January 2014 Blog Party, 1-11-14 entry

Happy 2014 Blog Party to all you invisible readers!

This was a thing started by my best friend and creative partner Stephanie Ann on her World Turn'd Upside Down blog.  How it works is you keep a visual "diary" or an online sketchbook of writings, photographs and artwork as much as possible during a one-month period and share it with your "bloggies" (blog buddies). This turns the internet from an anonymous networking tool into an insight into your life, outside of your blogging.  I'm doing mine on my new artsy blog since it was intended for this kind of stuff, unlike my Dispatches from Company Q blog which is strictly 1860's and Civil War reenacting.

I actually do other things, you know....although I'm afraid I am an even bigger dork in real life.

Today, as I'm typing this entry...I'm sick. And it sucks, for 5 big reasons:

1. It's very cold out and we have lots of snow. And I wanted to go out in it.
2. I still want to go to work tomorrow regardless.
3. I'm afraid this will screw me out of another day of volunteering at my new job.
4. Being sick doesn't bother me as much as being unable to do anything I want and gow here I want.
5. I miss my BFF and I could really use a hug.

 Oh...I never told you gals/fellas:  I got a new volunteering job! As a tour guide.  I'll give you the juicy details of this new gig as I start my blog diary.

Saturday: January 11, 2014

 Fog. The creepiest, coolest, most Gothic-looking fog ever.  Though it was probably foolish to do so, I ventured out in it because I had to take these photos.

...As I roamed around I thought: "Hey, today would be great for a creepy Gothic photo shoot."  So I began to look for anything that appeared decaying, crumbled or ornately decorated.

...And I found myself at Rockwood mansion (An historic estate on Shipley Road very close to where I live)  It looked absolutely awesome in the fog.  But right as I was about to start shooting, it started to POUR. And the place began to flood. Being the only high ground in the area (as Delaware is very flat,) I moved my car to the upper parking lot and made a mad dash for the imposing Victorian Gothic mansion at the top of the hill. I found it was open. 

So I knocked on the door, holding my wool jacket above my head as I got dumped on, my hair dripping...and a short, hunched over figure opened the door and said in a raspy voice: "Come in."

Sounds like a horror movie, right?  Well it wasn't.

I was standing in the anteroom of a lavishly-decorated, beautiful Victorian house I once liked to visit as a small boy and had completely forgotten existed. My parents had sent me on a summer camp there when I was eight or nine....about 1993/1994.  This was literally the first time I had set foot in this house in 20 years. As I gazed around me at the rich oriental carpets, the intricate bronze candle sconces, the satin damask wallpaper and the crystal gas chandelier above my head, I was filled with a childlike wonder as I instantly was 9 years old again.  The hunched, Quasimodo-like figure turned out to be a very nice elderly woman with a charming Old Southern accent, dressed in some rich Victorian-era fashion. She offered me a tour of the house.

I won't give too much away....but this is a tiny glimpse of it.

The more of the house we explored, the more of it came back to me from all those years ago. I started giving her a tour of the mansion. I was identifying objects in the house and explaining details she had never even noticed.  She was stunned at my knowledge of the mid to late 1800's, and I explained my Civil War reenacting.  Well, by the end of the tour, she had me meet the volunteer coordinator of Rockwood estate who promptly offered me a job as a docent!

Later in that day, I also went to the Boothwyn Farmer's Market and found two things I had been really sewarching for to complete my WWII GI infantry kit: a bayonet/knife and an M-43 entrenching tool with a canvas cover.


All three items total cost me 40 bucks. If I bought these all authentic reproductions, it would cost me over 200 dollars.

 The M8A1 Combat knife. This is the WWII grandfather of the "KA-BAR." The blade was a bit corroded and the handgrip was dried out, but some application of Neatsfoot oil and #0000 steel wool had it looking good as new. This could be clipped to the web belt or tucked into a boot.

 And my M-1928 Haversack I ordered from At The Front finally came in the mail!
I think it's the most ridiculously complicated packing system ever devised, but it's what the soldiers carried. It took me over 2 hours to figure out how to pack it.

...All in all, I'd say this day was a win.  I found a new job, almost completed my WWII reenacting kit, and took awesome pictures!

Tune in next time for my next adventure, this was only January 11th....