hello from the middle ages - part two

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cartoon :: property of  ???

today i am sharing the videos i have found. i hope to find many  more, & if i remember to hahaha, i plan to update this post. let's get straight to it, shall we?

lost castles of england i mentioned this one yesterday. the kids loved it. the documentary discusses the wooden castles that were built for about 250 years, beginning in 1066. the gore-factor is moderate. i found it on netflix, instant watch.

the dark ages this documentary is fabulous. i recommend it for middle school & up, as the gore-factor is seriously high. also netflix, instant watch.

clarissa & the king's cookbook is a short bbc show about what is possibly england's first cookbook. even if you aren't studying the middle ages, you should see this - it is so interesting. gore-factor is zilch.

part one

part two

part three

terry jones' medieval lives  i have yet to watch these, therefore do not know if they are child-friendly. it's terry jones, so they are bound to be wonderful. amazon has books that go along with this short series, by the way.

enjoy!!! (happy leap year!)

~peace.

hello from the middle ages - part one

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photo :: property of miss paper

i did not mean to be away for so long,my dear one & only reader. did you know that a pestilence can go through four people in the same home, at different times, & drag the whole blasted affair out for weeks on end? it was not the most fun few weeks of my life, i will say that much. however, all are well now, & i am slowly getting us back to our normal goings on.

one thing we are getting back to is medieval studies; thehobbit & some friends began studying together, just before the dreaded pestilence hit. the above photo is from our first class. they watched the documentary lost castles of england, then set about building a motte-&-bailey castle from pretzels & icing.

over the past few weeks, i have been compiling a list of books to add to our collection. in case your kids are interested, i thought i'd share the list with you. i'll begin with what we already have:

the measly middle ages

living long ago

time traveller books (tinker's book)

knights & castles (paper's book)

the door in the wall (tinker's book)

& now the list:

you wouldn't want to live in the  middle ages

plagues, pox, & pestilence

archers, alchemists, &...

terry jones' medieval lives

the forme of cury

it's not a complete list by far, but it is a good start. if you can only afford one book, i recommend measly middle ages. the horrible histories books are brilliant.

~peace.

an old book for an old kat

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today is my birthday!!! the poorly lit, out-of-focus photo shows what manlyman gave me - a cover for fifi (my kindle fire - xmas prezzie). when i saw the old book cover, i knew it was the only one i wanted, & lucky for me, my birthday was right around the corner. that's all for today, i'm off to eat cake. you should have some cake too!

~peace.

happy day of love

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happy valentine's day!!!

there has been rotating pestilence at thebelfry, hence the lack of babble. i shall try to get back to posting as soon as i am no longer locked in nyquil's embrace. until then, look at my sweet potato! manlyman baked a pan of them, & this little guy sliced open to create the sweet potatoist (real word) heart.

~peace.

milk, milk, & milk

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my recent purchases are all milk-related. it was not planned to be this way, it was just serendipitous.

the gorgeous glass pictured above was found at anthropologie. usually i can resist buying (new) things i truly do not need, but these glasses were perfect in every way. the pale recycled glass, the jam-jar shape, the lettering - they simply screamed kat!. so i screamed back ok!, & took home a set of four. because there are four in your family, kat? no. that would mean that i will let the menfolk use them. because i needed one glass, & the glass needed three!

this little pitcher was the only milk-related item for which i had been hunting. i wanted a small one that we could use to pour milk into our tea, porridge, etc at the table. the gallon is too unwieldy when you need only a small amount of milk, or moo juice, as elfling calls it. besides, this way is more fun.

after many failed thrift hunts (there had been pitchers, i am just freakypicky), i decided to look for a new one. i finally found this just a few weeks ago, at world market , & only four dollars!

the only thrifted milk purchases were these milk-glass mixing bowls. i am in love with them more than one should probably admit to loving a pair of bowls, but there you have it. i would have been swoony at finding just one of these, but to find the two? in pristine condition? gasp!

i am off to play tea party with my elfling, a toy recycling truck, & a stuffed panda. see you tomorrow!

~peace.

official faq moment:
* no, i do not have a large house in which to store all of my thrifting purchases - it is quite small, in fact. i am either replacing broken items, or buying things i find that i need. the set of glasses is an exception to my norm; four glasses from my cupboard went into storage.


* nope, i am not rolling in dough. we live on only manlyman's income since i closed ye olde shoppe.it is just that i am dedicated to finding things as inexpensively as possible, so will scour shop after shop. it helps that i a) adore thrift shopping, & 2) truly prefer vintage (used) over new.

a hobbity day

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photo :: property of bellalulu

happy fourteenth birthday, my sweet hobbit. you are amazing, & i love you from here, to the moon, & back again.

~peace.