Gianna di Aurelio

1. Tea, coffee, or other? Why?
Oh.... coffee... thou are the nectar of the gods! There is something about the smell and flavor that I love. My favorite thing to do when I wake is to take that cup of coffee and savor it on my porch and watch the world wake up. I gives me a sense of well-being and that everything is right with the world. Of course... I love tea too, but coffee comes first.

2. If you could combine aspects of the places you've lived to make one ideal place, what would it be like?
Great Question! Actually where I live right now! That's why we came back here after having lived in 4 other states... What makes it perfect? I have a small cozy home that is out in the country. I have a few neighbors on either side, but there is a large tract of woods across the street and behind the house. I live next to a beautiful creek that ripples and shines in the sunlight and calls me to sit near it when ever I am troubled. I love being surrounded by the hills and the trees and the wildlife. I regularly see deer, turkey, fox, hawks, and many other small fauna...I love that we get to experience all 4 of the seasons in their glory, from the riotous explosion of wild flowers in the spring, to the lazy warmth of a summer day, to the glory of crisp colorful fall day, to the wonder of the blanket of newly fallen snow... I love that while I feel like I am way out in the country, in reality I am only a mile from the grocery store and within 15 mins of work and shopping... I also love that I am only 1/2 hour from a major city that has everything available that one could possibly want... This is where I was born and raised and having had the opportunity to travel, this is home and it is perfect for me...

3. Describe your perfect day at Pennsic.
I would wake up early.. but not too early to a warm sunny day with low humidity... It would begin with a good cup of coffee and some bacon, while relax in our common area, chatting and laughing with my camp mates. Then a nice long shower, after which I would dress in simple garb and make my way down to Aethelmearc royal to the scribal college....and teach a class or just hang out. Around lunch time, I would head back to camp and have lunch with my hubby. Then together we would make our way to the archery range to shoot things, or perhaps take a stroll through the vendors will the music of Wolgemut or Owain Phyffe drifts through the air. We would stop at the Battle field and watch the activities there and then make our way back to camp to take an afternoon nap. Then we all meet and gather together to cook our dinner. Again sharing the camaraderie of the day, talking about the activities of the day and reliving our battles and conquests. As the sun sets, we would dress and prepare to make our way to visit friends camps or attend a party. There would be a fire to gather around with drumming nearby. Again sharing the fellowship of the day. As the night grows late and we begin to tire, Fintan and I would make our way back to our pavillion, arm in arm under the starry sky. Once we got there, we would climb into the lovely bed Fintan made for us. where we would cuddle and fall asleep listening to the distant sounds of drums...

4. If you could send a six word message back to your younger self, knowing that your younger self would believe that the message is from you, what would you send?
Don't settle. Be true to yourself....

5. If you decided to devote a year to creating scrolls for only one award what award would that be and why?
AoAs.... They are a persons first award and many times their only. I love taking the time to research the recipient and making it a very personalized and special piece of art to commemorate their initial recognition by the crown... It will always be something that they can cherish and remember....

1) What do you love the most about Aethelmearc?
Hands down, its the people. There are so many wonderful, creative and talented people in our Kingdom. They are amazing in the fact that they freely share their talents and seek to enrich our Kingdom in so many ways.

2) What is it that most draws you to the SCA?
Hey I can still play dress up and not always act like a responsible adult! LOL...
Actually I think it is the comaradarie and fellowship that exists in our society. It is a rare thing. We all come together for the love of our game. Many of you have become a second family to me and I know.. that if I needed something... All I would have to do is ask and there would be an overwhelming response....

I also enjoy the fact that it has given me the avenue to explore my art again. It fosters my creativity in so many ways. I love that I can be this creative woman.

Also... that Gianna is my creation... she can be the woman that I have always wanted to be, but possibly couldn't because of the restrictions of the real world.


3) What Pursuit in the SCA is something you *want* to do but feel you can't?
Hmmm. Good question. The only thing that I probably can't do would be things that are related to fighting, but then, I don't really wanted to fight. I have made myself keep my focus on developing my artwork, but I am also a musician. One day I hape to take the time to explore this more. I don't really feel that there is anything that I can't do, it's really just a matter of how much time do I have.


4) What has changed in your outlook since becoming a Peer?
My first thought when I read this was that I really haven't changed. But then the more I thought about it the more I realized that isn't true... I would have to say that I feel a greater sense of responsibility and duty to my fellow scribes. I tend to look at other artisans and think of them as "my scribes" if that makes any sense. More now than ever, I feel I owe them my time, my teaching, my skills, advice and guidance. It is my responsibility to assist them in achieving their goals as artists and to encourage them on their way. I want to be that peer that my fellows will seek out and gladly come to when ever they have a question, and I hope that I can inspire others as I have been inspired along the way...

5) Do you have someone in the society that you look up to as a "hero" or "inspiration? WHo and why?
Fintan is my hero... He is the man who stands beside me and inspires me to push myself to achieve everything I have been able to accomplish. They say that behind every good man there is a woman... but the reverse is alwo true. I have a good man standing behind me... He has honor, integrity, valor, and courage in his heart and together we can accomplish anything and everything.

There are many others who have inspired me and guided me along the way. Aidan, Creador, Tessa. yourself... Look around, there is inspiration all around us, and each of you are also my heros...

1. What is your favorite class to teach and why?

Teaching how to paint the Black Hours. They are high impact scrolls that look very complicated, but actually aren't as complicated as you would think. Its more about letting the paper or vellum do the hard work for you once you can get the reverse aspect of positive and negative space... I love seeing the lightbulb go on in the students eyes when they get it.

2. What do you love to do outside of the SCA?
Cook, spend time with my family, reading silly romance and vampire novels as well as watching tv and reading about paranormal phenomenom....



3. What is your favorite style of illumination?
Any complicated Italian piece... They just seem to speak to me and I love figuring out how to break them down to paint them... My favorites are Sforza Hours, Attavanti degli Attevante's work... the italian pieces from the Bibliotheca Corviniana and Borso de Este pieces....

4. What is your favorite part of Pennsic and why?

Probably rounding that corner and seeing the campground for that first time... It still makes me feel like a little kid on Christmas morning... And I can say that I am home... The other thing are those fleeting moments when you feel like you are really transported back to another place and time... Getting to spend time with all my friends. Teaching classes... watching the battles. Seeing Fintan shoot in the Archery Champs... There are so many things I enjoy...


5. What are your favorite family traditions?

Going to a local farm to cut down our own Christmas tree. They take you out to the fields on a tractor and you get to seach the fields for that perfect tree and cut it down, then ride back to the barn for a big cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows... Then we wait till Christmas eve and put the tree up as a family while singing Christmas carols badly... Fintan is the only one of us who can remotely carry a tune...


If any one would like questions from me... just ask!

Today should be fun. My place of work is having their halloween party and we all had to come to work at the University dressed in costumes today. My office, which consists of 7 people all decided to be the Dead Rock Stars. So here I sit at my desk, decked out like the Blues diva Janis Joplin, now if only I could sing like her it would all be good!

Also in attendance in our department today will be Freddy Mercury, Michael Jackson, John Lennon, Jerry Garcia, Kurt Cobain. We have made the dead Rock Star trading cards and will be wondering around campus to collect money for the United Way... Let's hope my Department wins best group costume!

and from the words of Janis - "If I hold back, I'm no good. I'm no good. I'd rather be good sometimes, than holding back all the time. "

Peace Out...

Got a collect call this afternoon from Kuwait. Aaron is doing well. They have been doing some training and getting ready to move on to Iraq late next week. He was promoted to gunner for his squad. He was excited about that, although I can't say that pleases me, but it's good. It was good to hear his voice.

When I get his address, I'll post it for those who would like to write.

Night All!

I hopped on facebook alittle while ago, and surprise...  Aaron was there. He seems to be doing ok. He is in Kuwait at the moment and they are inprocessing... which any of you who is familiar with the Army, means alot of "hurry up and wait."  He complained about being bored right now , which I quickly pointed out was a good thing considering where he is! He is of course missing home, all of his friends  and the chilly weather of Northern NY. I suppose that's normal. But it was nice to hear from him. I'll keep you all posted.

- G

I could hear the emotion in your voice last night when you called to say goodbye. My heart broke for you. It must be a scary experience to wait to board that plane to take you half-way around the world, into a place where there is nothing but trouble and turmoil. I so wanted to be able to reach though those phone lines and give you a hug, and I prayed that you will return to your family safe and sound.

You have wanted and dreamed of being a soldier since you were a young boy. You have trained and worked hard to get where you are, and I am so very proud of you.

I really.... dislike the Philadelphia Flyers... really... we can't win ,so let's bite the other players.... but snuggling on the couch with my hubby to watch the game was great...

Follow that with a nice long hot shower and now it's time for sleep...

So, my son Aaron will leave this afternoon head back to Ft. Drum. He will be deploying to Iraq in October and will be gone for 15 months. My emotions are all over the board today. I'm excited for him, because he has always wanted to be a soldier...  but, It's hard a hard realization. I won't see Aaron again for over a year.  I just don't have a good feeling about this deployment even though where he will be going, things are calm.... When Marcus (older son) was in. He went to Afghanistan 3 times. I didn't worry about him, but I can't seem to help it this time.

I know in my heart that what is meant to be will be. Here's to hoping that I am just being a worried mom and sad because I will miss him.

I love you, son.

So someone replaced my daughter with a pod-person overnight. We woke up this morning to laundry being done, as well as a fresh pot of coffee AND she was making omelets.... All very nice and we thanked her profusely, but.... Me thinks that either she feels guilty about something or is trying to butter us up for something...

So, my middle son, who is active duty Army is in town on leave until Sept 12th. He will be deploying to Iraq in October, and he will be gone for 15 months.  So far we haven't had much of an opportunity to see him. He's been busy running around with his friends, which I do understand. Howeever, do you think it would be too much to ask if he spend alittle time with his immediate family... you know.. his dad, brother, sister and me? And not to mention his Grandmas who are both still here. He informed me last night that he will be going to WV for the weekend to spend time with friends there. Let's hope he comes back early enough on Monday so that we can spend some time with him.

I'm alittle hurt; he also came to Pennsic on the weekends this year, but we only had brief 5 minute sitings of him as he chose to spend time with his new household and friends. My mom always told me that when your kids are little, they step on your toes, but when they are older, they step on your heart.

I guess, I just miss him.

 

Being hot and sweaty... not so nice. Scratches in places, i don't want to discuss, again not so nice, but having about 3-4 cups of fresh picked blackberries.... very nice. And tasty too!

Talent

A talent is an innate natural ability that someone is born with. Every single one of us possess a natural ability to do well at something. It is when someone works and studies and develops those talents. That is when true art is born. I will continue to work with my talents and skills and maybe someday, I will consider myself an artist.

Fun

Fun is something that we all could use more of. Fun is when we find enjoyment in life,  time of happiness and mirth, time spent with our family and friends... Our everyday lives are filled with many stresses and routine business. The act of living. Fun relieves these stresses and are often the moments we cherish and look back on. As funny as it sounds, I have had to work at relaxing and not being so uptight in order to allow myself to be able to relax and enjoy and have fun in my life.

Openness

To me, openness is the ablilty to have an open mind. To be able to see things from someone elses perspective and to not be judgemental with their views. I might not agree with all of their opinions and views, but I can be empathetic and try to understand thier views. Without an open mind, we are stagnant, closed in.... Openness fosters better relationships and allows us to step outside of our normal boundaries and encourages growth and understanding.

Change

Change accompanies growth and is part of life. For better or worse, nothing can ever remain the same. We work to make things change for the better and when change occurs for the worst, that is when we can learn what strength we truely possess.

Friendship

Friendship is the ultimate gift. Friends are the family that we get to choose. Those whom with we can share our lifes with and they make it worth living.

War Practice has come.... and gone. It was a great weekend and it flew by way to fast. It was nice to be amongst my Scadian family again and to hang out with old friends that I haven't seen for months, and to get to know some others that before were merely acquaintances. 

I got up early on Saturday and went to an Order meeting and then taught a class on the Das Schwartz Stundenbuch (Black Hours). Then on to the Artisan's Row. People working hard to prepare their craft and share their knowledge.

Then later, I had one of the coolest moments. The tent was open and the breeze was blowing through the pavillion. I was sitting in a period Dantesca chair calligraphing a scroll on a period scribal desk dressed like a 15th century Italian lady. The sounds of the people and activities swirled and floated around me... Fighters walking down the road... Armor clanking. Ladies laughing. Children playing. Then I looked around the pavillion and also saw all the wonderful things that surrounded me... the two period beds, benches and table... And my family and friends nearby... I had dreamt of moments like this when I first started in the SCA.  And suddenly... here it was. It took my breath away and I had to stop and reflect on the moment. I was in another time and another place and I was thankful for the moment.

I had to pinch myself as I  just kept thinking.... How cool is this?!?!?!?!

 

So, I was taking a walk yesterday down the road we live on, which runs next to a large creek. It is quite lovely and I like taking walks here. We do see lots of wildlife such as turtles, geese, turkey, deer and not too long ago, a coyote. We had noticed several trees in the area that indicated there  was also beavers around. You know... fallen trees and gnawed trunks, but we had never seen the animal itself... Until yesterday.

We were walking along this one section where the road is right next to the creek and noticed something large swimming in the middle of it, but couldn't tell what it was at first. When we got closer, we saw it was a beaver. So we stood there and watched him. He crawled out of the creek on the opposite bank and industriously set to chewing on a tree. He was fairly large and his coat was all sleek and gleaming in the sunlight.  It was a very cool thing to see. I wish I had my camera with me!

Think I will take another walk today about the same time and see if I can catch him again....

I had a wonderful day on Saturday. I still can't believe that it really happened, but I can say that I am kind of glad it's over with and I hope life can settle back into a more normal pattern. And the next time I sew it will be because I want to... not because I have to.

To all my friends here who helped or were there on Saturday to celebrate. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your efforts and your words mean more to me than you will ever know. To my husband. I love you. I thank you for your patience with me through this process. I could never have made it though without you by my side.

Well, Our middle son was scheduled on a plane yesterday so that he could visit for Christmas and New Years. Some of you know him as Halldorr. He's in currently in the Army and is stationed with the 10th Mountain Group at Ft Drum NY.  We bought him a plane ticket a few weeks ago and sent him the itineary.... Yesterday morning we get a call that they couldn't find his information for the plane, so we get him the confirmation numbers and such. Then he gets told that the plane is oversold and they couldn't get him a flight out of Syracuse until Monday or Tuesday... SO. Halldor, calls us back and we try to come up with some options.

I called a couple of people we knew that might know some scadians in the area so that if we couldn 't get him on a bus or something perhaps we could arrange to shuttle at least part way back if necessary... The good new was that one of the ladies who was a volunteer at the USO at the airport gave Halldorr a ride to the greyhound station, where he was able to get a bus to Buffalo, So we made the treck there tand back to get him. It was a long day, but it was worth it...

It's been a year since we last got to see him! He's gotten more thin and fit. I still can't get used to the short hair, AND he still give the bestest hugs...  It's good to have him home for at least a little while!

Yesterday was our holiday party at work. Everyone here participated by either bringing something or donating towards food. There were many leftovers tucked away in our fridge when we left yesterday... The food was going to be lunch for those of us who work today... 

Well...All I can say to  whomever helped themselve to a complete sandwich ring, cheese/pepperoni tray and half pan of rigatoni, I certainly hope that food went to someone who really needed it...

Oh... and Merry Christmas to you too.

Need some amusement tonight? ( Behind the cut... )

To the multitde of men and women who have or will serve our country in the line of duty, we owe you so many things, not the least of which is respect and honor. This is a debt that we can never fully repay, but let me start with saying. Thank you. Thank you for your service..

( Read more about my soldiers... )( Read more about my soldiers... )( Read more about my soldiers... )