Queen Victoria's Birthday Party

What would Spring be without the celebration of our Glorious Queen?

The day started out with the men saluting the Queen with musket fire, and a flag raising. (Here they are checking their weapons and setting up for the ceremony.)

The ladies passed the time chatting and sewing in the Parlor.

Some of the most interesting activities of the day were in the Granary. The boys spent a lot of time shaving planks and came home with handfuls of sawdust for their "collection". They also started asking for axes, tomahawks, and knives for whittling. Any thoughts on what age a boy can be trusted with these?

Both boys love to participate in the musical performances. I can't wait until they can fiddle, but they need to learn to read music first. Noah starts piano lessons in the Fall and I'm so excited for him!

I just love pictures of the boys in suits. It makes all their behavior seem impish rather than naughty no matter what they do. Of course, there is so much to do at the Fort and they have so much fun that they rarely misbehave there anyway.

I wish there were more meaningful work opportunities for them to do in modern life. When they have wood to help chop, gardens to tend, and places to run they are far too occupied to cause trouble!


Here's a close-up. Do you see that tooth sticking straight out? It is so loose that we may have a new post soon! I'm sure its a complete proud-mommy moment, but it is the first loose tooth in our house and so it deserves its own celebration worthy of a queen (or king in this case :)!

We had a lovely time and can't wait to return for a 19th century Cooking Competition next month! Enjoy the start to summer!

Sewing to Sowing event - Living History season opens!

My computer is having issues, so I apologize for my infrequent postings. We're trying to get it fixed, but until can get a warranty replacement, my access will be spotty. Darn technology - its such a blessing and a curse!

We did get out to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend at our season opening Living History event. We spent most of the event playing Graces, Fox & Geese, picnicking, and just generally enjoying the day so we didn't get a lot of pictures of this event, but we had a great time, and here are a few snapshots.

It was so great to see friends and spend time outdoors in the sun, which has been all too rare this year. It also made me realize I need to hit the sewing room to get going on our summer wardrobes! Here's to the opening of reenacting season!

The Musicale!

Our reenacting season is underway and we had a delightful first event last weekend at the annual Musicale! We began with tea at a Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage on the Waterfront.

We shared tea, light refreshments, and socializing in the cozy cottage.

The day was lovely, but freezing with gale force winds. Still, we put on our outerwear and braved the outdoors for a few moments of the the view!

Then we hustled to the Ballroom in our carriages where we all changed into our finery for an evening of dinner and dancing. These dance cards graced our tables.

We were serenaded with delightful melodies by a talented pianist as we dined on ham, roast beef, and salmon, as well as buffet of salads and other sumptuous treats.

After dinner, the dancing began! We started with the Grand March and Quadrille and proceeded down the sets. In between sets, we enjoyed performances of song & poem from various guests.

My husband looking handsome in his Ball attire.


We were so pleased that the "Mama and Papa" of our group could join us and I was honored to dance with Papa.


In the end, we retired, satisfied but happy and very desirous of another Ball in our future.

Thank you to our incredible sponsors and all the effort they put in to make this event a wonderful success!

ALHFAM conference

I had a wonderful time this weekend at the ALHFAM conference! We had some great classes on research & creating personas, as well as how to cook from period receipts, firearms and more. It is always so much fun to meet other living historians and exchange ideas! We had everyone from Medievalists to Mexican/American historians. And it was fantastic to catch up with friends from previous conferences as well!

I especially enjoyed the clothing presentation by Kay Demlow of Lavender's Green. She had re-created this 1840s silk dress from the Tasha Tudor auction awhile back and it was simply stunning!
Her daughter, Kelly, was equally resplendent in this black silk frock. It was lovely to meet both ladies, and they had some great ideas for historic clothing fixes, both in the mid-19th century and Regency.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was too busy enjoying all the conference had to offer and chatting with attendees. I did return home to purchase some more patterns (Thanks, Kay!) and it is getting close to crunch time with sewing for our Christmas event. I actually heard my first Christmas carol this morning and I am nearly ready for that season to arrive! Let the mad rush sewing begin!

Candlelight photos, finally!

Alas, October has not been a good month for blogging. We have finally gotten all modem switches online, as well as a new computer, since ours decided to fritz, so all technical issues should now be fixed. But the real reason I have not had as much time to blog is our news that this month we decided to open a business! Hubby has gone into private practice, which we hope will be great long term, but is a lot of work for us both in the meantime!

It has been a few weeks since Fort Nisqually's annual Candlelight Tours, but here are a few pictures of the event. This is an event that goes "live" in first person, so pictures are always set-up and pre-event. Enjoy!

19th Century Family Fun Night

Whew! Last week was VBS week and it totally overwhelmed me! Our anniversary, Noah's birthday, Family Fun Night and VBS always fall with a 1-2 span during July, and chaos inevitably takes over.

We did have a fun week though, culminating in 19th Century Family Fun Night which my dad was able to attend with us.

The boys did their usual tour of the bastions...

and Hubby showed off his new summer picnicking suit, including a fabulous linen frock coat and trousers made by Tailor Jim Ruley. The hat doesn't quite fit, but we're working on that (we still need to get a hat stretcher and stretch it a bit).

Family Fun night is all about games, so we started the evening by playing graces & an early form of badminton, while taking a moment to dine on ice cream and lemonade.

Nate was finally big enough this year to participate in the sack races, and to his credit, he did make it about halfway down the race before falling so much he gave up and handed his sack to another child. It was so cute to see him try!

Noah, being the big 6 year old that he now is, had better luck and he finished the race with Grandpa as his partner.

Noah posed for us with the ribbon he won from the sack race (along with all the other guests and participants).

Then, of course, it was time to line up for the firing of the candy cannon, which shoots out saltwater taffy for the children to run and gather.

We went home tired but happy. Family Fun night is always one of our favorite events because it is so geared to families. The weather was lovely, and has finally gotten warm here, so I have a few items I need to finish before our next official encampment in two weeks. And then, if I am on the ball, I will need to start work on Fall items as we have several cold weather events. We will see how motivated I can be!