kareina

ursula  asked me some questions:

1. What's your favorite kind of snow?

The soft, light fluffy snow which drifts down in huge snowflakes (or clusters thereof) piles up deeply, but weighs nothing at all and is easily swept off the porch with a broom and takes little time to push off the path with a siding shovel.  The kind that is fun to jump into from a height, or roll in warm from a sauna or hot tub.  Ideally it is soft snow all the way to the ground, and hasn't gotten above freezing to melt the surface and make it crusty.

2. What was your first persona?

lol! to quote the bumper sticker  "What's a persona? I am from the West Kingdom!"  Seriously though, I never have gotten around to choosing a persona, as I have no idea how one could choose a single place/time to identify with.  I have always tended towards the earlier periods, and more northern places, but never narrowed it down more than that.  My SCA name was chosen when I was still in high school, and the college of heralds registered "Kareina" as "made up Russian", while the rest, Talventytär, just means "Winter's daughter" in Finnish.

3. Tell us about a Drachenwald tradition you enjoy.

In Drachenwald, as with all SCA places I have lived, some of my best memories are when we are singing, often in the evenings.  However, in Aarnimetsä (Finland) they take it one step better. During the main part of the event the singing is all period songs, but then, later in the evening, they sing "sauna songs"--all the SCA filks to modern tunes and original SCA songs that weren't written in a period style, both of local composition, and imported from other Kingdoms.

4. Tell us about one of your favorite visual artists.

This is a tough question--I don't tend to think in terms of favourites when thinking of artists, and I don't think anyone has ever asked that before. I have been asked about a favourite book (which generally gets a list of about a dozen trilogies or so), but visual artists. I guess by that you must mean an artist that makes something one can look at.

Does this count as a "favourite"? I so enjoy the tablet weaving of my apprentice, Ena, that I tend to buy pretty much anything she makes in my colours (most, though not all, of the tablet weaving I wear at events is her work), and I think I may have crossed the line between customer and patron.  If the photo is set to public you can see some of her work here.

5. What is your favorite hot drink?

I am normally happy with cold water to drink, but I do enjoy tea made from black currant leaves, which I have picked and dried from the bushes on our property. It is the best sort of tea, as the leaves can just stay in the pot and it never gets bitter, and if I don't drink it all I can put it in the fridge, and enjoy it cold later. In fact, I love it cold on my muesli and berries for breakfast in the morning (I normally have plain cold water as the liquid on my muesli, so this adds a bit of extra flavour).

If anyone wants to answer some questions from me leave a comment and I will ask.