Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Colonial Williamsburg in April, Day 3

Our day three this year was the Lord's Day, so we found ourselves again at Bruton Parish, which has become a bit of a tradition.

A new treat this Sunday was the Tarpley Ringers bell choir which played the prelude before this service.  Like before, it was a privilege to take part in the centuries-old tradition of services at this parish.

I took this shot of the rear of the Palace as Tim and I enjoyed the shade on an unseasonably warm afternoon.

In the Palace scullery we found a few of the cooks busy brewing the wort for what will become a mum beer,  in the style of Brunswick Mum.  One of the cooks likened it to a modern Belgian Wit beer.   Ingredients included barley, wheat, oats, cardamom, grains of paradise, long pepper, and other spices I can't remember.  Regular readers of this blog will also recognize the Kent Golding hops in the assembly of ingredients on the table.

Even the graveyard surrounding Bruton Parish provided cool spots to sit and avoid the heat, although it looks like Elizabeth has found her perch on top of a tombstone.

The weavers were as entertaining as ever this afternoon, spinning tales both true and fanciful.

The apprentice had just dyed this wool this afternoon, and ended up with these cooler red colors when she was trying to achieve warmer, more orange reds.  She informed us that, unfortunately, it's more difficult to achieve these colors with the ingredients she was using, so when she tries to produce these colors in the future, she'll probably end up with the orange she was trying to achieve today!

SQUIRREL!

"I'm not kidding!  Look at that squirrel!"

Sorry this image is out of focus, but this little subject didn't sit still very long.  Yes, this is what the girls were all gazing at.

 We first met this guitarist in 2009 at the St. George Tucker House where he was playing his Marie Antoinette reproduction guitar.  "Marie" doesn't make many outdoor appearances, so today he was playing "Tony" which is a reproduction of two Stradivari guitars.

While this building appears to be very plain and simple, it has a form and style that we don't see very often back in Illinois.  Maybe it's the brick walls, or the external chimney on one end, or the little dormers, or the full-length porch, or the arched doorway, or maybe it's just all those things thrown into one little building.

Another "four girls on a bench" shot, only this time Elizabeth is standing in for Karen.

Back at our lodging in the evening, a rousing game of Chronology kept us all entertained, and in some cases, quite animated!  It's good to be on vacation.

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