Welcome to the web home of Nick and Jennifer Soucy, known as Girard le Bourguignon and Guenièvre de Monmarché. We'll try and keep it entertaining around here.
This weekend, my father came up from Florida to drop off some yard equipment. Yay for having my own lawn mower and trimmer. However, this left us with a Sunday with no real firm plans.
So, it was time to get back to my roots as a homebrewer. You see, I actually learned brewing from my father. I was in middle school when he picked up the hobby, and I used to help with all aspects of the brewing process. I can say I’ve been bottling beer since 7th grade, and it still sucked back then.
To kick off the inaugural batch for my new keg system, I thought something with a nice creamy head would really take advantage of the kegerator. Thus, I pulled out my Creamy Vanilla Ale recipe, and Dad and I spent the afternoon relaxing, not worrying, and making home brew.
Let’s see – I found out that my stove really won’t do the job for bringing wort up to a boil. We had to span the pot over two burners to get anywhere, and it still didn’t really boil like I would have liked. Guess I need to find a turkey fryer (that might be fun in January/February). I also learned that the new yeast smack packs from American Brewmaster really take off. I smacked it at the start of the brew process and the dang thing looked like it was going to explode before the wort was cool enough. Lastly, I think I used the wrong grains – it should still be tasty, but not as blonde as the last one.
Looking forward, I’m planning two experiments in the future. In the near term, I’m going to make one more partial extract beer (to use up some of the malt extract I’ve got sitting around), but this time I want to make it with Durham’s Municipal water. I’ve gotten the watter quality assessment from the city, and it’s not horribly far off the water I’m buying in the stores.
Then, probably after Ymir, I’m going to go for an all grain batch. Considering that there will be lots of opportunities to add hops, I think that one is going to be an IPA.
If all goes well, I should be able to bring a keg or two to Ymir, and anyway, it’ll be on tap at my house. Stay tuned for news of keg tapping day.
The Juicy Secret to Seasoning Meat | Food & Wine.
No one size fits all rules, here, unfortunately. I suppose that’s a reason to cook more…
This is in my yard, just beginning to bloom (maybe a third ofthe flowers are open). First I thought rose of some sort, before it bloomed, then I thought blackberries, now I’m wondering if it’s a rosa multiflora like Jenny’s. Help?
Tags: garden, house
There’s often a question as to, “what should my kit look like?” I know that fully encased arm rigs are acceptable for the 14th Century, but so aren’t mail chauces. Should I wear one with the other?
The nice folks over at A Commonplace Book linked to a nifty article by Doug Strong. He did a statistical analysis of 250 effigies in England, and broke down their armor into bar graphs per decade. Thus, I can look at the 1380’s and see that while my arm rig, gauntlets, and breastplate are great, my lack of real greaves and sabatons are woefully anachronistic. (Good thing I play in the SCA, right?)
It’s also interesting to see these graphs in relation to the 100 Years War. When you consider the Battles of Crecy and Poitiers, in 1337 and 1356 respectively, you see a bunch of different styles of armor quickly getting drilled down to one major one and a few examples of a runner up. In most cases, by the 1360’s, armor has standardized to a single type. However, you don’t see huge changes in the 1420’s after Agincourt in 1415.
Tags: 1380, armor
My hosting provider, Dreamhost, is giving away free hosting if you are. It’s a *really* nice deal… they’re only giving away 1,000 free spots though, so…
DreamHost Blog » They’re Internet History.
Nope, no kickback to me off this. 
Though I still think after yesterday’s post the Met should give me a commission.
Tags: webhosting
Book Sale – The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Met Museum Store.
This has been passed around several LJs and mailing lists, but just in case people *haven’t* seen it, there are some lovely in-period books scattered amongst the rest, for *amazing* prices. I just picked up four *fat* museum catalogs with lots of pictures for $25… and if you use the promo code P908, you *should* get free shipping. It worked for me anyway.
Tags: books
Tired Baron is Tired
This weekend saw fit to give me plenty of opportunities to fight a wide range of fighters. We had 18 in armor on the field, so the MOL’s saw fit to break us into two pools of 9 for our first round robin. I was in a pool with Sirs Mark and Daemon. Eight fights later, both Knights and I had fought to a 3 way tie for first place, each of us going 7 and 1. Moving into the finals, they allowed the top three of each pool to advance, placing me in a pool of 6 including Count Jason, Lord Jonathan Blackbow, and Sir Daemon’s new squire whose name escapes me at the moment. Unfortunately, while a few of the fights I had in the finals were hard fought, they were eventually counted in the loss column, sending me 0 for 5 in the finals. On top of that baker’s dozen fights in the tournament, I went two passes with Lord Galen, my new Armored Champion, and two passes each with two newer fighters during a sparsely attended pickups period.
I won’t go into all 19 fights, but I do want to break down my fights with the Chivalry as to add to my file cabinet on them. It seemed like there was a definite break between those who made the finals and those who did not. There were a lot of newer fighters on the field yesterday, and not a lot in the mid-range (where I consider myself to be). Against these new opponents, I think I did a good job of bringing my preferred game to the field. I tried to remain highly mobile while maintaining good footwork. I threw way more shots than I needed to, so I’ll need to work on more concise targeting.
Vs. Sir Mark – Sir Mark and I fought twice, each time he was fighting with an upside down katana in his off hand. The first fight I won, the second he won. In the first fight, I lined up as if to go for a standard sword side pass, only as I moved towards his “shield side”, I threw a leg wrap out around his upside down sword. I was trying to keep from getting hit by it, but it turns out it worked, and I took his leg. After that, I had to keep on him and keep throwing until I was able to take a step to my shield side and drop a wrap into his belly. In the second fight, I tried the same thing again, but he saw it coming. He tabled my shield out a bit and got my leg, forcing me to my knees. After closing on me, he was very effective in getting myself all tied up with my own sword and shield, and it was a simple matter of wrapping the back of my head.
Vs. Sir Daemon – Sir Daemon and I also fought twice. However, he won both of them, in the exact same manner (that says I didn’t learn the first time). I would close and attempt to bring the same fight I brought to everyone else, and he would block all that. Then, when the time was right, he’d throw this killer leg wrap – it’s so tight and fast. It hit high on my hip, and gets behind the shield. Once on my knees, I was able to be reasonably defensive, though I get the impression that Sir Daemon is a very patient fighter. I was almost able to take his arm, but I didn’t quite have enough power on the offside shot there – something to work on. Eventually he would throw a combo that hit my arm, then my head, fast enough that I say “good arm, head.”
Vs. Count Jason – To be honest, I did not give this Knight the best fight ever. By the time we met, I was hot and more than a little tired. I remembered the idea of trying to open him up as I changed ranges. The trouble was, I did it poorly, and he was able to step a bit off to my shield side. A quick flat snap later, and I was done. I thought I had it blocked, but it was coming for the back of my helm rather than the front side of it. Oh well, more to watch for next time.
Tags: Daemon, Fighting, Jason, Mark, tournament
In running up to the Pas d’Armes du l’Arbre d’Or, Baron Alejandro and I conducted a series of greatsword fights, building a friendly rivalry. I was looking to get some practice in before attempting to authorize, and I’m not sure Alejandro’s motivations, but sometimes things are best left un-pondered. Regardless, we had a great time taunting each other into fights where all that stood between your advisary and your soon to be bruised body was a few feet of rattan.
Girard strikes Alejandro
We fought till one of us had scored 5 good blows, so best of 9. We kept score for ourselves. We would often simply keep fighting while scoring, yelling “good, two!” as we threw our own blow.
So, considering how fun this was, and how out of practice I am with this fun form, and that it’s really only good for dueling, I open myself up for challenges once again. I will make an effort to ensure I have a greatsword with me at any and all martial events. Find me at a practice, a demo, or pickups at an event, and say, “Your Excellency, I challange you to 9 passes of greatsword,” and I shall accept your challange.
The only valid reasons to push off the challange are; some piece of armor is broken past the point of being legal/safe and can not be fixed today, I am injured to the point where I can not fight any more, or I have some very pressing time restriction that I can not dodge (like court). Notice, I didn’t include “I’m too tired” or any number of other pansy excuses.
What you need to join is an SCA legal greatsword, adequate hand protection, and if we’re at an event – a valid great weapon authorization. Otherwise, sky’s the limit. Bring it on.
The loser of the 9 passes should publicly state that the challenge was fought, the score, and something of the victor’s virtue.
So, who wan’ts into the Liechtenstein School of Swordplay? (Why Liechtenstein? Well, in what form did Sir Ulrich win his first tourney?)
Tags: Fighting, greatsword
Baron Girard in Armor
After the devastating morning where I had to bury my favorite cat, Gandalf, I’m in debt to my Baronial Army for allowing me some martial therapy Sunday afternoon.
I’m so proud of them. We really were fighting by about 1:15, and everyone was warmed up and ready to go by the time 2:00 rolled around. We were able to work on some charging drills, talk about some goals for the army, and learn quite a bit. Thank you as well to Sir Falcone for taking a leadership roll on Sunday, as my mind wasn’t quite 100% in it. Twelve fighters doesn’t sound like a huge turnout for a Baronial Practice, but let me stress that this is the start. It was the first one we’ve had all year, and that number will only grow as Pennsic looms closer. That said, don’t underestimate what a dozen well trained and disciplined shiledmen can do.
We charged each other so well and so many times that my shield arm was sore. That doesn’t happen at Pennsic folks, so let that show that we’re training harder than we’ll fight. Ulrich also nailed my right hip quite well, right where the armor wasn’t, so the walk into work today was spent stretching that out and walking it off.
Great practice folks, I’ll see you all next month.
(Special thanks to Lady Zita for the picture.)
Tags: Fighting, melee, practice
ISBN.nu: Find the best price for books online.
This site is *fabulous*. I got sent to this from a random article, and just as a test, typed in a book I had been looking for for *years* (Margaret Scott’s The History of Dress: Late Gothic Europe, 1400-1500) and never found for a price I was willing to pay. It found it… in Canada… for something resembling half the price I had found it elsewhere. (And yes, I should get it next week.)
::happy dance::
Enjoy!
Tags: research, shopping