Today is not as nicely warm and sunny as yesterday - the ideal weather to gear up with a cup of coffee or three and take stock.

I have a current count of things in stock, obviously, due to the webshop - but there's sometimes a little safety margin between the number of things listed in the shop and the things actually in stock - in case I need an extra because something gets lost in the post, or because something sold in real life versus via the online shop, for instance. Plus, from time to time, something gets lost or breaks while on an event... which means it's good to have a spare or two.

This, however, also means that occasionally I need to go through the actual, real, current stock and make sure that the numbers still match (or match as far as I intend them to). And since more fairs are coming up... now seems to be a good time. Especially since taking a look at all the things and counting them up means I can check their packaging, too - and in some cases re-pack into a smaller, or more sensible, or sturdier, or otherwise better way. Which is also a good thing to do before an event, as every big box takes up space, and space to store the stock is always, always less than it could be.

So you can picture my workspace cluttered with boxes and things in various states of packedness and unpackedness; with me and my list and my trusty cup of coffee in the middle of it. I'll spare you the picture of that clutter - instead, take this gratuitous picture of the sole sunflower that came up in the garden this year (even though I scattered seeds really generously):


It has grown into a very tall and very lovely plant - I'm just a little sad that it's the only one...

Here I am... back again. And I have found out that the only downside to a thoroughly wonderful and utterly enjoyable summer break is that it makes it harder to get back into the everyday life and work again... so it's a good thing that I enjoy what I am doing!

I've jumped right back into the preparations for the next events on my agenda, and at the moment, I'm making good use of the splendid weather by getting wool washed and sorted out.


The wool in the picture is Rouge de Roussillon, getting fluffed up. That's not all, though,  there's one Rhoen sheep fleece drying currently, and a Valais Blacknose fleece getting a good soak. I'm not sure the Valais will yield spinnable fibres, though - the shearer came very late, and it might be that the fleece became too felted in the meantime.

Only one way to find out, though...

It's hot outside, the Internet is in the summer slump, and it is time for me to take some time off for a summer break. This first half of the year has been full of wonderful and exciting things and events - running a fair booth with Margit at the Nadelwelt, demonstrating textile techniques in museums and at Living History events, working on new things for the shop - and the second half of the year promises to be just as exciting and eventful... and just as demanding.


So I'll be taking time off to take a breather, spend time with friends and family, and recharge my batteries. (And probably sleep an insane amount in the first few days.) I'll be off the shop and the blog for the rest of this month - and will return, hopefully with lots of lovely stories to tell, on August 1.

Have a wonderful summer break, if you are taking one - and see you again in August!

Here's another hodgepodge of things you will hopefully find interesting:

Springer has an ebook sale until August 1, where you can buy all books from the archive (from between 1842-2004) for 9,99 € with a coupon code. It is valid for the whole German language area, and it actually makes these books affordable, so you might want to check out this sale. (Archaeology books are under Social Sciences.)

On a completely different note, Con or Bust still has a few memberships for WordCon in Helsinki in 2017 (as well as a lot of other memberships), available to non-white SFF folks. Con or Bust aims to help non-white SFF fans attend cons - because more diversity is a good thing.

The EU VAT is still a topic, and whatever happens now after the referendum in GB, this chapter is not over for any seller in Europe. Here's an update from the Action Group, and maybe you can help, too, and take action as they suggest. Gratuitous bonus: Brexit comic.

CityMetric has a post about small changes that make huge differences in how women move and what they use in cities - a really, really interesting read.

Finally, there's a competition about creating spiral textiles inspired by a find - you can participate and create your own interpretation using historic textile techniques. More info can be found on their website spiraltextile.com.

There's good news and bad news today - let me start with the bad:

I will not be at the Hochmittelaltertreffen Jerichow. I'm very sorry that I had to cancel on such short notice, and I hope all of you going there will have a wonderful time - in fact, such a wonderful time that the event will be repeated in the future, and I will be able to take part and offer workshops there next year. (If you would like to go to the event, it is still possible to register for it; contact data is on the website.)

The good news?


The Middle Ages Unlocked, the book about England in medieval times that I wrote together with Gillian Polack, is coming out as paperback version on August 15! Gillian and I are both thrilled about this, and we're looking forward to holding the paperback version in our hands this summer. If you prefer hardback, that is still available, of course - as well as the ebook version.

Yay!

It seems to be not only the start of summer slump, but also the heyday of firefly mating season - at least we saw oodles of them yesterday when we walked through the forest at dusk. I couldn't stop thinking "they look just like floating green LED lights"... which was kind of weird. It also got me to ponder how people back when there were no LEDs would have seen these lights - we have something familiar to compare those bugs to, and they are still weird and fascinating and wonderful. How much more so would they have seemed to somebody a few hundred or thousand years ago?

Also, and on a completely unrelated note, I have finally caved and will soon be among the crowd who has smartphones... which also means that if everything goes according to plan, I might be able to take payments per card in the future. Which is definitely worth a yay!

Finally, what is a list of incoherent thoughts without a gratuitous cat picture?


Where the little cat has usurped the Most Patient Husband's chair and is now washing herself. Because, you know, the world is such a dirty place for a little cat...

I think we're almost in the summer slump - at least there's not much in my blog list these days that shouts for re-blogging. Well, apart from more Brexit stuff that comes up here and there and everywhere, but I had planned not to write more about that today...

A few staunch bloggers still keep up things, and put up posts, though. Such as Doug, who has a list of videos from a conference, all on the topic of young people in archaeology.

A little more summery? The Medieval Manuscripts blog has tips on how to organise your summer library road trip. The article is mostly about the British Library, but a lot of the hints (on how to prepare, and that you should make sure you'll actually be able to see the things you were coming for, for instance) are not only relevant when you are planning a library trip, but also any other research trip to a museum or archive - a lot of the hints can be adapted to work for other things.

On a completely unrelated note - there is a lemon hanging out in my kitchen, and I'm wondering what to do with it... maybe it could find a few more friends and turn into a lemon cake? Hmm...