Medieval Feast: Something to Think About?

Here are some pictures of the Medieval Feast put on by the Santa Cruz homeschoolers a couple of years ago. Just to give those of you interested in putting on one of these at the Mission an idea of what it looked like, and the kinds of things we did. We might not be able to do all of these things, or we may come up with some stuff that we didn't have last time.




The vegetable plates are prepared. Silver paper plates to look kind of like metal ones.

The Programs artfully arranged.

Outside of St. Joseph's Hall, a market was set up where 'merchants' displayed and sold their wares. There was no actual selling going on here, it is just a re-enactment. Much of these items were things people had around the home.

Don't steal my precious cloth! Monica raided my moms's fabric collection to set up a cloth table.

Trebuchets R Us.

Jewelry for sale.

The kids dressed up in Medieval style clothing! Huzzah! If you look carefully at many of the costumes, you will see that they are partly custom made (the tops), and partly modern clothes in disguise (the pants and skirts).

One of our Knights. Sparkly material simulates chain mail.

Fair Damsels.

A Castle.

Flag Bearers. Notice here, that the medieval breeches are actually sweat pants with the elastic band turned under.

Entertainment by a real Bagpiper.

"Hey, are you just gonna talk, or are you gonna buy something?"

More of the Marketplace.

A Falconer brought in a Falcon. Its eyes are covered so that the sudden motions of people would not bother it.

Demonstrations were also put on. Here is someone who is making Chainmail. I've got to find out where Kathy found these people.

Some of the children posing in their period clothes.

Huzzah! A group picture!

Tickets being collected for a Raffle.

Jousting is thirsty work, and our knights here enjoy a Beer. A Beer of Root.

Of course our Castle had a King and Queen.

Brother Andrew awaits to give his Blessing to the meal.

One of the skits put on by the children. This is a Choir of Angels.

Another Skit, Mary visiting Elizabeth.

Jousting! I can't remember what the lances are made of. Something that involved cardboard, duct tape and spray paint, I think. If we are going to do this at the mission, perhaps we could cone off a section of parking lot, rather than trying to do it in the classrooms.

Minstrels entertain the Royal Couple.

A Spice Cake shaped like a Castle.

Respected Philospher and Theologian, Thaddeus Kozinski and Family enjoy the proceedings. In case anybody is wondering, he is in a Rainbow Poncho because in one of the skits, he played God, and he was the Rainbow that appeared to Noah, signifying his Covenant with him.

More entertainment.

Fencing!

Brother Andrew gives the Final Blessing. In Latinae.

One of our lucky winners of the Raffle at the end.

A final salute to the King and Queen. A great time had by one and all! I hope this is inspiring. The kids could have a lot of fun with this. And the grown-ups too.

What?

" You want to do WHAT to my pumpkin? You didn't tell me you were going to kill it?!?"

Don't Try This At Home: Stuff I Do When I Am Bored

I get bored sometimes. Sometimes I do productive things with that boredom, like learn another language. Sometimes I stick things in Microwaves that perhaps isn't food and don't belong there.

Did you know that if you stick Christmas Lights in a Microwave at Full Power for about 10 Seconds, that they light up in different colours, even if they are a sting of White Lights? Check it out....

This would be a fun science experiment for school credit if somehow I could figure out why they turn different colours.

Yet MORE Limits On Our Constitutional Rights

And the So-called U.N. does nothing....

Here is a sign that was posted at the Swank Farm Corn Maze (Maize?!?) in Hollister, CA.

And yet Corn was thrown at a Spouse. We won't say who, but her name sounds like Schmeather.

No Assault charges were filed, and no one was arraigned in Superior Court, County of Los Angeles.

Ulysses Sighting!

He's not even gone, and we are already sighting our favorite New Mexican!

Hey is that Ulysses up ahead in that red Toyota truck? We have been disappointed before, but this one was going around 70 mph, so there was a good chance. Let's try to catch up to him.





Could that be Ulysses? There are various sightings of big red Toyota Trucks, but we don't often have our camera out. Plus to spot a Ulysses in the wild is fairly rare. It took us from Blackie Road to Espinosa Road to catch up, but then we were able to see if we had our catch. Was it him?




BELIEVABILITY RATING: 100%. Not only was the driver Mexican-American, just like the perp we were looking for, but our boys INSIDE the Truck confirmed that indeed it was Ulysses, still talking about how Batman: The Dark Knight is not only the greatest movie ever, it is the single greatest THING ever. Also, this truck was going 73 mph towards Salinas, which also fits the profile. Lastly, we could hear 'Ave Maria" blasting even over the highway noise.

For our First Ulysses sighting, we had a good one. We did not bomb out like our Kramer sightings, but we are starting to believe that that Family did indeed move out of the area (Note to selves: We will need to do something about that).

If they did move out of the area, why are we seeing so many big white vans?

Point your browsers here again to Pizzashooters for more Ulysses and Kramer sightings!

You Want it When?

Father Milich had been working for a couple of months to bring a Solemn High Mass (a Mass with three priests) to Mission San Juan, but we didn't know for certain if it was really going to happen until last weekend. The three priests would need matching vestments. They had some gold vestments available at the mission, but the maniples were missing. The maniple is something like a sash which the priest wears over his left arm. It symbolizes how our Lord's hands were bound when he was arrested.


Since I have a sewing machine, and since the more qualified seamstress has recently moved out of state, I was given the honor of making them.






I traced around one of Father's other maniples to make a pattern, and then began cutting the interfacing.




Now for the part of sewing that always scares me the most: cutting into the fabric.





The color of the fabric was a good match for the vestments, but it was very thin and soft. To use the technical term: swishy. So I used the interfacing to help keep its shape, and give the Maniple more weight.

Three Maniples cut out, and two days before the Mass. Plenty of time, right?

A Maniple is supposed to have three crosses, one on each end, and one in the middle. Since I didn't have time to order cross shaped apliques, I used ribbon. Juan picked it out. Worked on this late Saturday night after an afternoon at the beach. There's still time!



Sunday morning and they were finished! Phew! Seen here against one of the vestments used at Mass.

Kramer sighting of the week! Oct19th 2009

We are beginning to suspect that some people we know are putting one over us.

They have told us and many other people that they have moved away, but we keep on seeing evidence that they in fact have not moved away. Case in point, we keep on seeing their Van. We have now taken to keep a camera close by just in case it is the Kramers.

Here is the latest sighting:

We suspected it was the Kramers. It looked like their Van, and it was near a church. We figured that they were just trying to avoid us so that we would not eat more of their food. We moved in for a closer look.

Sure looked like them!

Then on closer inspection, the driver was Mexican, or at least looked like it, and convincingly. Second of all, why would they be in Watsonville? And why would they have a sign on their van offering to take people to flu clinics?

BELIEVABILITY RATING: 72%. This actually is rather low. What brings this rating down a lot is that the Driver was Mexican. He probably still is, for all we know. Only God in his infinite Wisdom and Knowledge would know for sure.

So this sighting was a bust, but we are sure there will be ample more opportunities to go Kramer Sighting!

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Dawn Over Big Sur: 2 September 2009

Here are some images of Big Sur on the California Coast at Dawn.

Dawn breaking out, with the Star Sirius in the middle of the clouds.

Bixby Bridge, looking towards the West.