More Double Wars at home

So, I've been busy with lots of stuff, but I have done at least one thing that I would have done at Double Wars every day, and here are some photos to prove it :)

Tuesday the 19th
This day I enjoyed one of my favourite pasttimes in the current middle ages, as it is called in the SCA:  hanging out in my underwear :)

There is nothing as nice as hanging out in your hand sewn linen shift; before getting dressed in the morning, as in this case, I hadn't even rebraided my hair, or after a swim or shower, or a hot day in your wool gown.

Wednesday the 20th

I had breakfast on the balcony in my shift this day too, but you've already seen that.

This day there was a zoom event, the online version of the traditional Double wars Sill(y) party. Sill means herring in Swedish, so people had prepared with pickled herring and other food and drink. I don't like herring, so I just hung out with some tea and embroidery. I am wearing my cotton Italian c. 1300 gown.

Afterwards I put on a woollen cloak and sat on my balcony, enjoying the spring evening.

Thursday the 21st
A very typical Double Wars thing, is the lavish, and not particularly medieval brunch that you can order in advance, when you sign up for the event.
On thursday morning I made a smaller version of this fior the family.

Then, since I am participating in Medieval May on instagram adn that day's theme was luxury, we can say that I got dressed for court ;) 13th-early 14th century.

What I really did that day was to walk 10 kilometres and meet my best friend and then get thoroughly sloshed on prosecco in the sun, which is a very Double Wars thing (without the walking), and then I walked the same distance home, late in the night.

Friday the 22nd
Well, I was mostly hung over, but I worked on the embroidery for my 12th century wool gown, and actually got to attach it to the gown. The embroidery is silk thread, metal thread and glass beads om silk.

Saturday the 23rd

Today I am going to make something between a feast and a dinner, from 14th centruy Italian cookbooks.

I have started on a version of torta d'herbe alla Lombarda, wearing my mid 14th century Italian working class clothing, in my very modern kitchen. . Since they are in season I am using mustard garlic and ground elder as well as some oregano and mint from my balcony.

There will also be Insalata di sparagi, lasini, funghi di monte and torta bianca.

At Double wars I swim

And walk in the forest.

Double Wars is the perfect holiday for me: I have been on the brink of exhaustion for at least four years, working much more than my arthritic body can handle - being in ciosntant pain is not only tiring for the body, but for your brain too. And in my case it has led to other severe illnesses, including me nearly dying from a hole in my duodenum. Unfortunately the agency which handles sick benefits in Sweden ("Försäkringskassan) doesn't give a rat's ass if I die, or if I get more and more complication from working more than I can handle. So, as you might now, I got so exhausted in the end of November last year that I am now on 100% sick leave. Something that could have been avoided. But, I digress. Double Wars means that I can't work, I can't do stuff on my computer, and people can't reach me. So it is a wonderful time to just get away from everything.

However, I also have much more need for solitude than most people who attend, so I spend a considerable time walking in the woods, and to the lake, where I usually swim, and then just sit and meditate in the sun.
No matter how cold it is there is usually at least one day with good enough weather for me to swim when we're at Double wars.

And since that is such an important part of my Double Wars experience I didn't want to be without it in this my Double Wars-at-home-experience.

Unlike Double Wars, where there's five minutes walk through a mostly flat forest, at home this means a rise of  95 metres and about an hours walk. But it was lovely, both the walk and the dip in the rather cold lake. Werll,actually I bathed in two different lakes, it was after all a c. 20 kilometres walk all in all.

On my way there

It was lovely in the sun after the cold water.
Of course I have a linen bath towel. I made it (as in hemmed it, I didn't weave it) for Visby medieval week in 1998 and I use it a lot!

I had walked to the lake in modern clothes, but after the dip it felt SO good to get into my linen shift and wool gown. There's nothing quite like that feeling, after a bath.

So: shift on, braids up, and Birgitta cap on.

And then gown, belt and shoes.

And then I walked some four kilometres until I got into the next lake, after which I switched back to mundanes, it works better when you walk through residential and industrial areas. Especially the shoes, at least when you have arthritis.

I also snapped a photo of some beeches, because that is what you find at the Double Wars site.

Technical problems, and Codex Manesse

Well, first the Princess and then quite a few of the rest of us had technical problems with today's mimosa drinking on zoom. I finally gave up, was grateful  that I hadn't actually opened any champagne, and decided to continue with my embroidery on my own instead.

I did, however, arrange a nice outdoors place on my balcony. The pillows are made by Mistresses Lia de Thornegge and Helwig Ulfsdotter.

And with me in it. The cats liked the new decor. I am wearing clothes from c. 1300, inspired by the Codex Manesse. More info here.

After this rather frustrating experience with technology I took a walk.

A virtual Double wars

By now I should have been at Double wars (or at least on my way, Maja should have had her dance recital yesterday, so I wouldn't have left until today), I would have struggled with my anxiety over having the pavillion put up, and been releveed when my dear friends had helped me and I had fixed everything. And this would have been my home:

But not this year.

So I have decided to post photos of me doing things that I would have done, had there been a Double wars this year. This  is helped by people organizing lots of social activites online, so that I have a reason to dress up in medeival clothes every day.

I have posted these on instagram and on facebook, but there you don't really have space to explain what you're doing. So I will try to get a photo up every day until next Sunday, when we would have been packing and gone home.


 Friday the 15th
As I said, I wouldn't even have been there, but I did join an impromptu zoom pity party, which was lovely. And which had attendants from both Sweden, the US and Canada.

I went for Italian ca 1300, though I wasn't perfectly committed to that style, since I probably wouldn't have worn a veil the way I did then.

Saturday the 16th

What I always do at Double wars is to teach. This year Countess Agnes Odygd had organized a Pride day, and I had offered to give an old lacture (last given in 2017) lecture of mine about same-sex sexuality in the Middle ages. Sine tehre was no Double Wras, the lecture moved online, as did the other Pride activities. It was my first online lecture, and I think that it went well. I think that the lecture needs to be re-made, with a different structure, and with some new stuff, but peopel seemed pleased.
Here I am wearing my c. 1300 gown from Verona. And I use rainbow ribbon for my hair taping, and as a belt on top of my bust.

Today it is the Princess of Nordmark's mimosa party, so I have to get orange juice before 1 pm. I'll get back to you on that.

My Regency riding habit

Today I put on my newly (as in this year) made Regency riding habit, with it's silly hat, and went with my daughter to visit the horse that she cares for.

I've made a page for it, with lots of photos , a video, and some info of how I made it.

Picking herbs/weeds in 13th century clothes - like you do

My daughter Maja took such great photos of me picking garlic mustard today, that I just had to share them. it's for the Medieval May thingy on Instagram, the theme for today was cooking.

The gown (and teh shift, which is threadbare now) was made in 2004, and is one of the gowns that I use most. You can read more about it here.