Friday the 13th is supposed to be UN-lucky, right?

Well, it's been a whole week since I've had any time to write anything. October is always busy. With MORE birthdays this month than any other month it seems, I'm spending far too much free time wrapping, shopping for, or making gifts.

At least the thing that makes me most crazy, the sewing, is nearly done. You can all come out now. Really.

The ironic thing is that me, with my 50 or more costumes, have no idea what to wear for Halloween. I certainly don't want to sew myself anything. But, for SCA'ers, it is considered 'gauche' to wear any of your event garb as a Halloween costume.

Sure, everyone else thinks it's really cool, but deep down you know that it's just your stinky old fighting tabard.

Anyway, in the last week, there have been many newsworthy items that I shall now attempt to put in some sort of order for your perusal.


Watch the 1066 Battle of Hastings Live! This weekend, Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th of October, you can watch live online as around 3000 reenactors portray Normans and Saxons to reconstruct the events of a day that changed England forever. To watch, visit the web site both days between 1400 and 1700 Greenwich Time zone (which translates to 7am to 10 am Mountain time zone) and there will be a video link. RealPlayer is required to view the video.


Calligraphy and Illumination fans should be very happy with the internet lately. It seems like every week another searchable high resolution manuscript hits the 'net. The latest one I've seen is called "The Murthly Hours" and it dates from the 1280's. As the site mentions:

The Murthly Hours is an early example of the book of hours, a new kind of prayer book for the laity that made its appearance in France, England and the Low Countries in the thirteenth century. At this time books of hours were written for wealthy laypeople, more often than not women, as in the case of the Murthly Hours. In the thirteenth century such books were still a novelty and a comparative rarity, and examples show a great variety in content and decoration.

The images are amazing. Lots of gold leaf!! Almost makes me want to get back into illumination. Yeah, which I would do with my copious amounts of free time. Right.


Estrella War is coming! I'm excited that I'll be able to go, but the site photos have already depressed me. "Home of Country Thunder?" Yeeeee--haaawww! I'm gonna bring mah banjo! Really, let's just pray this site is not going to be as bad as Schnepf Farms was.What am I worried about, though? I hardly ever leave Darbuka anyway. Save yourself from the horrors of Troll and Pre-Register for Estrella War! Do it by Halloween and save yourself $5 each!


Speaking of out of Kingdom events, it seems that there were some failed negotiations at last Pennsic. In this photo, uploaded to Yahoo Photos by honeybeelanegone, King Bela must have wondered; what IS the going rate for a bevvy of traditional Outlands dancers?

Strangely, while researching the word "bevvy" (because I like funny words) I came across this site called Fun with Words: Collective Nouns. Here you'll find an amazing list of animals and the words used to describe them in groups. Everyone's heard of a 'murder of crows.' Well, scrolling down the list for 'bevvy', I found that bevvy applies to deer!! So, the good 'honeybeelanegone' was RIGHT when he or she referred to Outlands dancers as deer. IF you don't get the joke, just take a look at the Outlands Kingdom device.

Of course 'bevvy' also applies to doves, otter, quail, and swans, so I guess that blows that joke.


I guess I'll finish up by finally getting back to the title of this post. I work with several people who I swear are mired in the Dark Ages. They seriously believe that Friday the 13th is nothing but bad luck.

Well, I can attest to the fact that good things DO happen on this most reviled of days.

I GOT TICKETS FOR TENACIOUS D at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver.

November 22nd. A concert of epic proportions. The countdown has begun!!