I'm rather fond of Caxton

After a mention of translating old English on another site, I had to go track down Caxton's preface from one of his books explaining how difficult it was to pick WHICH English to print.

From the British Library

In the preface to the Eneydos he told a story of some merchants going down the Thames. There was no wind so they landed on the Kent side of the river to buy food. ‘And specyally he axyed after eggys. And the good wyf answerde that she coude speke no frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry for he also coude speke no frenshe but wold haue hadde egges and she vnderstode hym not. And thenne at laste a nother sayd that he wolde haue eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that she vnderstood hym wel’ [And he asked specifically for eggs, and the good woman said that she spoke no French, and the merchant got angry for he could not speak French either, but he wanted eggs and she could not understand him. And then at last another person said that he wanted ‘eyren’. Then the good woman said that she understood him well].

As a translator of books which were to be printed Caxton had to ensure that the language which he used was acceptable to quite a wide group of potential readers and buyers. ‘Loo what sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte egges or eyren? Certaynly it is harde to playse euery man by cause of dyuersite and chaunge of langage’ [Now, what should one write nowadays, eggs or eyren? It is certain that it is difficult to please everybody because of the diversity and the change of our language]. As far as the social position of his language was concerned Caxton’s solution was to strike what he perceived as a balance but he aimed his language not at rude men but at ‘a clerke and a noble gentylman’: ‘Therfor in a meane bytwene bothe I haue reduced and translated this sayd booke in to our englysshe not ouer rude ne curyous but in such termes as shall be vnderstanden by goddys grace’ [therefore, as a compromise, I have translated this book into an English which is neither too coarse nor too refined, but using phrases which are understandable, God willing].

A very similar video to what I want to do

Often it is difficult to get everyone together to practice dancing. Something always comes up and schedules often conflict. I thought it would be nice to produce instructional dancing videos so people could learn and practice at home.

I have found a video of Black Nag that is very similar to what I had in mind.

A 12th Night Long Past

From Early English Books Online database.

THE Description of a Maske presented before the Kinges Maiestie at White Hall, on twelft night last, in honour of the Lord HAYES, and his Bride, daughter, and heire to the Honourable the Lord DENNYE, their mariage hauing been the same day at Court solemnized. (1607)

AS in battailes, so in all other actions that are to bee reported, the first, and most necessary part is the discription of the place, with his oportunities, and properties, whether they be naturall, or artificiall. The greate hall (wherein the Maske was presented) receiued this diuision, and order: The vpper part where the cloth & chaire of State were plac't, had scaffoldes and seates on eyther side continued to the skreene; right before it was made a partition for the dauncing place; on the right hand whereof were consorted ten Musitions, with Basse and Meane Lutes, a Bandora, a double Sack-bott, and an Harpsicord, with two treble Violins; on the other side somewhat neerer the skreene were plac't 9. Violins and three Lutes, and to answere both the Consorts (as it were in a triangle) sixe Cornets, and sixe Chappell voyces, were seated almost right against them, in a place raised higher in respect of the pearcing sound of those Instruments-eighteen foote from the skreen, an other Stage was raised higher by a yearde then that which was prepared for dancing: This higher Stage was all enclosed with a double vale, so artificially painted, that it seemed as if darke cloudes had hung before it: within that shrowde was concealed a greene valley, with greene trees round about it, and in the midst of them nine golden trees of fifteene foote high, with armes and braunches very glorious to behold: From the which groue toward the State was made a broade descent to the dauncing place, iust in the midst of it; on either hand were two ascents, like the sides of two hilles, drest with shrubbes and trees; that on the right hand leading to the bowre of Flora: the other to the house of Night; which bowre and house were plac't opposite at either end of the skreene, and betweene them both was raised a hill, hanging like a cliffe ouer the groue belowe, and on the top of it a goodly large tree was set, supposed to be the tree of Diana; behind the which toward the window was a small descent, with an other spreading hill that climed vp to the toppe of the window, with many trees on the height of it, whereby those that played on the Hoboyes at the Kings entrance into the hall were shadowed: The bowre of Flora was very spacious, garnisht with all kind of flowers, and flowrie branches with lights in them; the house of Night ample, and stately, with blacke pillors, whereon many starres of gold were fixt: within it when it was emptie, appeared nothing but cloudes and starres, and on the top of it stood three Turrets vnderpropt with small blacke starred pillers, the middlemost being highest and greatest, the other two of equall proportion: about it were plac't on wyer artificial Battes, and Owles, continually mouing: with many other inuentions, the which for breuitie sake I passe by with silence.

Thus much for the place, and now from thence let vs come to the persons.

The Maskers names were these, (whom both for order and honour I mention in the first place.

• 1 Lord Walden.
• 2 Sir Thomas Howard
• 3 Sir Henrie Carey, Master of the Iewell house.
• 4 Sir Richard Preston, Gent. of the K. priuie Chamber.
• 5 Sir Iohn Ashley, Gent. of the K. priuie Chamber.
• 6 Sir Thomas Iarret Pentioner.
• 7 Sir Iohn Digby, one of the Kings Caruers.
• 8 Sir Thomas Badger, Master of the Kings Hariers.
• 9 Maister Goringe.

(Th. Campion's book does include the music for these songs. I've not heard of anyone reproducing this thing. It might be time to recontact my English Lit prof from Macon State. He studied masques.)

What's been going on?

I've spent the past half month moving from one house to another. The new place needed alot of cleaning, so I had to do that first. I should be finished with the actual shifting of stuff (books mostly) today.
I've also started working some weekends to make up for any budgetary shortfall.
I also went to Florida this past weekend to visit my daughter for her cheerleading competition (1st place again woohoo!)
I've also been slammed with a similar vile migraine to what I got last year around this time. Still unsure why.
I no longer have inet available at home, only at work.
etc., etc.

Some portrait links

It's always useful to have more costume reference wouldn't you agree? Or is there such a thing as too much? hmmm.
http://www.marileecody.com/nobilitypics.html

Sock Dreams

This site/store really rox my what?
*laughs*
Funnily enough, I could use some of the tall, plain socks for garb. Hrm. Easier than making it, cheaper too. *sigh*

Progress. Or is it?

Sunday was a long day spent goggle-eyed over picking one portrait to emulate (I will use this word more often I think.) I have decided to go with the dress seen in the lower right of this painting by Lucas van Leyden. (Wow! I didn't know the background info on the painting. He was only 14 when he painted it!)






















I have the fabric already after a shopping trip to OHCO Warehouse. I have a nice rust fabric for the dress itself, a gold/cream/brown decorated fabric for the first set of undersleeves, and cream fabric for the partlet and poofy under-undersleeves.

Here's hoping it will all work out.

ETA: Yes, van Leyden was a Dutch painter, but you know what...alot of fashion during the 16th was rather interchangeable amongst the different European countries. It'll be fine. :) Maybe I'll make a German hat rather than the veil shown here.

Oh the nerves

Everything is turned in and on its way (hopefully in the case of the letters) to Valdosta's library school. I have no idea when I'll hear anything.

Snowed in

It stopped being cool after the first couple of hours. I'll guess that we got about 7" of snow dumped on our house this past Sunday. I'll post pics later.

I am also starting a new project (quelle surprise). Monochrome tablet woven belt. I'm starting with simple squares. 5 s, then 5 z etc. threaded. I would like to progress to weaving letters as seen in the Augsburg belt. (scroll down to no. 1 of Appendix B)

Today is...

I finally got through the GRE. It's been a tough week over all. Alot of BS and other stuff going on. But one thing I will say, I got through the test. That is a positive.

Another for the persona challenge

Perhaps I should add embroidery of a different sort? German Brick Stitch

Look! Look!

I found an engraving from c. 1500 of a woman wearing a short sleeved dress. Nice! Mind you, she looks less than pleased at the antics of the juggler, but that's ok...maybe he's a rude doofus. :D The dress doesn't look too difficult to put together does it?

Hey, Venus is wearing short sleeves too! But she's dressed in velvet. I could wear this couldn't I...especially in those colors. Yummy!

ETA: Well, Venus may just have her poofy sleeves pushed up. But that's ok, the dress is still really nice. So is the other Venus dress, Lais of Corinth. Now that I think about it, that dress would be appropriate for me to make doncha think? ;p (Okay, maybe you don't get it. :D Corin is my middle name.)

BTW, Saltare went alright (I actually had more fun at the ball portion than the class portion) but was not the best choice for a first event since getting horrible migraines. >_<

Well Sometimes Alot Does Go On

Should I break it up into bits? Or should I just leave it in a spaghetti like mass for readers to untangle?
Hrm.

1. I'm on the road of applying for library school. No really. ACTUALLY applying. I already submitted my app (and money) and signed up for the GRE (doom and more money). I've requested all three letters of recommendation from the appropriate people and they're, well, I hope they're working on them. I've sent both transcripts off. I've gotten my cv and entrance essay written, they just need to be neatened. Now I just need to study like mad to actually pass the damned GRE. Here's hoping.

2. I'm going to try to go out this weekend. Saltare is this Saturday down in Valdosta and I'm probably going. Probably as in I've already made the hotel reservation but still have reservations. ^^; Why? I'm going without Alex...or Ashley. I'm going with Susan who is indeed awesome but I haven't gotten to know too well yet. I've also been encountered "people with the plague (cold)" at work and I am NOT happy about that (living in fear of coming down with something.) So I'm keeping my super-expensive strawberry & vitamin C drink nearby and worrying. I also fear that my time of the month will decide to join the party and that's just not cool. Especially since Saltare is THE dancing event of Meridies. Yeah, that's what I'm going to...and me not even knowing how to dance. ^^;

3. I'm thinking of switching from making the Juno Regina scarf with the silk lace yarn from Spirit Trail Fibers (she doesn't have the colorway listed any longer) to *gasp* crochet. Yeah, I'm wincing from your reactions. :) But here's the idea folks, I saw the actually decent crochet patterns over at MYpicot and thought there might be a rather pretty stole waiting to be made. I'm having some trouble getting the pics uploaded but you can see them here: 2007, 2012, 3017, 3025.











Well, that'll have to do for now. I'm going to snuggle in bed and play Final Fantasy XII or something. YAY for Thursdays! :D

Sometimes I Like My Analogies

instead of a train of thought, it's more like a hovercraft
going somewhere but definately not grounded

What Depakote Does to Hair

I've been wanting to post about what I've gone through with my hair for some time now. So here I am, tension headached and cat in the lapped, ready with photos to explain the...hold on, cat has got to go. Hard to type around a furry beast.

My mom decided while I was rather little that I wouldn't have long hair...or hair past my ears for that matter. Yeah, I'm serious. She said it was too thick to brush through, I had a sensitive head, and it made me all sweaty and stinky. *shrugs* For whatever reasons, I had short hair.

When I moved was kicked out, I began to let my hair grow. Yeah, that late. I've got a just above chin length bob in my senior photo.

My hair has never grown fast. It is stupidly thick. And wavy, which tends to pull it up a bit and make it look even shorter. Ah, genetics.

Anyways, blah blah blah. It grew. By the time I got married, my hair was down to my waist. When I had Avalee, I thought (reallll stupidly) "Hey, let me cut my hair off to some utilitarian level...like at my chin!" So I looked like a mushroom again. And wouldn't you know it, I didn't ever lose my baby into my hair (as I had a friend's...that was embarrassing) in fact she loved to grab a lock of my hair and twirl it around and around as she rested. Go figure.

I don't have the energy to scan in any older photos so you all will just have to imagine what all this looked like, it's not hard.

So out sprouted my hair again. Well, sprouted in the way trees do...like live oaks...very slowly.

2005, and played with:















2006, ponytail (from Avalee height):














You get the idea. My hair was thick, wavy, contentiously blonde, and...well...rather attached to my head. So a short time after I move to NE Georgia, I start getting these headaches. Not just any headaches...migraines of rolling around on the bed, I can't cry because that's too painful, Oh My God my head's on fire! Bad.

After some time of hemming and hawing, I go to the neurologist. He can't find a problem (both good and bad news) and puts me on Depakote. He told me I could gain weight and that I would have to have my liver checked for problems. What he neglected to tell me was that the medicine also caused hair loss.

So what does hair loss mean when your hair is of a length most people call "rather long" or "butt length"?

It means that the hair can only "fall" so far before it gets tangled with the rest. It means this:

































Severe matting. Oh I cried and cried. Everytime I brushed even a section of my hair I had to empty my frat-paddle sized hairbrush. My bathroom trashcan was half full of hair. I took to wearing my hair in two braids (my hair was so thick, even sections of one braid could be matted by the lightest friction) like this:















You notice I say 'was so thick'? Yeah...

Well, after many tears and some contemplation, I asked Alex to grab his scissors. We took a look at where the hair was getting stuck the most and whacked off the hair to a line just above that.

Before:





















After:




















Then I noticed that, not only did I sacrifice about a foot in length, I lost at least an inch around. (If I understand correctly, one of the popular ways for measuring long hair is to ponytail it up and measure the circumference. Mine was between 4" and 5", no shit. Now, I'm afraid to check.)

One of the saddest things I think I'm experiencing now (amongst all this other bs) is the people who tell me it "looks so much better now" that I've cut it. Could they not actually believe that someone would not want to cut their hair? I like omg long hair and I enjoyed getting comments from random people who would say "Oh, your hair is so pretty! Don't cut it!" Mind you, I've actually had one older woman pick up my hair and pet it before....and that kinda weirded me out, but it was sweet. I guess it had entered the public domain at that point.

So, where does this put me? Well, I am determined to let my hair grow out again. I'd like to get of the Depakote (now) but must find a replacement in order to deal with the daily migraines. Maybe if I start measuring it monthly, I'll feel some small bit of encouragement. Who knows.

Quick! To the Outdoors!

It's sunny! I should take photos of my projects while it's nice. brb.

New Stuff

I picked up two skeins of Misti Alpaca chunky yarn from Main Street this past Saturday. I couldn't stop petting it! Sooooo soft! I agonized for a short time over what I should make with it. I knew I'd be using huge needles and wanted to maintain the loose loft the stuff has. I also knew I wanted something I could snuggle into. So rather than make a scarf, I made a cowl. (Yay, circular knitting!) I just cast on however many stitches until it 'seemed' about right with my #17s and knit away. It is very snuggly. I only used one skein though. The other one awaits! I'm thinking a hat. That way I can pull the hat down around my ears and the cowl up around my cheeks. You'll only be able to see my smiling eyes from behind a fuzzy screen of white. hehehe!

I've also, *gasp*, ordered yarn! For a garment! *gasp, gasp* I picked out some nice stormy blue for the Petersburg vest from Rowan 42 (I think). I...must...learn...correct...gauge. Must, must, must. Arg.

Hey, I'm hungry.

I've been cheating on reading Tale of Genji. I know, beat me with a soba noodle. Instead I've been carefully rereading the first Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn book by Tad Williams. I say carefully cause I've reread this book so much it's literally falling apart in my hands! And I have a sneaking suspicion this is my second copy. *blushes*

I Actually Returned Library Books

I'd had some of them for nearly a year. Since I hadn't gotten around to scanning and documenting the contents (they were costume and medieval fiber books), I felt I'd had my chance and should release them back into the wild.

Of course I couldn't leave the library without a few more. *laughs* I grabbed the Waley translation of Lady Murasaki's 'Tale of Genji.' It was surprisingly narrow. Waley was honored for keeping to the spirit of the novel rather than the letter (which is always a toughy when translating Japanese), so I picked that one out of the selection here. I'm also doing it to celebrate the 1000 year anniversary (a bit late but whatever) of the book. http://genji1000.jp/english/

I also grabbed (not easy to find here surprisingly) a "learn French on your own" book. I actually, much to the derision of my bf, want to learn this language...at least for reading purposes. The book insists that the student not, absolutely not, use the book without a teacher or the records (it's from 1943) that go with it. I'm being all rebellious and stuff I guess. I can't really use my copy of the Rosetta Stone due to the hyper-sensitive hearing issue and accompanying migraines. Besides, the drawn out, stilted, overly neutral nature of the voices gets on my nerves.

Well Dang!

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
I just got rid of (a lung) my chest cold a few days ago. Now I've got the migraine from hell. Figures huh?
On a positive knitterly note, I worked on the Chain Socks some last night while watching the last few episodes of Avatar Season 1 (that show is GOOD!) and half an episode of Rock of Love Bus (that show is a train wreck). I have turned the heel and rejoined everything so that it's just circular from here on. yay!!!!

ETA: So I stomped (quietly) over to the office next door to investigate the constant loud banging noises I'm hearing. Turns out they're working on the window over there in order to fix the ladybug infestation problem. I didn't have any way to stop the noise but did manage to give the evil eye.