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When last I checked in here I had just enjoyed a lovely weekend at home, and was getting ready to travel for work in a couple of days.
That trip went well, ( if a bit full-on and tiring )
Unsurprisingly, I didn't accomplish all that much that Friday as I recovered my energy levels from the week.
The next day we drove two hours inland to attend the Jokkmokksvintermarknad, an annual winter market that has been happening since the early 1600's. During the drive I finally managed to finish the nice, warm, fur lined hood that I started last winter--the perfect thing to wear when attending an outdoor market north of the Arctic Circle.
We spent a couple of hours wandering in the market, and then drove 30 minutes back this way to a village where a friend of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lord_kjar works at the hotel. We stopped in to visit her at work, and a large group of people he knows were having dinner in the restaurant, so he got hugs all around and I got to meet a bunch of new people.
When she got off of work the three of us drove back out to Jokkmokk, where we attended the Folk Music and Dance session, arriving just as things began at 21:00 The hall where the dance was held is a very old timber building, with only a fireplace in the corner to provide heat. The temperature outside was -30 C (-22 F), and they were just starting the fire in the fireplace as we got there. There was no thermometer in the room, but I am fairly certain the room was below zero when we arrived. Certainly it was cold enough that I left on my fur lined hood for the first three dances. After that there were enough people in the room, and I had moved enough I could take off the hood, but I never did need to take off the wool tights or wool trousers I had on under the dancing skirt, nor did I need to take off the wool sweater. I don't think I have ever danced in such a cold room, but it was so much fun!
We danced till midnight, drove the friend back to her village, and then did the long drive home--managed to get to bed that night at 03:45 that morning!
It isn't really a surprise that we didn't go anywhere that Sunday--not even to our normal folk music and dance sessions. Oops.
This week was a normal level of busy at work--with too much to do, and not enough time to do everything I want to accomplish each day, but I didn't have to go anywhere to do it (worked from home some days--skied to the office on others). Monday was Dance practice at our place, Tuesday was Choir, Wednesday and Thursday evenings were spent on errands and projects, and Friday was an extra choir practice to prep for an upcoming performance, so the week slipped by so quickly that I somehow never did sit down to update LJ.
Today was a mini-gaming convention, and we had signed up for the morning and afternoon games. This morning we played Kagematsu, and this afternoon we played Sagas of the Icelanders.
In the morning session we were villagers on a small island which used to depend on pearl exports for cash money, but trading hasn't gone so well since the pirates started coming around demanding bribes to go a way and not plunder us after all of our men folk went off to the wars. We thought things would go better when a samurai got shipwrecked on our shores, and we managed to convince him to stay and be our protector, but then the pirates attacked in greater numbers than we could handle, and the village was destroyed. A tragedy, but a fun game to play nonetheless.
In the afternoon we had to deal with a potential blood feud sparked by the death of one man at the hands of the shield maiden on the next farm. Lots of dealing with honour, valour, tabbos, revenge, gods, witchcraft, etc. An all around fun day.
Tomorrowlord_kjar flies to Stockholm for two weeks of work. I am hoping that I can use the opportunity to make great progress on my research for work, without too many distractions. Wish me luck.
That trip went well, ( if a bit full-on and tiring )
Unsurprisingly, I didn't accomplish all that much that Friday as I recovered my energy levels from the week.
The next day we drove two hours inland to attend the Jokkmokksvintermarknad, an annual winter market that has been happening since the early 1600's. During the drive I finally managed to finish the nice, warm, fur lined hood that I started last winter--the perfect thing to wear when attending an outdoor market north of the Arctic Circle.
We spent a couple of hours wandering in the market, and then drove 30 minutes back this way to a village where a friend of
lord_kjar works at the hotel. We stopped in to visit her at work, and a large group of people he knows were having dinner in the restaurant, so he got hugs all around and I got to meet a bunch of new people. When she got off of work the three of us drove back out to Jokkmokk, where we attended the Folk Music and Dance session, arriving just as things began at 21:00 The hall where the dance was held is a very old timber building, with only a fireplace in the corner to provide heat. The temperature outside was -30 C (-22 F), and they were just starting the fire in the fireplace as we got there. There was no thermometer in the room, but I am fairly certain the room was below zero when we arrived. Certainly it was cold enough that I left on my fur lined hood for the first three dances. After that there were enough people in the room, and I had moved enough I could take off the hood, but I never did need to take off the wool tights or wool trousers I had on under the dancing skirt, nor did I need to take off the wool sweater. I don't think I have ever danced in such a cold room, but it was so much fun!
We danced till midnight, drove the friend back to her village, and then did the long drive home--managed to get to bed that night at 03:45 that morning!
It isn't really a surprise that we didn't go anywhere that Sunday--not even to our normal folk music and dance sessions. Oops.
This week was a normal level of busy at work--with too much to do, and not enough time to do everything I want to accomplish each day, but I didn't have to go anywhere to do it (worked from home some days--skied to the office on others). Monday was Dance practice at our place, Tuesday was Choir, Wednesday and Thursday evenings were spent on errands and projects, and Friday was an extra choir practice to prep for an upcoming performance, so the week slipped by so quickly that I somehow never did sit down to update LJ.
Today was a mini-gaming convention, and we had signed up for the morning and afternoon games. This morning we played Kagematsu, and this afternoon we played Sagas of the Icelanders.
In the morning session we were villagers on a small island which used to depend on pearl exports for cash money, but trading hasn't gone so well since the pirates started coming around demanding bribes to go a way and not plunder us after all of our men folk went off to the wars. We thought things would go better when a samurai got shipwrecked on our shores, and we managed to convince him to stay and be our protector, but then the pirates attacked in greater numbers than we could handle, and the village was destroyed. A tragedy, but a fun game to play nonetheless.
In the afternoon we had to deal with a potential blood feud sparked by the death of one man at the hands of the shield maiden on the next farm. Lots of dealing with honour, valour, tabbos, revenge, gods, witchcraft, etc. An all around fun day.
Tomorrow
lord_kjar flies to Stockholm for two weeks of work. I am hoping that I can use the opportunity to make great progress on my research for work, without too many distractions. Wish me luck.
