House Capuchin Shield2A lot more happened this week than over the last few. Anja and Loren are finally getting themselves back together and while gearing up for summer, are also spending more time on projects. Cheese happened and more plant stuffs, and then Saturday’s Herbs Workshop was on spices and spice mixes and Project Day was *really* busy!

Meetings are on time this week, although it’s possible that Saturday’s workshops might get disrupted because of the Waldport Great Garage Sale.

There are a few more pix to be added to this post. Watch for notices on our Facebook group!

  • Herb Bunch – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 11am-1pm
  • Sewing Time – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 3-5pm
  • Project Day – At Ancient Light, Sundays, Noon to 6pm
  • Cheese and Wine happens irregularly, usually announced with little notice on our Facebook group.
  • Next Potluck – 5/19, 6/16, 7/21, 8/18
  • Winter Feast Date is 2/16/20 (assuming that there is one….)

Here is the direct Portfolio link which has all the past Project Day reports and various projects, original here:  https://housecapuchin.wordpress.com/portfolio/  and new one here:  https://housecapuchin2.wordpress.com/portfolio/ and number three is here: https://housecapuchin3.wordpress.com/portfolio/

Happy Birthday SCA, AS LIV! Posted in Kingdom of the Middle  Phillip C Reed – May 1, 2017

Once upon a time there was a scholar who lived in an ivory tower. And in that tower lived many other scholars, who spent their time reading books and writing papers about what some other scholar had said another scholar had said *another* scholar had said they used to do in the Middle Ages.

But the scholar of whom I speak was more fortunate than the rest, for she used to escape from the tower from time to time and go down into the town, where she met many interesting people. And some of these folk belonged to a tribe called “fandom,” and they too read many books and wrote many papers, and they published them in loose journals printed on coarse wood-pulp paper. And the scholar, who had some skill as an artist, drew pictures of knights and ladies and elves and dragons, and these appeared in the wood-pulp paper journals.

And in this tribe were two young men with whom the scholar became acquainted; and they were beautiful young men, one dark and one fair, and both with eyes the color of summer heaven. And on a day the scholar went to visit the young men in their home, and she saw hanging on the wall two bright swords and two well-wrought shields emblazoned with devices of heraldry. And she said, “What do you do with those?”

And the young men replied, “WE FIGHT WITH THEM.”

And the scholar said, “How splendid. Next time you practice, I shall come and draw pictures of you.”

And on many a day the young men met to practice their skills with sword and shield, and the scholar covered many sheets of wood-pulp paper with their likenesses.

Then there came the day when the scholar stepped out of her own house into her back yard, and the thought came to her,

“You could hold a tournament here.

“Look! Here the fighters could fight, and here the spectators could sit, and if there were too many of them some of them could stand behind the wall there, safe from random blows. You could do it. You could hold a tournament here.”

And she thought, “How delightful!” But she also bethought her that she had her Master’s orals coming up in two weeks, and going back into her kitchen, she said to her housemates,

“I’ve had the most wonderful idea. TALK ME OUT OF IT!”

And she told her housemates her idea, and they all answered, “That’s wonderful! We’ll all help!”

And so they chose the First of May as the date of the tournament, and they caused to be printed on many sheets of wood-pulp paper the message, “Come to a Tournament–for that it is spring.” And the message was broadcast all round the ivory tower and the town besides.

And on the day, at the stroke of noon, being the time set to begin the tournament, the scholar set foot outside her door, and there was no one there.

And half an hour later, she stepped outside her door again, and there were fifty people there.

Then came Jon deCles in the robes of an Archbishop, and intoned, “Ecce Eduardus Ursus nunc occipite post Christophorum Robinem tump-tump-tump scalis descendens,” and all sang “Amen.” And Elizabeth Pope, Doctor of Philosophy, was named Judge of the Lists, and the knights and squires came forth to do battle, and many brave deeds of swordplay were seen.

And young David the Herald fought so well that Sir Siegfried von Hoeflischkeit dubbed him Knight there upon the field.

And Marynel of Darkhaven, being then but young, had bidden her father Beverly Hodghead to come to the place half an hour after she did, in case she wished to return home; but when he saw the noble company and the deeds that were being done, he hurried home and returned again in haste, bringing the crossbow that he had made for himself. And he fired a bolt against one of the shields, and behold! the point curled up upon itself like a little shell.

And a certain Knight was named victor, and he crowned his Lady with a wreath of roses.

And then all said to one another, “What shall we do next?” And it was answered generally thus, “This is Berkeley. Should we not be protesting something?” And they marched up and down Telegraph Avenue protesting the ugliness of the twentieth century, from which they had escaped that day.

And then, passing by the market, they bought roasted chickens and bottles of wine, and returning to the field of the tournament, they built a fire and sat around it, eating chickens and drinking wine and telling tales, long into the night.

And the scholar, sitting by the fire, said to herself, “This happened. This really happened. The Last Tournament *wasn’t* in 1839, it happened today; and someday, years from now, I shall be able to tell my grandchildren that once, just once long ago, this happened.”

But the man seated beside her was saying to the man next to him, “Now, *next* time I’m going to hit him like THIS!”

Dorothea of Caer-Myrddin
Dorothy J. Heydt
Mists/Mists/West/UC Berkeley
Argent, a cross forme’e sable
PRO DEO ET REGE

Early Week – The new plantings all got watered on Monday, but the cheese kept getting put off. We finally got that far on Tuesday, (pix below) but it wasn’t until Friday that we actually got to have the palacinky (pancakes stuffed with cheese and fruit).

Cookery – Anja’s been wanting to do thin pancakes rolled around cheese and fruit (palacinky) for awhile. It’s a “traditional” Czech dish with only mentions in very late period, but they’re yum, anyway, so a sweet “scalded milk” cheese was indicated, rather than the more sour tvarog.

So, the cheese was finally started at 8:05pm on Tuesday. We added 1/2 a vanilla bean, and a bunch of ground nutmeg, with more of that added at the last minute. Cider vinegar was the “coagulant”. We used brown sugar for a sweetener.

The worst part of making this style of cheese is that it has to heat slowly, so it seems to take forever. At 9:30- it was still only up to 115F. We’d go back every 15 minutes, stir, test the temp, turn up the heat one more notch… at 9:50 it was at 135. …and at 10:45, only to 175….

Finally, just after 11pm it hit temp and curdled with a bit of vinegar thrown in, so it got ladled into the cheese cloth and hung by 11:15.

Anja tried some at about 1am, and liked it, but to go with the pancakes it needed fruit and sugar, so that got added about an hour later, shaken a couple of times and fridged.

Late on Thursday (5/2) we started a couple of cordials. Recipes are below for an Herb (more a spice) Cordial and a Pear Cordial.

Friday 5/3

On Friday Anja cut two of the pears, discovering that they were still very hard. She also discovered that the recipe wasn’t going to fit in a quart jar, so they had to find another of the 1/2 gallons, and then that there wasn’t going to be enough liquid. A splash that got tasted also told her that there was too much zest compared to spices & sweet, so that was going to have to get adjusted. …and supper was the pancakes and cheese!

Sewing – Anja got a little time during the week to work on her projects and then spent a block of time on Saturday. (Pix are in the Project Day galleries)

Herb Bunch 

Plants during the week. A lot of watering happened. With a bunch of starts they need to be kept damp and the weather’s been dry. At least the humidity’s been in the 70-80% range. That helps. Anja also asked for help on the “violets” that they picked last weekend around the back steps. It turns out they’re Kenilworth Ivy, not violets. That’s why the strange leaf shape!

Saturday’s Herb Workshop ended up being on spice mixes. We discussed everything from where certain herbs and spices came from to who used what and when and finally made a batch of powder fort.

Project Day – Anja started the day making a playlist for a group called, “Lurpakket”. They’re

20 of the little packets of powder fort, kept in canning jars for freshness.

Danish, doing a lot of “crossover” of Medieval/Renn music with more modern arrangements, but still on mostly period instruments. One of the most interesting is a seriously uptempo version of Douce Dame Jolie, but their version of Horses Bransle is also very good.

Next up was bagging some of the powder fort. We’re going to set up batches of the various mixes and put them into sets for largesse. We got 20 bags out of the near-pint of powder fort from Saturday.

A warped card loom and the gown is behind the flowers

While Anja was finishing that, Loren was working in back to get the table clear for sewing. House Silvermists showed up at 2pm and started in on projects: a banner and a re-build on a gown. We talked a lot about the various projects underway, but also Anja and Wilhelm got going on religious history. They have mutual interests in that in Central and Eastern Europe. Aesa brought in her warped up loom. Ella took pictures for everyone and did a lot of twirling in her cool skirt outside.

The finished banner for camp use.

Eventually the banner and Wilhelm were back in the sewing machine and got finished, all the way to the motif that was machine-stitched on. This is one for camp use and to hang on a spear, so it’s more for the look than for the stitchery. Still, it was accomplished, start to finish, in just a few hours.

The sad remnants of a snack

Aesa and Loren went over to the Chocolate Frog and got some goodies for sustenance: gummi bears, sea foam, jelly sticks and a couple of kinds of fudge. Most of it didn’t last long enough for a pic!

Aesa worked on her gown all day. Most of it was pulling out the side seams, so’s to add some

Pinned seam

fabric so she can move in it while attending to Silent Herald duties. There were a *lot* of interesting noises coming from that side of things, resulting from how long it take to rip out seams, from a couple of oopsies with tearing fabric and the eventual jubilation of being done with that part. She got the fabric cut for the insets and for bias cuffs and did get some time on the sewing machine. Pix will follow on that.

Anja did quite a bit on her sampler and then also started a ball. Nick stopped by for a hug after work and then Amy dropped in for a bit.

Recipes

Herb Cordial – http://www.godecookery.com/begrec/begrec67.htm

  • PERIOD: Modern | SOURCE: Contemporary Recipe | CLASS: Not Authentic
  • DESCRIPTION: A cordial of honey and spices

Ingredients (We doubled the recipe and it fit in an 1/2 gallon jar)

  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 tsp. caraway seeds
  • 1/2 tsp. whole cloves
  • 2 sticks of cinnamon
  • 2 1/2 cups 100-proof vodka (used rum)
  • 1 whole nutmeg, broken
  • 7 cardamom pods, crushed
  • 3 whole allspice
  • peel of 1/2 lemon
  • peel of 1/2 orange
  • 1/2 vanilla bean, broken

Method

  1. Simmer all but rum for 15 minutes.
  2. Pour into glass container along with rum.
  3. Let stand 3 weeks.
  4. Strain through cheese cloth and leave until clear.

Pear Cordial – http://www.godecookery.com/begrec/begrec68.htm

  • PERIOD: Modern | SOURCE: Contemporary Recipe | CLASS: Not Authentic
  • DESCRIPTION: A cordial of pears and spices

Ingredients (Single recipe requires an 1/2 gallon jar)

  • 3 fresh pears
  • 1 orange
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 1/2 tsp. whole coriander (doubled)
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (doubled)
  • 1 whole peppercorn (subbed 1 tsp ginger and doubled))
  • 2 cups rum
  • 2 cups sugar, dissolved in 1/2 cup water

Method

  1. Remove seeds and dice pears. (pears added day 1 & ??)
  2. Put in a glass jar along with spices and peel from 1 orange (avoid the white pith).
  3. Add rum, cover, and leave for 2 weeks.
  4. Strain through cheese cloth and add sugar solution.
  5. Leave until clear.

Medieval tile pics at St Fagan’s (National Museum of Wales), shared via Brick of the Day. …and those chairs are cool, too. 

Miscellaneous pix

Music

European Renaissance music compilation mix (XV-XVI th century) – Published on Oct 3, 2017

Music of the european renaissance (1450-1600) , in a long play compilation mix of 37 songs (77 min.) ; french , spanish , flemish, english and german renaissance music of the XV and the XVI th century ;

Playlist

  1. (0:00) Jordi Savall – Une jeune fillette [Tous les matins du monde ST.] 1:56
  2. (1:56) Eustache Du Caurroy (1549-1609)- Une jeune pucelle 3:41
  3. (5:37) Le chant des oiseaux – Clément Janequin 5:49
  4. (11:26) Entre vous filles – Clemens Non Papa 1:06
  5. (12:33) Il est bel et bon – Pierre Passerau 1:07
  6. (13:40) Je ne menge point de porc – Claudin de Sermisy 0:57
  7. (14:37) Monsieur de Sainte Colombe – Gavotte du Tendre – Jordi Savall (Tous Les Matins Du Monde ST. track #04) 1:23
  8. (16:00) Folies d’Espagne (viole de gambe) 1:02
  9. (17:02) French Renaissance song 1 1:57
  10. (18:59) French Renaissance song 2 2:05
  11. (21:04) Flemish Renaissance song 1 [part one] 1:02
  12. (22:07) Flemish Renaissance song 1 [part two] 1:10
  13. (23:17) Flemish Renaissance song 1 [part three] 0:45
  14. (24:02) Flemish Renaissance song 1 [part four] 2:55
  15. (26:57) Flemish Renaissance song 3 0:58
  16. (27:55) Flemish Renaissance song 2 1:15
  17. (29:10) Spanish Renaissance song 6 1:08
  18. (30:18) Spanish Renaissance song 7 1:36
  19. (31:55) Spanish Renaissance song 8 1:32
  20. (33:29) Spanish Renaissance song 9 1:58
  21. (35:25) Spanish Renaissance song 10 1:06
  22. (36:31) Spanish Renaissance song 11-A 1:11
  23. (37:43) Spanish Renaissance song 11-B 1:08
  24. (38:51) Spanish Renaissance music – Cancionero de Palacio -Entra Mayo y sale Abril 2:47
  25. (41:37) Propiñan de Melyor – El Cancionero de la Colombina 1:17
  26. (42:55) Diego Ortiz. Tratado de Glosas. 1553 (Recercada 9ª) 2:27
  27. (45:23) Diego Ortiz – Recercada II sobre Doulce Memoire – Roger van der Weyden [XVI th century] 2:54
  28. (48:16) Hans Newsidler (c.1508-1563)- Washa mesa 3:36
  29. (51:52) German Renaissance song – Ludwig Senfl (1486-1542) – Es Hett Ein Biderman Ein Weib 2:02
  30. (53:54) J.H. Schein (1586-1630) – Allemande Tripla 1:20
  31. (55:15) English Renaissance song 2:58
  32. (58:12) English Renaissance song 1 3:15
  33. (1:01:28) Helas Madam – Music From The Court of King Henry VIII 1:43
  34. (1:03:11) Renaissance Music – Ia não podeis ser cõtentes 2:13
  35. (1:05:25) Jehan Planson – Bransles de la Grenée – Puisque le ciel veut ainsi – Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien 3:58
  36. (1:09:23) De tout mon couer t’exalteray (Psaume-Palm IX) 4:03
  37. (1:13:26) Jordi Savall – La seconde Estampie Royale 4:05

Links

Funnies 

Posted 5/3/19 by Joe Cook-Giles on Facebook

Little known historical fact…

Growing ever increasingly frustrated that his wife, Anne, was not producing a much-needed male heir to the throne, Henry VIII concocted a scheme to get rid of the unpopular queen. After effectively creating enough suspicion of her infidelity and treason to the crown, Anne was sentenced to die by the sword.

What most people do not know is that when she was executed, her head did not stay atop the executioner’s stand, but instead was sent flying off of the dais where it rolled down a side alley, hitting an unsuspecting courtier, startling him and making him lose his balance.

As tragic as this event was, it is the first documentable case of a Boleyn alley.

…and J.d. Johann Shush added:

True???? story: At the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, the executioner did the deed and started to raise her head, only to discover that her hair was a wig. The wig came free and the head fell to the ground, much to the embarrassment of the headsman.

So even when you think you’ve taken care of your enemies once and for all, they can still leave you with hell toupee.

Loren, Anja, Gogor (V), Gudrun (V), Estella (V), Herbs Bunch (2), House Silvermists (3), Nick, Amy

divider black grey greek key

Largesse Item Count – (includes gifts, prizes, auction items, etc.)

  • ASXLVII = 24
  • ASXLVIII = 88
  • ASXLIX = 794
  • ASL = 2138
  • ASLI = 731
  • ASLII = 304
  • ASLIII – 146
  • ASLIV – 0 plus 20 powder fort packets, 25 pouches for block-printing, 8 bookmarkers, 22 unfinished pincushions, 1 sewing kit (except for bone needle), varnished stuff (124)

Total as a Household = 3830 handed off

moving writing pen motifIn ministerio autem Somnium! Anja, graeca doctrina servus to House Capuchin
Page Created 4/25/19 & published 5/6/19 (C)M. Bartlett
Last updated 5/6/19