Diversions

Well, as you can see from my dearth of blogs, I’ve been like a chicken without a head for the last few weeks! The Evil Day Job is one reason. My sideline of making re-enactment clothing is another. But the biggest problem has been my addiction to reading...

I finished a sub a couple weeks back and sent it off. It usually takes me a few days to move past that and get back to writing, so I decided to indulge in some reading in the meantime. As much as it hurts not to be reading all the time, I rarely pick up a book when I’m writing. Being immersed in someone else’s words/world tends to color my thought patterns and divert me away from my own work.

I didn’t realise just how much I missed the magic of sinking into a good book until I started on my TBR pile. It all began with Steig Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a hardcover copy of which I picked up at my local community centre for the grand price of one Canadian dollar. I’d heard of it a while back and wanted to read it, so I couldn’t resist. After all, it was in brand-new condition!

Reading it was bittersweet, because I found out that Steig Larsson died right after he delivered the edited version, and two of the planned sequels, to his publisher. Sounded rather like a lyric from Alanis Morissette’s ‘Ironic’, until I read he was overweight, driven to working 20 hour days and had a 60 cigarette-a-day habit.

The book was intriguing, once I got into the rhythm of his prose. His style is slightly stilted—a little formal—and it took getting used to. I also found his characters a little cold, but was willing and able to put all that aside and just enjoy the book.

So that whet my appetite, and thank goodness I read quickly or nothing—no work, no cooking, no NOTHING—would have gotten done over the past few weeks. I finished my orgy, my gluttonous read-fest, with Greenmantle by Charles de Lint. Can I tell you...if I ever was going to go Fan-girl over anyone, it would be over him? Greenmantle grabbed me, held me, rocked and shook me, and now, having come out on the other side, I’m ready to go back to work. Reading one of his books is, for me, like a day at the spiritual, emotional spa. He’s washed me clean, and I can go forward into life once more.

Phew!

I Join the King's Royal Yorkers

Last Saturday was a banner day for me. At last I donned my shift, pocket, stockings, garters, petticoat, bed jacket, apron and bonnet (Kady stole my fichu to stave of sunburn, or I would have had that on too!) plus a pair of leather buckle shoes to follow the drum!

The King's Royal Yorkers (modern version) is a re-enactment group based on the original regiment of loyalists formed in Canada to fight against the rebels during the American revolution. The gentleman who petitioned to be allowed to form the regiment, Sir John Johnson, lived in the Mohawk Valley in what is now New York State. He was a loyalist, and paid a heavy price for his loyalty to the Crown. Forced to flee his home, he made his way North, into what is now Canada. The rebellious Yankie Doodle Dandies had already pushed north but had been rebuffed, and the loyalist went on the offensive. They were a highly effective fighting force, and played a large part in keeping Canada free from the rebel forces determined to take over the entire North American continent.

This of course is the much shortened version, and doesn't truly begin to explain the hardships, triumphs and eventual defeat of the King's Royal Yorkers. For a comprehensive outline, please visit the King's Royal Yorkers regiment page and have a look at the other pages too. I must state though that the Yorkers were not defeated in battle, but by diplomacy. At the end of the war the Mohawk valley was in Loyalist hands, and they lost their homes via the Treaty of Paris. Canada could and should have been even bigger than it is now...

Hopefully I'll soon have a couple of pictures of the Thornhill Parade to share with you, and this winter I plan to kit myself out completely, including making myself a pair of stays! WOOT! I'll let you know how that turns out!