It's that time of year (and the weather) when pollen of the early blooming trees are out in force, and accordingly it's the time of year when I sneeze much more often than I find funny. Still, it could be worse (and I've had worse hayfever), so I'm quite content.

Apart from my nose iching and me waking up people with sneezing, things are fine here, and rolling on as usual. Which means I have more than enough things to do, some of them with deadlines... including re-stocking the inventory for season's start in Freienfels. Which is on my list for today, and I'm looking forward to winding some more yarn spools and combing some more wool. And if luck is on my side, I can even do the combing outside in the garden, sneezing or not!

The university of Copenhagen hosts a conference about Textiles and Economy in the Middle Ages (in northern and central Europe) that will take place on the 19th and 20th of April. While this will be too short a notice for most of us to secure a spot in the conference and rush to Copenhagen, it's still possible to attend through remote participation via the conference homepage:

Production and trade of textiles in medieval Europe - The central and northern Europe as example.

The link for the online participation seems not to be live yet, but I suspect (and hope!) this will change in the next few days. The conference is open to a global internet audience and you will be able to participate from your own computer where ever you are, using the on-line meeting system Adobe Connect.


I am certainly planning to catch a few of those lectures!

It seems like Maney Publishing is doing some promotional called "Journal of the Month", which leads to one journal being offered with discounts and, even better, free issues! This months' special journal is the Journal of Field Archeology, and you can access and download the 12 issues here:
http://www.maney.co.uk/jotm/jfa


That's a nice idea, I think, especially since those journals can be quite pricey...

Open-air-museums and reconstructions of historical buildings are still en vogue - a look at Guedelon in France proves that easily. There is, however, one basic question which often leads to discussion among archaeologists and museum folks: In situ or not in situ? Is it a good idea to build a reconstruction right on top of the excavation site - or is it not?

The EXARC website has a very interesting piece on this question, where ten authors from different positions and places give their answer and opinion. If you like open-air museums or are interested in reconstruction, I heartily recommend reading it.

My own view, by the way, is that it should be avoided - I feel that the danger of sealing in or destroying archaeological information that might be helpful later on is too great, as is the danger of mixing reconstruction and historical reality - both in the visitor's minds and eyes and, once the new structures are also decaying, in the field.

I'm back from  a lovely easter break - we spent the weekend with my family, which included long late breakfasts, nice meals, dyeing eggs on Saturday, lovely coffee and cake in the afternoons, and almost all the family there for coffee on Monday (which made us seventeen persons).

One thing that we did not do this year, though, was a little Easter stroll outside. It was really cold and not very tempting to go for a walk, it even snowed a little bit on Sunday. True April weather - and the temperatures did show that Easter was not really late in the year this time. It's not quite as cold here, but just as grey and overcast.

Which means that now I will start doing all the stuff that needs to be done not sitting in the warm sunshine in the wintergarden, but at my regular place at my desk... and since Freienfels and thus the real start of the season will be quite, quite soon, there is plenty of stuff to do, like portion and spool some more of the gold thread, do an inventory of the rest of the wares, and get the books up to date. And once this is done, taxes have to be filed, just like every year...

Happy Easter everybody!

Proper blogging will resume after the Easter Holidays. I hope you will all have a good time!

There's not much new to tell - as could have been expected, I did not finish off that long list of small things to take care of yesterday. I'm also waiting for a call from a car repair shop, since the last drive included a nasty stone impact that left a crater in the windscreen glass. At least my backup is finished (it took most of yesterday) and I can start migrating to the larger hard disk. Yay space!

Apart from that, I am thinking hard about how to fine-tune my display of goods for the markets and events. I have a few ideas, but I have not decided completely yet... luckily, there's still a bit more than two weeks left before the next event. Which will be Freienfels - and I am looking forward to going there, meeting old (and new) friends, and having a good time as usual!