Belle Grove Rendezvous with Shenandoah Long Rifles

Ah, it is Memorial Day Weekend & time to do the History thing.

Memorial Day weekend found Jane & I at Belle Grove Plantation with the Shenandoah Long Rifles at their spring event. Except that it was really summer because there were fire flies. The weather was most accommodating with no rain to speak of and very delightful company. This is my camp with the dining fly rig Jane & I put together during out Back Yard Rendezvous. Plenty of shade during the day and room for a song circle of an evening.

This is the trade blanket area Jane & I put out. I sold a bunch of my spare history stuff, my trade blanket was nearly empty when I left Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, my body decided to ache like I'd been used as a tackling dummy all Friday & Saturday but I still had a very good time. Nothing like going some when as well as some where on vacation !

Back Yard Rendezvous

From time to time my friend Jane & I get together & work on our historic camping gear for Rendezvous/Living History events. So this last weekend we spent time working on her monster wedge setup plus worked on my canvas gear. Along the way I fixed my 1st Civil War wedge, cut poles and made lines for a square dining fly, made lines for my 10x16 dining fly, cleaned all my Civil War dog tent pieces, worked on an F&I French haversack, and installed the fender flares and mudflaps on my pickup.

Here's everything laid out & setup in the yard. That's Jane's lodge on the right.

I also helped Jane sort through her rendezvous gear and get the stove pipe to set up properly in the new-to-her bell back wedge. The room inside is great ! And of course we played a bit of music and cooked yummy things to eat. Sunday came way too soon !

Here's my Canyon freshly washed with the flares and mudflaps on. Isn't she pretty ?

Carly's Party

It's Carly's Party !!!!!

This is Carly with the cheese pascha I've made for her party the last 5 years. For 23 years Carly, her husband Dean and a wide assortment of folk music loving friends have gathered at Prince William Forest Park in April or May to sing and play a weekend away. Friday night meal is potluck - and it tends to be very lucky indeed - and Sat thru Sunday meals are done by Debby McClatchey with the help of all the attending adults. The kids over 10 but under 16 keep the dining area picked up.

This year's pascha had a cross, quarter note, Star of David and medicine wheel on its 4 sides.

Its hard to believe that the Friends of Traditional Music have been doing this for 23 YEARS. Kids have grown up and now have kids of their own, some of FOTM have passed on, others have grayer hair and slower steps - but the music is the same, just growing as younger folks join the ranks.

This is my friend Jane at her 3rd FOTM Carly's Party.

More singers in one of the lodges - it rained a lot so we mostly sung inside.

And of course it isn't a FOTM party without the Piper. Plus George's D&D Treasure Hunt. Only a good ballad sing seemed to get pasted over this year. Maybe next year . . . Carly & Dean are retiring as organizers but some younger folks are stepping up to keep the FOTM song going.

Critter Friends

Here's pictures of the various critter's in my life - It will take me a couple of days to finish the post so keep checking.

Skiddy Guarding the Cat Food

Paws-In-Trouble Supervising the World's Activities

Pooky, AliKat & Bridget on a Snooze Cruise

Baboo Guarding the Cat Scratch & Ball Wheel

Pooky & AliKat on Guard Duty

JAG is Keeping Jane's Basket from Running Off

WingNut and His New Friend Pippen

Bridgett the Vigilent




















Sophie the Watchful - She's Actually Quite Shy















St. Louis Special aka Louise aka Twinkle Toes - My Quarterhorse Mare















Kat's Horse Irish - He loves to play in his water !

Rain Rain Go Away Already

It is raining here. Again. Hard. All day. It is slate gray here. Again. Dismal. All day. It can stop raining anytime now. I've cleaned my kitchen, I've cleaned my bathroom, I've cleaned my bedroom and I've done rainy day projects. I haven't done any tree trimming, garden raking, pine tree cutting or yard work of any kind. I've had it with the rain already.

Wingnut & Ali-Kat Duet in PurrFit Harmony

On a better note - I drove over to Middlebrook VA yesterday & fetched my guitar capo & picks, then I stopped in & had a nice visit with Fr. John. It was heavily overcast but it wasn't raining in the valley so I drove to Staunton & had a nice visit with Nick & Katherine. The drive home was a bit foggy but otherwise it was a fine afternoon & evening spent with friends.

Spring At Last

Kat's Little Daffys

These 1/3 size daffodils grace my front garden every spring. And spring seems to be here at last for all that is was rainy and gray all weekend. Friday evening I drove over to Middlebrook for the Music at Middlebrook Store. It was a rather pleasant group sing mostly - old timey, country gospel and a few old chestnuts. I do seem to have left my picks, capo & tuning fork behind, hopefully they were located. Fr. John was going to check today. Saturday the rain canceled my planed outdoor activities so I worked on my rainy day to-dos. Got my camp trade kettles all cleaned up, disassembled my red stripe petticoat to be remade as a pleated petticoat, sewed 2 sections of canvas webbing together for a patch banner, overdyed the rifleman's shirt from the OVPR in black tea and attached buttons to various projects. Cleaned the kitchen, bath & bedroom plus did laundry & dished for good measure. Sunday I was back in Middlebrook for Liturgy. Fr. Deacon Gabriel is now Fr. Gabriel (as in priest) and Daniel and his college student son Jeremiah are now both readers. Caught up with the news of the parish, something that's hard to do with working every other weekend. Finished up the weekend by calling Chip in California & Marijo in Michigan, then had a nice chat with Kat. All in all a nice way to start Spring.

Does anyone know what these are called ? They're just over an inch across and have bloomed every spring since Kat & I moved here. I have no idea whether they were once deliberately planted out front or are just the product of a bird brought seed.

Spring OVPR ?

OK, so March 19-22 was the Old Virginia Primitive Riflemen's Spring Rendezvous. I spent March 13-15 getting house and yard tasks done plus getting my 1777 Charleville musket and all its accouterments cleaned up & ready to shoot. Bounced around like a loose pinball March 18th getting my 'Vous gear in order & packed. Very tricky packing the truck after dark. Left at 4:30am on the 19th and got to the 'Vous by 8:30am after a very pleasant ferry ride across the James River. Registered as participant #3 even. By 10am I was all setup next to my friend Buffalo Woman and the weather was delightful. Set out my trade blanket, made the rounds of various lodges catching up on all the news, and returned to camp as Bob & Norma Ritchie were setting up their marque near my camp. Late afternoon brought some light rain and lower temps but Thursday night was otherwise fine. I had packed my 7x7 hunter, put it up for sale and it sold by dinner. Cool, more $$$ to help pay off my new stove.

This is Flick of Split Rails - He sells leather stuff, clothes, copperware, knives and the best fudge on the planet.

Friday dawned cold. And stayed cold. All day and night. And all day Saturday. And all night Saturday. And all day Sunday until who knows when after I left for home at noon. I have been to warmer winter camps at Belle Grove in late November. I've been to warmer winter camps in Michigan in January. The ticks of course were unaffected by the cold, I removed 8 of the things before I left the 'Vous. I still had a good time. I still shot my first ever smoothbore competition with my flintlock musket. I learned a bit more about flinters and got some pointers on working up a good competition load for my musket. Sang some, delivered some photos to folks, bought some cool buttons, delivered the haversacks I had made for Holly and Bob. But it really really needed to be about 10 degrees warmer at a minimum.

Got home mid afternoon Sunday & got the gear unloaded, cleaned and put up. Discovered the tentpole hanger I swapped for got left behind somehow. Grrr. Also mucked up copying the photos I took and they went into cyberspace somewhere. Grrr. Took me the drive home and a hot bath to be truly warm. In spit of all that I had a wonderful time. Go figure.

A special tanks to Kat for seeing to the pets and bringing me 3 boxes of Girl Scout cookies.