Varia and Antonia

Photo by Kitty Weller

Still working on a real blog post, but I wanted to post this.  This is a picture of some amazing people I got to spend the weekend with.  Dame Varia Goffe, OL, OP (who recently took me on as a student) and her wife Mistress Antonia d'Alessandria OL, OP. They are the first Artemisian couple with a same sex consort to fight in a crown list.  That is not, however, what makes them amazing.  What makes them amazing is their graciousness and their inner lights.  I got to stay at their home for the evening and came away with the feeling of vacation.  They remind me what it is to be a peer and what I want to be in the Society, but also what excites me and what I want to implement in my life. Antonia made sourdough pancakes for breakfast and was pickling asparagus that day. Varia took us on a tour of their little farm, showing us the bunnies, chickens, goats, turkeys, geese and such. It both reminded me of my childhood visits to my grandparents and of the plans my husband and I put on paper early in our marriage. I used to have a copy of The Backyard Homestead that I flipped through every couple of months for fun.  We're about to buy a house, so the reminder of what is possible what very timely.

 In costume related news, I made the yellow cloak Antonia is wearing when I heard they would be fighting and presented it to her just before.  She wore it all day, which made me thrilled every time I saw it.  I, of course, forgot to take pictures of it.  It is completely handsewn with a whipped buttonhole edging and appliqued lizards (her heraldic charge) at the hem. Hopefully I'll find some pictures someone took during the day.