Have you ever had one of those crazy weekends? Not end-up-lost-in-the-Nevada-desert style crazy but just a period of time where you stop and laugh at the spontaneity of it all. That was this weekend at least in part.

It began with some of my previous hogback research being discovered on Twitter [hence why more was posted on Conyer Chapel in case you were wondering]. Concurrent to that, however, were preparations for my husband’s band, Crooked Bird, appearance on our local CBS affiliate morning show Good Day Sacramento.

This morning [Sunday] at dark o’clock the band and I [as photographer] set off for the studio in Sacramento. Here are the guys arriving in the parking lot. We had to be there early to get set up and mic checks done.

I have to say everyone was really really nice. I’ve watched this particular morning show since it started on a pretty regular basis, even while I was living abroad. Here the guys are in the green room warming up. No couches were harmed in the taking of that photograph.

I have to take a brief tangent in the narrative here because the green room’s bathroom had one of the funniest posters ever. Here it is. Pardon my inclusion of it but I laughed my butt off about that this morning.

Once the guys got set up on the studio stage they warmed up with their rendition of Dolly Parton’s Jolene And the rest of the show the band had several songs, a couple of commercial break bumps and the like.

This was during the first spot.

This was during the “Soft Kitty Challenge”. Shortly before this Chef Evan gave us all some REALLY good prime rib. I’ve seen his dishes on the show for a long time and always thought that they looked really yummy. I was not disappointed other than by wanting more. If the guys play at his restaurant I am so getting the prime rib.

Here I made the guys stop a second and take a nice shot. I’d like to thank Dale as well for not swinging the boom camera until after I was done.

Here are the guys with the morning anchors at the end of the show.

Here is the first full song spot from this morning.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10633250

Here is the third- the second song, Jolene, wasn’t posted in full.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10633297

Finally if you want to see the Soft Kitty Challenge results here is the link for that.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10633289

Now I’m for a pot of tea with the little madam that got this ball rolling in the first place.

So a bit of a plug for something completely different.

Following the TV debut of Hippie, Boudi and Kali, my husband Jerry has been able to arrange air time to promote his band Crooked Bird. If you like bluegrass/ roots Americana-type music with strong harmonies please check them out. You can find them on Facebook under Crooked Bird where they have a few songs posted. The group is also on Twitter as @CrookedBirdBand. There is a website in the works but its still under construction at the time of writing this.

If you would like to catch the live feed the guys will be on KMAX Channel 31 sometime between 8:30-9:15am PST. I’ve tried to attach the live feed link here:

http://gooddaysacramento.cbslocal.com/good-day-sacramento-live/

It would be nice to drive Jerry’s traffic up some folks. He dropped his music career along with everything else we had in the US when I got the opportunity to go to graduate school in the UK. Now that we’re back he’s been working very hard to get it back together again. I’m really proud of him but since I’m naturally more of an introvert unless Vikings are being discussed this is a good chance for me to get the word out a bit.

In case you were wondering, yes we’re a touch eclectic what with his ukuleles, my medieval work and our tea drinking guinea pigs.

Now for my nod to post-modernism.

Several of my hogback photos posted were taken as part of a project undertaken during my MA year at the University of Nottingham. I’ve previously posted the actual paper submitted with the associated documentation up on here. These are shots taken that were not necessarily included. They somewhat serve as an example of the jumble of time that can occur on any type of archaeological site, let alone one in a remote portion of North Yorkshire. There are some lovely pieces of medieval sculpture within this chapel as well as some unique funerary brasses dedicated to family servants. What I have posted up is the sculpture mostly- the funerary brass pics are mostly text.

The Chapel entrance, as taken from the former nave of the larger church.

The Tyr hogback I was documenting was located immediately inside the entrance. Beg pardon folks for my kit being in the middle of this- it was originally just taken as a reference shot.

There was not only Cumbrian hogbacks as well as the earlier illustrated hogback but also several Insular cross shafts and later 15th century architectural details.

This shot was taken farthest from the entrance. There was some order to the layout of these pieces. According to the English Heritage archaeologist whom I contacted about visiting the site at the time there had been a long period of bringing the medieval sculptures out during large parties. These pieces were less likely to be utilized in this secondary purpose.

These pieces were nearest the entrance and were opposite of the illustrative hogback I had arrived to document.

One of the funerary brasses is visible in this shot. Just ignore the thermos- like I mentioned this was originally just a reference shot for the final paper.

Here is a better view of Conyer Chapel’s effigy knight.