Notes and quotes concerning Myke Cole, Steel Lobsters: Crown, Commonwealth, and the Last Knights in England
“The total time from the moment they donned their armor , to the battle that would see them pass into legend, was about a month. It was a bright, final flash of glory – like the sparkling sun on their polished metal armor – before winking out forever.”
Mia and I knew her from Clann Tartan, the Minnesota Scottish Fair and Highland Games, and Convergence. She had a wide range of interests, was knowledgeable, energetic, cheerful, always helpful, and always caring. We miss her.
Another year has past, and thanks to our midwestern summer humidity, I again faced the challenges of Maintaining Gaffneyis Gear. However, I managed to improve my process somewhat. Continue reading
Since I read this blog post I have been tuning up my eggbeater drills.
Here are two of them:
Pictures and discussion behind cut
Last Saturday, May 19, 2011. Pictures here. Continue reading
(From smuzikant)
Military History or Living History?
I don’t pretend to be a blacksmith I am one. We’re not pretending to bake bread we’re actually doing it. That’s not something you can say for the average martial persona which, by their very nature have inherent limitations. When was the last time Viking re-enactors actually stole, killed, and brought back plunder? They can’t. It’s the commoner portrayal that gets to actually live the life of our ancestors and that is not only fulfilling but keenly interests the public.
On Saturday, Sept. 10, mia_mcdavid and I were part of colgaffneyis camp at the Scottish Heritage Festival of the First Presbyterian Church in Hudson, Wisconsin. As with Fort William, we traveled lightly. Continue reading
We took four of colgaffneyis polearms (3 pikes and a partisan) to Fort William and back last weekend. You can see how they traveled here.These take a lot of abuse at our events. The heads are always getting rusty. The shafts have not received any maintenance in 5 years to my certain knowledge, and I suspect much longer. The problem was similar to that of rehabbing old tools, which I often done before (e.g. these posts). However, there was an issue of scale. The partisan is 6 feet long. Two of the pikes measure 10 feet, and the third 14. Continue reading
mia_mcdavid and I joined colgaffneyis expedition to Fort William in Thunder Bay, Ontario, for the
Celtic Festival there July 23-24. Continue reading
On Sunday morning mia_mcdavid and our son James left here for a road trip. They drove to Michigan, to see Mia’s mother and other relatives. I have been alone here, except for the cat, who apparently regards me primarily as her servant. So what have I been doing? Continue reading
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 