“And now for something completely different!” What show did that come from? Was it Monty Python? Please let me know–I use the phrase all the time…
Anyway, here is something completely different, unrelated to my research paper or my health. Yay! 🙂
Instead, let’s look at two of my favorite things: music and cats!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I haven’t played my Renaissance lute in years because of bad arthritis in my hands and fingers. But I have a lute student now, Halle Snyder (Mistress Halla of Mugmort in the SCA), which necessitates me playing again. And being forced to do it has really motivated me to do it for pleasure again, not just necessity. What a boon!
In fact, I’m enjoying it so much that, even though I have to limit the amount of time I practice because of the arthritis, I’m working up a couple of John Dowland lutesongs to play and sing at an SCA event in late January called “A Regular Event in Cleftlands.” The Baroness Constanza has established a Court of Love and Death during the event. Here is how it is described:
Baroness Constanza’s Court of Love and Death
Attention all Singers, Storytellers, Actors, Musicians and others who live by their wit and nimbleness in The Knowne World. The Baroness Constanza has agreed to serve as Patron for a Court to determine who will triumph on the day of “Regular Event in Cleftlands (January 28th, Barony of Cleftlands) – Love or Death. The finest performers are invited to defend Love, Death or both, to a Gallery of esteemed ladies chosen by the Baroness. These good ladies will determine at the Court’s end which of these is triumphant over us.
Rules are as follows:
Each entrant will prepare two pieces of no more than five minutes duration TOTAL in defense of love or death.
Each entrant may choose to defend love or death in both pieces, or “go bipartisan” and perform one piece in defense of each.
All entrants will receive a token for their participation.
The Ladies of the Gallery may, at their discretion, provide recognition of an individual performer (perhaps based on eloquence, delivery, nice garb, etc…..)
Now, Baroness Constanza is my personal hero(ine). I first met her on October 1st at Red Dragon, when she was nursing a wound to her wrist that she had suffered in battle. She was applying ice and hoping to go back for another round, for honor’s sake, and she did so! Here she is at Red Dragon (photos courtesy Teri McCarthy and Raven Haraldson):
And in battle that day, on the left:
You can see my posts about Red Dragon here and also here. It was a wonderful event, and my introduction to the Society for Creative Anachronism!
A Regular Event at Cleftlands has its own blog here on WordPress. Check it out here.
Since I have been playing my lute again, and since I’m taking a protracted break from working on my paper (I’m very bad! LOL), I took some photos of my lute, as well as my new purple harp that I’ve also been playing a lot lately. The camera flashes caught the attention of the cats, so here are some pictures of them today, too:


Now for some cat pictures, since I’m having technical difficulties with my harp photo, so it will have to come last:




And finally, the picture of my new harp!

- And there you have it! Now it’s back to work on the paper! 🙂
Hey, a small “distraction” that diverts you away from the paper may help rejuvenate you when you are back on it!
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I have gotten lots more work done on the paper now! 🙂
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A really positive and uplifting post, Timi. Your music means so much to you and the photos of your instruments are lovely – as the the pics of your cats. Working on your paper may seem a little less dull after this pleasant interlude.
Baroness Constanza sounds like a force to be reckoned with. I’ll check out your posts about Red Dragon asap. We’ve seen a few women fighting in battles and it seems the baroness plays a central role in Red Dragon. The only battle/reenactment I’ve seen with a woman as a principal character was in one of King Alfred’s battles against the Danes. In that, his daughter Aethelflaed, led her warriors onto the field and fought amidst them.
Yes, your opening quote comes from Monty Python. It’s a fun phrase and is so well used.
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I absolutely LOVE Aethelflaed! once you get your third book done, you can read Cornwell’s Saxon Tales, in which Aethelflaed, while not the main character, is a very important one, especially in the later books.
I’m so relieved to have abandoned the paper. I haven’t heard from my prof about that: I hope she won’t be upset with me. I have saved all my notes and my bibliography so that I can go back and finish it for myself at some point. It also might be useful for SCA purposes. In any case, I’m now resting and doing Christmas-y stuff! 🙂
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Aethelflaed is in my third book, too, and I’m fascinated by her role as ‘Lady of the Mercians’. She was a feisty and determined woman – and a warrior to boot. I know Cornwell has done a lot of books about Aethelflaed and I’ll be interested to know how he develops her character. In my second book, Aethelflaed is only a young child but in Book 3 she plays an important part in drawing all the threads together to bring the trilogy to a close.
I’m sure your prof will understand why you’ve abandoned the paper. Illness isn’t something that can be overlooked.
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I’m really looking forward to finishing the present book of yours that I’m enjoying so much, Millie, and then the second one. You simply MUST get the third one out soon! When is its proposed publication date?
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I haven’t set a particular date, as yet, Timi, but I’m hoping for spring at the latest. So much has happened this year to ‘hold up’ my writing. I won’t go into everything here, but I think after Christmas my blog, Twitter and everything else will have to slow down even more than they have done already, so I can devote most of my time to finishing Book 3.
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Devoting more of your time and energy to finishing the book is quite understandable, Millie, and I for one totally second that strategy, because quite selfishly I want the third book to be available as soon as I finish the second. But I hope that you won’t completely disappear from the blogosphere!
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The lute is beautiful. I’m so impressed that you play from facsimile. I’ve tried, but I get the clefts muddled and the rests drive me berserk. I do like playing unbarred music, though.
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I much prefer facsimile. When I have to play from modern staff notation (usually when playing with others) I get very irritable. 😛
Do you play the lute? Medieval, Renaissance, or Baroque? I would love to branch out into Baroque, but those instruments are insanely expensive!
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I play the recorder. I love playing Baroque music, but I’m going through a modern phase at the moment.
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I understand. I actually really enjoy all periods of music and almost all genres as well. In fact, it’s hard to find something that I don’t like, but not impossible! 😉
I played flute–my partial denture ruined my embouchure and put an end to that–but I was never able to play recorder. Which was too bad, because you can do so much with ensemble playing on recorder. Which register do you play?
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I play everything from sopranino to contrabass, although I don’t own a contrabass. It’s an expensive hobby and you need to be able to play at least soprano to bass to be welcome in an ensemble. It’s not a difficult instrument to learn, but it’s really hard to play it well.
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