Halifax Citadel 18th Century Encampment Sept 17-18 2011

The Halifax Citadel National Historic Site, was host to a 18th Century Living History Encampment this past weekend. Several living history groups were in attendance, incuding the 84th Regiment of Foot, King's Orange Rangers, Halifax County Militia as well as civilian and nautical re-enactors from as close as the HRM and Nova Scotia and as far away as the United States of America.

The tent line ran through the lower ditch of the Victorian fortress ditch and along the south end of the ravelin. As you walk through the tent line you see everything from gentleman of esteem chatting, women and children playing, talking and looking after the camp and men at arms cleaning muskets, sewing loose bits of uniform, playing music. The scene almost in a sense rewinds time, you smell meat cooking over a open fire or iron grill. The various families who see each other in event after event become a small neighborhood. It really is a free environment, everyone wants to welcome you into their camp site, feed you and ask how you were doing, its a family away from family and a community of its own.

A battle scenario was held on the forward side of the hill in which the Rebels held the high ground and had to fend off the King's Redcoats & Militia in a well orchestrated drill. Volley's of muskets rippled off in an exchange of military arms circa 1750-1776. The Redcoats finally overran the Rebels and the hill was taken with minor casualties on both sides.

18th Century living history offers a surreal experience, you get the sights, smells and community of an 18th century padded with modern comforts. Little worry of typhoid or cholera or the dreaded scurvy, but for a weekend you get to forget who you are, where you work and become someone else, another time and another place in a small welcoming society of like minded history geeks, families and a wealth of knowledge so vast you cannot help but learn more in one weekend than the previous years of book reading and research.

Pictures to be added soon with permission of those who took them.

So my computer just died!

Yes, my computer has died and everything on it is in accessible at the moment.If I have any readers, stay posted and I'll get on with the nostalgia, re-enacting and other entries when my computer situation is remedied.

Till then...

Toy Soldiers!

I have been collecting 54mm metal soldiers since I was a small child. I will be choosing a set to review with each new blog entry and explaining when I got it, how I played with it (for those I've had since childhood). I will also throw in some stuff that I've bought over the years to replace things I miss having from my childhood, seeing as nostalgia is all the rage these days.

A picture of my toy soldier collection today.

Game of Thrones, G.R.R. Martin

I loved this book and I have high hopes for the rest of the series (even though I know about the controversy regarding the fifth book). The world feels real and so do the people in it. The "high fantasy" element is quite toned down in this book, yes the world does have dragons and magic but its not over done and taken for granted.

One look at G.R.R. Martin's website (www.grrmartin.com) makes me appreciated the way the man thinks. A avid medieval history enthusiast, collector of 54mm knights & scale models of castles. He crafts the world he creates in his own recroom for us to read about. I know I've been light on the plot, characters, events because I don't want to spoil anything. With the upcoming HBO series, I would whole heartily recommend anyone who wants to watch the show to read the book first.

Sean Bean will be a great Eddard Stark and I'm sure HBO will acquit themselves well (as they are known to do). The TV series will be great but I can't help but think if I watched the show first it would take some of the magic away from the book when and if I decided to read it. It started to happen just having seen the trailer. In my minds eye, I had a younger Brian Cox as Eddard, but after the trailer Sean Bean took over. I had someone else maybe a younger Christian Bale,as seen in Henry V w/Kenneth Branagh. The imagery we project to the characters makes them more alive rather than something we equate to an actor on a tv series.

The pacing can be trying for some, it wasn't for me. I loved the political intrique, the personal quarrels both internal and external and as each chapter is a different point of view of a different character the book never lagged for me. I kept wondering how "Bran" was doing after I hadn't read about him for a few chapters, so the characters started to take on the importance of real people.

So if the trailer for the HBO series peaked your curiosity at all, go out and read this book!