#there is also an entire page in one of these about a communal sheep shearing night

[the-casbah-way]

hey girl. come over to my place and i'll show you my newspapers from the week after the titanic sunk

if you play your cards right i might even show you the one from the week after a jack the ripper murder

[whitecreekvalley-if]

[ Demo TBA ] • Character descriptions • Pinterest •

Genres: Slice of life, drama, mystery, romance

WCV is rated 18+ for explicit language, violence, alcohol and drug use, and explicit sexual content.

Life's taken a nosedive—no apartment, no job, no friends. Desperation pushes you to cling to a chance from a kindly stranger offering a ticket to a town hidden beyond mountains and plains, a place people don't seek but always seem to need.

Welcome to Whitecreek Valley, where the Brass Pine Ranch needs your unique skills to mend a crumbling homestead, and a crumbling family. As you tackle the decay of the ranch and the town alongside the rancher's son, deeper troubles emerge—livestock falling ill sparks fears of a town on the brink of extinction. Can you navigate this community, help them rejuvenate, or will it become another link in the list of ghost towns of America's Wikipedia page?

FEATURES

Customization: Appearance, personality, gender & sexuality, what job they had before, their hobbies, etc. Choose how they feel about being a farmhand, how they're adjusting to the rural life, and - with your choices - how the town as a whole sees them. Are they part of the community or an perpetual outsider?

Skills: Depending on your previous job, you'll have a unique set of skills to help the community. Choose to learn new skills, like woodworking, bronc riding, or sheep shearing, to mention a few.

Animal husbandry: The distances around Whitecreek Valley are hefty, so it's necessary to have at least a horse to get around. Choose your favorite out of a cast of individual equines, each with their own personalities. Also, help a calf into this world and realize how fun it is to raise a baby cow! As long as you're in good standing with the rest of the herd, of course.

Rebuilding: Try your best to rebuild the Brass Pine ranch, and the town adjacent. The better job you manage, the more opportunities (and challenges) come your way.

Community outreach: A dying town is still home, and there are stories to be heard, problems to solve. Lend a helping hand to your new community and see how one kindness can pay itself back.

Romance: Not everyone in town is adverse to strangers, and if your heart yearns romance, there is a chance for a spark along the way. Just be careful as to who you're trying to woo in front of whom. Small town gossips, we've all seen it.

Mystery: There's something hanging over the valley, like a rot in the air. Why are people moving out? Why are exports not moving out? And who's behind the animals getting sick? Don you detective hat and lend a hand to the entire four local police officers working the bizarre case.

THE LOCALS (RO'S)

THE RANCHER'S SON

Mason "Mace" Gannon - 27 - he/him

He used to be so much fun. I miss hanging out with him, out by the bonfires. He'd always make everyone feel so included and happy, and oh, that homemade cider he'd bring? Warmed us up on those chilly late fall nights, when we had nothing else to do. Did I tell you about the time he got us all to go skinny dipping? He was such a charmer, I wonder --

Imagine Mace as your human golden retriever – the guy who's a blast to be around, a bit mischievous, and the first to rush to your aid whenever you need it. After being gone for five years to live his rodeo dreams, he's back, now the sole caretaker of the family ranch in his hometown. He goes to great lengths to keep his personal issues personal, and it's the butt of many jokes how he's always there to help others but has the worst time asking for help himself.

He's you boss, and probably one of the best you'll ever get. Just don't pay mind to the spats between him and his dad.

THE BARTENDER

Alice Marks - 25 - she/her

Alice, she's a feisty one! Like her poppa, rest his soul. How I love the drinks she comes up with at the bar, and that horse of hers! She could go into rodeo, but I don't think after what happened with her pa... Oh, but she's a wonder! Always there with a quip, how they drive her suitors mad. Good thing she stopped with the talk about moving away, the town would be so dull without her!

Alice is the town's most known inhabitant, running the show from the only bar in town, which she just happens to own. Her mind is like a machine for fun, and she's the brain behind all the pop-up events and happenings around town. Sure, she can be a bit like a hurricane of enthusiasm, but hey, that's Alice for you. If the town had a social heartbeat, it'd be Alice – the vibrant, smartass soul making everyday life feel like a blessing.

THE DEPUTY

Word of the wise: Never challenge Alice to a drinking game. You will lose, spectacularly, and it'll all be on film.

Judge Gannon - 34 - he/him

Judge is a bit strange, don't you think? He just vanished as soon as he turned eighteen and popped back out of nowhere! That must've been, let's see... Five years ago? He doesn't spend much time with us commoners though, but I think I've seen him at the bar once or twice. I don't actually think he knows how to make nice with people, he always has that glower on. Gets it from his dad, let me tell you --

Bold and straight to the point, Judge isn't out here trying to be intimidating – it just kinda happens. If his brother is a golden retriever, he's definitely the doberman of the family. He's got this brash, no-nonsense vibe that some folks mistake for arrogance, especially when they try laying on the charm and he's not having it. He steers clear of small talk unless it involves his job, and when duty calls, he's more than ready to throw down to protect his town and county.

There's this local urban legend that he cracked a smile once, but it's like spotting a unicorn – not everyone's buying it.

THE LAWYER

Mercedes "Sadie" Diáz - 32 - she/her

The new girl, yes! Oh, a beauty! And so curious. I do love sitting down with her though, oh the stories she brings from the big city, so intriguing! I hear she finds our town intriguing too, the mayor once - don't tell anyone I told you this - the mayor once said he caught her breaking into the city hall archives! I know, scandalous, but good on her, maybe now someone will argue that my neighbors fence post --

Sadie, the big-shot lawyer from the city, doing her solo act in town. When she's not in court, folks are lining up just to get a piece of the urban tales she's got. A trailblazer and truth-seeker, she's got this knack for poking her nose where it probably shouldn't be, and surprise, she knows more local secrets than the town gossip. Sure, she's all passionate and calculated, a bit out of sync with the town's warmth, but hey, that logical mind of hers might just shake things up and get the town back on track.

It's a well known fact that she could get access to places with the right documents, but she herself has said it's more fun to pick locks. Go figure.

LIST OF MAJOR NPCs

LIST OF MINOR NPCs

[upennmanuscripts]

Nau, Naulet, Noël: Part I (a poem by Olivier Maillard)

Fifty-two discoveries from the BiblioPhilly project, No. 36/52

Noels (Book of Christmas Carols in French), Philadelphia, Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 211, fols. 17v (detail).

As the holiday season approaches, it seems appropriate to devote a pair of posts to a lovely, if little-known gem of the Free Library of Philadelphia’s collection of manuscripts. This charming and well-used manuscript on paper contains an anthology of lyrics for Christmas carols, or Noels, written principally in French and dating to the 1520s. The book was acquired by the Free Library of Philadelphia in June 1955 from H.P. Kraus in New York, and Kraus’ catalogue 75 of that year remains the most substantial existing description of the manuscript.1 As the author of that catalogue description wrote, “it will be a gratifying task for a scholar interested in French popular poetry to study the present manuscript very thoroughly.” In the sixty-five years since the appearance of the Kraus catalogue, this assignment has not, to my knowledge, been completed! The book is known to local audiences in Philadelphia because its contents have been used as the basis for a series of period music concerts by the local Renaissance Band, Piffaro. However, the anthology is entirely absent from any scholarly literature on French Renaissance music or art, which is a shame. The forty-four carols appear to be composed of certain well-known songs represented in other manuscript anthologies, such as Oxford, Keble College, MS 33 (see Parkes 1979, 117–26),2 but also present are several unique or unrecorded texts. Many of the songs are included  in later printed works, such as one issued in Le Mans around 1590—Paris, BnF, Rothschild MS 2982—which purports to contain traditional Christmas songs “les plus requis du commun peuple” (“the most sought-after by the common folk”). The use of the regional Angevin terms “nau” and its diminutive “naulet” for Noël, as well as the notarial document reused as a wrapper mentioning Nantes, point to the Western Loire Valley as the region of production and use, indeed not far from Le Mans, where the Rothschild pamphlet was printed.3

The carols included in the anthology are of course mostly anonymous and lack any kind of musical notation. Instead, the particular melody to be followed is usually singled out at the beginning of the carol. Upon examining the manuscript last year, I noticed that one carol, “Il fault mourir à ce coup cy,” is attributed by an inscription to its author Olivier Maillard (ca. 1420–1502; fol. 41v), the famous populist preacher active during the time of Louis XI and Charles VIII. This well-known poem consists of a rather macabre warning of the impending last judgement, even though it is to be sung, rather ironically and self-consciously, to the rhythm of a rather carefree bergeronnette savoysienne (a shepherdess’ ditty).4 Its presence here is a remarkable eschatological departure from the pleasant, festive Christmas songs that otherwise fill the book’s pages!

Lewis E 211, fol. 41v

Musical setting from Loewen, “Olivier Maillard in an Age of Reform.”

Beyond its lyrics, the volume is notable for its twenty-five vividly drawn, watercolor-tinted scenes added to the blank marginal spaces surrounding the text. The rest of this post will examine these, while next week’s post will be dedicated to another lyrical discovery. The images, which could themselves be studied further, exhibit an idealizing, bucolic sentiment, combining sacred scenes (and undoubted references to Nativity plays) with rustic details of shepherds and peasants preparing meals and playing music. At the beginning of the volume (fol. 1r) is the most formal of such illustrations, consisting of a full-page Nativity miniature showing three attendant shepherds and one shepherdess (with a curious wide-brimmed hat) alongside the Holy Family.

Lewis E 211, fol. 1r

In the frame enclosing the miniature we find the Marian Antiphon, usually associated with Easter rather than Christmas: “Regina celi letare, alleluya; Quia quem meruisti portare, alliluya; Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluya; Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluya; amen, amen” (“Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia; The Son you merited to bear, alleluia; Has risen as he said, alleluia; Pray to God for us, alleluia”). The two-dozen  remaining illustrations (counting across-the-gutter compositions as one) are certainly by the same artist but are unframed and often extend to the edges of the paper, which has been trimmed on account of heavy use. These illustrations are drawn in a loose and economical style, but would seem to be the work of a talented artist, though whether he/she was a formally trained professional remains up for discussion. The lively scenes, a study in pastoral life of the 1520s, are worth examining one by one, especially as the blog format permits an endless display of illustrations! Indeed, they could be transformed into wonderful advent calendar of sorts. They represent:

The slaughter of a boar (fol. 4r).

A man with a plate of food drinking from a gourd (fol. 5r).

A man holding food and drink (fol. 6r).

A man carving meat with a dog watching from the right (fol. 8r);

An upright goat near a tree and a man playing bagpipes with a dog alongside (fol. 9r).

A man with a staff and a dog on a leash (fol. 10r).

A man and woman with staffs resting, a man standing holding a staff, and an angel with a banderole announcing “Paix est criée” (fol. 11v).

A shepherdess resting with her sheep, a shepherd resting against a rock, and a shepherdess standing with a staff (fol. 12r).

A shepherd standing with a staff and a man playing hurdy-gurdy with a boy (fol. 13r).

A man with a pointed hat (fol. 14v).

The Flight into Egypt with bull and ass (fol. 15v).

A man threshing crops with a sickle and Joseph from the Flight into Egypt (fol. 16r).

A boar playing the bagpipe and two men and a woman dancing (fol. 17v).

A king and two peasants sharing a meal (fol. 19r).

A woman shearing a lamb (fol. 20v).

A prophet holding a banderole inscribed “Ecce virgo concipiet et pariet filium” (fol. 22r ).

A jester playing a flute (fol. 22v).

Another jester playing a flute (fol. 23r).

An Angel holding a banderole inscribed “Gloria in excelsis Deo” while below a man reclines in the right margin and another stands and plays the flute on the left (fol. 24r).

Two men labeled Michau and Robin facing each other across the text block (fol. 25r).

Two grayish figures, one playing the drum (fol. 26r).

A man playing the drum and the flute (fol. 26v).

A man playing a pipe to an upright goat with staff (fol. 29r).

The Temptation of Adam (fol. 30v).

The serpent and the Temptation of Eve (fol. 31r).

A man with a sword (fol. 32r).

Mary and the Christ Child (fol. 34r).

And a man and a woman playing instruments (fol. 35v).

The manuscript can be dated to ca. 1520–30 on the basis of the style of the script, marginal images, and costume, with later sixteenth-century additions to the text towards the end. The pastoral aspect of the illustrations connects them to compositions found in tapestries of this period. The rustic appearance of the figures and settings also recalls roughly contemporary treatments of Virgilian poetry, especially an illustrated French translation of the Eclogues (Paris, BnF, MS fr. 1639). The precise recipient or intended audience for such a volume, which is clearly the result of significant effort, is unknown, but if we take up the challenge posed by the author of the manuscript’s 1955 sale catalogue entry, we may be rewarded with further contextual information about the manuscript’s genesis and use.

  from WordPress http://bibliophilly.pacscl.org/noels-noels-part-i/

[incancosmology]

Day 3: Agricultural and Economical Wonders 🧺🌿🧂

The reason I, along with all my group mates, needed to be well-rested for this next day is that it was day full of hiking. We had a plan to go to three (3) locations in a place called the Urubamba Valley. This is a place known for its beauty, and holds many of the places that are now iconic to Peru. We visited the following sites, and in the order they are described.

The first thing we did was check out of our hotel and load up a van to travel to the first location, which is known as Chinchero. Chinchero is considered by most Peruvians to be the birthplace of the rainbow, which is arguably the most important god in Inca culture. Therefore, it should make a lot of sense as to why this place is sacred. 

Urambamba is known for a massive church, built in the seventeenth (17th) century during the time of the Spanish invasion and conquest. No pictures were allowed to be taken in one area of the church, for the sake of preserving the alter. Said alter is made entirely of silver, and any flash photography would damage the precious metal. Other rooms were fair game for photos, though, and the church was absolutely stunning. Peru, because of the Spanish conquest, is primarily Catholic in faith, and their churches are extremely elaborate. As a non-Catholic, these churches are always stunning to look at.

After our tour of the city, which was mainly the church and a walk around the main plaza, we made our way to a small little place where we watched a weaving demonstration. This little community was made up of about seven (7) to ten (10) members that we saw, and they had their own alpacas and llamas that they sheared. The lady who gave the demonstration taught us about the different types of fabric and how to tell them apart, including sheep, and she explained why baby alpaca is the most expensive fabric across the board. The reason, you might ask? It’s because what is considered baby alpaca is not based on the age of the animal; it’s based on the first time it was sheared. It is a lot harder to get baby alpaca fur because once you shear it the first time, the next shearing and on is no longer considered baby alpaca fur. It also tends to be much softer than alpaca, sheep, or llama.

Also, below you will find pictures of the demonstration. I attempted to upload a video I took, however I cannot seem to do that, so I would like to say two things. First is that we got permission to take videos and pictures from everyone, and the lady giving the demonstration was extremely entertaining and hysterically funny. It is not her job to give demonstrations, yet she did a fantastic job of it, which demonstrates the character of most Peruvian people.

After the demonstrations, we were given time to look around at everything they made and purchase whatever we wanted. Personally, I chose to buy a yellow scarf made of baby alpaca, mainly because I knew these women would not lie to us about what it was genuinely made of. You knew after talking to them you could trust them completely. People took plenty of time to find the things they wanted to buy, and once everyone was satisfied, we loaded back into our van to drive to the next location.

Next, we visited Moray, which again, is another part of this website detailed in full. Click here to be taken to any information on this site regarding that. As before, instead of detailing everything here, I will provided a bulleted list that describes it simply, and if your curiosity is peaked, you can visit other pages of the site.

Moray is a beautiful site made up of concaving rings that were supposedly used for agricultural testing and experiments.

Incans walked through these to plant and harvest, but we got to walk around the outskirts of the area and it is a lot bigger than the pictures detailed across the site make it seem.

I distinctly remember there being a beautiful breeze at the time we were there, but I cannot say whether or not this is normal.

Once we did our tour of Moray, we visited one last agricultural site for the day, and they were the salt pans of Maras. These pans are constructed in such a way that the Incan people, and the families that still harvest them, have essentially an unlimited supply of pink salt. Along the top area, there was a set of shops where tourists and us (explorers, as our tour guide liked to call us) could buy the salt that is harvested there, among other goodies.

The salt pans are extremely photogenic, and something very interesting to know about them is that they are similar to snowflakes; not a single one is exactly the same. These pans are shaped and built in a way where a small stream flows through and fills the pans, which eventually evaporate, leaving a small layer of salt across the bottom that is scraped up and sold.

I had a strange affinity toward this place, as I had done a project detailing this place before we arrived there, so it was magnificent to see it in person. Similar to Moray, it is hard to believe that at one point, human beings made these with no tools like what we have today. To someone who has no interest in history or culture, these may just look like white squares on the side of the mountain. When you take into consideration what had to be done to bring these pans into existence, though, your brain can do a “one-eighty” and really feel something emotional about it.

After the tour of the mines, we all hiked down the side of the mountain to make it back to our van, and from there we actually visited a small bar called Bar de los Incas. In there, should we have chosen to do so, could try the alcohol made from corn. I believe I was the only one who did not elect to try it, by my own personal choice, but everyone in my group said that it was delicious and something they would drink at home should they have the option to do so.

After the small stop at the bar, we traveled to our new hotel in Urubamba, called the Hotel San Agustin, were we would spend the next two (2) nights. We got back to the hotel around 4:30 in the afternoon, and from there we had a free evening. The location of our hotel this time around was not as safe as Cusco, so we were told that if we wanted to leave for any reason, we had to be sure to go in larger groups than we had to in Cusco. Most of us chose to stay at the hotel for dinner, and some even partook in the happy hour offered by the hotel. It was a nice experience, because besides the rooms, everything is completely outdoors. After dinner, though, I made the choice to go to bed earlier than I ever had since the time I was in elementary school.

If I thought that this day was going to be hard, I had another VERY important hike to look forward to.

At four in the morning.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Let’s Chat Home || Day 2 || Day 4

Home

[esxdarnell62113-blog]

Ashton Stone Alpacas

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