Remembering

This morning, for the first time in a very long time, I gazed affectionately at my 10 year old white iBook laptop. With a smile on my face I had flash backs of using my first tiny little Macintosh computer at college, with it's black and white screen and floppy-disk drive. Then, at a different college using larger versions of the Macintosh as I learned to be digitally creative.

I remember when the art department at the newspaper got its very first batch of G1 Power Macs and we were all so excited because they were a huge upgrade to what we had been using. I remembered being jealous of my boss at the newspaper because he had an Apple Newton.

I remember buying my very first computer at Harrods, a black all-in-one PowerMac, and reminisced about how excited I was to be able to use it's (I think) 12kph modem to connect to the internet at home using Netscape Communicator. I remember the 100mb Zip Drive I bought not long after.

I remember living in Aruba, hating that I was without a computer and then paying extortionate amounts of money to buy my iBook because there was an Apple dealer on the island. I remember being able to watch DvD's for the first time in my dingy little island home after spending long days underwater. I remember finally being able to get rid of all my really heavy scuba instructor manuals because I could now buy them on CD's.

I remember laying on a balcony studying for a scuba instructors further education class in Florida when some random cute guy started talking to me. I remember IM'ing with that same guy late at night once I was back in London as we made plans as to which Caribbean island we would find work on. "That guy" would later become my husband.

I remember being in the British Virgin Islands and able to research my family history because I had my iBook and a high speed internet connection. I remember the excitement of finding long lost cousins and slowly being able to piece my way back to 1747.

I remember my disappointment, once we were living in the USA, when I realised that I would have to buy a PC as the desktop computer at home.

I remember the Keynote events that launched the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. I remember the excitement of buying my first generation iPad because I was back to using the brand I loved. I remember my husband saying to me "I'm never buying a PC again, only Apple from now on"

Thank you for my memories Steve Jobs. Rest in peace.

Pennsic 40 (2011)

Pennsic was a blast. Its has been for the past three years. What was even better this year though is that we committed to the full two weeks, making it a weird (to some people) but proper holiday. And off course I didn't take one god-damned flippin' photograph.

We took a leisurely drive out on Sunday morning, leaving a little later than planned due to an unexpected migraine. A beautiful sunny day, hardly any traffic on the road, no road-work to get caught up in and the ability to lock up the truck-bed at service stations. We'll be doing it like this from now on. Eight hours later we arrive onsite to get mobbed by our seriously awesome camp-mates that we don't see nearly enough.

Peace Week was phenomenal. We spent a seriously lazy week finishing camp set-up, food shopping, and general laying around doing NOTHING. Well almost nothing, next year we may as well have a published A&S track in camp for all the cool things we were teaching each other. I can now spin fiber and have refined my lucet technique to the point where I don't have to look at what I'm doing any more. Our Pennsic camp is seriously awesome and filled with people that we don't get to see nearly enough. We're very diverse in our interests and when we get together all sorts of strange things end up happening or being planned. Needless to say, don't enter into the camp and then proceed to sit there and tell us that you'll NEVER do something.....

Then there was "Saturday Night at the Glen" .... Words really cannot describe how entertaining this was, but serious thanks must be given to our across-the-road neighbours and the assortment of people headed down to The Bog on that Saturday night. Imagine the scene, the road lined on both side by almost 40 people in camp chairs, heckling and cheering people to promenade past us with as much style and grace as possible. Then there was the singing of "Koom-by-ahh" whenever security headed our way in a delusional attempt to keep them from knowing what we were up too! Apparently we could be heard CLEAR across Pennsic. The one thing that surprised me the most was that it was the folks with pointy hats and bling that got into the merriment the most, whereas the "fringe" folks kinda kept their heads down for the most part and scuttled on by as quickly as they could.

I did however manage to get my four scrolls finished. They all arrived at Pennsic "mostly done" with just the odd few finishing touches needed on each of them. Off course, did I remember to take photographs of the finished scrolls? NO. I'm an idiot. I do know they all went out though, one Baronial Sapphire for Lady Osa Silverhair, two Kingdom (a Silver Crescent for Leonhard Schuwert and a Troubadour for Mhari Brewbane),  and one backlog Court Baroncy for Sarra Elisabeth Graeham of Birnham. If ANYONE has or knows off photographs for these awards then I would love copies. Pretty please.

Towards the end of Peace Week I trundled myself off down to the fencing field for some pick-ups, where I discovered I was getting sick, getting my arse handed to me in the process. Turned out to be a headed cold which knocked me out for a few days with the associated sinus congestion sticking around for the rest of War. In fact I still have the remnants of it. I rested for the most part, willingly doped myself up on DayQuill, but got to the point where I needed to do "something" so headed back down to the lists to help Marshal and inspect others as they were arriving. Was a little weird being in that situation because I would rather have been fencing but I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

War Week was a mixed bag. The head cold was lingering and so I didn't have as much energy as I would have liked, my fencing activities suffered because of it. I didn't get nearly as much pick-up action as I would have liked as I was pretty much conserving myself for the War Points and in case I was needed on the Champions Team (I was an alternate). However, I did have fun in the Tortuga melee, the Ansteorian Tourney and the Cadet Tourney where I got to the "sweet sixteen" out of 72 fighters, and of course it was my practice buddy Alfonso who knocked me out.

I had planned on being in the Atlantia 5-Man Melee tourney also but for various reason sat out, which worked out well as I ended up teaching a new fencer. We had a blast discussing various things and sparring a bunch. I hope he manages to find a convenient practice as he took to it really well and would be an awesome asset to the community.

I've been writing this post for a week now. There is LOTS more and as I remember aspects I will post, but for right now this post is getting too long!

New Art / Photography Project

I'm finally realizing the benefits of having one of these "smart phone" contraptions. I always resisted buying one because for how little I use a cell phone I couldn't justify paying not only the cost of the phone but also the obscene rates that the phone carriers charge each month. I've been on a "pay-as-you-go" type plan for ages now but even that was starting to look like I wasn't getting my money's-worth as I was still over paying for not using it. I was with AT&T at the time, which by the way SUCKS.

I was roaming around one day when I suddenly discovered that Virgin Mobile actually has a presence in this country. DOH! Yes I know, late to the party and all that. Anyway, one carrier switch and smart phone later I'm all tech-ed up.

The beauty of this is that I can now (like the rest of the world) roam around taking random photo's and videos on the spur of the moment. Because of this I've decided to create an ongoing photography project for myself called "LIFE: Ruled by Signs, Logos & Words". The premise is that I can only take photo's of my daily life if they include signs, logos or words, since these are the things that constant but often taken for granted or overlooked. Initially they can be seen in their own Picasa album and on their Google+ photo page until I can best figure out how / where to display them in the way I want them to be seen.


Some day's there might be LOTS and other day there might be none, it just all depends on what inspires me and say "this is part of who I am". I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and here's my current favourite photo of the past couple of days...

War of the Roses 2011

What a blast!

Unfortunately we only seemed to get about half the turnout we usually get due to the threat of inclement weather. Sorry for those of you that stayed away though because, for the most part, it stayed dry and sunny. We had a couple of overnight storms that made the ground soft but the days were beautiful.

We packed up the truck Friday morning, taking practically everything SCA related with us. Primary we wanted to see how things fit with the new cap on the truck but we were also being lazy and couldn't be bothered to unpack the stuff we didn't need. We meandered over to the site about lunchtime and began to set up camp in the lovely afternoon sunshine. I spent the evening working the gate, helping to check people into the site.

Friday night there was a pretty significant storm that blew through with high winds and torrential rain, but it left the all the campers pretty unscathed except for a couple of isolated incidents. The only unfortunate thing is that it made the ground wet again, after it had spent all week drying out. It wasn't too bad though, a little soft and a few mud puddles on low ground but more that okay for the various activities.

Fencing on Saturday was a little weird for me. I woke up feeling REALLY groggy and out of it, more so than my usual morning grumpiness, and it never really left. I had a low-grade headache pretty much all day and I felt dehydrated even though I know for certain that I wasn't since I was drinking LOTS (water and Gatorade) and pee'ing regularly. Salt was also being replenished. Not really sure what was wrong but I had a solid day of fencing nonetheless with some great bouts, even making it into the final of the first tourney against Wyatt. The second tourney was the dagger one, at which I'm not great, but it was still fun, and we had the pleasure of His Majesty joining us for a while. Unfortunately his loaner dagger "broke" so I gave him mine to use and pulled myself from the tourney, which actually turned into a plus since I got some much needed MiT experience. Lastly was the Blood Money tourney which relies on NOT killing your opponent, and even though I was terrible I had some great bouts! All in all, a GREAT day fencing.

Sunday started with the Baronial Champions for both Heavy and Fencing.  Don Thomas put on a great fencing tourney, starting with a bear-pit that allowed everyone a chance to fight and have some phenomenal bouts. My goal was to go out, have fun and enjoy fencing regardless of the out-come. That mind-set worked really well for me and my fencing felt very solid and its starting to feel like I "fit in my skin". I didn't make it in to the final rounds but was very pleased with my fighting nonetheless.

The Tournament of Roses was an interesting couple of hours, primarily because there wasn't nearly as many people competing as there usually is. By the mid-way point we seemed to have lost even more fighters that had wandered off to do other things. My goal was just to stay healthy and go the full two hours which I accomplished. I don't view this tourney as anything more than an opportunity to fight a BUNCH of people in a set time-frame. I'm not about to kill myself from heat exhaustion or dehydration trying to win it. Instead, I just want to have fun with it and fight.

As far as the Heavy fighting went, the hubby says he had a couple of great days fighting, even winning his Tournament of Roses which was quite funny considering he made the winners prize! I now have a small wooden chest with a rose carved in the top, I'll post pictures at some point.

Sunday night in camp was pretty cool also. A lot of campers had already packed up and gone home so the site was quieter. We got a cooking fire going so we could make coals and preceded to make stewed rabbit with red wine and Herbs de Provence - DELICIOUS! It was a great evening.

Other than that, there was LOTS of catching up with friends and talking with people we've not seen in a long time. To be honest it's nice to be back outside after such a cold, bleak winter.

Pennsic 38 (2009)

Originally posted August 19, 2009

So, now that my geeky nature is known I can start sharing our medieval weekends with the world!

Every year for the past 38 years the SCA has held an event called Pennsic. It is the largest event the SCA holds each year where the Kingdom of the East and the Middle Kingdom go to war. The event see’s upwards of 10,000 people.

This year was our first…

To say we were overwhelmed is an understatement! The event is held in western Pennsylvania which means a seven hour drive each way. We had made the decision that we would leave around midnight, drive through the night to arrive early on Friday (31st July). Our plan must have gone smoothly since I remember loading myself into the truck, jumping out to pee at a couple of service stops and then waking up with dawn as we arrived near the site. I had fully intended to keep Ken company on the drive but, well, you know…

Its was raining hard as we arrived at Troll (that’s “Scadian” for check-in) with no signs of letting up anytime soon. We were directed to our Barony campsite only to find that 7am wasn’t the most convenient of times! Still raining we decided to unload the truck, putting everything under our canopy until it dried up a little and stuff wouldn’t get wet. Four hours later the rain had slowly come to a stop and we were able to set up our camp.

We had a long shopping list of things we wanted to buy or look at while we were here. For me the big thing was to set myself up with all the appropriate fencing gear, At some point Ken had wandered off in search of a helm for heavy fighting, he reappeared a few hours later very excited as he had found one that fit perfectly. It had been made for someone as a custom piece but never collected which means Ken got it at a great price.

But Pennsic is all about WAR!!!

A Day at the Hall

Originally posted August 10, 2009

Sunday took us to the old London County Hall located on the South Bank next to Westminster Bridge and now houses the Movieum, the London Aquarium, restaurants and the ticket office for the London Eye.
Admitedly this was the only nastly day we had during our whole trip. Everyone thinks it rains constantly in Great Britain, especially over the two week Wimbledon tournament. Truth is, it was beautiful bright sunshine for the entire week we were there except for this one day. We were lucky though as although the sky looked very menacing all day, it only rained while we were actually inside!

I haven’t been to the South Bank in many years for obvious reasons. At that time pretty much the only things there was the London Aquarium and a bunch of restaurants so I was very pleasantly surprised to see that not only was the London Eye there now but also quite a few more museums/attractions.

The Movieum is one such attraction and it is housed amongst the corridors and offices of the old London County Hall, which with its wide staircases and handcrafted wood paneling is impressive in and off itself. This museum was an unexpected treasure as it gave a great history of film and television as it relates to Britain and some very unexpected productions were actually filmed at some of the famous UK film studios.

Made in Britain – Hundreds of International films have been made on British soil including Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Superman, Batman & Alien to name but a few.

It was amazing to see just how much of a contribution the UK has had on international movie making.
Thankfully we missed the raid while we were inside the museum but we decided to brave the crowds / more rain and bought tickets to view London from the sky. The London Eye is an amazing piece of engineering and viewing it up close and personal was a very cool event. Each of the capsules have two bands around them that rotate as the big wheel moves around, keeping the capsules very stable and upright.

The views of London as this mechanical marvel rotates its way around are stunning and well worth the price tag. All I would have wished was that it was a sunny day so that we could have seen further.

After the London Eye can the London Aquarium. I still maintain that this is one of the best in the World and definitely worth a trip.

The Wedding

Originally posted July 16, 2009

So the whole point of the trip to London was because my little brother was getting married. Well, he’s not REALLY my little brother he’s my best friends brother but I spent so much time with them growing up that they are my second family.

David was always that annoying, skinny little brat that liked to follow us around everywhere and try to get involved with whatever we were doing. We were constantly shooing him away and very much considered him a pest! However, times change and we all grew up.

It was funny seeing David again after all this time, he’s gone from being the sack-and-bones I remember and has grown into a man. Not sure I’ll ever be able to view him as more than “that kid” though! Emma, his new wife is lovely. She’s very warm, friendly and has a great aura about her, I’m sure that she’ll be a good match for David as they years move by.


They didn’t have a big giant church wedding but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a beautiful affair. It was held in Croydon Aerodrome Hotel which used to actually be a small airport offering a nice intimate setting for two wonderful people. Ken

I have to admit that seeing old faces was quite interesting and I have to admit that I was a little curious as to what people had decided to do with their lives in the time I’ve been away. And honestly, (barring a few exceptions) people are the same except that now they have wives and kids in tow.

Sorry Lucie, I stole a couple of photo’s from your FaceBook album! Sue me!

Off with Their Heads!

Originally posted Jul 10, 2009

Yup, you guessed it …. Friday took us to the most timeless of London landmarks – the Tower of London.

One of the requirements of touring the sites in London was that Ken wanted “…to see something very old and with cool architecture.” You can’t really get much older than the Tower of London within the City itself!

Central keep in the Tower of London complex
dating back to 1078 and William the Conqerer.

I haven’t been there since I went on a school trip when I was about 10 years old so I was excited to see the site again after so many years, especially now that I would actually be interested in looking at all the cool architectural details.

I think Ken was a little bit more in awe than he thought he would be and had under estimated just what it means for a historic site to have 1000 years of active history. Yes, these days its more of a tourist location than anything else but it does have a VERY long and bloody history.

Wikipedia Writes

The tower’s primary function was a fortress, a royal palace, and a prison (particularly for high status and royal prisoners, such as the Princes in the Tower and the future Queen Elizabeth I). This last use has led to the phrase “sent to the Tower” (meaning “imprisoned”). It has also served as a place of execution and torture, an armoury, a treasury, a zoo, the Royal Mint, a public records office, an observatory, and since 1303, the home of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.

We wandered in through the very old main gate to be greeted by Yeoman Warders gathering up tourists to take them on narrated guides and costumed actors down in the moat discussing various aspects of medieval life. Not keen on prolonged crowds we opted to meander through the complex ourselves and entered under one of the portcullis’ and onto an old cobbled street. We headed straight up to the outer battlements to peer over the edge and stroll along the outside wall, which actually took us through some off the outer towers. One of the things that had the biggest impact on us was the immensity in strength of some of the wooden doors through which we entered, I have no idea how old some of them are but they look VERY solid and worn.

The highlight of the day though had to be the exhibition within the White Tower itself. Currently on display is three floors devoted to showing the armor and weapons custom made for Henry VIII and how they evolved with his ever increasing girth. The detail in some of these amour creations is truly amazing and they were created back in a time when people really could be called “craftsman.’ Remember as well that Henry VIII was a dedicated sportsman and by all accounts a fairly successful one, so not only was he needing to be encased but also his horses! The time it must have taken to produce these pieces boggles the mind and for anyone that is interested in such things really should go see this exhibition if they are able too, there are accompanying books which would also be money well spent. The only sad thing is that no one is allowed to take photographs of the exhibition and so all I have is my memories.

We should really have made the effort to see the Crown Jewels but the line was unforgiving n the amount of people queue to get in.

After spending the day at The Tower it was only fitting that we meander along the River Thames into London proper. The River Thames is the reason there is a city here at all, the Romans knew it’s importance and its still that way today. The beauty of the River is that other the years “the Thames Pathway” has been developed which gives pedestrians the chance to wander. So starting at the magnificence Tower Bridge we walked, and walked, and walked….

 Me and Ken with Tower Bridge as a backdrop

We wandered past The Clink, a prison dating back to the 13th century and past the magnificent Gothic Southwark Cathedral that sits on a site by London Bridge which has been used as a place of worship since the time of the Doomsday Book. And still we wandered…

I walked Ken past where I used to work at the newspaper. I walked him over Blackfriars Bridge describing my favourite night-time view of the River. I walked him along Fleet Street and past the Royal Courts of Justice that are forever a backdrop for the news channels. I walked him through the theatre district and up through Covent Garden to browse the little boutiques and watch the street performers. Then I showed him the insanity that is Leicester Square on a Friday evening from the comfort of an outdoor dining area!!!

To finish up our awesome day we wandered down through the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, past the Prime Ministers house at 10 Downing Street and ended our walk outside the Houses of Parliament.

Man, were we pooped!

Touch Down

Originally posted July 8, 2009

The journey to London was surprisingly easy and simple.

We left the house mid-morning and meandered down I-87, stopping here and there for coffee and Cinnabons! We’d decided that we would get ourselves to and through the airport at a very leisurely pace so as not to feel rushed and cause unnecessary stress. Ken’s very good friend had agreed to give the truck a home for the week to save on long-term parking and he would also drop us at the airport.

We got down to Larchmont in good time and just meandered round Ken’s old stomping ground looking at the (imitation!) Tudor homes and beautifully landscaped gardens the homeowners pay a FORTUNE for…

[insert a "Claire Rant" about why people can't find anything better to do with their cash than trying to keep up with the "Jones" - seriously people, come on!!!]

…Lunch was had at a nice little Italian pizza shop while we waited for our ride to get home from work. Then I “discover” the two (stupid expensive) garden stores right next door to each other, making it very easy to kill the rest of the time.

Then there was the airport. Why is it that people never leave enough time to check-in, get through security control and onto their plane? They know that security has gotten ridiculously tight in the past few years but STILL most people leave it until the last minute then start getting annoyed and frustrated because the lines aren’t moving quickly enough? Anyway, we probably spent more time in the check-in queue because others we so inconsiderate and kept being bought to the front of the line. Either way we got done eventually, meandered through security, found a nice comfortable restaurant and waited for our departure.

It was an overnight flight but it turned out that the fact we would loose five hours meant we missed out on an entire nights sleep. That was a little strange for me because I have NEVER gotten jet-lag going west to east before, its always happened in the other direction. We we’re able to cat-nap a little but by the time we landed we were tired. Thankfully my best friend in the ENTIRE world was waiting patiently at Heathrow for us.

So after we managed to fold Ken and Bill (inside joke!) into the small car we took him on a hair-raising, London rush-hour drive to my mums house. Mum was heading out that night to go on a cruise around Norway with one of her long time friends so it would only be a brief visit, otherwise we would have dragged her all over London with us. We stopped for lunch and to catch-up a little before we started falling asleep on the couch! Time to leave!

Lucie deposited us at the hotel, we checked in, got to our room, fell on the bed and SLEPT!!! I vaguely remember waking up to go eat some food at some point but otherwise we snored our way all the way through to the following morning!

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

London Calling

Originally posted June 25, 2009

As you read this I should be somewhere over the northern Atlantic Ocean heading to London. In a few hours I will slide down in my uncomfortably cramped seat to try and get some sleep before landing at Heathrow at 8.30am local time.

Feels strange that I’m going to see a whole bunch of people I haven’t seen in seven years, its almost like I’m in a void and not sure how to act. I’m sure everything will be fine once I land and see Lucie’s smiling face, I really miss having her to bounce around with.

I’m going to write up each day and report back what we’re getting up too, hopefully someone will find it interesting! Hey Erin, wish you were in London too then it would be like old times!

The Impending Trip

Originally posted June 18, 2009

So I suddenly realized yesterday that we leave for London next week, somehow I thought we had a whole extra week to pack and prepare! Suddenly I feel completely rushed and feel like there’s a million things to do before we go. I still have no clue as to what I’m going to wear to the wedding and I haven’t even thought about a wedding gift!

I guess I should also come up with an attack plan for the places we’re gonna go visit, we will be tourists after all and no trip to London would be complete without falling into that money trap!

The Impending Trip

Originally posted April 3, 2009
Acid filled Smiley Faces may jump into some people minds but no, I am thinking more along the lines off our trip to London. Flights are booked, we have a place to stay and those that need to know are currently being informed of the details.

I’m excited.

It’s the first time I will have been “home” in about 5 years. I wonder what has changed, who’s still around and who had the incentive to leave. I imagine that bus fare’s have increased a number of times and that the infamous good ol’ British Rail is still “[...] Getting There.” Will the Fish & Chips taste the same and is the beer still served warm. Does Clapham Common still fill up with picnicking people on warm lazy days and do the pigeons still dance around the fountains of Trafalgar Square. Does Brixton market still thrive with its cosmopolitan mix of people and wonderfully exotic fruits. Is my favourite Italian sandwich shop still down the road from St Paul’s or if that cheap little eatery of Shaftsbury Avenue still exists.

I am looking forward to wandering around like a tourist for a week, gaping up at Big Ben or talking in hushed tones around Westminster Cathedral. Standing with rigid terror as we slowly rotate above London or trying to blindly remember how to navigate the Tube system!