I should really go and check this out:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/271301,site-of-key-ancient-battle-in-western-germany-fascinates-tourists.html

My father's mother's ancestral family comes from a town less than 2 miles away, so I imagine myself a quite probable descendant of the fierce Teutons that fought there.  Yeah, and that bloodline was watered down by my Danish DNA to boot :)  I'm really serious when I say that I should technically have NO sense of humor.

Taking a break from sewing to read my LJ and will do a drive-by-

Weightloss front - reporting 102 pounds off me.  There's still more to go, but now I'm seeing that this challenge is just one pound at a time :)  I joined 24 Hour Fitness on Thursday because the school gym is going through some changes and is becoming more expensive than 24-Hour, which is definitely nicer anyway.  a_pink_monkey, Trotula and I went to a water exercise class on Tuesday  which was a great deal of fun.  I slid down the slide twice and actually remembered how to dive.  I do believe I AM an otter.  Except, I note wrly, I detest fish of any sort!

Sewing - have finished the construction on the underdress for the Taymouth Hours archery outfit, and a little coif.  I hope to cut out the overdress tomorrow and get working on it.  I'll probably stay up another hour or so working on the hem of the underdress while watching Memoirs of a Geisha to keep me company.

Music - I have been sucked into that Ipod device (think Angie Baby Louchette!).  On Thursday my co-worker asked what I was listening to, and I told her I was rediscovering my fondness for Prog Rock of the 70's, which I think  is why I really like movie scores now.  Her eyeroll was exaggerated and nearly audible and she muttered "nerd" to my laughter at her expression.  I think I am going to go through the catalogs of Joni Mitchell (if I've felt it she's probably sang about it), Steely Dan, Moody Blues and The Who next.  After that, maybe I'll play around with Motown for a while.

Matters of the Spirit - many signs have been pointing to the fact that I must deal with the reality that I  often manifest myself as the Fisher King and that I need to seek the grail for healing.   I again note wryly that I detest fish of any sort, so hanging around fishing while my world stagnates is not my idea of a productive life.

Busy night!

First "F" is for the fat that is disappearing.  I'm almost at that 100 number - watch for the LJ celebration when it happens.  But there is at least still 40 or so pounds to go - the last 20 are very hard to lose so I am keeping on keeping on!  That disappearing fat has led to a

Fashion emergency!  I have given away most of my smaller clothes, and just am not satisfied with remaking large clothes smaller only to have to do it again.  Today I remembered a piece that has been on long term loan and made arrangements to go collect it.  But it needs additional pieces made which has led to a

Fabric explosion!  Last night I found some yummy 100% linen in a creamy color at JoAnn's for 60% off.  It flumphed (my word for a nice weight and hand) so nice before the prewash that I am all anticipatory for it to come out of the dryer from the prewash.  I thought to make a simple gored undergown (shhh!  rectangles and stuff) and remembered that I wanted to make the Taymouth bow and arrow gown out of some black wool I have been hoarding for some number of decades now.  I dug into the fabric closet, always a danger, although everything is organized.  The color bins I wanted were naturally on the bottom (sigh).  Several hilarious moves later the closet had disgorged itself everywhere into my small sewing room.  The fabric was not in the closet which led to

Several French (and non-French) words when I tripped several times and landed on fabric.  Heaven knows how I am going to sew all this stuff into something before I die...  J says I should try to "take it with me" but I haven't heard of a successful case of that yet.  At least I'm now in the mood to sew for myself.  Don't get me wrong, I like all of the stuff that goes with making garb and clothing, but no matter how great it might be I have always not liked the finished product because of my underlying body size.  That's probably therapist worthy but it is the truth. After the last Fall on my rear, I picked myself up off the floor and saw that the fabric I was looking for was in plain sight in a bin on the shelf where I had undoubtedly staged it for easy retrieval.  Which led to more French and then I

Found inspirational fabric (and a serviceable chemise)!  I have 10 yards of some nice black linen that I must have picked up to make a summertime 12th century dress that would be more cool in 90+ degree heat.  I think I will save it for next summer, along with the long length of fine black linen that I must have bought to make a long drapey veil.  Very goth I am afraid.  I'll have to glam it up somehow.  Also I have some very nice stuff I have set aside for Viking age stuff (shh!) that I was excited to see.   And where did I get a damask with laurel wreathes on it?  But then I had to put everything away and couldn't get in the huge basket of spinning stuff (I Forgot I had all that stuff) back into the closet which was no longer cooperating with any attempts at rearrangment.  The basket may become

Firewood.

So's I go to visit very, very old friends this weekend and I think they are convinced they want to come to an upcoming SCA event, the first one in many years.  We'd been doing girlfriend chatter about weight loss when the the inevitable question of "what to wear" reared its large head.  It went something like this:

Me:  My clothes are all too big.  I might have to make something new.  Wait, I could make some of my Norse stuff smaller and wear it maybe....

J:  You mean Norse like Viking stuff?  [Viking_food_guy - insert my I see smelly dead fish on the breakfast table look (tm) on my friend's face!] Isn't that just rectangles and stuff?  I don't know, I don't know...

Me:  I have some really great bling that goes with it, some of it is kind of cool.   I got a bad a$$ hat with fur and everything, trying to sell the idea but obviously sinking rapidly.

J:  (Again) Isn't that all rectangles and stuff?  [The smelly food look still hadn't abated.]  Don't tell me you have gone all plaid on us (eyeroll).  Wait, you've got bling?

Me:  Stuttering - uh yeah, but it is Viking age bling - and some of this era stuff is really cool - hand woven - great art  - natural fibers...(trailing off at the icy stare).

J:  Oh, that kind of bling.  Still, it's all rectangles and stuff, uttered while now giving me the "that's lazy tailoring girl" eye with a cocked head.  How unfrench of you, she continued.

G: finally piping in on the matter and making the final pronouncement:  Girlfriend, (dramatic pause) Middle Eastern is as low as we'll go.

Me:  Trying like crazy to represent, after all I am of Danish descent, though often lost in the German, but laughing just too hard to contradict any further.  And my French persona cred was on the line, so please forgive!

Soooo, if you see me (that would be non-Viking) at an event with a couple of friends who are looking resplendent in some Callahan's Crosstime Saloon anachronistic medieval/gypsy getup, for heaven's sake hide your plaidies.  We used to be famous way back in time for wry remarks about it but it was just a schtick.  I don't know if we still can do it anymore since J, upon seeing Braveheart and crying the whole movie can be quoted upon exit as saying, still crying "I can't disrespect plaid no more."   I wouldn't bet on it though :)

or are they no longer fashionable?    I AM old.

( Follow link with caution )

Don't laugh, but I finally found a bathing suit I would be comfortable in:

http://www.ecostinger.com/126063-women-stinger-suit-p-33.html

I'd like to find one in a shop.  Anyone have any ideas where to find such a beastie?

I picked up a Russian friend today working on historical textiles - which is wonderful.  But sneaking its way in later is a Russian spammer futurepavelk.  I reported and banned the user, but thought if it proliferated you'd wanna know.

I just discovered the Dandy Warhols - a PDX alternative band with occasional Bowie-like riffs.   Me like bigtime.   No one told me how dangerous this i-tunes store could be to the budget!

Okay youngun's - what else is out there?

It works!  Whoot!  Now to turn it into an I-Todd louchette !

It's an IPOD Classic!  So newfangled.  So, so, so...Mac.  Am I too old to master this contraption?  I am almost ashamed to admit that it took me 2 years working on a Mac before someone finally told me that the on-off switch for the infernal machina was on the keyboard.  I'd crawl under the desk and turn it off on the power bar but usually just left it turned on!

Perhaps the reason I had to have a Crusader persona...

http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/image/70439289

Other cool pix of the city I lived in as a teenager:

http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/adana&page=all

This following photo especially brought back many memories - the sky was almost always red in the morning.  The streets were always filled with herds of sheep and shepherds and when the muzzein called for prayers they would just stop all to pull out their prayer mats and pray.  I often remember the bedouin riding in to town in this red dusty dawn.  The barrels on top of the roof?  That was your water supply and in the summer they went dry.  It got to be 130 degrees (F) often in the summer.  We lived in the base swimming pool...

http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/image/109223814

The score:  a bag of morels and a fresh pint of sugar snap peas.  Now to plan for their consumption...

I had fun fun fun at the Grand Thing.  I spent ALL day Sunday running around barefoot.  It was a luxury not to wear shoeses.  Maybe I really am a hobbit!    I am pleasantly red from sun and feel rejuvenated from just having some time to play for a bit.

Today I spent some hours copying some public domain 16th century German woodcuts for future use on the internets.  Made all the more surreal by listening to classic southern rock while doing so...  I found a great image as a resource for my persona.  It is a city festival in 1573 in Zwickau - 6 miles away from my persona's home.  She would have travelled there!  There is much to see in the woodcut with hundreds of characters represented.  In one corner is the 'baurn tantz'  (peasant's dance) where women are dancing and it seems that a mid-calf length dress wasn't uncommon.

I won a thingie on ebay - a bartmann krug!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370202450923

Off to pay attention to the never ending housework...

How true it is!   I think I have this outfit but with leather pants ;-P

Your result for The Social Persona Test (What kind of man/woman are you?)...

The Renaissance Faire Wench (QLAF)

Quirky Liberal Alpha Female

Take The Social Persona Test (What kind of man/woman are you?) at HelloQuizzy

Your Brain is 33% Female, 67% Male

You have a total boy brain Logical and detailed, you tend to look at the facts And while your emotions do sway you sometimes... You never like to get feelings too involved

As I suspected...

Yer old man says to you when you make a menu suggestion:

"Get out of my head Bene Gesserit Witch".

Made me laugh hard.

In the library today was a little museum catalog - "London Museume Catalogues: No. 2, The Cheapside Hoard of Elizabethan and Jacobena Jewellery (1928)

Last week I was waiting for my husband in the library and casually thumbed through a National Geographic publication called Archaeology (I think) and it had a large photo of the hoard kind of put together like some sort of pirate's treasure.  I had only ever seen a couple of images of some chains, but I realized there must be more.  A little searching found that there was a recent publication, but I was denied access - a pretty rare event - and couldn't find it on-line for sale.  However, the museum catalog was right up the road at UW, so I ordered it to have a look-see. Score!

Some of the pieces feature stones that are much more faceted than I would have thought.  In fact, I have several pairs of old costume rhinestone earrings that have a new life ahead of them as hat ornaments.  The little danglie hair ornaments with the grape beads are intriguing too since I am sure I have seen some similar beads for sale at the local crack bead emporium.  Best of all were the fan holders!  They are gorgeous.  I only which there was more of an indication how the feathers might be mounted. 

Here are the fan holders  (click makes bigger)-

J and I just finished watching the epic Australia.  It's a big story about a big place.  But forget all about that.  !! Hugh Jackman !!!...(fans self)

Since I have a sinking feeling that Oregon state budget cuts might interfere with my ILL plans, I decided to go whole hog on trying to get obscure inventory articles from the 16th century.  Today's haul includes a 1566 Lübeck shop inventory!!!  I love those and there are many cloth/clothing/sewing goodies in stock.  But I am curious about the sugar listed.  Does anyone know what the different descriptions might mean?

Canarian sucker  (Canary sugar - was sugar coming from the Canary Islands in 1566?)
hot sucker  (maybe hut sucker - sugar "hats" or loaves) (1 and 1/4)
strou sucker (1/2 pound) ("straw" sugar)
sucker kande (2 and 1/4)
arweten sucker, geworpen (2 1/2)