Remnants from the East Coast Trip
Tidbits from here and there around the East Coast trip - the trimmings and selvages as it were...
Friends Old and New
One of the best parts of my trip to the East Coast was time spent with friends. I got to spend a lot of time with
jtdiii but I also got to meet and catch up with a lot of other folks. We spent New Year's Eve at a local SCA house party, which seem to be the same the Knowne World over - large house, multiple roommates, LOTS of food, a moderate amount of alcohol. I got to meet a lot of people from the East Coast groups and enjoy hearing about the local activities and stories. As a special delight, I spent a significant part of the night on a squishy couch, geeking out about early period metalwork with Cariadoc of the Bow. Sadly, I had not brought my laptop to the party, so my ability to share the geekiness was limited to what I could remember or pull up on my iPhone. The following day was even better - I spent the morning wandering the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with jtdiii and
mtgordon. I had not seen
mtgordon for about seven years, since he was last in town for a friend's wedding. It was wonderful to see him and spend some time catching up. Then, we went back to his apartment and I got to meet his wife, son, and mother-in-law. Hi little son is so cute! Even if he didn't seem so sure of me, scowling up at me and only cautiously approaching the strange girl. *grin* Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the conversation and company overpowered my shutterbug tendencies and I failed to take any photos. I know that mtgordon has a lot of photos online, and now some video too, so if you know him and want to see the spawn, drop him a line. Seeing him was definitely a highlight of the trip...
Inter-Kingdom Anthropolgy - East Kingdom 12th Night
On my trip, I also had the opportunity to attend the East Kingdom's Twelfth Night. It was a fun, low key event. I picked up several nice little treasures in the merchants, got to see that defector,
rufinia, and got to observe SCA life in the East. I had been hoping to go to the Laurel meeting, but missed it, in part because I kept seeing Ice wandering about the event. However, apparently in the East the King does not go to the Laurel meetings, that is a job for the Prince. Since it was a Twelfth Night, they were serving a King Cake with the lunch buffet. The tradition is that the finder of the bean baked into the cake becomes the King or Queen of Misrule for the day.
Sadly, they chose to award a prize to the finder, instead of a crown. *sigh* I got a lovely little deck of cards, but was sad to not have the opportunity to create some havock - that IS my specialty, after all! ;)
Going places - Miscellaneous Sites seen
In addition to the other places mentioned in previous blogs, I visited several other places on my trip. I stopped into the Elizabeth Ann Seaton home, in large part out of curiosity about these tiny red brick buildings huddled at the foot of metal and glass skyscrapers. Elizabeth Ann Seaton is the first American to be canonized a saint, so I picked up a few holy cards for my mom and other devout relatives.
Of course, in my travels around the city, I passed through Grand Central Station on several occasions. On a couple occasions, I wandered around a bit, admiring the architecture, the painted ceiling, and - of course - the beautiful chandeliers!
One of the more surprising little jewels was the New York Medical Library - they had some interesting displays about medical equipment from the 20's, but the real joy was seeing their newly-restored Flemish Tapestry. If you should have the opportunity to go see it yourself, be forewarned that it is mostly a medical library and they are not used to tourists. They will ask you to sign in the building's lobby and check your jacket and purse with the front desk of the library, but they will allow you to take photos of the tapestry.
The Museum of the City of New York was right next door to the Medical Library, so I thought it would be fun to dally there for a bit as well. The museum was largely a disappointment, however. The exhibit on antique toys was interesting, but limited. The top floor was filled with recreations of rooms from the Rockefeller mansions, and was probably the best part of the museum, but probably not worth the price of admission by itself. I would not recommend going unless you have an interest in one of the special exhibits.
Things I missed...
Of course, even with a lot of time on the East Coast, there were a lot of things I did not have the opportunity to see. Most of Boston was canceled because of weather and other misfortunes, so the MFA and the "Freedom Trail" are things for a later, and hopefully warmer, visit. I did get to the Met, but even spending seven solid hours there (and deciding that I could sacrifice lunch to the need to see more of the exhibits), I could have spent another week there. I never did get to the Cloisters, in part because of other priorities and again in part because of the weather making the outside gardens inaccessible, so that is also a must-see for a future trip. Likewise, I saw very little of Central Park, which would be fun to stroll some time... when it is warm... and dry... :P And while I did acquire a huge amount of fabric, I will, of course, need to visit the fabric stores again. ;) After all, 10 yards have already found a home with
mightyjesse, more went to PJ as a belated birthday present, three more are slated for Twelfth Night gifts as-is, and several more have already been cut and sewn into Twelfth Night gifts for next weekend. See? I clearly need more... Both more fabric and more East Coast! :)
Friends Old and New
One of the best parts of my trip to the East Coast was time spent with friends. I got to spend a lot of time with
jtdiii but I also got to meet and catch up with a lot of other folks. We spent New Year's Eve at a local SCA house party, which seem to be the same the Knowne World over - large house, multiple roommates, LOTS of food, a moderate amount of alcohol. I got to meet a lot of people from the East Coast groups and enjoy hearing about the local activities and stories. As a special delight, I spent a significant part of the night on a squishy couch, geeking out about early period metalwork with Cariadoc of the Bow. Sadly, I had not brought my laptop to the party, so my ability to share the geekiness was limited to what I could remember or pull up on my iPhone. The following day was even better - I spent the morning wandering the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with jtdiii and
mtgordon. I had not seen
mtgordon for about seven years, since he was last in town for a friend's wedding. It was wonderful to see him and spend some time catching up. Then, we went back to his apartment and I got to meet his wife, son, and mother-in-law. Hi little son is so cute! Even if he didn't seem so sure of me, scowling up at me and only cautiously approaching the strange girl. *grin* Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the conversation and company overpowered my shutterbug tendencies and I failed to take any photos. I know that mtgordon has a lot of photos online, and now some video too, so if you know him and want to see the spawn, drop him a line. Seeing him was definitely a highlight of the trip...
Inter-Kingdom Anthropolgy - East Kingdom 12th Night
On my trip, I also had the opportunity to attend the East Kingdom's Twelfth Night. It was a fun, low key event. I picked up several nice little treasures in the merchants, got to see that defector,
rufinia, and got to observe SCA life in the East. I had been hoping to go to the Laurel meeting, but missed it, in part because I kept seeing Ice wandering about the event. However, apparently in the East the King does not go to the Laurel meetings, that is a job for the Prince. Since it was a Twelfth Night, they were serving a King Cake with the lunch buffet. The tradition is that the finder of the bean baked into the cake becomes the King or Queen of Misrule for the day.
Sadly, they chose to award a prize to the finder, instead of a crown. *sigh* I got a lovely little deck of cards, but was sad to not have the opportunity to create some havock - that IS my specialty, after all! ;)
Going places - Miscellaneous Sites seen
In addition to the other places mentioned in previous blogs, I visited several other places on my trip. I stopped into the Elizabeth Ann Seaton home, in large part out of curiosity about these tiny red brick buildings huddled at the foot of metal and glass skyscrapers. Elizabeth Ann Seaton is the first American to be canonized a saint, so I picked up a few holy cards for my mom and other devout relatives.
Of course, in my travels around the city, I passed through Grand Central Station on several occasions. On a couple occasions, I wandered around a bit, admiring the architecture, the painted ceiling, and - of course - the beautiful chandeliers!
One of the more surprising little jewels was the New York Medical Library - they had some interesting displays about medical equipment from the 20's, but the real joy was seeing their newly-restored Flemish Tapestry. If you should have the opportunity to go see it yourself, be forewarned that it is mostly a medical library and they are not used to tourists. They will ask you to sign in the building's lobby and check your jacket and purse with the front desk of the library, but they will allow you to take photos of the tapestry.
The Museum of the City of New York was right next door to the Medical Library, so I thought it would be fun to dally there for a bit as well. The museum was largely a disappointment, however. The exhibit on antique toys was interesting, but limited. The top floor was filled with recreations of rooms from the Rockefeller mansions, and was probably the best part of the museum, but probably not worth the price of admission by itself. I would not recommend going unless you have an interest in one of the special exhibits.
Things I missed...
Of course, even with a lot of time on the East Coast, there were a lot of things I did not have the opportunity to see. Most of Boston was canceled because of weather and other misfortunes, so the MFA and the "Freedom Trail" are things for a later, and hopefully warmer, visit. I did get to the Met, but even spending seven solid hours there (and deciding that I could sacrifice lunch to the need to see more of the exhibits), I could have spent another week there. I never did get to the Cloisters, in part because of other priorities and again in part because of the weather making the outside gardens inaccessible, so that is also a must-see for a future trip. Likewise, I saw very little of Central Park, which would be fun to stroll some time... when it is warm... and dry... :P And while I did acquire a huge amount of fabric, I will, of course, need to visit the fabric stores again. ;) After all, 10 yards have already found a home with
mightyjesse, more went to PJ as a belated birthday present, three more are slated for Twelfth Night gifts as-is, and several more have already been cut and sewn into Twelfth Night gifts for next weekend. See? I clearly need more... Both more fabric and more East Coast! :)