WICOE (Women In Charge Of Everything) is proud to announce the opening of its 
and the inside of my wrist.........
They look awful, but are not that painful - although the bruising on my wrist is making my carpal tunnel swell slightly and making my hand tingle a bit. In fact, tonight I forgot I had them 'til I caught sight of my wrist.
Tonight I saw 'Curse of the Golden Flower' - Shakespeare meets Chinese Folk Tale.....the only words are Sumptuous and Tragedic.
cq
If you look carefully, you can see the striations where the bowstring bounced off my arm.....does it hurt? Oh yessssss.........
More practice required!! But first - I must heal a bit!
Then Mr and Mrs A are having a long overdue night out together - and I am staying to look after the Aglets......
Meanwhile, here is Part Two (Part One here) of the 100 Signs You Are A Re-Enactor.....
51. You describe your company's logo to the printer's shop using heraldic terms.
52. Instead of having dreams about being out in public with no clothes on, you have dreams about being at an event in mundane clothing.
53. You catch yourself thinking "'Gules, three chevrons’ or ‘Nice tabard. Classic Anglo-Norman style, easily visible.’ Oh! I guess it'd better be visible, he's a road repair worker!
54. You go running up the stairs at work and reach down to hold the hem of your underdress up so as not to trip over it... and you're wearing trousers.
55. You can make a loaf of bread faster than you can program a bread machine.
56. You make all your own bread and you don't own a bread pan.
57. Your mundane friends wangle invitations for Sunday supper so they can sample the feast leftovers.
58. A student greets you in a Monday morning class by asking "So, did your wife kill anyone this weekend?"
59. Your friend invites you to a "dress nice" party, and you realize that your best looking clothes are your banqueting kit.
60. Your friend tells you her new boyfriend works in a fabric store and your first thought is "How cool!"
61. The only time you can see your living room floor is when your van is packed for an event.
62. You see a mother tenderly picking a splinter out of her son's hand with a shortsword.
63. You pull out a wax tablet to write down someone's email address at an event
64. You buy a bottle of booze just for the neat pouch.
65. Your buying black walnuts and ferrous sulfate from a health food store mean a new "dye" not a new "diet".
66. You have to find something else to wear on Halloween, because your kit just doesn't feel like a costume anymore.
67. "Dining room large enough for a dozen scribes and all their equipment" or "garden big enough to hold a battle practice" appears on the must-have list for your new house.
68. You go to the hardware store and ask for a drawknife for shaving rattan, only to have them explain that no one makes them anymore.
69. You plan your car-trip vacations around events happening in other areas and even pack accordingly.
70. You're male and you see an attractive woman in a skin-tight black velvet dress, and your primary thought is "Wow!! What I wouldn't give for ten yards of that!"
71. You're babysitting and you wonder if they'd give you the curtains as pay
72. The gynecologist asks "When is your period?", and you answer "Early 14th century (or whenever)".
73. You go to a funeral and spend your time looking at the great pavilion over the grave site and wonder where they got it
74. Cleaning your knives (and axes, and swords and spears) is not only an entire evening's work, but an entire evening's entertainment!
75. You start wearing your tankard and belt pouch around with your mundanes, because it's so darn convenient.
76. Your future husband's wedding garb costs more than yours, and has more trim.
77. "Two helmets, Anglo-Norman style preferred" appears on your wedding registry.
78. You've called your dorm ahead of time to ask if it's OK to keep swords in your room.
79. You realize you've used porta-loos more often than "flushies" recently.
80. A gift certificate at an upholstery store was one of your favorite birthday gifts this year.
81. The worst news you've had all year is that the leather store near you is closing!
82. You're disappointed that your British Literature textbook doesn't have Beowulf in parallel text.
83. You enter your lady's boudoir for the first time, and the first words to escape your lips are "Nice sewing machine!"
84. Costumed people going into Rocky Horror have asked you about your "funny clothes".
85. You show up for work on Monday with the most interesting bruises. (Or possibly a mail weave sunburn).
86. A man says "whoa! Nice legs! Hubba hubba!" and he's talking about your armor.
87. You rattle when you walk, because you're wearing a mail shirt under your shirt to save carrying it.
88. If you're bruised black and blue every Monday morning.... and you enjoyed getting that way.
89. You're wearing mail to the office hidden under your jumper because you need to get used to moving round in it.
90. You sneer at sword fights in films because any fool can tell they're not within striking distance of their opponents
91. Dessert is served in stainless steel dishes; you start speculating on how easy they would be to beat into shield bosses.
92. You were asked to find a broom handle to work a jack with and couldn't find a broom but came back with a longaxe and a spear.
93. You can't raise your arms above horizontal on a Monday morning.
94. You're daft enough to lock the keys in your van, but you managed to pry a window open with your sword.
95. You find yourself incapable of small hand motions and can only move your whole arm, or at best, wrist flicks.
96. You're female and "You're so aggressive!" is a compliment!
97. After an event, while getting dressed in mundanes, you don your swordbelt and weapons.
98. Your sweatpants have holes in the knees and rust stains, because you wore your armor over/under them.
99. You've ruined your deep fat fryer using it to melt wax.
100. After viewing this list, your mundane significant other chuckles for days, while you mutter to yourself "I don't see what's so funny about that."
I will be sending interview questions to Naomi, Uisce, Cyberkitten, Mrs A and Michele (nominated by Pat AND Colleen - poor Michele!) tomorrow.
Let's just say it's been a difficult week.
'til the Aglets are sleeping tonight, my friends....
cq
Okay - here are my questions from the lovely LadyBug...
1. If you could do it all over, what would you be when you grow up?
I don't know. I would assume if I do it all over, I will make the same decisions as before - which would land me in the same position. Or do I have second sight? If you're looking for the 'ideal', I guess I would have lived up to my family's expectations and become a teacher.
2. Who is your best friend and for how long?
Amongst my friends I actually have several 'best friends'.
Aginoth is my best friend, my pseudo-brother. He and I are very similar and I am also very close to his family and adore them. We have been friends since A Jnr was a baby - so about 6yrs.
Cyberkitten is my alternate ego, we think and say the same things - usually at the same time! We have been friends for 8yrs.
Bobkat is my bestest girly pal, and I love her to bits. We have been friends for 3yrs (? looks at Bobkat).
If I had to choose a night out with one of these, it would probably be Bobkat (sorry boys).
3. How did you meet your spouse/significant other?
I met MB at work. I started in a new office and he was my manager in the office. I didn't like him at first, but he liked me. Then one day he took me to the pub for lunch and it hit me like a thunderbolt - I was in love with this lovely man.
4. If you could live anywhere, where would you choose to live?
In rural Cornwall. I hate city life and, income permitting, try to live as close to the country as possible. I am part Cornish, so would like to return to the area around St Columb and live a simple life. This is where I intend to retire to........of course, I haven't mentioned this to MB yet!
5. Silver or Gold?
Whichever, it has to be pure and not plate, 'cos I'm allergic to nickel and other base alloys. I have a lovely solid silver 'dragon' pendant I wear all the time. I find silver far more beautiful than gold.
So - go on......who wants to be interviewed by the Queen of the Crazies??
cq
(Picture of Mrs Aginoth, LMB & LMD by Aginoth)
cq
Doesn't sound the end of the world - but a complete medieval market is an awful lot of heavy wood and canvas.
I helped set up on Sunday morning and then debated what I was going to do for the day...Mr and Mrs A had lots of helpers with Mistress Vic and the three children so I was free to learn a new trade.
I watched Jonno hammer out a coin and thought 'I could do that!'. Boy, could I ever! That was a real money maker (we don't usually sell things at these events) literally (I know, cool pun!). I had a stream of children and adults at my mint wanting my 'pretty silver pennies'. The secret to hammering coins is firstly to make it look good, and secondly to make the coin with a single hit. It was a double edged die - which meant you put the blank between two moulds and hit it firmly once with a heavy hammer, impressing the mould on both sides of the coin at once. More than one hit runs the risk of double imprinting, which explains the faulty coins sometimes dug up by archeologists. The children loved the silver pennies and the theatrics, the adults were intrigued by the process and the poverty-stricken individual desperately trying to earn enough to pay for some shoes.
I could even flash my black toenail (got elsewhere!) and say sorrowfully 'I dropped the die on my foot yesterday'....they lapped it up.......several came back for more talk and more silver pennies.
The sergeant at arms made a point of spending time looking over my shoulder to ensure I wasn't forging or diddling our Lordship out of money.....that added to the appeal for the public.
The money flowed in. One child would inch shyly over and offer his money saying 'can I have a silver penny please?', so I would beckon them over and begin showing them the die and the blank coins - by then Mum and Dad would be listening attentively. One strike of my mallet and the parents would be asking for coins for the whole family!
I got used to hearing (in a strong Liverpudlian accent) 'Mum! Mum! This lady's making MONEY!'
(example of a period coin from the Web)
Sunday was hot and sunny and I made £91 - so at 50p a coin I hammered 182 coins....Monday was rainy and cold but I was still hammering coins all day, I think I pulled in another £40 or so - I left Vintner to count the money as I was cold and poorly by 3.30.....
The company are taking the coin die to Caerphilly next month, so I'm off to research Edward III silver pennies so I can sound more knowledgeable.
cq
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So far, over two million women of all ages have run, walked or jogged to raise over £140 million in sponsorship for the charity. This year we hope to raise £60 million for our life-saving work by bringing an amazing 800,000 women together to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
I have only just heard that Jim Cronin MBE died a couple of weeks ago in his home New York after losing a battle with liver cancer.
For 20yrs Jim and Alison have travelled the world, rescuing apes from horrific conditions and giving them homes at Monkey World. They have battled against bureaucracy and highlighted the evils of the international live animal trade.Wherever possible they have brought the animals to a world of peace and caring, where they all learn to be apes again. Chimps, Orangs, Woolly monkeys, Ugly monkeys, Lemurs, Capuchins - you name it. Watching that process on the TV programme 'Monkey Business' was an honour.
