I'm a sucker for a well-spoken Meerkat selling car insurance :-)
It looks like no one has been here for months....time to break out the cleaning products!
Me being a Dragon, this should be a good year for me....but let's just see how things shape up, yeah?cq
So, what will I be doing on Father's Day?
www.olddowncountrypark.co.uk/
I bought a season ticket, thinking it would be a nice place to run away to in the difficult days to follow. When not at work or driving to and from the hospital and then the hospice, I spent many days strolling the parkland with tears in my eyes, enjoying the countryside while worrying about my dad dying.
The day we got The Call, I had just got in from another couple of hours at the park with my animals.
So, on this Father's Day I will be spending some quality time with 'My Animals' (including the new baby reindeer, here)...It's where he would want me to be...
This is one of my favourite pictures from the Castle - I found four windows in line...it looks almost magical...
As the soldiers march off to perform their drill programme, the women sit around the fire, tending the fire and discussing the matters of the day.
Amongst other displays, our soldiers put on a show of drill, using the bill weapons - a 6' pole with an evil weapon attached to the end. This movement is called a schiltron, where the soldiers gather to protect the assets, the Lords, Knights, the Standard and (in this instance) the Sergeant at Arms. The schiltron has been known to comprise up to 2,000 soldiers.
Oh, speaking of Lords, here are Lords Hungerford Jnr (left) and Snr watching their soldierly detachment go through the drill to ensure they are effective in the battlefield. These Lords rely on the smelly soldiers to protect them and their households.
Yeah, I know...I'm a re-enactment bore...but I love it :-)
This weekend The Company of Chivalry are disappearing off to Kidwelly Castle. We are all bouncy this morning, swapping talk on Facebook, eager to see each other again and to time travel to the 14C....some have sent their apologies, and I won't see Nick, Marshall, Hannah, John, Georgi (either of them) or my medieval 'husband' Brambles this weekend. But we will all collide at some point in the season :-)
and we are really looking forward to having a smaller tent which us ladies can put up without the help of the men.
A little something for you to consider: Outsiders Happy Mother's Day for tomorrow to all the mothers, mums, mommies, mamas, mummies and moms out there. I have plans for tomorrow. Watch this space... cq (and I am really aggravated that the 'compose' tool is not acknowledging paragraphs!)
The Company of Chivalry were recently featured on a BBC One Show segment showing off the trebuchet at Caerphilly Castle, one of our regular displays.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UK1Q0FS4M4
I see this show piece happen hourly through the day (usually standing guard to prevent the public entering the high risk area) over several weekends in the summer - but I never tire of seeing the majestic swing of the arm loosing the missile.
Good job, boys!!
cq aka Quene
The 'Old White Tent' was with me on my first day in the Company as a self-conscious newbie in borrowed kit in 2006 and my friend and I have been using it every year since. We were three old girls in the tent in the early days, then we went to just a couple of women. It had wonderful rafters where we could store fragile stuff and this is one of my favourite photos...
It was already very old when we got it, and had been through several hands and many, many years of camping out in all weathers.
I repaired the mouse holes, I darned the door loops, I fixed the poles and cleaned it. But as time wore on the old tent wore out - leaks springing everywhere and the both of us falling asleep to the sound of dripping water and waking to wet beds and kit. No amount of waterproofer could combat such venerated age. It was too big for the two of us - but we were the only ones who ever used it, probably because everyone knew it leaked like a sieve! It was horrendously heavy, lugging it in and out of the car and around the old castles was a challenge every weekend.
But we loved that old tent. It was a medieval home from home for over four years and we are very grateful to every leaky seam, and snapped rope.
Thank you, 'Old White Tent' :-)
cq
Happy Christmas from all of us at the Purple Palace... :-)cq
Inspired by my friend, Bilbo, I dug out this old masterpiece that always has me laughing.....and it will give you insight on life with my boycat William.....
1. Clear a large space on a table or worktop for wrapping your present.
2. Go to cupboard and collect bag in which present is contained, and shut door.
3. Open door and remove cat from cupboard.
4. Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.
5. Go back and remove cat from cupboard.
6. Go to drawer, and collect sellotape, ribbon, scissors, labels, etc..
7. Lay out present and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be performed in a logical manner.
8. Go back to drawer to get string, remove cat that has been in the drawer since last visit and place string on table.
9. Remove boxed present from paper bag.
10. Remove cat from paper bag.
11. Open box to check present is in it, remove cat from box, replace present in box.
12. Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.
13. Try and smooth out paper, discover cat is underneath and remove cat.
14. Cut paper to size, keeping the cutting line as straight as possible.
15. Discard first sheet of paper due to cat chasing scissors and tearing paper.
16. Cut second sheet of paper to size and restrain cat by putting it in bag present came in.
17. Place present on paper.
18. Lift up edges of paper to seal in present. Wonder why edges don't reach. Discover cat is between present and paper. Remove cat.
19. Place heavy object on paper to hold in place while tearing sellotape to length.
20. Spend fifteen minutes carefully trying to remove sellotape from cat.
21. Seal paper with sellotape, making corners as neat as possible.
22. Look for roll of ribbon. Chase cat down hall in order to retrieve ribbon.
23. Try to wrap present and tie ribbon in a pretty bow.
24. Re-tie ribbon and remove paper, which is now ripped due to cat's enthusiastic ribbon chase.
25. Repeat steps 13 - 20 until you are down to your last sheet of paper.
26. Decide to skip steps 13 - 17 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper. Retrieve old cardboard box that is the right size for sheet of paper.
27. Put present in box, and secure with string.
28. Remove string, open box and remove cat.
29. Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for bathroom.
30. Once inside bathroom, lock door and start to lay out paper and materials.
31. Remove cat from box, unlock door, put cat outside door, close and re-lock.
32. Repeat previous step as often as is necessary until you can clearly hear cat on other side of locked door.
33. Lay out last sheet of paper. (This will be difficult if you have a small bathroom, but do your best).
34. Discover cat has already torn paper. Unlock door, go out and hunt through various cupboards, looking for sheet of last year's paper. Then remember you haven't got any because cat helped wrap present last year as well.
35. Return to bathroom, lock door, sit on lavatory and try to make torn sheet of paper look presentable.
36. Seal box, wrap with paper and repair by very carefully sealing with sellotape. Attach pretty ribbon and decorate with additional bows to hide worst areas.
37. Label present. Sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulating yourself on completing a difficult job.
38. Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make stiff drink and feed cat.
39. Spend twenty minutes looking for cat until coming to obvious conclusion.
40. Unwrap present, untie box and remove cat.
41. Have several more stiff drinks. Then pick up present and stagger back to shop and get nice assistant to gift-wrap present for you.
cq
Tonight is our Company of Chivalry medieval banquet. It's an opportunity for the group to get together in kit, without the public element, and sit down to a medieval style banquet, followed by much carousing :-)
