There were a large number of outakes from the photo montage at left, and not every living history event that I attended this year made the cut. True, it would have been be difficult to provide a photograph from the Battle of Trenton reenactment since it will take place next week, but even so there were so many great moments this year it was very hard to select a representative sample.
This year I fell out with four different units, and can now prick and prime a cannon, row a battoe, dig a firebox and construct a brush arbor (not once but twice!).
I spent another weekend in the huts at Jockey Hollow (not, however, the most recent one, though I am absolutely game to help with the phoenix-like reconstruction of hut #3 when that gets underway in the New Year).
I also visited three schools in NY and CT, the Union County Historical Society in NJ, and took part in an event sponsored by my employer to celebrate the history of the Housatonic River in our region. I got a ride in an antique car when I showed up at my Town's Memorial Day parade in my continental regimentals.
This was the year that my two children got to participate in my hobby, attending the two day event at Rockford Plantation in Lancaster, PA as well as Germantown. Emily can wear Talya's clothes, and Talya converted a linen shirt and trousers of hers to fit Elias. I am deeply grateful to her for not only tolorating this hobby of mine but finding ways to participate that work for her. She did five events this year in full costume, including stays, ,as well as the Housatonic River day.
My militia kit got a huge boost thanks to the sewing skills of Heather Clark Vogeley and Cozy Bendezky. I now have more fashion choices than the average ragged Continental. We have a good tent, modified to be a better representation of period examples.
Best of all, though, are the friendships that continue to grow and strengthen through our participation in reenacting. We invited a long list of friends and aquaintances from the hobby to join us at Windrock and about a dozen of them took us up on the offer. My dear friend Larry Schmidt and I met up in New York to pore through an unpublished journal from the Revolution, looking for clues about a flag associated with Maxwell's New Jersey Brigade. The 2nd NJ and the 35th Regt of Foote had a first, last supper at Oriskany complete with white linen and a china plate halo. I am greatly looking forward to seeing many of these good friends at Trenton on the 29th, and to new adventures together in 2013.
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