The Defeat of the Auld Enemy

I should have posted this last week.  Readers will be glad to hear that my wife took the initiative to dispatch the cabbage while I was at work and the cabbage rolls were in the oven when I came home.

The cabbage rolls were delicious and no actuaries or wargamers were injured in the process.

The Return of the Auld Enemy

Yes it's harvest time so this week at the market I got another killer cabbage for cabbage rolls.  Wish me luck as I prepare for the upcoming knife fight with the beast.

OMG An Actual Miniatures Game!

After what seems like an eon, I finally played a mini game this week.  Pics and story over at Curt's featuring his lovely SCW figs.

We took  my daughter off to Halifax to install her in residence on the Labour Day weekend.  It was a hectic week since we picked Katie up from work at 4:30 Wednesday and caught the overnight flight at 7!  We spent the week buying stuff for residence and trying to navigate narrow Halifax streets in our rent-a-mammoth SUV.  We flew out the next Wednesday so that I could stagger into class on Thursday am.

Donald Featherstone RIP

I've noted a number of blog postings this morning about the passing of Donald Featherstone at 95.  Like many others, my introduction to wargaming came from Don's books which appeared on my library records many times during my teenaged years.


On other fronts it's been a busy few weeks with family stuff, but things should return to something close to "Normal" now that the Fall semester is starting.  I played one game in the last 6 weeks, but hope to have more to blog on shortly.

Colonial or Funny Little Wars Inspiration

Quality is not great I am afraid - taken on my IPhone, it was hot and there was sangria involved!

Contrary to what some wags would say this is not the latest in Canadian Military fashion and weaponry.  Those are bolt action rifles and a MLR artillery piece dating from the 1885 Northwest Rebellion.

It's been a busy musical period in the Queen City this past 10 days.  Last Friday - Sunday it was the Folk Festival with some pretty good headliners.  We passed on this as we had McCartney tickets, but caught Neko Case and Rosanne Cash in a free set on Sunday pm and they were both wonderful.  Wednesday was Sir Paul and then yesterday was the Regina Symphony Orchestra's free outdoor concert in the park.

Which brings us to the photos above.  The concert ended (as always) with the 1812 Overture which requires things that make large booms.  Most years the RSO gets help from the Army lads (although one year they gave the audience members paper bags to burst in unison on cue).  This year however, the bangs came courtesy of the RCMP who arrived in full dress.  The RCMP has both it's training depot and its Heritage Centre (where the MLR lives) in Regina.  This is still the dress uniform and we do get to see it reasonably often in Regina - often at the airport when new officers meet their parents arriving for graduation.

Hat's off to the guys and gal, who were happy to pose for photos, interact with dogs and kids and made appropriate bangs for Mr. Tchaikovsky.  And most of all managed not to keel over from heat stroke since it was 35C with 50% humidity.  My wife and I were melting in loose cotton and the RCMP was in Red serge, leather knee high boots and leather gloves.  The only thing remotely climate appropriate was the hat which while felt at least kept the sun out of their eyes.

Anyway it was a nice afternoon out - we brought a yummy picnic including sangria and met up with our daughter after her work shift ended.

Way off Topic - McCartney Concert

It's been slow on the gaming and modelling front of later.  I've not played a game for 3 weeks due to other commitments and the household is focused on getting our daughter ready for University.

However, this week I did a chance to see one of my childhood heroes in concert as Paul McCartney was in town and played at Taylor Field (the home of the local football team).  It was an amazing show - a 3 hour sing along and he and his band sounded great.  I home that I have half his energy when I hit 71!

Photos from the Ministry of Truth (or the CBC)

We told our daughter - look if your learned to play the bagpipes you could have been on stage with Sir Paul

The wife of a former student gets Paul to sign her wrist - it was turned into a tattoo within an hour.

Reading Shelf

This week I've been reading

Or as my family calls it the Cyberman book!!

Anyway it's very good, if off my current painting and gaming areas (must resist).  It's a big canvas covering the Late Roman (i.e. Byzantine), Sassanid and Arab empires and touches on a lot.  Much of the book is about the development of the key religions during late antiquity and the interactions between religion and state politics.

A topic that I found interesting was the fate of some of the lesser known sects and religions that lost out in the politics.  I had encountered Manichaeism and Nestorian Christians in earlier readings about the Silk road, and it was interesting to find out where they came from before they self-exiled themselves to Central Asia.

So far I'm half way through and still haven't hit the conquests of Belisarius, Heraclius or Muhammad and his followers.