Medieval Musings

Wed, Jun 27 - Ladislaus of Hungary

2011-06-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

Today we drove to Alamogordo to take a sunset hike in the White Sands National Monument. We didn't end up actually going on the hike because it got super windy and the sand was blowing everywhere. Not that fun. But we did walk around for a while before it got too windy. It was pretty neat:

This little guy has adapted his color to match the white sand. He was scared of us, but he finally sat still long enough for me to snap a shot of him.

Today is the feast of St. Ladislaus of Hungary. He was king of Hungary in the 11th century. He conquered a lot of then-heathen lands such as Croatia and parts of Romania and converted them to Christianity. There are many Hungarian folksongs about him which praise his chivalry. Here is the image of him on which my outfit is based:

I actually brought a different outfit than I'm wearing in the pictures. I have my red skirt, and I brought a brown woven belt to wear. When I put it on, though, it looked weird. The shapes didn't go together, and my tank top was too long for the belt and I ended up looking like some kind of weird farmer's daughter or something. So, I went with jeans again. Ah, well. At least the tank top matches.

St Anthelm

2011-06-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Carlsbad Caverns Day!

It is also St. Anthelm's Day. I don't have a whole lot of biographical information about him, but he was the abbot of the monastery of the Grand Chartreuse which is a very famous Carthusian monastery in France. It still exists and is still a religious house, so no visitors are allowed. Matthew Arnold, the English poet, wrote a poem titled "Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse" when he stayed there as a guest - I guess that was before the No Visiting policy was put in place.

My outfit is based on the liquor Chartreuse which was once produced at the abbey, but which is now produced in a factory nearby.

Proceeds from the sale of the liquor still benefit the monastery, however. Chartreuse comes in two colors - green and yellow. I am going with green today:

St. Fridolinus

2011-06-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

Today is our first day of vacation!!!!!

I have planned saints of the day outfits for everyday, though. It helps me pack!

Today is just a driving day, so I went for comfort. The saint of the day is Fridolinus, and his story involved one of my favorite subjects: zombies! No lie.

He was an Irish monk in the 5th century who travelled around Germany and Switzerland. He converted two brothers named Ursus and Landolph. However, Ursus died and Landolph returned to his wicked ways. Hearing this, Fridolinus re-animated the corpse of Ursus and led him by the hand to go meet his brother. Rather than trying to eat his brother's brains, however, Ursus admonished him for his bad behavior and Landolph repented and returned to following Christ. Fridolinus led Ursus back to his grave, where the corpse rested again peacefully in death.

To remember Fridolinus, I am wearing the colors of the German flag today, plus my memento mori earrings. Please just disregard the wet hair.

ROAD TRIP! Yay!

St. Aethelthryth

2011-06-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

Saint of the Day: St. Aethelthryth is known by several names including both Etheldreda and Audrey, but I know her as Aethelthryth since we had to read her Vita in Old English. She was the daughter of the king of East Anglia and although married twice, remained a virgin for her entire life. She became abbess of Ely, and suffered from a giant tumor on her neck. She claimed that the neck tumor was a punishment for having worn very elaborate and expensive necklaces in her youth. Throughout the Middle Ages, there was a three-day feast in her honor at which people would wear cheap lace neck ribbons to commemorate her.

So, today, I am wearing my blue and red choker with my "Game Over" T-shirt that my mother-in-law gave me. We are going to visit her today, so it seems appropriate. I've worn this outfit before, so I won't post a new picture. Although, it's like 100 degrees, so I'm not wearing those long sleeves today.

Reading:
Old English: The Battle of Maldon. Byrhtnoth has just made the horrible blunder of allowing the Vikings to cross over the water so they can fight. The battle begins tomorrow, I guess. Oh, the suspense!

Middle English: Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, Book 1. In which Troilus sees Criseyde for the first time and falls immediately in love. He goes back to his room and faints and sighs for a while until his friend Pandarus - who just happens to be Criseyde's uncle - finds him and offers to talk to her for him.

Contemporary American: Nothing. Still no book. It's kind of been nice having less of a work load, but it's kind of stressing me out, too, since I'm off schedule.

Workout: Maybe when we get back from see the in-laws.

Food:
Breakfast: cheese toast, grapes, coffee
Lunch: pot roast
Dinner: leftover pizza, I think
Snack: yogurt

Paulinus of Nola

2011-06-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

Saint of the Day: I don't have an outfit to show, but I do have a youtube video to post that demonstrates the crazy party that is associated with the feast of Paulinus of Nola. Paulinus was the bishop of Nola. He was married to a woman named Theresa whom he credits with his own conversion. They joined a monastery together and had one baby daughter who died just 8 days after her baptism. They were both very wealthy people who gave up their worldly possessions to lead religious lives. It was Paulinus who wrote to St. Augustine of Hippo's friend asking of their conversion. It is widely thought that St. Augustine's Confessions are the answer to Paulinus's inquiry.

On Paulinus of Nola's feast day, there is a huge parade in Nola (and other parts of Italy) which involve a several gigantic towers (gigli) which are carried around town. Here is a short video showing one of the towers and the humongous crowd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnaVBIDdAvk&feature=related

Reading:
Old English: Today I start The Battle of Maldon which will take several days to get through. So far, the British ruler Bryhtnoth and a Viking ruler are shouting insults at each other. The battle will undoubtedly commence soon.

Middle English: CT - The Parson's Tale and Chaucer's Retraction
The Parson's Tale is really a sermon about the nature of contrition, definitions of and remedies for the seven deadly sins, and types of penance. It was OK. It's in prose, so it was a little harder to get through. There was one passage, though, which was really amusing to me. The Middle Ages were a rough time on fashion. The church really thought it was a total waste of time and even downright sinful to think much about or spend money on clothes. Here's a small excerpt from the Parson's Tale on men's fashion:

"On the other hand, to speak of the horrible inordinate scantiness of clothing, let us notice these short-cut smocks or jackets, which, because of their shortness, do not cover the shameful members of man, and even wickedly call attention to them. Alas! Some of them show the very bulge of their penis and the horrible pushed out testicles that look like the malady of a hernia under their hose; and the buttocks of such persons look like the hind parts of a she-monkey in the full of the moon...As to the hind parts of their buttocks, the thing is horrible to see. For, indeed, that part of their body from which they purge their stinking excrement, that foul part they proudly show to the people in despite of decency!"

If he could only see us now! He would disapprove, I'm sure.

Contemporary American: Still no Caramelo. If it comes before vacation, I'll read it then.

Malory: I got an old reading list from one of my colleagues who took a Malory exam, so I'm going to just copy hers until I get an official reading list from my professor. I'm sure there will be some overlap. I will start reading for this exam after vacation!

Workout: No. I got a massage this afternoon instead.

Food:
Breakfast: toast, juice, coffee
Lunch: grilled shrimp tacos at Fuzzy's
Dinner: Beef stew. It's so hot! Why am I making this? Because I have some beef I need to use up before we leave and all the rest of the ingredients, too. It's simmering now and smells delicious!

Untitled

2011-06-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

Saint of the Day: None today. I didn't do the research.

Reading:
Old English: The Dream of the Rood. A poem about a man who dreams of Christ's cross. The cross talks to him and tells him how it felt to be the instrument of Christ's death. It's good so far.

Middle English: CT - The Second Nun's Tale, The Canon's Yeoman's Tale, The Manciple's Tale

The Second Nun's Tale is a retelling of the life of St. Cecilia. Cecilia was married to a man named Valerian, but she wanted to keep her chastity, so she told Valerian that she had a guardian angel who would kill him if he tried to sleep with her. He didn't believe her, so she told him to go to the Via Appia and find old Urban who would tell him the truth. Valerian went and was converted to Christianity. When he came home, an angel crown both him and Cecilia with crown of white lilies and red roses. Valerian's brother Tibertius comes over and smells the flowers, but he can't see them. He asks where the smell is coming from, and Valerian sends him to the Via Appia as well where he is also converted to Christianity. Not long afterward, the two brothers were martyred and Cecilia was sent for to defend herself. The judge condemned her to be burned in her own house, so the guards locked her in the bathroom and set the house on fire. Cecilia did not burn, however. The executioner came, then, and tried to cut off Cecilia's head. He hacked three times, but did not succeed in killing her, although he gave her a mortal wound. She survived for three more days before succumbing to her wound.

The Canon's Yeoman's Tale is about a tricksy canon who through his wiles convinces a priest that he can turn base metals into precious metals. The priest pays him 40 pounds to teach him how to do it, then the canon skips town and the priest never sees him again.

The Manciple's Tale is the story of how the crow came to be black. He says crows used to be white and could imitate man's speech. The god Phebus had a pet crow who witnessed Phebus' wife cheating on Phebus. When Phebus came home, the crow revealed his wife's adultery, and Phebus killed his wife in a rage. Then he cursed the crow to have black feathers, to lose his power of speech, and to have an awful caw. The moral of the story, according to the manciple, is if you know your friend's spouse is cheating on your friend, don't say anything because your friend will just hate you for it.

Contemporary American: Still no Caramelo. If it doesn't come this afternoon, I'll just have to read it while I'm on vacation. I've read it before, so it's not that big of a deal, I guess. Or I could just start reading the next book on my list and read Caramelo after vacation. I haven't decided.

Workout: I haven't done it yet, but I have every intention of doing it. 45 mins.

Food: This was not a great weekend for keeping to the low calories. Too many social functions where I didn't have control over the food or where I just made bad choices. It's so hard to eat out and stay healthy. I'm planning on cooking at home this week, but I'm eating the last of the leftover pizza tonight.

St. Moling

2011-06-17T12:06:00.001-07:00

Saint of the Day: St. Moling was an Irish monk who built several monasteries in Ireland during the 7th century. There are tons of stories about him, but the one I'm focusing on today is the one where the wife of the head builder who was constructing one of the churches asked Moling for some cows. Moling gave the woman two cows, but that night one of the cows was stolen. The wright's wife thought Moling had hired the thief himself and accused him of doing so. Moling knew where the thief was, and said that he could burn him in a fire if she wished. She said no. Moling offered to have him drowned. She said no. Finally, he said that she could go kill him herself, but wanted nothing to do with it. The wife found the thief right where Moling said he would be, and the thief was so startled that he fell into the fire, then jumped in the river and drowned. The cow was dead and already half cooked, but the wife brought it back to Moling who brought it back to life. Its color had changed, however, so that the part that had been cooked was brown while the rest of it was white.

So, my outfit is half brown-half white. I really love this white shirt from Anthropologie. It's soft and comfortable, and I love to wear it. It think this is its last summer, though. It's getting worn and I don't think it will take many more washings - even super delicate hand washings! And, as I said I would, I'm wearing the Jessica Simpson wedges. So comfortable!

Reading:

Old English: Finished the life of St. George. There was never a dragon in it. And the Lucy story didn't have the eyes being poked out. Those are the most well-known parts of those saints' legends, so I wonder why they weren't in this version. Strange.

Middle English: CT - Tale of Melibee, Monk's Tale, Nun's Priest's Tale

The Tale of Melibee is actually in prose, and it's this really long, didactic tale about a guy whose daughter is mortally wounded by home-invaders. The guy - Melibee - wants to have his revenge on them, but his wife Prudence convinces him to calm down, think it through, and forgive them in the end. It's really long and boring which is part of what makes it funny since it's the tale Chaucer the Pilgrim tells after they won't let him tell his other tale. It's like he's punishing them. Funny, I guess.

The Monk's Tale is just a list of famous tragedies used to explain how man cannot escape his fate. He lists Satan, Adam, Samson, Nero, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and others as examples. He is also interrupted and not allowed to finish his tale.

The Nun's Priest's Tale is a kind of fable about rooster named Chanticleer who dreams that a fox sneaks into the henhouse and eats them all. His chicken-wife Pertelote tells him to ignore the dream. Of course, a fox attacks Chanticleer soon after which shows how seriously you should take the advice of women (!?!). Chanticleer, however, tricks the fox into opening his mouth and dropping him so he can escape.

Contemporary American: Caramelo, by Sandra Cisneros, pp. 1-100. I lost my copy of this book (or sold it back and don't remember), so I had to order another copy, and it hasn't arrived yet. Boo. That is putting me behind!

Workout: Not today. I went grocery shopping. That's good enough for me.

Food:

Breakfast: Lean Pocket, Sausage, Egg, and Cheese

Lunch: Amy's Low-Fat Minestrone Soup, Wheat Thins

Dinner: Cassie's birthday dinner

St. Benno

2011-06-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Saint of the Day: Saint Benno lived in the 11th century, and he was born a Saxon nobleman. He dedicated his life to the church and died as the bishop of Meissen, Germany in 1106 at almost one hundred years old. There is a great story about him that as he was walking and praying near a marsh one day, he heard a frog croaking so loudly that it broke his concentration. He admonished the frog to be quiet, and it was. Benno, then, however, remembered a verse in Daniel which states, "O all ye beasts and cattle, bless ye the Lord," and he thought the frog's croaking must be pleasing to God. He then told the frog to continue his croaking, and the frog and his friends croaked even louder than before.
Finally, an excuse to wear my frog T-shirt!

I haven't worn these shoes in over a year even though I really like them. They are Jessica Simpson shoes which I was hesitant to buy at first just because of the label, but they're really some of the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. Every time I wear them, someone says, "But they're so HIGH!" Yeah, they're not that high. And they're wedges, so they have a lot of support and they're made of the softest material in the world. They're fantastic. I should wear them more.
St. Benno also gave me the opportunity to wear my sparkly frog earrings from Anthropologie:

I bought these online without having seen them in person, and I was expecting them to be kind of small and dainty. No. They are not. They are kind of huge. And that's why I have only worn them once before. I'm not really a giant sparkly earrings kind of a girl. But if I can't wear them on St. Benno's day, when can I wear them?

Reading:
Old English: Still translating the Life of St. George. No dragons yet in this version.

Middle English: CT - The Pardoner's Tale, The Shipman's Tale, The Prioress's Tale, and Sir Thopas.
The Pardoner's Tale is about three drunken guys who like to play dice. One day, they get drunk at a tavern, and a funeral goes by. They get so mad that death is killing off everyone that they decide to go find him and kill him in revenge. They start down the road and meet an old man who says he wants to die, but death will not have him. He tells them they can find death, though, underneath an oak tree up the road. When the three men get to the oak tree, there is a huge pile of gold underneath it. They decide they need to wait until nighttime to move the gold, so one of them goes back into town to get some food and drink for them all while the other two stand guard. While the one is gone, the two guards decided to kill him when he comes back so they don't have to share it three ways. Meanwhile, the one who went back to town buys some poison and poisons their drinks so he can keep the gold all to himself. When he goes back, the two guys kill him, then drink the poisoned drink so they all end up dying.

The Shipman tells a story about a frugal merchant who marries a woman who likes to spend money. He has a good friend who is a monk who often comes to visit. One time, the monk comes and early in the morning as the merchant is in the counting-house, the wife and monk meet in the garden. The wife confesses she has a debt of 100 francs that she wants to keep a secret from the merchant. The monk agrees to lend her the money. That afternoon, the monk tells the merchant he needs a loan of 100 francs, and the merchant gladly loans it to him. The monk then gives the money to the wife in exchange for having sex with him. She agrees, and the monk goes home. The merchant goes to visit the monk and asks about the loan, and the monk tells him he already paid back the loan to his wife. The merchant goes home and asks the wife about it, and she says she should be allowed to keep the money and she will pay the merchant back in sexual favors. He agrees. The end.

The Prioress's Tale gives the story of Little St. Hugh of Lincoln. He was 7-year-old boy who would hear a Latin song about Mary being sung as he walked to and from school. He liked the song so much that he learned it by heart even though he did not understand Latin. His route to school passed through the Jewish quarter, and the Jews did not like that he would sing about Mary as he walked through their neighborhood, so they killed him and threw him in the pit where they threw their waste. When he didn't come home, his mother went out frantically looking for him. As she passed through the Jewish quarter, she heard him singing the Latin song in praise of Mary and found him in the pit. The Jews who murdered the boy were arrested and executed, and Little Hugh was given a good Christian burial.

Sir Thopas is the tale in rhyme that Geoffrey Chaucer the Pilgrim tells as his tale. It's about a knight who decided he wants to marry a fairy queen, but he must battle a giant first. He goes to get his armor, and there is a lengthy description of all the armor he puts on. It's a really terrible poem, and the Host stops Chaucer from finishing it saying, "Thy drasty rhyming is not worth a turd!" And then the Host asks him to please tell them something a little more serious - this time in prose.

Contemporary American: I finished Maus. It was great! I highly recommend it.

Workout: Maybe. I actually did exercise yesterday because when I added my planned dinner into my food diary, I had already maxed out my calories, and I really, really wanted a glass of wine with dinner. So, that's how I got my motivation - exercise just enough that I get a calorie-free glass of wine. Ha! At least it worked to get me on the treadmill.

Food:
Breakfast - cheese toast, peach, coffee
Lunch - fish sandwich
Dinner - Swiss steak, cauliflower, sugar snap peas
Snacks - milk, cherries

St Landelin

2011-06-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

Saint of the Day: There were so many interesting saints to choose from today. But I settled on St. Landelin. He was a Belgian who before his conversion was the leader of a band of "brigands." After his conversion, he founded several abbeys. One of them is Crespin Abbey which began brewing "St Landelin Beer" in about 1023. They still make it - although not at the abbey anymore - and the label is very pretty!

Since Landelin was once a brigand, I chose my pirate T-shirt to remember him today. The best part about it is the awesome gold tooth.

Reading:

Old English: Aelfric's metrical Life of St George. This is the super-famous St. George who slew the dragon and is one of the patron saints of England. The English flag is known as St. George's flag:

Middle English: CT - The Merchant's Tale, The Squire's Tale, The Franklin's Tale, and The Physician's Tale.

The Merchant's Tale is about a 60-year-old man who marries a 20-year-old lady. He goes blind and she has an affair with his squire. As she is having sex with the squire right in front of her blind husband, his sight is restored, and she says that she cooked up the whole scheme so that his sight would return, saying, "It worked!" He believes her, and they go back to his palace in peace.

The Squire's Tale is short because the other pilgrims don't let the poor boy finish his story. He tells about a knight who comes to court with all these different magic items - a flying brass horse and a ring that allows people to talk to birds being the two most important ones in the story. The king's daughter wears the ring and meets a little falcon who is crying and plucking at herself with her beak because her bird boyfriend left her for another lady bird. The daughter bandages up the falcon and takes her home to nurse her.

The Franklin's Tale is about a knight named Arviragus and his wife Dorigen. Arviragus goes away on business across the sea, and Dorigen has daily panic attacks that he will be shipwrecked on the rocks when he comes home. She meets Aurelius, a handsome squire who is in love with her, and tells him that if he can make the rocks disappear, she will love him back. Aurelius hires a magician who works up an illusion to make it look like the rocks have disappeared. In the meantime, Arviragus has come home safely. However, when the illusion takes place, Dorigen confesses to him that she promised to love Aurelius, and Arviragus makes her hold to her promise. As she is crying and weeping on her way to meet Aurelius, the squire sees her and realizes he has done the wrong thing by making her cheat on her husband. He releases her of her promise and goes to pay the magician. The magician, when he hears the whole story, forgives Aurelius's debt and leaves.

The Physician's Tale is about a man named Virginius who had a lovely virgin daughter named Virginia. In their town was a judge named Appius who decided he wanted to take advantage of Virginia, so he gets his friend Claudius to hatch a plan. Claudius brings up a fake lawsuit against Virginius claiming that Virginia is not really Virginius's daughter, but actually Claudius's slave girl that Virginius stole from him. The judge rules in Claudius's favor and commands that Virginia be brought to him. The father then goes home, cuts off Virginia's head, and delivers it to the judge. The townsfolk, when they heard about this, understand that the lawsuit was fake and have Claudius hanged. The judge kills himself and Virginius is exiled from the town.

Contemporary American: Maus, Part 2, Chs. 1-4.

Workout: We'll see. I'm on double work again today.

Food:

Breakfast - oatmeal, juice, coffee

Lunch - open-faced turkey sandwich

Dinner - Indian Chicken with asparagus

Snacks - yogurt, milk

Sts. Valerius and Rufinus

2011-06-14T12:58:00.001-07:00

Saints of the Day: Valerius and Rufinus were missionaries to France in the 3rd century. They were martyred in Soissons. Since my husband and I were missionaries to France, I feel a special affinity for these two, although I am grateful we did not suffer the same fate!

Today is laundry day. I will start posting outfits again once I have some clean clothes.

Reading:

Old English: Aelfric's metrical Life of St. Lucy. St. Lucy is one of my favorite saints. Medieval accounts say that as part of her torture, her eyes were gouged out, but then God healed them overnight. In her iconography, she is often depicted holding a plate with her original eyes on them. She is also the patron saint for blind people or people with eye trouble. Strangely, Aelfric's account does not include the eye-gouging as part of her torture. In his version, she is disemboweled, but remains miraculously alive until a priest can come and give her Last Rites. Here is a picture from a medieval manuscript of St. Lucy holding the plate of eyes:

And here is one of the strangest depictions I've ever seen of her. It's from 1473 and it's currently in the National Gallery in Washington, DC. First of all, Lucy does not look like a virtuous young woman in this painting. She looks like a worn-out middle-aged woman. Secondly, her eyes are on that strange contraption that looks like a pair of opera glasses. So weird!

Middle English: CT - Friar's Tale, Summoner's Tale, and Clerk's Tale. The Friar's Tale is about an evil summoner who tries to blackmail an poor old lady and gets dragged off to hell. The Summoner's Tale is about an evil friar who is visiting a sick man who makes him swear that the friar will share with all of his colleagues the gift that the sick man gives him. The friar swears, and the sick man lets out a huge fart. The rest of the tale is spent discussing how a fart can be shared equally among 12 people. Hilarious. The Clerk's Tale is about a nobleman who tests his wife's patience by pretending to have their children killed and then pretending to cast her off so he can marry someone else. Through all of it, she just says, "If that's what you want, then it's what I want, too." And she endures patiently and without complaint. At the end, he brings the children back and says, "Ha! Just kidding! I see you are faithful now and I will keep you as my wife after all." Yikes.

Contemporary American: Maus, by Art Spiegelman, Part 1. I have never read this before. I really enjoyed the first part, and I'm excited about finishing it!

Workout: Yes! 45 mins!

Food:

Breakfast: Toast, peach, coffee

Lunch: open-faced turkey sandwich, grapes

Dinner: baked fish packets with broccoli and squash, rice

Snacks: pudding, fruit

St. Tochumra (both of them) and a rant on Cap'n Crunch

2011-06-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

Saint of the Day: There are two different saints named Tochumra who are venerated today in Ireland. Pretty much nothing is known about them except they were both Irish virgins, and one of them is invoked by women in labor. There's quite a bit of irony, I think, that a virgin would be invoked during childbirth (unless it's Mary, the mother of Jesus - that would make more sense).

I'm wearing my green summer dress today. For Ireland.

This picture is a few years old, and I don't even have that cardigan anymore, and I don't think I ever actually wore this outfit in public, but I don't want to take a picture of myself today. Anyway, this is the dress.

Reading: I am doubling up on the reading so that I don't have to do any work at all while we're on vacation. It's kind of making my head explode, but I just keep telling myself it will be worth it to not have to worry about anything and just enjoy myself while we're gone. So, I'm plowing through.

Old English: The Seafarer, a 125-line poem about an old mariner who reminisces about his life spent at sea. I'm about 26 lines in, and so far it's a lot like The Wanderer with lots of cold, freezing images and themes of loss.

Middle English: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. I'm not a huge fan of the CT. But, I have to say, after all the super-boring plays I've been reading, I had a little squee at the thought of getting to read some Chaucer. Today, I'm reading the tales of the Knight, the Miller, the Reeve, and the Cook.

Contemporary American: The Road, pp. 150-250

Workout: I don't know yet. The double work is kind of taking over. I might do it late at night or something. We'll see.

Food:

Breakfast - cereal, juice, and coffee. Time for a little rant. So, I bought this "healthy" cereal that's all fiber and whatnot and Jon has a box of Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch in the pantry. So, I noticed that the calories in my cereal are super-high. Like, 240 calories per serving. Huh? I was like, "Well, at least it's probably less than Cap'n Crunch." Then I looked at the Cap'n Crunch, and it's only 110 calories per serving! How can my healthy cereal be more than TWICE as caloric as freakin' Cap'n Crunch?!?!? So, I bought this Kashi cereal now which at 190 calories per serving still has more than Cap'n Crunch and has the added bonus of tasting like cardboard. I'm seriously thinking about just eating Cap'n Crunch. So defeated.

Lunch - open-faced turkey sandwich, cherries

Dinner - a hamburger and some sugar-free pudding

Margaret of Scotland

2011-06-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

Saint of the Day: Margaret of Scotland. One of my colleagues at SMU wrote her Master's thesis and is now writing her dissertation on Margaret of Scotland, so I feel some affection for her since I know she's well documented. Unfortunately, I don't know a whole lot about her. I know her father was an exiled English nobleman, so she was raised in Hungary. Her family did return to England, but she herself wound up in Scotland where she married King Malcolm III around 1070. They by nearly all accounts were really in love and had several children.

The most popular story I know about Margaret is that she had a gospel book which was her very favorite, and it somehow fell into a river. Now, medieval books were extremely expensive and were all made by hand. No printing presses, no machines of any kind. Just some monks copying text out by hand and hand-painting illustrations. It could take an entire year to make just one book and cost the equivalent of a fancy car nowadays. So, basically, Margaret's limited edition Ferrari fell in a river. Oops! But, miraculously, the book was recovered with no damage! It is now in the Bodleian Library in London. Here is a lovely picture of two of the pages from the book - the beginning of the Gospel of Mark:

I don't have an outfit today. I've started using the pool finally, so I'm just laying around in a swimsuit coverup. Not so exciting and not that cute, really. But comfortable!

Reading:
Old English: The Wanderer, a very sad poem about a man whose lord has died and now he sails the seas looking for a new lord to serve. It's full of imagery of chains and fetters and being constrained by things. It also mentions how good warriors will shut up their grief inside their "breast-chamber" and not let it show so they can gain more glory. Oh, my gosh. Has this "men can't express their feelings" stuff been around for literally more than 1000 years?

Middle English: finishing up the Towneley plays today with "The Ascension," "The Judgment," "Lazarus," and "Judas." I'm trying to get some extra work done before we go to New Mexico, too, so I think I'm also going to read "Everyman" and "Mankynde" today as well. We'll see if that actually happens.

Contemporary American: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, pp. 100-150

Workout: Yes! 45 mins! I bought seasons 2 and 3 of True Blood, so I'm pretty motivated. Season 4 starts in 3 weeks!

Food:
Breakfast - cheese toast, grapefruit juice, coffee
Lunch - left over oven-fried chicken tender, squash, and snap peas from last night
Dinner - grilled shrimp taco salad
Snacks - cherries and grapes

No Saint Today

2011-06-04T15:59:00.001-07:00

Saint of the Day: I didn't do any research on this! I am behind! I did have a strange dream, though, that I will share. I was looking out a floor-to-ceiling window, and there was a sort of pile of logs outside the window. There was another log that formed a bridge across a very small ditch. A turtle crawled out of the log-pile and crossed the log bridge. A snake followed after it, obviously hoping to eat it. When the snake got across the log bridge, the turtle turned around and snapped at it, and the snake slithered away. The End. I described it to J, and he said, "That sounds like a biblical dream." Yeah, it kind of does.

Then the next night, I dreamed that my preliminary exams consisted of me playing some kind of Star Wars video game in which I accidentally chose the Dark Side. But I did get to shake hands with Darth Vader, so that was cool. It switched very quickly to being a Tron video game, and I was about to go in to the light cycle ring when Jonathan woke me up. I was like, "Hey! I was just about to pass my prelims on the light cycle! Why did you wake me up?"

Reading: I am also behind on my reading. I had jury duty on Tuesday, and it totally threw me off. I have caught up on my contemporary American lit and my Old English, but I am still a day behind on my Middle English.
Old English: The Husband's Message. A 54-line poem about a guy who has been exiled from his homeland and had to leave his wife behind. He carves her a rune-stick with instructions to follow him into exile. The poem is told from the perspective of the rune-stick. And the poem actually contains runes which is kind of awesome.
Middle English: The Towneley Plays - "The Offering of the Magi", "The Flight to Egypt", "The Purification of Mary", "The Doctors", and "John the Baptist." Sooooo boring. I hate these plays.
Contemporary American: Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson, pp. 149-200.

Workout: No. I planned our trip to New Mexico instead. Probably not the best choice.

Food:
I am proud of myself for sticking so well to my plan! I've even eaten out several times and been happy with the choices I've been making and the portion control.
Breakfast: Cereal, coffee
Lunch: Turkey sandwich, watermelon
Dinner: Ham and Acorn Squash Skillet
Snacks: watermelon and yogurt

Eutropius of Orange

2011-05-27T10:16:00.001-07:00

Saint of the Day: Eutropius of Orange was a bishop in France in the 5th century. That's pretty much all I could find about him except Wikipedia says his diocese was destroyed by the Visigoths. So, I researched a little bit about Visigoths, and found this amazing votive crown which was part of a treasure hoard discovered in 1858:

Obviously, I don't own anything like this, so I settled for an orange-ish tank top for Eutropius (of Orange, get it?) and some blue and gold jewelry. And the cutest dog in the world.

Reading:

Old English: "The Battle of Brunanburh," lines 1-25. This poem records the victory of the English king Aethelstan and his brother over those nasty Irish and Scotsmen around 937.

Middle English: Sir Orfeo and Sir Launfal. Sir Orfeo is a re-telling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, but instead of dying, Eurydice is kidnapped by fairies. And it has a much happier ending. Sir Launfal is about a poverty-stricken knight who is cast out of Arthur's court after being unable to afford a wedding present for Arthur and Guinevere. He meets up with two ladies who introduce to a fairy woman who agrees to help him and be his lover as long as he never tells anyone about her. His fortunes improve, but then he tells someone about her, and she abandons him, and he luck turns yet again. Guinevere, who hates him, trumps up some charges against him, and just as he is about to be executed, the fairy woman shows up, blinds Guinevere, and whisks Launfal off to fairyland to live happily ever after.

Contemporary American: The Things They Carried, pp. 117-161

Workout: Yes! 45 mins!

Food:

Breakfast: Cereal and fruit

Lunch: open-faced PBJ and fruit

Dinner: a blessed hamburger. Yes! V-8

Snacks: graham crackers and fruit

Augustine of Canterbury

2011-05-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Saint of the Day: Augustine of Canterbury, not to be confused with Augustine of Hippo. Augustine of Canterbury was sent by Pope Gregory I to evangelize England. Augustine landed in Kent, and luckily the queen there was a Germanic princess who was also already a Christian. Although her husband was a pagan at the time, out of courtesy to his wife's faith, he allowed Augustine to start a mission in Canterbury. He had great success in converting the English, but the Celts didn't like him because they accused him of being a suck-up to the pope. In any case, Augustine founded the abbey which eventually became Canterbury Cathedral. The seal of Canterbury Cathedral looks like this:

So, my outfit looks like this:

And my toes just happen to be painted to match!

Household Chores: My absolute failure to do the chores I've set for myself has resulted in me giving this goal up entirely. I think I'm going to have to dedicate a weekend day to doing all the chores I meant to do during the week. But right now, it's just my absolute last priority.

Reading:

Old English: Wulf and Eadwacer, a poem of 19 lines which has caused much confusion and argument among scholars of Anglo-Saxon. Basically it's a about a woman who is lamenting the absence of her husband or lover, or possibly both. The woman is anonymous. Her husband name is Wulf, and her lover's name is Eadwacer. Or maybe the other way around - it's not clear. Or it's possible that Eadwacer isn't actually anyone's name, but is a sarcastic term describing Wulf, so there's no second man. And they probably have a kid, but maybe not. Yeah. So, it might take me a while to translate this one due to the 1500 years or so of confusion it has caused.

Middle English: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Books 3 and 4.

Contemporary American: The Things They Carried, pp. 62-116.

Workout: Yes! 45 mins!

Food:

Breakfast: toast and cherries, coffee

Lunch: open-faced salami sandwich (aka a "Kolya" sandwich) and milk

Dinner: eating out with Erin! Looking forward to it!

Snack: kiwis

Aldhelm

2011-05-25T06:22:00.000-07:00

Saint of the Day: Aldhelm. He was a prolific Anglo-Saxon writer. Although all of his extant works are in Latin, we know he wrote a significant amount in Old English. He is most famous for two works: "In praise of Virginity" and a compilation of 100 riddles, some of which are pretty ribald and form a nice irony with his other work.

To remember Anselm, I have these new earrings that I got from etsy. They are curly question marks with a pretty little stone at the bottom. The seller named them the "Everlasting Why" earrings which is a reference to the book/movie "A Room With a View" which is one of my all-time favorites. As soon as I saw the quote in the description, I pressed the "buy" button. How can I not support such a kindred spirit? They haven't arrived yet, so they're not in the outfit picture. I'm just pretending they are. There is a Toad in the outfit picture, though!

Just for fun, I'm including an English translation of one of Aldhelm's riddles:

The earth was my mother - I was raised

From her cold, wet womb. I know in my mind

I was not woven from hair or wool

By skillful hands. I have no winding

Weft or warp, no thread to sing

Its rushing song; no whirring shuttle

Slides through me, no weaver's sley

Strikes belly or back. No silkworms spin

With inborn skill their subtle gold

For my sides, yet warriors call me

A coat of joy. I do not fear

The quiver's gift, the deadly arrow flight.

If you are clever and quick with words,

Say what this strange coat is called.

Any guesses?

Chores: Straighten guest bedroom and change sheets

Reading:

Old English: Bede's account of the conversion of King Edwin, sentences 20-end; in which the king finally converts and burns all of the pagan altars to the ground

Middle English: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, books 1 and 2. In which the Green Knight ruins everyone's Christmas by beheading some folks and Gawain wanders around aimlessly for a while until he stumbles upon the Green Knight's castle.

Contemporary American: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, pp. 1-61

Workout: Yes! 35 mins

Food:

Breakfast: cheese toast and V-8

Lunch: fish sandwich

Dinner: Chicken Sorrentino with cauliflower and green beans

Snacks: blackberries and cherries

Donatian and Rogatian

2011-05-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

Saints of the Day: Donatian and Rogatian. They were brothers from Nantes who were martyred together. I took my outfit idea from the coat of arms of the city of Nantes which is really pretty:

I took the red and green and made this:

I also wore my anchor necklace as a nod to the nautical theme. I've been wanting a higher quality nautically-themed necklace for while, and I was looking for them online this week when I saw a bunch of astrolabes for sale. Astrolabes are medieval navigational instruments for determining the positions of the heavenly bodies. They are usually pretty big and not suitable for making jewelry out of, but then I found this:

http://www.pocketsundials.com/miniatures-and-keychains/astrolabe-keychain-5-cm

WANT! I could totally make a necklace out of it. I wish it weren't so European and so expensive.

I've also discovered the timer button on my camera and my husband bought me a little tripod a while back, so I am experimenting with taking my own pictures. Here's me not quite making it in time:

Household Chore: I unloaded the dishwasher. Yay for me. It's pretty sad that I consider that a victory, but really I do.

Reading:

Old English: Bede's account of the Conversion of King Edwin, sentences 11-19, in which the king's advisors use a lot of strange similes to say they don't really have a problem with converting to Christianity

Middle English: Pearl. People love this poem. It's nice. I just really don't enjoy the super-religious subject matter.

Contemporary American: Beloved, pp. 210-end. So good, but sooooo sad.

Workout: Yes! 45 mins.

Food:

Breakfast: Oatmeal and fruit

Lunch: Amy's Non-Dairy Vegetable Pot Pie

Dinner: Creole Steak with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus

Snack: Cheddar bunnies and a glass of milk

Julia of Corsica

2011-05-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

Saint of the Day: Julia of Corsica. She was a native of North Africa who was captured and enslaved. She was brought to Corsica where the pagans were throwing a big festival, but Julia refused to participate. As punishment, her hair was torn out of her head and she was crucified. Yikes. My outfit today is based on the Corsican flag which looks like this:
So, I'm wearing black sweatpants and a white tank top. So classy! And a black and white headband for flair.

Workout: Nope.

Writing: 30 mins

Household Chore: Clear off surface areas in living room and kitchen. I did this yesterday!

Reading:
Old English: Sentences 1-9 of Bede's account of the Conversion of King Edwin.

Middle English: Piers Plowman, Passus XVIII-XX. And it's over! Yay! No more Piers Plowman!

Contemporary American: Beloved, pp. 156-209

Criticism: Still no reading list

Food:
Breakfast: Cheese toast and coffee
Lunch: open-faced salami sandwich. We just watched the movie "Kolya" which is about Czech people in the 1980's. They ate a lot of open-faced salami sandwiches in that movie, and they looked so delicious. Mine was not as good as that, but it was good.
Dinner: Fish Curry and acorn squash
Snacks: Strawberries and 1 glass of milk

It's Been So Long

2011-05-20T13:58:00.001-07:00

So, I didn't really blog this semester. It was a rough few months, and I didn't take pictures beforehand, so I fell behind. Then I was just too stressed out and unhappy to even think about posting anything. But, that's over. It's summer now, and I'm ready to write for fun again.

Since it's summer, I don't have quite the stock of outfits planned that I do during the semester. I mostly just sit around the house in sweatpants and T-shirts unless I have something planned. And since everyone I know works, I rarely have anything planned. I have, however, planned a bunch of outfits for the summer and I'll post them when I wear them.

I'm mostly going to use this blog as a place to keep myself accountable for my work schedule this summer. Kind of Bridget Jones style. I actually just gave up my summer vacations plans (2 weeks in Ireland) so that I'll have time to study for my preliminary exams in September. So, I'm going to be posting my reading list for every day, my Healthy Summer Diet plans, and my workout schedule so that I'll be embarrassed when the handful of people who read this blog actually ask me about it. Or not be embarrassed because I will have actually done the things I said I was going to do. And so I won't feel bad about not taking a vacation this summer because I'm doing so many productive things with my time.

That reminds me of a Billy Collins poem: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/consolation/

The basic outline is as follows: I plan an outfit around a saint's life, do one household chore or other menial task, workout, eat healthy meals, read for prelims, and write for 30 mins a day. So far, I have been on this schedule for three days. I have not done any household chores, and I have only written once. Overall, I think I'm doing pretty good, though.

So, here's today's schedule:

Saint of the Day: Bernardino of Siena - he lived in the 14th century. The story I planned my outfit around is that when the plague hit Siena in 1400, he volunteered at the hospital. He contracted the plague himself, but survived although he had a weak constitution for the rest of his life. So, I'm wearing my skull and crossbones shirt with my "Memento Mori" earrings.

My friend Erin has these, and I LOVED them, so I bought a pair for myself. They are on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/listing/74118475/memento-mori-earrings?ref=sr_list_14&ga_ref=auto&ga_search_query=memento+mori+earrings&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

Household Chore: Take unwanted books to 1/2 price books. Not going to happen. Maybe Monday?

Workout: 45 mins; I'm not allowed to watch my "True Blood" DVDs unless I'm exercising, so that's pretty good incentive for me. I watch an episode a day.

Reading:

Old English: Translate sentences 32-45 of "The Story of Caedmon." I forgot how much I like old English! Fantastic!

Middle English: Piers Plowman, Passus XIII-XVII. Ugh. Piers Plowman is the total pits. I haven't read it since I was in undergrad, and I hated it then. Now I remember why.

Contemporary American: Beloved by Toni Morrison, pp. 100-155. This book breaks my heart every time I read it. I know it's supposed to, but seriously...

Criticism: Read one article or book chapter a day. I don't actually have this reading list yet. My professor is on vacation until June 1. Will update later.

Food:

Breakfast: Cereal, juice, coffee

Lunch: McDonald's Premium Bacon Ranch Salad with grilled chicken (no dressing)

Dinner: Tuna Kebabs

Snacks: Fruit, graham crackers, popsicle

Writing:

Nope.

St. Julian of Le Mans

2011-02-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

This post is actually a week late! It was so nice and sunny last week, and I had planned this outfit which turned out to be so hot. Then, the arctic front came through and froze the entire city, and the outfit I had planned for this Tuesday was not adequate for the weather at all. Of course, I adjusted by adding tights, a warmer coat, etc., but that's one of the drawbacks of planning so far in advance. However, the lowered stress levels that come from not having to plan outfits day by day because I've already planned them in advance far outweigh the minor inconveniences of weather.

Anyway, last Thursday's outfit was inspired by St. Julian of Le Mans. The Golden Legend does not identify any of the St. Julians as being bishop of Le Mans, but it just kind of lists all the St. Julians and their miracles. So, I'm not sure if the St. Julian I modeled my outfit on is actually Julian of Le Mans, but the story goes that he was a missionary to Gaul. When he arrived to his post, the land was suffering from a water shortage. He placed his staff in the ground and prayed, then water came out of the ground.

Because the Golden Legend is so confusing about which St. Julian is which, I also took some inspiration from one of my favorite movie stars: Steve McQueen. He was in a movie called "Le Mans" which is about the famous car race. The girl in the movie is Elga Andersen, a very pretty German actress in a turtleneck:

So, I'm wearing a blue turtleneck - blue for the water miracle, and a turtleneck for Steve McQueen:

Conversion of St. Paul

2011-01-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

When I was fielding all the comments about my equestrian outfit today, I was like, "It's the conversion of St. Paul. He was on horseback when it happened." And, then, when I actually read the part of the Bible that describes it, no horse is mentioned at all. For all we know, he could have been walking. Chagrin :(. Then, I found this picture from a 15th century manuscript, and St. Paul is totally on horseback. Aha! In fact, in most of the art depicting his conversion, Paul is on horseback which must be how I got that idea.

The story is that before he converted to Christianity, Paul (then called Saul) was a huge persecutor of Christians and even participated in martyring them. Then, as he was traveling to Damascus, a great light appeared and blinded him, and he heard a voice asking, "Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Paul fell to the ground and asked what he should do. The voice told him to go into the city, which he did. He remained blind for several days until he met a Christian man who healed him. Paul remained there a while, converted to Christianity and changed his name from Saul to Paul, then went on to become one of the most influential people in Christianity.

So, here's the outfit:

St. Timothy

2011-01-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

The entry for St. Timothy in the Golden Legend is very short. It basically just says that under the Emperor Nero he was martyred by having quicklime poured down his throat. Yikes. Ouch. The Catholic Encyclopedia mentions that he had a pious grandmother named Lois who was praised by the apostle Paul.

So, I had those two elements in mind when I put together this outfit. I only have office hours on Mondays, so I am going more casual than usual. I decided jeans were OK if I was just in the office and not teaching. So, jeans at work! Plus a choker to call attention to the throat. Also, while Timothy had a pious grandmother named Lois, I have a pious mother-in-law named Lois, and she gave me this T-shirt as a present. So, there you go:

St. Sebastian

2011-01-20T15:51:00.001-08:00

St. Sebastian is easily one of the most recognizable saints because he is almost always depicted with arrows sticking out of him, like so:

It is actually a misconception that he died being shot by those arrows. A widow found him - still alive - and nursed him back to health. When Emperor Diocletian found out Sebastian was still around, he had him arrested and beaten to death in prison. For good, this time.

Sebastian was a high-ranking soldier in the Roman army before his Christianity was discovered. He is credited with strengthening the faith of many others and several instances of healing the sick. His martyrdom is supposed to have occurred in 287.

So, today I am dressed for Sebastian. Polka dots for arrow holes and, when I was explaining it to someone today, I said, "In the pictures, he's always wearing a sort of...miniskirt." I realize it's not a miniskirt, but I can't think of a good word for it - Loincloth? No, that sounds like cavemen or something. Diaper isn't a word I want to use either, although that's what it looks like. I mean, it's basically just a piece of cloth there so the painter doesn't have to paint him naked, I think. A modesty cloth? I'm sure there's an actual word for it, but it's simply not coming to mind. So, anyway, I wore a miniskirt:

Chair of St. Peter

2011-01-19T12:43:00.001-08:00

So, when I was doing research for this day, I was very surprised to learn that Jan 18 is the feast of the "Chairing of St. Peter at Rome." What on earth? So, I looked into it, and it's basically a celebration of the office of pope. The chair is actually the chair on which the Pope used to sit in St. Peter's cathedral. Here's a picture:

I'm studying for a Latin exam that I have to take this semester, and to prepare I'm translating the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend) which is a collection of saints' lives from the 13th century. So, I'm basing my outfits around the saints in that book and the stories it tells about them. The Golden Legend doesn't include a section on St. Peter's chair in Rome, but it does have an entry for St. Peter's chair in Antioch. That feast day is usually Feb. 22, but I'm using it today.

As you can see, the chair of St. Peter in Rome is a rather elaborate affair. It's actually kind of a plain wooden chair, but in the 17th century, a baroque reliquary was built for it made of bronze.

So, I took that ornate decoration as my inspiration:

I'm actually wearing two pairs of tights. The undertights are shiny and gold. The overtights are patterned netting. This was a fun outfit to wear and very comfortable!

St. Hilaire de Poiters

2011-01-19T12:18:00.001-08:00

The semester has just started, and I'm already behind! And unhappy with my pictures so far. But, anyway, this is from last Thursday.

St. Hilaire de Poitiers was bishop of Poitiers in the 4th century. He was known as a very pious man who despised heresy. The story about him in the "Golden Legend" is that the pope, named Leo, had been corrupted by heresy and he summoned all the bishops together to discuss church doctrine. Hilaire was not invited to this meeting, but he found out about it and showed up anyway. The pope began to ridicule him, but Hilaire stood up for himself and accused the pope of heresy right to his face. When the pope excused himself to obey nature's call, he was stricken with dysentery, pooped out all of his intestines, and died. Hilaire then took control of the assembly of bishops and the heresy was stopped.

The Golden Legend claims this story is true despite the absolute lack of any documentation of the incident and the fact that there was no pope named Leo in the fourth century. Hmm.

So, rather than taking inspiration from the pooping incident as entertaining as that might have been, I went with the French theme. I don't really have any real Frenchified accessories like a beret or cute little neck scarf, but I do have a striped sweater. So, here goes:

St. Clarus(es)

2010-11-04T06:20:00.001-07:00

As I was doing my research for today, I realized I made a mistake when I was planning out the outfit! There are, apparently, 2 different St. Claruses (actually, more than that, but two in particular that I happened to confuse). One of them has his feast day today - Nov. 4, but the one I took my inspiration from has his feast day on Jan. 1. The particular details of their lives have not survived, though, for either of them, so I'm just going to write about them both today.

1) The St. Clarus whose life is celebrated on Nov. 4 was an Englishman who served as a missionary to Normandy in the late 9th century. He was assassinated by order of a noblewoman whose advances he had refused. That's a very interesting turn of events, I think, considering the number of female saints who died as a result of their potential suitors becoming angry and their chastity and killing them (St. Thecla, St. Winifred, etc.). St. Clarus is the first male I've come across who has suffered this kind of victimization.

2) The St. Clarus whose life is celebrated on Jan. 1 was a French monk. He lived an entirely monastic life and died as the abbot of St. Marcellus monastery in Vienne, France. He is, apparently, the patron saint of tailors, although I'm not sure why.

So, I chose for my outfit a skirt that I wore exactly one time to a conference and then never wore again because it made me feel like an old lady. It was just too long and not very flattering. So, this summer, I had it shortened by my tailor (see the connection?), and it's like having a new skirt. I never in my life thought I would ever say, "No, that skirt's too long. I need it to be shorter," because in general I don't like my legs and try to cover them as much as possible. But shortening this skirt was exactly what it needed:

Before and After

St. Winifred

2010-11-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

St. Winifred is a very awesome Welsh saint from the 7th century. The story goes that Winifred was a Welsh nobleman's daughter. Her father gave a clergyman named Beuno a parcel of land on which to build a church in exchange for educating Winifred. Beuno agreed. Meanwhile, Caradog - the son of a neighboring chieftain - attempted to "force the chastity" of Winifred. She ran away down the hill toward the church which made Caradog so mad that he pulled out his sword and chopped off her head. Her head rolled all the way down the hill into the church where the whole town was attending mass. Her parents were there as well, and they of course panicked seeing their daughter's head. Beuno picked up the head, and walked outside to find Caradog still standing with Winifred's body. Beuno laid a curse upon Caradog who died on the spot (one source says he "melted" - !!!), and then the holy man placed Winifred's head next to her body. Beuno then urged the congregation to pray with him for the restoration of the young girl. The prayers worked! Winifred opened her eyes and got up. But she had a visible white scar around her neck for the rest of her life from where she had been decapitated.

Healing springs are said to have sprung up both in the place where her head originally fell and in the place where it stopped rolling. The floorboards of the church were cracked and water began to seep through. The second spring is said to have rocks around it which look as though they are covered in blood, but the water smells perfumed.

OK, so, for Winifred, I am wearing a choker. I don't have a white one, but I do have this red one which I have never worn before and which recalls the bloodiness of the stones at her well:

All Souls' Day

2010-11-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was All Souls' Day which is the day in which many Western Christians commemorate the dead and also pray for the souls in purgatory. The practice of praying for the souls of the dead can be traced all the way back to a passage in Maccabees describing the actions of Judas Maccabeus after a battle:

"He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he had sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin." (2 Maccabees 43:46)

Since it is a rather somber feast day, I chose a somber color palette and added my memento mori earrings:

St. Simon the Zealot

2010-10-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

St. Simon the Zealot was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Although he is mentioned in the gospels, he never does anything particularly notable or even gets a line. We don't know for sure what he did after Jesus' death or how he died himself, although his relics are supposedly at the Vatican (but if they don't know where he died, how did they get his relics?).

He's called "the Zealot," and the Zealots were a militant group of Jews who violently resisted the oppression of the Roman Empire in the first century. However, all of the sources I've read find some weak way to explain how St. Simon the Zealot was not involved with that group and that he's called "Zealot" for some other reason. I think this is because people are uncomfortable associating one of the apostles with a violent terrorist group. And understandably so. But at the same time, I don't think being uncomfortable with something is justification for ignoring a viable suggestion. It seems to me that Simon the Zealot may have had ties to the Zealots. There's certainly no concrete evidence that he was not. He was certainly in the right place at the right time to participate in that group. We know so little about him that it seems silly to eliminate that possibility. And who knows, but he may have been a Zealot who renounced his violent ways to follow Christ, and they kept calling him Simon the Zealot to differentiate him from the other Simon, Simon Peter. Anyway, we can never know.

Oddly, St. Simon the Zealot is one of the patron saints of tanners. I have no idea why. Because of the mystery surrounding his post-resurrection ministry, there are a bunch of legends that have sprung up around him. One is that he went to Spain, another is that he went to North Africa, and yet another is that he ended up all the way in Britain. All of these cases would have involved him sailing across some body of water, however, so I've chosen a nautical theme for my outfit. Well, as nautical as I get - striped shirts and my anchor necklace. And my boots thrown in for the tanner thing.

Sts. Crispin and Crispinian

2010-10-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

So, Shakespeare fans will be happy to know that this past Monday was St. Crispin's Day. For non-Shakespeare fans, the St. Crispin's Day speech in Act IV, Scene iii of Henry V is one of the most famous speeches in literature. It's the pre-battle motivational speech that King Henry gives the English troops before the Battle of Agincourt. Here is the last bit of it:

"And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by

From this day to the end of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered,

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

The British went on to win a decisive victory against the French. The Charge of the Light Brigade also happens to have occurred on St. Crispin's Day, although with a much less desirable result for the English.

Saints Crispin and Crispinian were supposedly brothers in the late 3rd century who became Christian missionaries to Gaul (now France). They were shoemakers by trade so they are now the patron saints of shoemakers, saddlers, and tanners. They were tortured and martyred under the emperor Diocletian on Oct. 25, 286.

So, I wish I had a leather skirt or jacket or something to celebrate these saints with, but I only have my leather shoes, which I suppose is most fitting for them anyway.

St. Cuthbert

2010-10-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I have just re-read this saint's life, and I can find no correlation at all between his life and what I'm wearing. In my notes, I've written - "St Cuthbert - purple/gold." No explanation, and I can't find any mention in his biography of anything purple or anything gold. So, hmmm. Never mind. I'll just post my outfit. Except I completely forgot to wear my yellow shoes today, and so I slummed around in black flip flops. Much less cute.

St. Ursula

2010-10-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

The feast day of St. Ursula was actually October 21 until she was removed from the calendar, but I'm celebrating her a day early. The legend of St. Ursula - now commonly believed to be almost total fiction (hence her removal from the feast calendar) - goes that she was the daughter of a British nobleman in about the 4th century. She was engaged to marry a foreign governor, but she decided to go on pilgrimage before the wedding. So, she and 11,000 other virgins set sail for the continent. While on pilgrimage, she stopped in Cologne. Unfortunately, the Huns were attacking the city, and they massacred the young women.

The Ursuline order was founded in the 15th century in honor of the saint, and it is especially concerned with young women's education. St. Ursula is, therefore, the patron saint of students.

Well, I don't have a particularly student-like outfit, but tweed pants and a cardigan seemed appropriate. I don't really like this picture, but I'm too lazy to take another one, so here you go.

St. Luke

2010-10-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

So this is my second favorite outfit of the semester. Or maybe my favorite. I can't decide.

Today's outfit is inspired by St. Luke the Evangelist. I was surprised to learn when I took a class on Byzantine Iconography that St. Luke is considered to be the first iconographer. There are even a few extant icons which have been attributed to his hand directly. They are all icons of the Virgin Mary, said to be painted from life rather than mere renderings from memory. One of the most famous one is the Panagia Portraitissa which is housed in the Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. Here is a photo:

And here is a lovely painting of St. Luke painting from a 15th century manuscript. He is the patron saint of painters, and in the Middle Ages, many of the painting guilds were called the Guilds of St. Luke.

And here is my outfit. Paint splatter shirt! And pink corduroy pants. Very artsy.

St. Mungo

2010-10-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

This might be my favorite outfit of the semester! St. Mungo (aka St. Kentigern) was a bishop in Scotland in the mid-6th century. He is the patron saint of the city of Glasgow, and two events in his life inspired my outfit.

1) King Rhydderch of Strathclyde gave his wife Queen Languoreth a ring. The queen had an affair with a soldier and gave the ring to her lover. The king saw the soldier wearing the ring and began to suspect the adultery. He invited the soldier to go hunting with him, and during the outing the soldier fell asleep. The king took the opportunity to remove the ring from the soldier's finger and then threw it in the river. He then went back to the castle and asked the queen where the ring was. When she couldn't produce it, he had her thrown in jail. As she awaited execution, she sent for St. Mungo to help her. He sent one of his underling monks to go fishing, and the monk caught a salmon that miraculously had the ring in its mouth. The queen was then released from prison, the king forgave her, and she never cheated on him again. This is supposedly the story on which the Guinevere/Lancelot story is based.

2) At some point in Mungo's service as a bishop, the local king was overthrown by a pagan king named Morken. Morken began a persecution of Christians, and Mungo was exiled to Wales. For this reason, Mungo is the saint to whom one prays against bullies.

So, salmon and bullies. Pirates are bullies. What better than my salmon cardigan and my pirate T-shirt? Plus my leather ankle boots and a gray pencil skirt. So much fun to me!

Edward the Confessor

2010-10-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

Edward III "the Confessor" was king of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the son of Aethelred "the Unready" and Emma of Normandy. His reign is considered to be a pretty peaceful one - he held back the Danish invasions of the British coast and also managed to keep both the Welsh and the Scots subdued, for the most part. The trouble began when he was too nice to the Norman side of his family (his mother was from Normandy). The English nobles didn't like the Norman nobles, so there was some tension there. Anyway, when Edward died, a dispute over the throne occurred in which Harold of England said Edward promised him the throne and William of Normandy claimed that Edward had promised him the throne. The whole mess culminated in the immensely famous Battle of Hastings in October 1066, and William - now known as "the Conqueror" - won hands down.

So, I think of Edward the Confessor as the guy whose death opened the door for the Normans to take over England which might be doing him too little credit for the other things he accomplished. He appears on the Bayeux Tapestry which is one of my favorite pieces of art in the entire world. That's him with the very fashionable forked beard:

Although Edward lived before official coats of arms came into use, his posthumous coat of arms is a yellow cross on a field of blue, so I went with yellow and blue for the outfit today. I finally got to wear my brown and gray T-straps also which I haven't worn all semester!

St. Wilfrid of Ripon

2010-10-12T19:55:00.001-07:00

This is going to be short. I am running very behind on my updates, and I'm having a busy week!

St. Wilfrid of Ripon was a bishop in the 7th century in England. He was very well educated in both France and Rome and very well respected. He came into conflict pretty often, however, with the political powers of the time and was constantly being thrown out of his bishopric, then regaining it, then being thrown out again. He also suffered a series of shipwrecks in which he would wash up on some heathen coast, and then of course convert the heathens to Christianity. In any case, although he had trouble with political rulers, his fellow clergymen had immense respect for him, and he was much admired for his devotion to piety. He died in around 709.

I took the shipwreck stories as inspiration for my outfit today: a nautical theme! Which really means a striped shirt and my anchor necklace. I've had this shirt for years, and I refer to it as my "sailor shirt." I don't really like it very much, mostly because it is a sailor shirt and dressing for a theme makes me a little bit uncomfortable. But that's kind of the whole point of this little experiment, isn't it? And I didn't feel uncomfortable today. I think it's because the little cardigan makes it all better for me. I normally tie it around my waist, but I just let it hang and tied the ends of the belt into little knots. I think it turned out pretty well, considering.

St. Bruno

2010-10-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

St. Bruno was the founder of the Carthusian Order of monks. He lived in the 11th century, and he was the mentor of Pope Urban II. A bishop had a vision of him and six other monks under a chaplet of seven stars, and as a result of the vision provided them with land on which they could build a monastery. As a result, Bruno is often depicted with seven stars above his head. He is also inexplicably (as far as I have been able to research, anyway) shown with a skull in his hand. I have no idea what this means. But that's how you can tell it's Bruno - he's holding a skull. Here's the statue of him in St. Peter's Basilica:

So, skulls and stars. My top today is glittery on the pattern, so that's serving as my "stars" part. And I'm wearing my memento mori earrings with the skeletons on them which are the "skulls" part. So, here's my St. Bruno outfit:

St. Maurus

2010-10-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

St. Maurus lived in Italy in the early 6th century. He was of noble birth, and his parents sent him to be raised as a monk when he was still very young. He is considered by many to be the very first follower of St. Benedict.

The most notable story about him is that he saved the life of his fellow monk Placidus. Placidus has gone to draw water and fell into the swiftly flowing river. St. Benedict saw the boy's distress in a vision and sent Maurus to rescue him. When Maurus reached the river, he miraculously walked on top of the water and pulled the drowning Placidus to safety.

Maurus also had a powerful gift of healing as he is known to have cured a man of a gangrenous arm and restored another man's crushed leg by making the sign of the cross over them. Because of this gift, there is a blessing named after him which is still said over sick people today.

Today's outfit is inspired by Benedictine robes since Maurus was the first official Benedictine monk. Benedictine robes were black which led to the order's followers being called the "black monks." So, I'm wearing my black dress. This is a repeat from last semester, but I'm really not sure how to be creative with the "little black dress." Add a cardigan? Colored shoes? I don't know. So, here it is:

St. Jerome

2010-09-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

St. Jerome is one of the Fathers of the Church, a prolific writer and respected theologian. I know him best for his translation of the Bible into Latin which is commonly known as the Vulgate. It's a notoriously sketchy translation, but it made the Bible accessible to pretty much the entire continent of European scholars rather than just to those few people who could read both Greek and Hebrew.

Ironically, St. Jerome would probably disapprove highly of this blog since he had rather strong views on vainglory and fashion: "Let the words be ever on your lips: 'Naked I came out of my mother's womb and naked I shall return thither,' and 'We brought nothing into this world, and certainly we can carry nothing out.' Yet today you see many women packing their wardrobes with dresses, changing their tunics every day, and even so unable to keep ahead of the moth. The more scrupulous wear one dress until it is threadbare, but yet have their boxes full of clothes" (Letter XXII, To Eustochium)

Despite his criticism, however, I have designed an outfit in remembrance of him. He is the patron saint of librarians, so I came up with this:

This is one of my favorite shirts. You can't really see the pattern on it very well in the photo, but it's really very interesting up close. I've had this skirt for years - it used to reach all the way to my mid-calf and I never, ever wore it. But I got it shortened, and it's like a having a new skirt! The earrings are a hand-me-down from my friend Erin, and they are owls. For wisdom and knowledge. And librarians, I guess. Plus I have a librarian bun in my hair. This is one of my favorite outfits - I feel great in it!

St. Gabriel the Archangel

2010-09-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today is Michaelmas which is the feast of the archangels Gabriel and Michael. Since I did Michael last week, I'm just focusing on Gabriel this week.

Gabriel is commonly known as the Messenger of God. He explains visions to Daniel in Chs 8-9 of the Book of Daniel, and he's the one who announces to both Elizabeth and Mary that they will miraculously give birth to their respective children in the book of Luke. But my questions about the sainthood of angels remain the same. Although, I will admit Gabriel makes more sense to me as a saint than Michael does. Gabriel at least interacts with human beings on earth. And, if fact, if you believe that angels have the ability to communicate with God, then Gabriel is the most likely one to serve in a real intercessory way. He gives godly messages to humans, so maybe that communication works both ways. I don't know. It's an interesting thought.

OK, so just like last week, angels = white and drapey, flowy clothes. My outfit is mostly brown today, but I put on this shirt that I have had for years, but have difficulty wearing. It has a drapey kind of neck that folds around itself and looks like old paintings to me. It is perhaps a little too early to break out the tights and boots, but I did it anyway:

Good King Wenceslas

2010-09-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

St. Wenceslaus was a Duke of Bohemia in the 10th century. He was a Christian ruler, and his relatives who wanted to be in line for the throne murdered him while he was on the way to church. On the way to church!!!! So, now he's a saint. And the patron saint of the Czech Republic. There's a huge statue of him in Wenceslaus Square in Prague that "they" say will come back to life with the Czech Republic needs the saint's aid. Here's a photo:

So, today's outfit is gray for the statue with a little splash of red just for fun:

St. Eustace

2010-09-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

I normally do not post on Friday since I really only put outfits together for work, but I am attending a conference this weekend, so I have two more professional-type outfits to put together than during a regular week.

Today's outfit is inspired by St. Eustace whose story appears in the immensely popular but highly unreliable medieval book of saints' lives, "The Golden Legend." Eustace was a Roman soldier who really liked hunting. One day as he was chasing after a stag, he saw a vision of Jesus between the stag's antlers. He immediately converted to Christianity along with his wife and sons.

Poor Eustace was then subjected to a horrible series of bad luck:

1) a plague killed all of his servants, knights and livestock

2) robbers stole all of his money and valuable possessions

3) When the family decided to sail to Egypt, their sea captain demanded that Eustace give him his wife as payment for the voyage. Eustace didn't want to, but when the captain threatened to throw him overboard, Eustace totally abandoned his wife.

4) After they arrived, Eustace's sons were carried off by wild animals (although not killed, but Eustace didn't know that part)

After this Series of Unfortunate Events, Eustace went back and rejoined the Roman army. In the meantime, his wife escaped the clutches of the sea captain and randomly stumbled upon her two sons who had been rescued from the wild animals by kindly villagers. They then heard that Eustace was in the army and went to find him. There was a joyous reunion which lasted about 24 hours. The next day, the emperor commanded them all to make sacrifices to the Roman gods. Eustace and his family, of course, refused, and they were subsequently roasted alive inside a copper statue of a bull.

Whew! That's quite a whopper.

Eustace is the patron saint of hunters, so I chose green and brown as my color palette:

St. Thecla

2010-09-23T06:12:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday to me! And happy feast day to St. Thecla. I had never heard of this saint before I did the research for this little project, but hers is one of the juicier stories, I must say. St. Thecla lived in the 1st century and according to the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla knew and was a disciple of the apostle Paul. You can click on the link if you want the full story, but here's the "good parts" version:

1) She broke off her engagement so she could remain chaste. Her fiance got very angry and sued her (well, the 1st century version of suing someone), and she was condemned to burn at the stake. However, when they lit the fire, she didn't burn.

2) She then followed Paul to Antioch where another guy fell in love with her. When she rejected his advances, he also sued her and she was condemned to be fed to wild beasts. When they threw her in the pit with them, however, a vicious lioness turned around and protected her from the other wild beasts, and Thecla survived.

3) She lived the rest of her life in a cave as a hermit. And who can blame her?

So, I immediately pounced on the wild beasts part of the story. My outfit today incorporates as many of them as I could. Plus, for the first time ever, I'm wearing my little lion brooch. I'm not really a brooch-wearing type of girl, but it was just too perfect! I have no idea where it came from, but I've had it for years. Something makes me want to say my Aunt Eileen brought it back from a trip to Mexico, but it wasn't a gift - that I know. I have no idea how I ended up with it. Anyway, here's my picture. I'm playing the part of the lioness:

St. Maurice

2010-09-22T07:12:00.001-07:00

Today is the feast day of St. Maurice. St. Maurice was an Egyptian man who lived during the 5th century, and served as a soldier in the Roman army in Thebes. When he deserted the army after refusing to make sacrifices to the Roman gods, the emperor had him and his fellow deserters killed. Since he was a soldier, Maurice is usually depicted as wearing armor, but the most striking thing about him is that he is also very often depicted as black due to his Egyptian origins. Here is a 13th century statue of him from Magdeburg Cathedral in Germany:

For today's outfit, I went with the Egyptian theme:

I'm realizing looking at this picture that the really Egyptian things about this outfit are the accessories which you can't really see. I have a hieroglyph necklace that spells out my name, scarab earrings, and a peacock feather headband. I chose the blue shirt, though, from a little Egyptian hippo statue in the Louvre:

So cute, right? They make replicas of it that they sell in the gift shop, but we were so poor when we lived in France I never bought one for myself. My birthday's tomorrow, though (hint, hint).

St. Michael the Archangel

2010-09-21T18:41:00.001-07:00

Michaelmas is not until Sept 29, but I'm highlighting St. Michael the Archangel today. He's the one who commands the angelic army and casts Satan out of the heavens in Revelation 12: "And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer a place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world - he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him" (verses 7-10).

I'm not sure how I feel about an angel being venerated as a saint. I guess I think it's kind of weird since I think part of the logic behind the veneration of saints is that they were humans who experienced human lives. The power of their intercession on our behalf, then, comes from both their immense piety and their undeniably human understanding and experience. St. Michael, as an angel, cannot really relate in the same way. So, I guess I find it confusing that he's a member of that particular club.

In any case, one of my favorite places in the world is named after him: Mont St. Michel.

If you are ever in the Bretagne region of France, it's worth a visit!

When I think of angels, I think of white and flowy clothes even though in most depictions of St. Michael he is wearing armor. He is the commander of the Lord's army after all. But, I went with my instinct and wore my whitest and flowiest top:

I actually wore this outfit last semester, so it's a repeat (gasp!). But I like it, and it's REALLY comfortable which is great because Tuesday is a very long day for me. My first day of boots! It was really too hot for them, but I got a lot of compliments, so it was totally worth it.

St. Ninian

2010-09-16T05:59:00.000-07:00

St. Ninian was the first missionary to the Picts who lived in southern Scotland. He died in about 432, and his life and miracles are recounted both in Bede's Ecclesiastical History and a more detailed but less reliable work by Aelred of Rielvaux.

The Picts have come down to us in popular culture as the warriors who painted themselves blue as seen in movies like Braveheart and the most recent King Arthur movie.

Their stone carvings are scattered throughout Scotland. This one is in Abermenlo, Scotland, and serves as a fairly typical example:

Lots of geometric patterns and swirly designs. Circles, circles, circles.

So, I've loosely based today's outfits on the geometric pattern of the stone with a splash of blue. This dress is a hand-me-down from Erin again. I've never been a huge fan of dresses like these, but I liked the pattern on this one, so I decided to give it a try. The belt makes a huge improvement. Remember when I said I was giving up belts? Well, I guess I lied. Because sometimes belts are the most flattering thing in the world. I just had to figure out how I want to wear them.

St. John Chrysostom

2010-09-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

St. John Chrysostom lived in the mid-4th century and died in 407. He was born in Antioch in what is now Turkey and after his conversion to Christianity became one of the major church fathers as well as a renowned theologian and preacher. He developed a liturgy which many Orthodox, and even some Catholic churches, follow today. He also wrote a variety of hymns and homilies which also survive. Here is an icon of him from the Hagia Sophia church in Constantinople:

Since he was such a scholarly-type, I went with a scholarly outfit for the day - bun and all:

St. Notburga

2010-09-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

St. Notburga lived in Rattenburg, Austria in the 13th century. She was a cook in the house of a nobleman, and she used to sneak food to the poor. At another job she had, she refused to skip mass in order to work, and when her boss tried to insist on it, she threw her sickle up into the air and exclaimed, "Let my sickle be the judge between me and you!" The sickle miraculously remained suspended in the air. I presume her boss let her go to church after that, although the Catholic Encyclopedia does not mention it. In her iconography, she is often depicted with a sickle and/or flowers, and she is the patron saint of peasants. That's a nice medieval notion!

Well, medieval peasants make me think of earth tones: grays and browns. So, my outfit is gray and brown:

St. Gorgonius

2010-09-11T05:51:00.000-07:00

St. Gorgonius died in the early 4th century. Not very much of his biography is known, but we do know that he was a Christian persecuted during the reign of Diocletian. He and a group of other martyrs were tortured and died by strangulation. This slight bit of information comes from Eusebius, a church historian who also lived in the early 4th century.

Since the mode of death was strangulation, I decided a choker was appropriate. This particular choker was way too long when I bought it, so I didn't wear it for years. As I have mentioned before, I don't like to alter my stuff. Generally, if it's not the way I want it when I buy it, I end up not wearing it (so why do I buy it? That's a good question...). So, with my new change of heart about these things, I took a pair of pliers to this choker and made it fit my neck. Yay!

St. Nicholas of Tolentino

2010-09-08T19:21:00.000-07:00

St. Nicholas of Tolentino was an Augustinian monk who lived in Italy in the 13th century. He had many visions of Purgatory and is known for praying for the souls there. In his iconography, he is often depicted in the black robes of the Augustinian order and he is also often holding white lilies as he is in this picture. This statue is in the church at Tolentino:

So, I went with a black and white floral theme for the day in his honor:

These are the shoes I had labeled as Too Fancy For Work. I have entirely changed my mind on that matter. They may be Too Fancy For Rain and Tornadoes, however, so I may be switching them for my pirate boots, at least around campus.

St. Adrian of Nicomedia

2010-09-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

St. Adrian, like St. Sozon from yesterday, is an Orthodox saint, but he is also Kind of a Big Deal in the Catholic saint calendar. Both churches celebrate his feast day on Sept. 8.

The story goes that he was a Roman officer in the early 4th century serving as a bodyguard to Emperor Galerius in Nicomedia, which is now the city of Izmit in Turkey. Adrian participated in the torture of 22 Christians, and he was so impressed by their courage that he became a Christian himself. He was subsequently arrested and imprisoned, then executed.

I went with a military-ish look for today since St. Adrian started out as a Roman officer: fitted jacket, khaki skirt, and boots.

St. Sozon of Cilicia

2010-09-06T22:38:00.001-07:00

I didn't know this when I was doing my research, but St. Sozon is primarily an Orthodox saint, and as far as I can tell, he's not really a big deal in the Catholic church. His feast day is today in the Orthodox church calendar.

St. Sozon was a shepherd in the region of Cilicia, which is part of modern southern Turkey. As he was tending his sheep, he had a vision of his own martyrdom. In order to fulfill the vision, he walked to the Roman-controlled city of Pompeiopolis. When he reached the city, he entered one of the temples and broke off the hand of one of the golden idols then distributed it in pieces to the poor. When the Roman officials discovered it, they arrested him and tortured him by forcing him to wear boots with iron nails sticking into the soles as he walked to his own trial. At the trial, they beat him to death and were about to burn his body when it began raining, and they could not light a fire.

Here is a lovely icon of him:

I think it is very interesting how the Catholic martyrs are almost always depicted with a symbol of their martyrdom (ie, St. Bartholomew and his skin suit). I think this is so you can identify the saint. Makes total sense to me. But in this icon at least, there is no evidence of St. Sozon's martyrdom. If there wasn't a little label next to his head that said "Sozon," I'd probably think he was Jesus or someone. And then I wonder if the average Greek person (or Orthodox, more generally) in the Middle Ages was more likely to be literate than the average Westerner. I have no idea.

Anyway, on to the outfit. I have no spiky boots, which would have been ideal. So I did red for fire, blue for rain, and gold shoes and accessories for the vandalized idol:

St. William of Roskilde

2010-09-02T06:26:00.000-07:00

St. William of Roskilde was an Englishman who served as a missionary to Denmark in the 11th century. I couldn't find any really reliable sources on him except for the Catholic Encyclopedia which only states that he was bishop of Roskilde in Denmark from 1048-1076.

With so little information, I decided to focus on the location rather than the saint himself, and I incorporated the Danish flag into my outfit. I realize that Denmark wasn't really even a country in the 11th century, much less a country with a national flag, but I had to work with something. Here's a rendering of the Danish flag:

Pretty simple, so my outfit is also pretty simple:

However, it is raining today, so I've had to make a substitute shoe choice for walking around on campus. Those basket weave wedges will not stand up to the rain. So now I get a chance to show off my fantastic new rain boots! All the kids are wearing them. I love that they are pirate boots. Rain some more so I can wear them again!

St. Drithelm

2010-09-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

St. Drithelm lived in Northumbria in the late 7th century. He was a nobleman with a wife and family. He fell ill and died, but returned to life the next morning having seen hell, purgatory, and heaven. He then gave all his possessions away to his family and to the poor and became a monk in Scotland.

I've taken my inspiration today from his description of Purgatory as related in Bede's Ecclesiastical History: "it was a vast and delightful field, so full of fragrant flowers that the odor of its delightful sweetness immediately dispelled the stink of the dark furnace, which had pierced me through and through. So great was the light in this place, that it seemed to exceed the brightness of the day, or the sun in its meridian height. In this field were innumerable assemblies of men in white, and companies seated together rejoicing" (Book 5, Chapter XII)

This top is another hand-me-down from my friend Erin and fits the Purgatory bill exactly. White and flowery. When I got it, it had a giant ruffle around the collar. I'm not really a giant ruffle kind of girl, so I took it off. This is a huge step for me. Typically, if a piece of clothing is not exactly right as is, I don't wear it. However, I am learning to be more flexible. If I don't like a certain feature, I can change it. And if I still don't like it even after the change, it's no real loss because it's not like I was going to wear it anyway!

I also wanted to make a special mention of the necklace I'm wearing. It was a gift from my father-in-law who got it for me when he was in China last year. It is a very pretty green jade butterfly. Last summer I was having dinner with Erin and another friend Kelly and both were wearing floral prints with necklaces that had bunny pendants on them. They both told funny little stories about how they imagine their bunnies hopping through the flowers on their shirts. That stuck with me, and all day today I've imagined my little jade butterfly flitting through the flowers on my top. But hopefully not through Purgatory, because that would be sad.

St. Aidan of Lindisfarne

2010-08-31T05:47:00.000-07:00

St. Aidan of Lindisfarne was an Irish monk who served as a missionary to the people of Northumbria in the 7th century. He founded the monastery at Lindisfarne and he was buried there in 651. Today is his feast day.

The Venerable Bede, who wrote extensively of St. Aidan in his Ecclesiastical History, relates that during a raid on the monastery, St. Aidan's prayers caused the fires which the raiders had lit to blow back on themselves. Wikipedia claims that because of this incident St. Aidan is the patron saint of firefighters, although I haven't found anyone else who says that.

In any case, I went with it as inspiration for the outfit. Red!

St. Louis

2010-08-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

Saint Louis, aka King Louis IX of France, lived from 1214-1270, and unlike most of the other saints I've mentioned so far, he left behind a large historical record. Most of what I know about him comes from a memoir written by Jean de Joinville, who served with him on the Sixth Crusade. At one point in the book, Joinville gives a description of St. Louis' summer outfit:

"I have sometimes seen him, in summer, go to administer justice to his people in the public gardens in Paris, dressed in a plain camel-hair tunic, a sleeveless surcoat of linsey-woolsey, and a black taffeta cape round his shoulders, with his hair neatly combed, but no cap to cover it, and only a hat of white peacock's feathers on his head" (Life of St. Louis, p. 277)

So, I've taken my inspiration from this description. I have a plain yellow tee to emulate the camel-hair and a patterned sleeveless tunic over it. Alas! No black taffeta cape or white peacock feather hat!

St. Monica

2010-08-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

St. Monica was the mother of St. Augustine. She had a very close relationship to her son, and he tells several stories about her in his "Confessions." The most interesting one to me involved a brush with childhood alcoholism. Her parents asked her to fetch some wine from the cellar, and she snuck a sip or two and discovered she liked it. She continued to sneak down to the wine cellar for illicit sips of wine for for some time until one of her neighbors ratted her out. The shame was just too much for her and she quit drinking altogether.

Since she was born in Algeria, I went with more of an African theme for today's outfit. I realize Algeria is not very similar to sub-Saharan Africa, but I don't have any clothes that look North African. So, I went with animal print.

This top is a hand-me-down from my friend Erin and I got the skirt at Target like 6 years ago. The jewelry is all actually from Africa. J bought them for me when he went to West Africa in 2002. I bought the purse from a student last year, and I absolutely love it!

St. Bartholomew

2010-08-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

St. Bartholomew was one of the original 12 apostles. Although there are no really reliable sources for his martyrdom, one tradition holds that he died by being skinned alive. As a result, he is often shown in medieval iconography holding his own skin suit. Here's an image from a 12th century manuscript:

Rather than focus on the skin suit, I chose as my inspiration a miracle involving a silver statue of St. Bartholomew. As a group of people were transporting the statue, it became extremely heavy so they could no longer carry it. As they were standing around debating how to move the statue, the walls further down the road collapsed. If they hadn't stopped to deal with the statue, they would have been killed by the collapse.

So, today's outfit is a gray skirt with silver accessories and a metallic handbag.

Saints of the Day

2010-08-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

This summer I was planning my outfits for the semester (I do it in advance so I don't have to think about it at all while I'm in school) and also doing some potential dissertation research on medieval saints' lives when inspiration hit - why not combine the two? So, this semester's outfits - with only a handful of exceptions - are inspired by the life/death/miracles of medieval saints.

Today is St. Ebba of Coldingham. If she actually existed, then she was probably a nun at Coldingham Priory in Scotland in the late 9th century. The story goes that the Vikings were raiding the area and St. Ebba was afraid they would show up at the monastery and rape the nuns. In order to preserve their chastity, she and some of her fellow nuns cut off their noses and upper lips so that when the Vikings showed up, they would be disgusted. Their plan worked! But the disgruntled Vikings burned down the monastery anyway, and St. Ebba and her companions died in the flames. "They" say this is where the expression to "cut off your nose to spite your face" comes from.

So, here's today's outfit. Flame-inspired yellow and red.

Buyer's Remorse

2010-05-27T14:46:00.001-07:00

So, for those of you who discouraged us from buying a house - you were officially right. I am saying it. I would appreciate it if you would refrain from any nasty I told you so's.

For those of you who told us buying a house would be great, you were wrong. I am sorry that I went against my better judgment and convinced myself it would be a good idea.

Here's why (and this is just for 2010):

We just treated a huge carpenter ant infestation in March. So gross. Dead ant carcasses everywhere. Plus whatever damage they caused.

Now we have termites. Fantastic. And they're under the house which means that to treat them, they have to pull up our carpet and drill into the slab.

We also had a horrible infestation of flies, but I bought a fogger that seems to have killed them. I immediately got worried that we would discover a hidden nest of maggots like Julie did in Julie and Julia, but I have yet to find anything like that, thank God. I have also made precarious friends with a spider who likes to make a web in the corner of one of our windows. She killed A LOT of flies, and she is now a kind of unofficial pet. I haven't named her or anything. I have a healthy respect for her, and I'm tolerating her. As long as she stays put, we are fine. She has laid a few egg sacs that I've made J remove from her web. She might be OK, but hundreds of spiderlings are not. I thought spiders died after they lay eggs, but apparently "Charlotte's Web" was wrong about that (at least in the kind of spider I've got).

Also, the pool has broken several times this year already. I really do just want to drain it and fill it in. It's too small to exercise in (although we did buy an Aquajogger, much to my 13-year-old niece's embarrassment, I'm sure), so it's really just a paddle pool. So stupid and worthless.

We are contemplating repairing the damage to the house, then getting out of Dodge. We can sell half our furniture (or return it to the people who gave it to us), move back into an apartment or condo, and never have to deal with this crap again. Sounds nice. I really didn't want to have to spend my summer vacation dealing with this.

On a more positive note, I'm including some photos of what I wore to a friend's rehearsal and wedding last weekend in Colorado to keep with the fashion thing. I mostly just wear T-shirts and sweatpants around the house right now, and that's not really picture-worthy. Although, it might be kind of funny if I actually did take pictures of myself sitting on the couch in the same outfit three days in a row.

Fit Into Your Skinny Pants, Week 5

2010-05-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

Progress! Not a lot, but some. This was my last week of school, so from here on out there will be no skipping exercise (except for I'm out of town the several weekends, but I'm still going to try to walk and stuff - we'll see how that goes). I skipped twice this week again. It's just so hard to do when I'm commuting. I've kept pretty well to the diet, though. I definitely keep the calorie count down, but I do get lazy and still make bad choices. Like, instead of cooking a lean piece of beef and some veggies for dinner this week, I totally just heated up some taquitos. That's beef, right? Right. So, that was still in my calorie allowance, but it was not particularly a great choice. Anyway, I'm working very hard at this, and I'm encouraged that there is a small change in my measurements this week. Maybe it's working after all.

Waist: 29 in
Hips: 42 in
Thighs: 40 in

Fit Into Your Skinny Pants, Week 4

2010-04-30T09:31:00.001-07:00

No change. I did skip exercise twice this week, but otherwise have been doing well with the calories and exercise. Very frustrated.

Waist: 29
Thighs: 41
Hips: 42.5

Fit Into Your Skinny Pants, Week 3

2010-04-23T06:56:00.001-07:00

I have to admit I'm getting a little impatient with this. I've been doing this for three weeks now, and I guess I expected more of a difference in how I look already. I also realized that my scale was off, so I stupidly adjusted it and now it looks like I haven't lost any weight at all which is pretty discouraging. My measurements are lower, though, so I guess something is working the way it's supposed to.

I have kept up the exercise and the eating healthy again this week. I've been using Madonna Grimes African Beat Latin Heat for Beginners dance workout for my cardio exercise, and it is SO FUN. But, I've actually learned the routine well enough now that I'm ready to send it back and get a new one from Netflix. Dance workouts are the best, though, because you actually learn a dance routine instead of just bounce around doing stupid steps like the Grapevine for 40 minutes. I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something with the dance workout.

Anyway, despite my discouraged feelings, I'm going to keep it up. I figure I'll do it the healthy way for at least 6 weeks before I resort to abusing laxatives and starving myself (that is a joke, Mom).

Measurements:
Waist - 29 in
Hips - 42 1/2 in
Thighs - 41 in

Fit Into Your Skinny Pants, Week 2

2010-04-16T10:54:00.001-07:00

I did really well this week keeping to my calorie count and exercising. I do have one emendation which is that I'm not going to exercise on Sunday. I was so sore last week that I decided to skip a day, and then I decided I don't want to get totally burned out, so I'm just going to make that a rule.

I have eaten out three times this week, but I've been pretty good about my choices and portion control. I've lost three pounds in the last two weeks! Very good news.

Measurements:
Waist: 29
Hips: 43
Thighs: 42

I don't think I actually lost an inch and a half off of my hips - I was bloated last week, and that's where the water weight tends to show, so I'm not getting too excited about it. Plus the thigh measurement is up half an inch, which I'm just writing off as an inaccurate measurement. I don't want to get discouraged.

Fit Into Your Skinny Pants, Week One

2010-04-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

I'm joining a group of people who are committed to losing weight. Jonathan and I are going on a beach vacation this summer, and I am mortified at the thought of being in a bathing suit. So, that's my motivation for this change. It's good because it gives me a time limit and a weekly weight loss goal which makes it seem more manageable and concrete to me than just a generic "I need to lose some weight." Plus, I did the BMI calculation, and it says I'm just at overweight for my height which is unacceptable. PLUS, I am 32 years old, and I have never had any kind of consistent exercise. I want to live a long, healthy, productive life, and if I don't start good fitness habits now, it will just get harder and harder to make that kind of change.

The diet plan is the hardest part of this. I live in two places during the week, which means I either have to go grocery shopping in both places - which means some repeated items and wasted money, plus an extra trip to the grocery store which is practically hell in my book - or I have to pack food to take with me on my commute which takes a lot of time and organization. That's something I'm also a little short on. However, there's only a month of school left, so I'm sucking it up and doing a bit of extra work.

My typical meal plan:
Breakfast: cereal or 1 slice of toast with cheese; coffee
Snack: Fruit or yogurt
Lunch: sandwich, soup, salad, or sushi; fruit; glass of milk
Snack: Fruit or yogurt
Dinner: small serving of meat with vegetables

My exercise plan:
Alternate: 1 day of aerobic exercise (at least 40 mins) and 1 day of weights (30-40 mins)
Everyday: Walk 2.25 miles

Measurements this week:
Waist - 29 inches
Hips - 44 inches
Thighs - 41 1/2 inches

Easter Outfit

2010-04-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

I wore this to Easter lunch and also to work today. Except I wore boots to work because I still haven't painted my toenails.

Brown and Yellow #3

2010-04-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

Except I wore my gray and brown T-straps because I really need a pedicure! No open toes for me.

Green Fluevogs

2010-03-31T09:43:00.001-07:00

Tues, Mar 23

I just wore jeans and T-shirts to work for a week since my students had a research day, and then I had student conferences instead of holding class. I don't like to dress up for that, so no pictures. I only show work outfits on here since that's what I have trouble with.

Wed, Mar 31

My first time wearing these shoes! They are satin which makes me think they are super duper fancy, so I haven't worn them yet. Erin convinced me they weren't too fancy for school, so I'm wearing them today. I love them!!!

Spring is Here (Kind Of)

2010-03-22T09:23:00.001-07:00

Except I'm wearing tights and a jacket because it's COLD here.

Jon burned the last of the wood we chopped from our summer bush-whacking because he's convinced this is our last cold spell before the hot weather hits. I wish I were that confident. I plan out my outfits for the entire semester at the beginning of the term, and I've run out of winter outfits! It's short sleeves and bare legs from here on out, and this cold is absolutely unacceptable!

Mondrian

2010-03-18T15:23:00.001-07:00

I like this outfit. I wasn't sure I would, but I do. I got several comments about how patriotic I looked, but really it was more inspired by Piet Mondrian than by any sense of patriotism. I wish I had chosen my yellow purse or at least little yellow earrings to put in the little burst of yellow. I tried it with my black pumps, but it looked too severe, so I went with pewter.

Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow by Piet Mondrian, 1930

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T09:18:00.001-07:00

I actually altered my outfit schedule so I would be sure to wear green today. I opted not to wear the scarf. I think it looks matronly. I like scarves a lot, but I need to learn how to be more creative with them.

Remember when you were a kid and you got pinched if you didn't wear green on Mar 17? I liked that. I have distinct memories of Christopher Finley in the 1st grade pinching me, and it HURT! But I think in that weird kid way it also meant he liked me. To this day I think of Christopher Finley as the standard for hard pinches. As an adult, you can't just go around pinching people, and that's OK with me, but it does take some of the fun out of St. Patrick's Day.

Lavender

2010-03-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

I know I said I was done with belts, but this is one of the few that I really like. I'm having trouble putting it together in outfits, though. I like this one! I'm especially proud of it, because I tend to copy outfits I see on other people's blogs or whatever, and I made this one ALL BY MYSELF! And I like it! Quite an accomplishment for me.

Red Shoes

2010-03-15T19:56:00.001-07:00

I wore this at a dinner party the other night then to school today with a different cardigan. This is a strapless dress, and you can bet I safety pinned that sucker to that cardigan. No more embarrassing incidents for me! I learned my lesson.

Niagara Falls

2010-03-10T05:52:00.001-08:00

It's our 10th wedding anniversary this week, so we decided to kitsch it up as much as possible and go to Niagara Falls. It was really fun! We flew into Buffalo, NY and took a cab over the border to Canada. We stayed at the Marriott Fallsview and here was the view from our room!

You could even hear the Falls if you were standing right next to the window. We got in kind of late, so we didn't do anything the first day except go out to dinner and watch TV in our room. So relaxing and fun!

The next day we lounged around for quite a while, then walked around town a bit. We went to see the IMAX show about the history of Niagara Falls which I thought would be super cheesy. It was, I guess, but it was also good enough that we brought it up constantly for the rest of our trip. It was mostly about the people who've tried to go over the falls in barrels and other contraptions, aka Crazy People.

On Monday, we took a city tour which was good. We went up the big observation tower (of course!). Our driver took us down the river to where the huge rapids and giant whirlpool are, though they're not that scary right now since most of the river is frozen. Apparently in the summer, it's incredibly dangerous.

It was a great trip and a fun way to celebrate our anniversary!

Bad Week

2010-03-03T18:11:00.000-08:00

Except I wore a long-sleeved button down shirt which I liked a lot better than the one I'm wearing in the picture.

Except I forgot the white button down shirt at home, so it was not half as cute as this. Although I did add a camisole underneath so it didn't look so bunchy around the waist. I love the petticoat. I need to make more outfits with it. So fun!

I think this is my favorite outfit right now. I love it! It's so comfortable and I like the way it looks on me.

This has been a hard week. Jon was home sick with what he thinks is food poisoning on Mon and Tues. I had a presentation on Monday for my Victorian Poetry class on Matthew Arnold. I pretty much spend the whole weekend on it and stayed up almost all night on Sunday finishing it. Then, when it was time to go to class, my teacher was sick, and a different professor sat in on the class as a substitute. And he could only stay for an hour, so I had to condense the 2 hrs+ presentation I had into 50 mins. Which, if I were in high school, I would have been pleased about, but I worked really hard and felt very gypped. What a waste of my weekend!

On top of it all, I had insomnia and couldn't sleep even though I was exhausted, and it took me 4 hours to write a single page of response for my Middle English assignment the next day. When I got back to Dallas I broke down in tears and holed up in the back of the house.

Today was better - it certainly hasn't been the worst week ever, but it's been trying, and I always feel so lonely in Waco. Thank goodness it's Spring Break next week! Niagara Falls, here I come!

Wardrobe Malfunction

2010-02-22T19:13:00.000-08:00

Here's what I wore today:

Here's how it malfunctioned:

This is a strapless dress. Obviously a strapless dress is not appropriate for work. So, I wore a cardigan over it. And, because I was wearing the cardigan with one of the buttons buttoned, I just wore a normal bra because the cardigan covered it all up and you couldn't tell. THANK GOD.

I was writing on the chalkboard explaining how to do proper MLA in-text citations. I turn around to face the class and realize that the top part of the strapless dress had FALLEN DOWN, potentially exposing my boobs to the entire class. Now, as I mentioned before, I was wearing the cardigan and it was partially buttoned, so an indecent amount of flesh was not exposed. But I still had to excuse myself and go pull up my dress in the middle of class, and it was really embarrassing. Not as embarrassing as it could have been, but still. Not exactly what I was hoping for, and next time I wear it, I will safety pin the dress to the bra so this does not happen again! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Upper Respiratory Infection

2010-02-17T16:12:00.000-08:00

I've got one. It sucks. Here's the backlog of pictures:

Thurs, Feb 11

Wed, Feb 17

I'm Done With Belts

2010-02-09T11:09:00.000-08:00

Mon, Feb 8

Except I wore a long-sleeved sweater instead.

Tues, Feb 10

Except I wore brown tights and forgot the necklace at home!

I've gone considerably out of my comfort zone this semester experimenting with belts. I think I'm done with them. The days I've worn them I've felt weird and self-conscious all day, and I don't like how the pictures look either. So, I'm retiring from belt experimentation. Maybe not forever. I have one or two that I really like. But, you know, in general. No more belts.

The Commute is Getting to Me

2010-02-03T14:11:00.001-08:00

Tues, Feb 2

Wed, Feb 3

Wednesday's skirt is too short for work, but I wore it anyway with double tights so they were really opaque. The English Office secretary complimented me. I hope she was sincere, and not really thinking "That skirt is indecent!" I'd hate if it's my fault that everyone gets a dress code e-mail.

Now for my commute woes. I haven't minded the commute at all since I started driving to Waco. Living out of a suitcase has bothered me, and not seeing J has bothered me, and missing my dog, etc., but the driving has been OK. I get to practice my classroom lectures, listen to books on audio, sing along to my iPod and all that good stuff. But this semester I've had a problem leaving on time. For some reason or another, I cannot get out the door and I've been consistently late. So, I've had to park on campus illegally, run to the English building, and start class 5 mins late, then excuse myself to go print stuff out or make copies or whatever. Sooooo unprofessional. Plus it stresses me out the whole time I'm driving, thinking "I'm going to be late, I'm going to be late, I'm going to be late."

So, today I left 40 mins earlier which was going to give me time to do everything I needed to do plus sit around in the office for a while. Except there was a HUUUUGE accident on I-35, and it took me almost an hour just to get out of Dallas. So, then I was running 10 mins late and I was stressed out and upset. I just cannot win. I am tired of it. I know it's my fault, too (well, not today - sometimes stuff just happens), but I'm tired of worrying about driving, and traffic, and all that. Boo.

Not My Favorite Outfit

2010-02-01T17:57:00.001-08:00

Mon, Feb 1

I don't like this outfit for several reasons. I actually wore it today with brown tights instead of the trouser socks, and I liked the tights better, so that was a good thing. And I wore a brown geometric necklace with it. The main reason I think I don't like it is the belt. My friend Erin helped me improve this outfit - she suggested I put the belt on the inside of the sweater instead of over it, which was genius. And the skirt is too big, so she suggested I safety pin it to my bra so it would be a better length. Like I said, genius. But, despite her excellent advice, I still felt uncomfortable in it all day, and I think it has to do with the belt placement. Everyone says to put the belt on top of your ribcage, which is what I did, but that makes me feel weird. And it makes me look stumpy. I tried putting the belt on my actual waist, but then you could see the line of my skirt (which was pinned to my bra) through the tank top, and I thought that looked worse. I don't think I'm going to wear this again. No like-y.

Gem of the Day

2010-01-26T11:36:00.000-08:00

Tues, Jan 26

Here is a lovely sentence from one of my students' rough drafts. Her topic is racial discrimination on US Census forms:

"Before they even characterized themselves as Negros, people of that race would check the “slave” box due to the fact that white was the only race that was important during the late 1700s. "

OMG.

Signs of the Times

2010-01-25T17:45:00.000-08:00

First off, the fashion photo:

Mon, Jan 25

Next, a little diatribe:

Tonight in my "Victorian Poetry" class, my teacher started talking about how the Victorians lived in a time period "with all these issues - religious issues, scientific issues..." She was actually making a very good overall point which is why I didn't make this comment in class, but the vagueness of her description of the "issues" made me uncomfortable. Every era has issues - religious issues, scientific issues... The difference is what those issues are, and perhaps those issues even to some degree define the boundaries of that era. Now it's gay marriage, stem cell research, and are video games rotting our brains? In the early Modern era, it was the Reformation, dissecting the human body, and is the novel rotting our brains? In the Middle Ages, it was celibacy of the clergy, germ theory, and are those pesky minstrels rotting our brains? I find myself really needing to do extra reading to get a historical perspective on the Victorian era and to understand its "issues." But I really don't want to.

Thurs, Jan 21

2010-01-21T05:14:00.000-08:00

Wed, Jan 20

2010-01-20T15:08:00.000-08:00

Posting Pictures Here Now

2010-01-18T12:33:00.001-08:00

Instead of facebook, because the pictures are easier to upload. Here are 2 of my outfits from last week. I haven't done the photo session for this semester yet:

Wed, Jan 13

Thurs, Jan 14

2 Funny Things

2009-11-19T07:40:00.000-08:00

1) I tripped in the elevator today in front of the former head of my department. He accused me of being drunk at work. He was kidding, I think, but it was pretty embarrassing, especially since I had never actually spoken to him before. I'm undoubtedly labeled in his head as "That Drunk Girl."

2) Julie looked me up on rateyourprofessor.com. I have never done this myself because I am a coward who fears criticism. She told me I had a chili pepper, though, which means a select group of 18-year-old boys thinks I'm hot. Hey, I'll take compliments where I can get them.

Chicago

2009-11-02T07:03:00.000-08:00

I loved Chicago when I went for the first time in 2005. We had such a good time that I was fully expecting this time to be a little disappointing, but it wasn't!!!

Our trip to Chicago was fabulous and very relaxing. We got there Friday and went straight to our hotel which was right on Michigan Avenue and very nice. We had lunch at Gino's East and ate deep dish pizza. The restaurant was very fun - they let people write all over the walls, so everything is covered in graffiti, and I liked that part a lot. The pizza sauce was great, but the crust was this weird yellow crispy cornbread-like crust. I did not like it.

That night we went to the Improvised Shakespeare Company at improv Olympic. I had watched a clip online and did not think it looked that funny. It was a clip of three guys prancing around the stage looking very obnoxious, and I didn't want to subject myself to 90 minutes of that. But, I agreed to go, and I'm happy to say it was really, really funny. There are 5 guys who do the show. At the beginning, they take a play title suggestion from the audience, then they make up a play in two acts right on the spot using Elizabethan English. It was mighty impressive.

On Saturday, we met up with Cassie and took a cab down to the University of Chicago. She has a former student (whom J and I happen to know as well) who is getting her Master's there and works at the art museum on campus. We ate lunch together and then went to the museum. We walked back to the metro through Washington Park which was FULL of giant geese and then rode up to visit with Cassie and Tim at Tim's brother's house in one of the neighborhoods north of the city.

Sunday, we had tickets to the Cleveland Browns vs. Chicago Bears game. Tim is a lifelong Bears fan, so we had invited him along. Unfortunately, he'd gotten food poisoning the day before, so he felt terrible, but he totally bucked up and came to the game with us. And he didn't even hurl. It was quite an accomplishment if you ask me. The Bears pretty much creamed the Browns. It was still very fun, though, and we had good seats on the 50-yard line on the upper deck, so we could see everything very well.

We ate dinner at Giordano's, whose pizza sauce is not as good as Gino's East, but whose crust is amazing. I'm a crust girl, so I have to say I like Giordano's better. There's a third pizza restaurant I want to try in Chicago, but I can't remember the name of it. I'll have to try it next time I go. Because I totally want to go back! Chicago is a fantastic city! I loved it again!

Fit of Hysterics

2009-10-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last night at midnight I took my dog out into the backyard. As I walked out there barefoot, I saw a huge slug on the ground. "Don't step on that," I thought to myself, remembering this one time that my foot brushed a slug outside and I felt its slime on my foot for days afterward.

Toad, of course, did not want to go out in the rain, so I had to pick him up and force him onto the grass. He puttered around a bit and decided to go back to the door. I successfully avoided the slug, picked Toad up, and put him back on the grass. Then my husband came to the door, and Toad just gave up trying. Distracted, I walked back to the door. There was a sound like a twig snapping, and I looked down. It was not a twig snapping - it was me stepping on the slug, and the slug POPPING AND SPEWING SLUG GUTS EVERYWHERE!!!!

I went completely crazy. My mind actually separated from my body, and I had no control over myself anymore. I watched myself scream, run into the house, high kick my foot into the sink to wash it off, and begin dry heaving into the other side. My husband says he knew exactly what had happened, and he wasn't that worried. In fact, he immediately began to make fun of me which made me laugh, so I was screaming, crying, dry heaving, and laughing all at the same time.

I have never experienced anything like that before, and now I know what they mean when they say "fit of hysterics." So that's what that feels like!

Why Haven't You People Told Me...

2009-09-16T20:21:00.000-07:00

...that Kurt Vonnegut is awesome? People always say, "Oh, he's brilliant." Or "He's such a GOOD writer!" So, I'm always like, "I'm not in the mood for brilliant writing right now. I'd rather read stories about vampires who fall in love with girls who have Elektra complexes." What everyone in my entire life has failed to mention is that Kurt Vonnegut is funny. This is all you had to say. If you will recall, I read "The Kite Runner" because someone said, "Oh, that book is so funny." Sold! I totally didn't think it was going to be funny, and I was absolutely right, but my point is that the only reason I read it is because someone told me it was funny. And to think, I could have been reading Kurt Vonnegut instead...

Did You Know?

2009-09-11T11:48:00.000-07:00

In the Middle Ages, beavers were hunted for their testicles which were believed to have medicinal properties. There are a ton of manuscripts depicting beavers biting off their own testicles in order to escape the clutches of hunters. Here are two particularly awesome (and graphic) pictures of it. Enjoy.

The Royal Family

2009-08-31T06:04:00.000-07:00

Jon and I got season tickets to "Theatre Three" in Dallas, and Friday was the first show of the season. It was a play from 1927 written by Edna Ferber called "The Royal Family." It was about a theatre dynasty and the struggles that each generation goes through dealing with how their career choice affects their personal lives. It was a comedy, and it was pretty amusing, although I think some of it could have been done better. There were several standouts in the cast, including the woman who played the matron of the family and the man who played the family's business manager. Both hit their jokes with a certain degree of subtlety and sounded like they were actually saying their lines for the first time rather than the 200th. The worst part of the play - well, to me, anyway - was the actor playing the brother who decides to make a career in film rather than on the stage. The guy basically did a "Mork" impersonation the whole time. No good. No good. I couldn't understand the greater part of what he said, and his grimacing and posturing all over the stage seriously detracted from what little I could understand. I couldn't wait for him to get off the stage.

To make things worse, during the second act, some guy switched seats so he was sitting right behind me, and he laughed like a loon at anything and everything Mork did. I wanted to turn around and say, "Really?" Plus, he had the swine flu or something and he snorted in my ear the entire second act. Kind of gross. Also, at any given point during the performance, you could count about three people asleep in the audience. And it was really obvious because it's a tiny theatre in the round, and I felt so bad for the poor actors trying not to be discouraged by the big fat lady asleep on the front row. At least no one started snoring.

Overall, the play was pretty average. There were some funny parts, and then some parts that were supposed to be funny, I think, but the actors kind of played it a little too realistic so I actually felt bad for them for dealing with a real problem rather than laughing at them for being ridiculous. It's a fine line, folks. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season and hope Mork doesn't make any more appearances!

The First Bag I Ever Loved

2009-08-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

I don't tend to like things like handbags. I pretty much have two or three that I switch between every few months, and they're all pretty neutral and boring. But functional. As I was doing my fall wardrobe cleanout, I found the old white purse that I bought at Sam Moon (the one and ONLY time I will ever go there) and saw how dirty it was. I tried to wipe it off with plain water which did not work, then I remembered a trick I learned when my mom and I were cleaning up some of my old dolls: hairspray. It cleans vinyl like nobody's business. So, I got out an old bottle of hairspray and starting cleaning it. It worked great, but as I was wiping away, I realized, "I hate this purse. I want a purse that I don't have to clean with hairspray." So, I went online expecting to find some passable purse that could replace my super cheap and ugly old one.

As I was browsing the Anthropologie sale page, I found the most beautiful bag I've ever seen. It's called the "Alabaster Crackle Bag." Alabaster. I like the sound of it. It was on sale for way more than I felt was wise to spend - just like everything always is at that store - so I put it in my shopping cart and decided to sleep on it. If I woke up still wanting it, I would talk to Jon about buying it.

Well, I woke up and still wanted it. I logged on to the website only to discover that they had sold out of it overnight. What? Seriously? Yes. I was pretty disappointed, but thought maybe I could wait a while then buy one on ebay if it was available. Skip to the next day when I went shopping with my mom. We walked into Anthropologie and lo and behold, they had the bag! I got to see it in person, hold it, feel it, examine the lining, and it just made me want it even more. I have never been so attached to a handbag before. I was still waffling on the price, however. I decided to leave it again. If I woke up and still wanted it, I would drive back to the store and if it was still there, I would take it as a sign that God wanted me to have the purse, and I would buy it. Good theology, I know.

I woke up the next morning, still thinking about the purse, so I called Northpark. The bag had been sold! Noooooo! So, I called Highland Park Village. No bag there. Then I called The Shops at Willow Bend. They had it! One left! I asked the saleslady to hold it and drove over there to pick it up as soon as they opened.

Today is its inaugural day. It's beautiful. I love it. I don't want anything to happen to it. I dread spilling my coffee on it or some such thing. The first bag I ever loved.

Awesome Dream

2009-08-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

I dreamed last night that my mom and I went to go see "Mary Poppins" the musical. We had bought very good seats, but when we got there no one was sitting in their assigned seats, and we just had to mill around for a while. As we were standing around, I noticed that Steve McQueen was standing in front of us. He noticed us, too, and totally started hitting on me. YES! I love you, Steve!

Day 9 - Granada

2009-08-13T06:38:00.001-07:00

Our last day! We got up early and went to the bus station since that is the best way to travel between Malaga and Granada. I was a little apprehensive, since I know the American bus system is not really much to brag about. Not so for the Spanish. The bus was very clean, comfortable, and well air conditioned. The tickets were also pretty inexpensive. No complaints at all! After about a two hour ride, we made it to Granada.

The whole reason for us going to Granada was to visit the Alhambra, the last palace of the Arab leaders before they were run out of Spain in 1492. When I was getting my Master's degree, I wrote a paper on the painted ceilings in the Hall of the Kings, and it was really difficult to find good images of them. I was really excited to get to see them in person and perhaps take some good pictures of them to pass on to my former art history professor.

When we arrived in Granada, we headed straight for this little tourist desk in the middle of the bus station. We asked the girl there how to get to the Alhambra. She asked, "Do you already have tickets?" Um, no. "Then you have a lot of work to do today! Here is the website (she handed us a little brochure with a map), and there is an internet cafe. You have to check and see if they still have tickets available for today. Probably not. I think it's better if you stay the night here in Granada and try to go tomorrow. Today you can ride the tourist bus and see the monuments of Granada." Panic immediately set in. What?!? We had to buy tickets in advance?!? We can't stay until tomorrow! We have to get on a plane to Texas tomorrow! This is our LAST CHANCE!

We went into the internet cafe and paid for 10 minutes (50 euro cents). I went to the website on the brochure, and sure enough, it said they were sold out for that day. We were sitting there, disappointment beginning to overwhelm us, when the guy next to us said, "You don't need advance tickets. I was there yesterday. You just walk up and they let you in. You should go try to get in." That's really all the encouragement we needed, so we took a cab up there. It was an expensive ride. If you go to Granada, I recommend you take the city bus to get around. It's way more economical.

There was a bit of a line, but I was encouraged that there WAS a line. It's not like they were turning people away. There was a little sign that said you could only gain admittance to the Nasrid palace (that's the oldest part) at the time written on your ticket. As we got closer to the front of the line, I saw a sign that said "Cash only" and began to panic again. We had just blown half our cash on the cab fare up here, and there weren't any ATMs in sight. Luckily, the combined cost of tickets was 24 euros, and y'all, we had 25 euros!!! Phew! Plus, I discovered later that there totally was an ATM nearby, it was just in the advance ticket retrieval office, so we would have been fine. I was so excited about getting in that every tiny obstacle seemed like a huge hurdle I had to overcome.

So, tickets bought, they let us in! We were on our way! Here I come, Hall of the Kings! We showed up at the Nasrid palace when we were supposed to and began to make our way there. We passed through all the famous rooms - the Mexuar palace, the Hall of the Ambassadors, the Courtyard of the Myrtles. I started to go crazy with the camera taking pictures of all the beautiful details on the walls when I noticed the "Low Battery" light coming on. Nooooooo! Luckily, we had brought a backup camera. I asked Jonathan about it, and he said, "We left the other camera back at the hotel." What?!? Why didn't I think to bring it? Panic, panic, panic. So, I kind of stopped taking pictures so that I would be sure to be able to get a photo of my ceiling paintings.

We finally got to the Courtyard of the Lions - probably the most photographed part of the palace - only to discover that the famous lion fountain AND my paintings were under restoration and were NOT ON DISPLAY. AAAAAAAAAAAH! I cried. Jonathan was so sweet to me, too. He was like, "Well, next time we come..." And this was his second time to visit the Alhambra. I said, "You don't want to come again! You're just being nice!" But he kept saying stuff like, "When we come back, we'll do this part first..." and "After we buy our apartment in Spain, you can come here with your friends..." It really did make me feel better. After all, it was 12 years in between visits for him. There's hope for me to see it again. Maybe by then they'll be done with the restoration. Ha!

Here's a picture of the pavilion where the paintings usually are. As you can see, it's covered in scaffolding and there are all kinds of ropes and big pieces of plywood denying you access. Boooooooo! Although I will say, I'm glad they are being restored. I do want them to be preserved for future generations. I just wish it hadn't been on my time, you know?

Eventually, I sucked it up and decided to enjoy the rest of the day despite my crushing disappointment. After living in Paris, I knew that this just happens sometimes. You travel all the way across an ocean to see something, and then the museum workers decide to strike on the day you want to see the Mona Lisa or whatever. Denied. Or you can't go to the top of the Eiffel Tower because it's too windy. Seriously.

Happily, there's plenty to see at the Alhambra besides that fountain and those paintings, and we had a really fun rest of the day together, walking around and laughing. A great way to tie up our vacation! Now, where are we going next?

Day 8 - Malaga

2009-08-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

We slept until after 11:00, and it was fabulous! After breakfast, I went upstairs and took a nap which was also fabulous. Then we started walking around the city.

First of all, let me say, Malaga is beautiful. I had been to Spain twice before and really liked it both times, but for some reason, I have always still thought of it as somehow less than the rest of Western Europe. I don't really know why. After being in Malaga, though, I will never think that again. Spain is gorgeous and fun to visit. Maybe if we never have kids, we'll get an apartment there. For serious. I love it.

So, we just kind of wandered around, loosely following a walking tour we found online. Malaga is the birthplace of Picasso, so they have a Picasso museum there which was really the only thing I knew about to do there. We did go, and it's a very different collection of his work than I have ever seen. Most of the works were donated by Picasso's family members, so there are a lot of sketches and studies for other paintings as well as a lot of his later work. Jonathan and I both really loved one particular painting called "Minotaur with Glass," but alas! it was not available in the gift shop and I've been looking for it online, too, and it's not there either! So, we settled for buying a poster of another painting we both liked called "Bather."

Just like I thought I knew how I felt about Spain, I also thought I knew I wasn't a big Picasso fan. But after we bought this poster, I realized I now have three Picasso posters for my house. I guess I have to realize that I am actually a fan. I think the problem is that when I go to a museum, I get a little sensory overload and don't appreciate everything I'm seeing. But when I go to a small museum or exhibit that is dedicated to one artist or style of painting, I can absorb it. That's when I've found these posters I like. With Picasso, there is almost always one that really makes me think and that I know I won't getting tired of looking at.

From the museum, we went to a little bar called "El Pimpi" that seriously had the best sangria I've ever tasted for less than 2 euros a glass. And apparently Antonio Banderas goes there a lot (he's also from Malaga). He had autographed one of the wine barrels and they had his picture up. Sounds silly, but it wasn't really over the top. If you ever go to Malaga, I suggest you stop by and taste their delicious sangria. So good!

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Alcazaba which is the fortress built by the Arab rulers and seeing some of the Roman ruins. Beautiful!

For dinner, I had migas which are completely different in Spain than here (they're better here), and Jonathan had monkfish which looks totally crazy. I had a dream about it last night. Here's a photo. He, of course, did not eat that whole thing.

Day 7 - Trains, Boats, and Automobiles

2009-08-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

We got up super early to catch our train to Tangier and said our goodbyes to Ali and Tasneem. Thanks, you two, for being such fun and gracious hosts. We appreciate everything you did to make our trip so comfortable and enjoyable. Now we have to plan our trip to India! Or France! We'll definitely plan a trip to Boston once you get back. We loved all the long talks and playing with Zahra. You're so fun to be friends with! Thanks for having us.

Once we got to Tangier, we took a cab straight to the ferry port so we knew what time our boat left for Spain. It turns out we only had about an hour, so we didn't really have a chance to explore Tangier. It seemed like a nice enough city. We only got one picture, though, because they didn't allow photographs at the port. I guess they don't want people to be able to take pictures and figure out how to smuggle stuff in/out of the country? So, we took a photo from the ferry as we were sailing away.

The ferry ride was just over an hour long, and we passed right by the Rock of Gibraltar. Jonathan was disappointed that they didn't have a giant British flag painted on the hillside or whatever. I told him we should try to go over there and see if they would let us in, and if they asked us why, we could tell them we wanted to see the monkeys. I have since discovered that people do that ALL the time, and now I kind of wish we'd done it. Ah, well. Next time.

We arrived in Algeciras and had a few options: walk with all our suitcases to the bus station, get a ticket to Malaga, then walk to our hotel there; take a cab to the bus station; hop in a car with some stranger who offered to drive us to Malaga for half the cab fare; or just take a cab all the way to Malaga. Jonathan was very tempted by the mysterious stranger. I was not. I was like, "No way am I getting in a car with some strange Spanish man with my suitcase, passport, and credit cards. I don't care how good a deal it is." In the end, we decided we were tired and travel-weary, and we just paid a cab to take us right to our hotel's doorstep in Malaga.

We got in the cab, and the difference from Moroccan cabs was amazing. Moroccan cabs are the oldest, cheapest cars they can find - usually an old Mercedes or Fiat with no air conditioning, no seat belts, and dirty interiors. Plus, the drivers don't always know where they're going. They know neighborhoods, but you have to kind of tell them where to go once you're in the general area. The Spanish cab was a brand new air-conditioned Audi with a leather interior. When the driver asked for the address, I gave it to him and asked if he knew the neighborhood. He said, "No, but I've got a GPS," and he proceeded to use it. The drive was about two hours, and cost a pretty penny, but it may be some of the best money I've ever spent. No regrets.

Our hotel in Malaga was very nice and right within walking distance of everything. We left off exploring for the next day, but did go out for dinner that night and found this hilarious turkey hand sculpture. So weird!

Day 6 - Volubilis and Moulay Idriss

2009-08-10T06:57:00.001-07:00

We got up super early to go see a nearby Roman outpost called Oualili in Arabic. The Romans mutated the name into Volubilis. Apparently the town was inhabited until the 18th century, but since then it has been damaged by an earthquake and also scavenged for building materials for other nearby towns. It was still pretty neat, though. You can really see the layout of the town: where the roads are, where the houses were, how big they were, etc. There are quite a few immaculately preserved floor mosaics as well.

After Volubilis, we drove over to Moulay Idriss which is a tiny little town with a very large shrine and mausoleum to Idriss I, an 8th century ruler and the founder of Fes. It was a very pretty town with very few tourists. Of course, we were not allowed into the shrine, since it is one of the holiest places for Moroccan Muslims. Apparently, 5 trips to Moulay Idriss counts as one haj (trip to Mecca). That's how important of a religious site it is.

I was willing to walk around the town a bit since we were there, but of course some guy walks up to us and offers to take us up to a terrasse where there was a good view. I was immediately against it. Why? 1) Because our cab driver had already taken us up to a hillside where we got an excellent view of the city, and I didn't believe this new view was going to be significantly better. 2) I didn't want to pay this guy to take us on a walk when I was perfectly capable of walking by myself. 3) I was tired of being ripped off and I just knew this guy wasn't going to charge us a fair price. But, Ali and Jonathan said yes before I could really voice my objections, and off we went. And, y'all, it was far. Every time we turned a corner, and we were still going uphill, I stopped and glared at my companions and voiced a complaint. So, yes, I was grumpy and not a good sport at all. We finally made it to the top of the hill, and the view was nice, but I think I still would rather have walked around by myself for free.

Anywho, here's a list of some interesting things we saw:

Donkeys walking up and down the streets in a caravan with no one leading them. They were laden with bags of sand or something, and they knew their route so well they didn't need anyone to tell them where to go. Pretty cool.

Bakers baking bread by hand. They have a particular kind of bread that you see everywhere, and we saw them actually making it which was neat-o.

Two kids spinning thread. One kid was at one end of the street holding the threads up as high above his head as he could get them. Another kid had a little hand held machine that wove the threads together. They took up the whole side of the street. It was pretty neat to see that, too.

So, despite my complaining, it was a very charming town and I'm glad we went. We cut the day kind of short and took the train back to Fes. Our last night in Morocco! We ate pizza and watched more movies. Good times!

Day 5 - More Fes

2009-08-07T05:18:00.000-07:00

The plan was to get up early and visit the tanneries, but we had already done that, so we slept in and took it easy before wandering back into Fes medina.

The reason my friend Ali is in Morocco is he wrote his Master's thesis on these bells that the Arab kings brought back to Morocco after they conquered Spain. They originally hung in a Spanish church, but now they have been converted into lamps and they hang in the Kairouine mosque in Fes as spolia, or war booty (feel free to post corrections if I'm wrong, Ali!). Now Ali has a Fulbright scholarship to study them in person. Anyway, I edited his thesis at least twice, so I feel like I'm pretty invested in these bells, too. Seeing them was the #1 thing I wanted to do in Fes.

However, there are a couple of hurdles I had to overcome. First, I'm not a Muslim, so I'm not allowed in any of the mosques in Morocco. This is not the case in other countries, but for some reason Morocco is very serious about it. They do open the doors of the mosque at prayer time, though, in order to let everyone in, so we had to time our visit to coincide with that if I was going to see them. We ended up getting there at exactly the right time, and one of the lamps was hanging right near the entrance. With a little help from my camera's zoom, I got a pretty good picture, although Ali says you can't really see the bell part unless you're standing right under it.

Success! I was so excited!

Next, we tried to find the Belghazi Museum which I had heard was a beautiful Moroccan art museum. We ran into one of the ladies who had offered to help us the day before (not the one who took us to the wrong terrasse), and she started guiding us to the museum. It was really pointless, though, because there were actually signs with arrows telling you how to get there. I was pretty grumpy about it, since I knew she would expect us to tip her for leading us to a place we could have just gotten to by ourselves. Once we arrived, the museum was closed for restoration. Little did I know it, but this was to be a recurring theme on this vacation (dum dum DUM! Nice foreshadowing, eh?).

So, we just kind of wandered around after that trying to find the exit. I made several attempts to photograph the many donkeys laden with goods walking up and down the alleys, but I just wasn't quick enough. I finally found one who was standing still, though, and his owner let me take a picture. There are so many donkeys in the medina that they have put up donkey bars to keep them out of certain areas. I'm not sure why they want to keep them out, but they do, so every once in a while you have to duck under a huge piece of timber.

We also went into the Medersa Bou Inania. It was tiny but very pretty. I was so hot, though, I kind of just stood against the wall the whole time.

We took a little break at a restaurant, and it was so hot I started fanning myself with the ashtray.

After we were done at the medina, Ali took us up a hill outside of the city to the Merenid tombs. The Merenids were a dynasty of Moroccan rulers in the Middle Ages. Their tombs are in shambles now, but the view from the hillside is pretty amazing and well worth the cab fare up there. Ali put on his scholar cap as he explained to us about the history of the city and pointed out the oldest parts. Fes still has most of its medieval wall, and we got a really good view of it as well as the rest of the city.

That evening, Ali and Tasneem's maid Fatima prepared us a huge meal of harira which is a kind of chickpea soup, and couscous with vegetables. It was so neat to have such an authentic meal, and it was delicious on top of that. Then we all watched "The House Bunny" which was not really an authentic Moroccan experience, but it was still really fun!

Day 4 - Fes

2009-08-06T04:41:00.000-07:00

We took this day really easy and mostly just lounged around Ali and Tasneem's apartment until the sun started to go down a bit. But, then, we ventured into the Fes Medina. In Arabic, medina just means "city," but in Morocco it also means the oldest part of the city. Fes Medina has been around since the Middle Ages, and it apparently hasn't changed that much. The streets are extremely narrow - in some places only wide enough for one person at a time, and they wind around in a sort of labyrinth that is nearly impossible to navigate. It was kind of awesome!

Obviously they can't drive cars down these narrow streets, so there were a lot of donkeys. It was set up like the Marrakech souqs in that there were just stalls and stalls of vendors, but I got the impression that the people in the stalls also actually made the merchandise since several times we passed by artisans handcrafting their wares. Also, the vendors did not harrass us. Many of them kind of shouted out to us to come look in their store, but when we said no, they left us alone.

The medina is broken up into these small public squares where the streets meet, and there is a public water fountain in nearly all of them.

In the end, we decided to go to the tanneries. However, getting there proved difficult. It's a big attraction, so a lot of people approach and offer to take you there, especially children. You can't go onto the tannery floor; you have to go up on someone's balcony and look down on it. So, we agreed to let an older lady take us up to a "terrasse" where we could look down on the tanneries. She took us to a staircase, accepted a small tip, and left. We climbed the staircase and ended up in a rug shop. The people there let us up onto their roof where they said they had a great view. They did, I guess, but not of the tanneries! Swindled! We took a bunch of pictures of Fes anyway, then wandered back downstairs only to discover that the shop owners expected payment. Ali talked them down from whatever exorbitant price they were asking to the equivalent of about $2. So, we paid two people to take us to see absolutely nothing. Ugh!

We finally made it, though, and got there around 6:30 or so. I had read in several places not to go in the afternoon because they use pigeon poo to treat the leather, and when it has been baking in the sun all day long, it STINKS. As you might imagine poo would. We braved it anyway, and it did smell pretty bad, but it was not as bad as I was expecting from reading other people's comments about it. Wussies. While we were there, they told us they also treat it with cow urine. I, of course, bought a handbag there. Who could resist that combo?

The brown ones are the poo vats. The white ones are chalk. That big wooden drum at the bottom middle of the picture is a giant laundry vat for washing the leather.

These are the skins being hung out to dry.

These are the dyes. We were there the day before they changed the colors, so it's hard to see. You can see orange in the back left and green in the front left.

Day 3 - More Marrakech

2009-08-05T05:18:00.000-07:00

Jonathan and I came up with a nice little plan for this day that worked out pretty well, although we ended up having to cut a couple of things out in order to make our train to Fes that evening.

1) We took a taxi to the Medersa Ben Youssef which is in the old part of town which is pedestrian only. So, our taxi driver dropped us off, and was like, "Go straight, then turn left. You can't miss it." Right. So, some dude started talking to us and told us he would take us to the medersa, so we followed him a bit. His route seemed circuitous, though, so Jon pulled out a map, and the guy got kind of offended that we didn't trust him. He did eventually lead us to the right place, and Jonathan tipped him with a baseball cap. Best. Idea. Ever.

The medersa is a school for studying the Quran. Kind of like a seminary, I guess. It's really just made up of one big central courtyard with some rooms surrounding, and then there's a dormitory area for the students. They advertised that there was a museum there, so we wandered around until we saw two rooms set up as though students were living there. One of the rooms was the "Rural Student's Room" and the other one was the "Urban Student's Room." They both had little desks on the floor and some teapots and stuff. The main difference was that they had different teapots. And that was the whole museum. As Ali would say, "Pretty underwhelming." But, the building was still beautiful, and we had a lot of fun waving at each other from the courtyard windows.

2) Next we went to some other museum with this giant copper lamp. It was just a few buildings down from the medersa. It had some art and ceramics and stuff, and it was included in the ticket price of the medersa.

3) From there, we went to this domed building that is one of the few remaining examples of Almoravid architecture. The Almoravids were one of the ruling dynasties in the 11th-12th centuries in Morocco. When we went down into the building, we discovered that it is actually an ancient latrine. Very nice!

4) To get home, we wandered back to the Djemaa el Fna through the souqs. The souqs are like a giant marketplace where vendors sell anything and everything. The best thing about them, though, is they are covered! Precious shade!

5) After lunch back at our riad, we went out to the Saadian tombs. These are tombs from the 16th century of one of the ruling families in Marrakech. When the sultan died, his successor had the tombs covered over, and they weren't discovered again until 1917. So, they are in fabulous condition since they were undisturbed for so long. They're very small, but very beautiful.

6) Finally, we went to the Bahia Palace which is an 18-19th century palace. I loved this place. It was humongous and gorgeous and there were orange trees and fountains everywhere. I could totally live there. The story goes that the guy who built it was such a jerk that the minute he died, his family swooped in and cleaned the place out. So, there's no furniture left or anything, but it's still lovely.

Our second day in Marrakech was much better than the first! We ended it by eating KFC in the train station before taking the 7 hour train ride to Fes. Ali bought this hat from an old man on the street and Tasneem was mortified by it. I think it's hilarious.