It's getting cooler and slightly autumny outside; the sunlight has a different, more golden colour in the afternoons, and it is actually nice again to stand in the sun and having it warm oneself. It's still quite dry here, and during the day it gets warm enough (or even hot), but summer is definitely coming to an end.

The Forum, on the other hand, is about to start. We are looking forward to an interesting week with lots of discussion and practical stuff about historical textile techniques, and if you can and want to come to Mayen for a day or more, day passes are available and you will be very welcome!

As for me, I will finish the last preparations and start packing for the event today. Hooray! It's almost starting!

So... now for the catching up. (More or less, that is.)

There's a MeDaTS meeting (the autumn meeting) in October, as usual in the British Museum, and the topic is "Well Worn Weeds: Underclothes, Linens and Vegetable fibres worn next to the body". It's on Saturday, 27th October 2012, and you can see more details including conference fee and contact data here. Now, if I were in London...

The CfP for the International Conference “Theory and method in the prehistoric archaeology of Central Europe” is already past, and there's bound to be a programme up soon. The event is 24^th–26^th October 2012 in Mikulov (Czech Republic), the sessions are already fixed and described on the website, and registration for participants is open.

Meanwhile, we are finishing the last behind-the-scenes detail planning for the Textile Forum, I have an article to finish off and a presentation to structure (and it is giving me a hard time, unfortunately). And the cat may have asthma. And to top it all off, Facebook is making me get timeline. Gah. Which means I will have to hunt for a cover photo... just what I needed, another excuse for procrastinating.

Calling stuff that one does not like or that seems outdated "medieval" is something that is... how shall I put it... not getting applauded very much by medievalists. Now, lots of snark can be released onto that topic, but I am not going to do it myself - instead, I am going to link you to Carl Pyrdum's blog, where you can read and laugh for yourselves.

In other and textile-related news, editing on our first Textile Forum Proceedings is going on - and I am utterly thankful that this work is done by somebody who is not me. I won't give an estimate of when it will come out, but I hope that there will be no unforeseen delays and that it is going to be not too far in the future.

The cat, by the way, has developed some sort of daily routine (well, routine in addition to meowing as if she were starving when it's feeding time). The part of her routine the most stable these past days? Her after-lunch nap. After lunch (and after the requisite bit of grooming), she settles down to take a little nap... which ends about an hour before her next meal, at six-ish in the evening. I am continuously astounded by cats' ability to sleep!

The wheel is finished - not as elegantly joined as I had dreamed, but it's joined, it turns smoothly, and it looks quite nice. Photos tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, when it will be hopefully all done and finished.

Other wheels have turned as well: The Textile Forum programme is now settled, and we are very much looking forward to it! For the news, just visit our Forum website.

Life is looking good - the taxes are all done and sent off in time, the cat is enjoying her fine-weather observation place at the window (she's still not allowed out, but will be soon), I will be able to start building my new spinning wheel on the weekend, and it has finally rained yesterday. And this time, it wasn't just a bit of rain and then heat again, no - proper ground-drenching rain, much needed by nature all around here.

And to top off all those good things, Sabine and I had a conspirative phone call yesterday and planned the programme for the Textile Forum in September. This time around, we had offers for some presentations that are about new or rarely covered and quite complex topics, so we will reserve some more time for each of them - plus we managed to sort things into something like theme days, and we are really happy with how things are working out. The programme is not all finished yet, but we hope to finalise it soon, and then we'll post it to the Forum homepage and send it round in a newsletter. Things are happening, and they are exciting!

The last three days were quite intense - sitting in the car for about four hours, followed by a long afternoon and a long full day of unleashing my inner geek to get a website set up, organised and running, and finally a nice and interesting meeting at LEA to discuss future events - including the Textile Forum.

I had seen plans and pictures, but it really is different to stand in the rooms and halls and see how much has been done. The building is in the process of drying out and still needs a good clean, but then (almost) the only thing that's left to do is to put in the rest of the fittings for the two workhalls. One will contain a smithy, but they are both designed to be very flexible in their uses. There are two dorm rooms that are very light and friendly, a large room for meetings and conferences and papers, a nice well-fitted kitchen with lots of light and room for a little staff meeting or conspirative cooking (or doing on-the-stove experiments, like dyeworks with good control over surroundings and temperature). And last but not at all least, the folks from the Volcano Parc are lovely neighbours.

Now I'm even happier to be there in September - and I'm very, very much looking forward to our event!

Today is the day we will be visiting LEA (or at least LEA's building site) - the Laboratory for Experimental Archaeology that is being built in Mayen and where the Textile Forum 2012 will take place.

Sabine and I are both very much looking forward to this - we have seen plans and pictures, but it's always totally different to be there in person. I know that a lot of thought and effort went into this project, so I am very thrilled to see it come into reality!