project Runway is on.

Yesterday I was Posty McPostalot and yet I neglected to issue online Happy Birthday salutations to the blondemuseon her 34th. Luckily I had sent her flowers, so she called me to thank me, and tell me about the wonderful snow on her birthday and getting to play in the snow with the nieces, so I got to issue congrats over the phone.

Saturday is Yule with the Trayned Bandes up in Abingdon. Since I haven't made anything new to wear, I guess I'll have the old green kirtle with red wool petticoat and gray wool doublet on. I've also got to make a run to the grocery store to pick up goods to make a couple of cheese tarts and some split pea soup to take along as our contributions. It will be fun to see folks, and I might take my laptop with pictures on it from our MFA visit to share with folks before the period evening kicks in.

It is also supposed to snow again tomorrow. And while I love the snow, I'm tired of it coming on the weekends. I mean it is supposed to snow during the week so we get snow days off of work. That's one of the great perks of working for a Uni, snow days. Yeah, the 1.5 hours off early yesterday does not count in my book. I want snow on a Thursday night with enough to cancel work the next day so I can sleep late and stay snuggled in bed.

Okay, whining off and stats on, thus proving I'm my own biggest fan...

( Who comments the most on this journal? )

Well, Alan and I are finally back home and unpacked. I have a mountain of laundry to work through. Last night I actually sat down to watch TV and didn't pick up something to hand sew. My hands are very grateful for the break. I just sat like a lump and enjoyed CSI, Heroes, CI and some Jon Stewart. What a lovely relief.

But Jamestown was the big thing this weekend. 


More pictures of the events can be found on:
My Flickr page
Theo's Flickr page
and Monica's Flickr page from Gabriel's camera
You can also see a very fine picture of our Greg/Nathaniel with GW here. I think it is cute that many of the press call us actors. tee hee. 

Considering the gluttony (and siren call of the napping couch) that is Thanksgiving, and then all the foods at Foods and Feasts, it's truly a miracle that I only gained a pound this week.  Whoohoo.  I also am officially wearing pants the next size down today. Even my sweater and blazer are looser. Went shopping on Wed and again last night and have a few smaller pants that should carry me for a while. Will also have to contemplate at what point to weed the larger sizes out of the closet. Right now they are just taking up space, but I fear that as soon as I donate them, weight will come back on.  Pessimistic? Me? Never.


My current to do list is finish reading my book and to do Xmas shopping and cards for folks. We're still not sure what we're even doing for the holiday, but I know that I get a week and a half off, and I am greatly looking forward to it.