It was a long time ago that I'd been to the Archeon but this Sunday we had a reason; it was the last day of the international Viking week. Since we play Viking-inspired characters at the Summoning, Matthijs and I decided to go.

We arrived around 10:45 and shuffled inside behind a group of bouncy kids and their less bouncy but equally obstructing parents. When we passed that first obstacle things got better and we quickly walked to the prehistoric huts. We had both been to the Archeon before, myself quite often, so we didn't hang around for the guided tour but proceeded towards the first Viking market stalls.

There were lots of reenactor groups, from Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands. Perhaps some more countries too. There were plenty little tent shops and also a few campsites. Most vendors sold glass beads, the kinds with bright colors and weird bumpy shapes that are still being sold nowadays. Most of the reenactors were wearing lots of jewelry, most of the time with glass beads. Saw some very nice amber necklaces too and I bought myself one.

There was also a vendor who sold wooden buckets (the water tight version) and at the end of the day we picked up one of those. A 10 liter bucket for only 35 euros. Other loot included a leather working tool, linen yarn, 6 fur tails and a beeswax candle that I made in a workshop surrounded by 5 year olds. Got some more inspiration for Enid's clothes and jewelry too.

The weather was reasonably well, though it was a bit chilly out of the sun, and we had a great day. Around 16:00 we went home again, both tired of lugging our heavy backpacks around. Arrived in Enschede on time for a relaxed dinner of fries and a movie. The movie was the saddest thing of the day: Lady in the Water, on television. The idea might have been fun, though a bit far fetched, but the characters were interacting in a not quite realistic way.

Went to bed around 23:00 and woke up tired this morning. Another work week. Starting on a big hack-filled project this week, not looking forward to it.

Had a bit of a shock just now. Because of the heat we had the window of our work room opened wide. There's no insect-net in front of it, contrary to the one in the bedroom. While working and during dinner everything was fine. The cats were lying in the room, stretched out to loose as much body heat as possible. However, during the dishes we didn't watch them anymore.

Melisse ran in and out of the kitchen following tumble-dust (yes, we need to vacuum again) and when we warned her not to go onto the kitchen balcony (which doesn't have a cat net and is connected to the neighbouring house and balcony) she listened and dashed into the living room again.

After the dishes Matthijs walked back into the work room and noticed the window standing open, which urged him to search for the cats. Lina was quickly found, but Melisse was nowhere to be seen. We checked every corner and under the couches (where she doesn't really fit) and in the cupboards in the kitchen. Nowhere. Then we used a lure; opening the cabinet which holds the treats. Lina was instantly at Matthijs' side, mewing for yummies but Melisse didn't come. And she's our food monster.

After another run through the house, this time checking all the smallest places, we decided to check downstairs. Melisse is rather vocal and she would've made quite the noise if she'd be stuck somewhere. So we went the three stories down.

There's a soccer game being played in the stadium nearby and I wasn't really looking forward to checking under every car. Matthijs went right and I went left. I noticed a door standing open in the flat, a door to the hall with sheds, and went inside. And yes, round a corner there she was. Pressed flat against the floor backed up against a wall looking at me with huge eyes.

Quickly I ran outside again to get Matthijs and together we carefully approached her. She didn't want the treat I brought with me, but it wasn't her favorite and she looked a bit shocked still. Matthijs picked her up and carried her into our hall where he put her down. She has walked up all the stairs to our apartment, meanwhile panting a bit. However, she also rolled on her back and purred when Matthijs stroked her. She seems fine.

Once inside we gave her a favorite treat and watched her for a while but she acted normal. Lina tried to sniff Melisses paws to find out where she'd been but was rejected several times. Melisse is now lying somewhere, she still reacts to whistles. We'll have to keep an eye on her a bit longer, but it seems that she's just a bit scared and not really hurt. She probably fell on the lawn downstairs and not on the roof of the entrance or the pavement.

I was so relieved to find her in the shed hall that I got tears in my eyes. She's only 1,5 years old and never been outside, let alone after a three story fall. She could've gone anywhere...

PS I'm still working on the instructions for the tent upgrade. As soon as the webpage with pictures is ready, I'll link it here.

Summoning was great. We had a relaxed preparation once the tent upgrade (which looks very good!) was finished. The car was packed on Thursday evening so we could leave early on Friday morning. Except that the car would not start. Dead battery. Matthijs had left on the little lamp on the ceiling of the car and thusly emptied the battery. However, that had been a week before the summ and we had driven to Castlefest and back and, one would think, charged the battery again. Alas, after testing the lights on Thursday evening the battery was dead again on Friday morning. Fortunately a neighbour could help us start the car with the help of his car and our start cables.

When we arrived at the grounds we noticed that faction Leviathan (water) had a very small space for a lot of tents, so we had to measure and uproot some plants to fit two of our three tents in. Fortunately we found a spot near the fireplace because fire was only allowed on such fireplaces and really nowhere else, which makes IC cooking a bit of a drag when your tent and supplies are far away. We had a nice little camp and almost took over the fireplace. People came to sit there and drink our tea. We had a pot boiling water ready at all times.

Without Kaas to play Enids husband Vandar it was a bit weird, but I had enough play with all the other people. Enid has gotten a bit more secure about herself, since she was put to the task of managing one of the groups of the summoning ritual. She also participated in burying one of the Chaos seals and joined the healer guild. So play was good. (Except for a few tensions between people, on which I won't elaborate here)

Getting home was more of a fuss. Of course it had been reasonable weather. Too much clouds to my taste, but still warm and at least free of rain. However, as seems to be the new trend, it started to rain on Monday afternoon when we had to pack up. So in the end we still had to dry the sahara tent and 3 huge plastic sheets in our shed and living room. And the car battery was dead again so we had to ask Peter to help us start. That battery was just beyond helping.

So, now we have a new car battery installed (80 euro) and the next problem occurs. For a while I thought I'd heard a tinkling sound coming from the back of the car while driving. It seems to be the exhaust (uitlaat) in which a loose part is bumping around when the car is 'shaking' (i.e. running). Hoping that it would be something as simple as a loose bolt I went to the Kia dealer and they told me that it would take a repair of 450 euro to get it fixed. F*ck!. 450 (APK) + 80 (battery) + 450 (exhaust) would be about the 1000 euro that we can get for this car when we hand it in!

The car is some 10 years old. True, old cars need more repairs than new cars, but in half a year 1000 euro costs is a bit too much to my taste. However my dad advised me to go to a regular garage (instead of the Kia specialist) to see what it would cost me there and pointed out (what I already knew) that a 'new' secondhand car would bring costs as well, as would a new one which is just very expensive. Nicole, from Musilon, has offered that her boyfriend would take a look at our car to see if he can predict which part will be the next to give up. If there's more in there on the point of breaking a 450 or so repair might not be worth it.

The car trouble isn't acute; we can still drive around in the car but the prediction is that the rambling parts will start rambling harder up to the point where we don't want to drive anymore. It does need to get fixed, but it is not in a hurry.

Tomorrow my mom and her girlfriend will come over for dinner and bring our new supply of cat food (25 kg). Thursday evening is free as of yet and on Friday Matthijs will (if he can manage) go to the graduation speech of Rene and after that to Harderwijk/Lelystad for the 24-hour sailing race. My weekend is still empty. Perhaps I should try to finish my autumn coat.

Last Saturday I celebrated my birthday for family. It was quite relaxed for I had done all the cleaning on Friday evening and only had to do the grocery shopping and preparing munchies on Saturday. Guests were welcome from 14:00 but the first family arrived at about 14:45.

• Money from grandmother Hellenthal
• Money from grandparents Haeke
• A photo of my dad in the cockpit of a glider (zweefvliegtuig)
• Old photo's of my mother and brother (when he was still a toddler) and other relatives
• 4 tea mugs with flower faeries on them
• Cocktail picks; 5 with a cow on top (in a cow shaped container) and 7 assorti
• 4 Discworld books
• 3 plants for on the balcony
• 2 food storage containers for the cat food
• A small glass vase for on the wall for 1 flower
• A ceramic oil lamp pot
• Money from Matthijs' parents

The munchies: salad (huzaren salade), cake with preserve (jam) and strawberry, 'soesjes' and strawberries with molten chocolate.

For dinner we had soup with the salad and bread. Apple crumble for desert, though it was 21:30 when it was finally ready.

On Sunday we went to Castlefest anyway. The tent wasn't completely finished yet but I just wanted to go. So we took the car for a 2 hour drive (train would've been more than 3 hours) through the rain but when we arrived it was dry already. The rain had discouraged a lot of people so it wasn't too crowded but the weather turned out rather nice in the afternoon.

Got loot there too:

• A 7 cm long hunting knife with sheath. Needs sharpening.
• 3 bottles of mead
• White sage for burning. It should clear the house of bad luck, but Matthijs bought it because he was curious to the scent.
• S-hooks for keeping our cooking utensils up from the ground on larps
• A decorated looking glass from Steelweaver, for IC burning of images on wooden plates
• A flask on a cord (= necklace) from Steelweaver

We went home at about 16:30 so we could work a bit more on the tent. Despite being really tired ('gaar') we got some work done and went to bed around 23:00. If I'm correct today will see the last bit of tent work. We've got the closures of the doors sewn on, but they're on the outside so we want to put pieces of decorative leather over the stitched ends. And the pegs need one more layer of varnish.

After that I finally have time to finish some smaller projects: varnishing the mirror-hangers that I made (pieces of CD with a clay frame) and finish my dagger sheath. I hope we'll be able to start packing tomorrow evening. This evening we have an EE meeting, yesterday we had a meeting with the Ern. We're planning on leaving early Friday morning.