Medieval Eye Candy

So, this is a view along one of the canals/rivers in Colmar, France, not far from the German border. The area is sometimes called Little Venice, because of all the waterways running through it; in fact, there are some bridges with houses on them. This area is widely photographed, because of the age of the buildings, and the colours used on them are supposed to be traditional; yellows and oranges from ochres, pinks from bull's blood mixed into the whitewash, green from vegetable matter. There's a lavender one in this shot.The whole effect is delightful, and the area is widely known as a Medieval Village, although it is in the middle of a small French city.

The red things attached to the fence are official Love Locks, inscribed with a couple's names, initials and the date they were there, and signifying eternal love.... These are official padlocks, sold in the area, and the only ones now allowed. Apparently, regular padlocks are too heavy, and more than one fence railing has buckled under their weight. Once the lock is attached to the railing, the key is tossed into the water.

There are whole areas where these buildings have been carefully preserved, and most of them are on very narrow, cobbled streets and alleys; this one is wider, and is a pedestrian shopping area. There are some new builds mixed in, and I found myself wishing the new builds had some sort of similar character!

These buildings are higgledy-piggledy, often crooked and bent, but I just love that they've made a real effort to retain them as they were.  We wandered through this area for a couple of hours, and every corner we turned revealed more of these old dwellings and shops. I'm above average height, and we modern visitors do have to remember to duck under doorways and beams, though!

Hope you liked this view back in time; these are the real thing, not modern reconstructions, although there most likely was some rebuilding required following WW II - there is a famous battlefield not far away, which some of our fellow passengers with armed forces connections visited.

 

The Kitchen at Markburg Castle

One of the places I visited on my recent (delayed by 3 years!) 50th wedding anniversary trip was to Marksburg Castle, set on a crag high above the Rhine River in Germany. If you see an ad for Viking River Cruises on television (north America only, I'm afraid!), you will see this as the last castle in the advertisement, with its yellow walls and large square crenelated tower, topped with a narrower round tower.

It is the only castle in the area that was never destroyed; Napoleon and his army were only the last band of destructive idiots to mess up the area. His army destroyed just about every castle on the Middle Rhine around 1782-86, very much a scorched earth policy. The height of this castle, along with the pitch of the cliff, made it virtually impregnable. So this is the real thing and not a later romanticised rebuild of the original building. It was a must on my trip!

For lovers of all things medieval, this place was wonderful. A few of the rooms have been left as they were when the original inhabitants lived in it, with excellent and true-to-life reproductions along with original antiques.Wood, pewter and brass, along with pottery, make up the majority of the furnishings, and they are, everywhere in the castle, sparse by modern standards. Do enlarge the photo to see the wonderful array of medieval kitchen equipment!

To help me with my eventual Apothecary Garden, I bough a book there, Der Krautergarten auf der Marksburg (The Herb Garden of the Marksburg), as a guide for what apothecaries as well as castle communities used for medicinal and culinary purposes. 

I'll post the occasional photo of what I saw there, as well as some of the medieval neighbourhoods in towns and cities along the Rhine that we were able to explore. Did I have a good time? A huge resounding YES, although the weather was damp and chill. We did have two days of nice weather, but I'm so glad we went on this trip! No less than 3 ancient cathedrals ( Strasbourg, Koblenz, and Cologne), more preserved timbered buildings than I ever saw in one place, a real feast for the eyes and the imagination of someone like me who loves to make minis of the medieval! Hope you enjoy them in the days and weeks to come....

Back Soon!

Three years after the event, the Carpenter-in-Chief and I are heading to Switzerland, for a short Rhine cruise to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. That happened during Covid, so no celebration of any kind in person was possible, sadly. The 2 years after the restrictions were listed, the C-in-C was heavily re-involved in Refugee Resettlement programs, as people who had been waiting for travel restrictions were once again able to leave, and we just couldn't take the time at that point.

But now, it is happening. One fun part for me will be on the Rhine Canal, which in The Netherlands is raised above the level of both the highway and the railway. Both the C-in-C and my older daughter traveled by rail with me below this, much to all our amusement, and now we will be on the upper level.

There is a snowstorm right now, and we have to drive close to 500 km to get to the airport. Also, there are transportation strike actions going on in Germany, and we have to fly to Basel from Frankfurt. Keep your fingers crossed for us, that there will be no hitches!

Along the way, I hope to see a couple of wonderful medieval sites; a castle above the Rhine which has never been destroyed, and Colmar in France, full of medieval buildings with pastel paint jobs on the plaster areas between the timbering. If our travel permits, we may fit in a quick visit to the Puppenhaus Museum Basel, but that depends on the planes being on time. They have superb miniatures there.

There should be stories (of one kind or another!) when I get back....

The Maple Sugaring Scene Is In Its New Home

 This morning, the diorama was delivered to its new home, Kings Landing Historical Settlement in New Brunswick, Canada. It is currently ensconced in a display case in the Visitor Reception Centre at the site, ready for Maple Sugaring Weekends 2024, on March 9-10 and 16-17. This year marks the Settlement's 50th Anniversary.

Here is the overall view of the finished diorama, with the lights on. I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and I think the staff at the Landing are too. I've been a volunteer there now for 18 years, and my family has always enjoyed visiting. This was Marilyn's and my commemoration of the museum's anniversary.

The centre left holds the sap vat, with its canvas cover, weighted at the four corners by stones sewn to the fabric. The sap workers have just emptied the sap cans, and are preparing to add the sap to the evaporating pans. The sled is pulled by humans, as this is a family sugar bush operation, not a commercial one, which would use a horse-drawn sled.

Beyond the centre, at the edge of the scene, you see a tree with two sap buckets. Behind it on the snow lies an empty  barrel, used to haul water to wash the equipment with, and to make tea for the workers. The large copper cauldron, which is also used to boil down the sap, has been cleaned and is draining against some felled tree trunk sections. Beyond that is the woodpile, and the chopping block with its axe and wedges.

On the other side, the sap boilers are finishing their tea break, using the chest they employ to haul the necessary tools and equipment into the woods as their table. On the stump is a hydrometer in its case, while the sieve, skimmer and scraper are on top of the rock. The small shovel for the ashes leans against the rock. The fireplace was built of commercial miniature bricks, while the pans, smoke hood and damper are made of faux-finished cardboard.

As mentioned before, Marilyn and I used a series of how-to articles published in Nutshell News in April, June and July of 1992. The author of the articles was Ruth Armstrong,  a wonderful metalworker. As we were not metalworkers, we used cardboard and cellulose clay to create the copper and metal sheet items. I enjoy working with faux finishes, and this scene allowed me to indulge that fascination. The only item(s) not made by us were the tea pot (plastic), the two wooden buckets at the back of the scene, and the wooden barrel lying on its side.

Now I have to tidy my work space, and Marilyn is going to work on inventory for the NB  Miniature and Doll Show 2024, to be held in early May. When sugaring off starts, we know Spring won't be that far away....

Syrup Tank

 I had intended to make this using some half scale flooring that had been lying around for ages, but couldn't find how to bend really thin wood without damaging it. That meant finding another way to make the syrup tank.

It is made from two layers of cardboard, the kind on the back of writing tablets, and an outer layer of an old (and carefully used!) brown file folder. The inner cardboard was scored to represent barrel staves, as was the outer file folder card.  Paint followed on the inside - black under the rim that holds the "sap" - and the sides and cardboard hoops on the outer edge. The liquid is a circle of clear plastic from a report cover, and just sits on the inner rim.

I still want to make a "canvas" cover for the tank; in a few older illustrations, the tanks have cloth covers that are pulled back when the sap is either being poured in or out. I intend to make a weight for the corners of the canvas cover, as they had to have had something to hold the cover down as they traveled through the woods emptying the sap buckets.

I'm pleased with tank, although it should have had slightly sloping sides...

Some More Landscaping

 This is the first time I've ever cropped a photo, but you didn't need the window frames or the white plastic table covering! This is more or less how things will be set up, once all the landscaping is in. We "planted" some dead grass, dead bushes and the like, spread some twigs and branches around, and now the next step, hopefully tomorrow, is the slushy path.

Atmosphere Being Added (Before Our Snow Melts!)

 It was well above freezing today, which meant I had to take advantage of the snow still on the ground to help me paint the snow in the diorama.  

This is the centre of the diorama, with chips, bark and sawdust added to the chopping block. The snow in the foreground has been painted a bit, but the area of the sleigh road is still unpainted, as that is my co-creator's task. We hope to get together a couple of days in the new week, to get the landscaping finished and then the lighting can be installed, as well as the last finishing details of the exterior of the diorama.

As you can see, there is still an unpainted area; this will be partly the path, and partly the mess of melted snow and ash, footprints and meltwater, around the fireplace. This is the right side.

And this is the left side. A little dead grass has been placed here and there, as well as bits of moss near the woodpile, and a few dead maple leaves have been placed near the trunks. Next up, I get to make the messy fireplace area.