Category: Personal
Another Buck Surdu blog post on some of my castings. Space Bugs!
From Buck Surdu’s blog on Archive Space Centaurs and Mark III Warbots that I cast
What was going on in Finland During the Viking Age? Are the Finns descended from or related to the Vikings?
I am a lover of history, and of course love the dramatized series Vikings on the History Channel. It takes some dramatic license of course, but is fun.
Lately, the History Channel has added Real Vikings as an add-on show. It’s pretty good as you get to get some interesting facts and stories about the Vikings while seeing some of the European sites that they lived in and raided.
I’ve always been curious about my relationship to the Vikings and other races in history genetically. I am ¼ Irish, ¼ Finnish, 3/16 French Canadian (the French origins of Morin seem to be more from Normandy), 1/16 Micmac tribe, 1/8 Swedish, and 1/8 Italian (near Naples). Clearly the Irish side would have Celtic ancestry, but there were a lot of Vikings in Ireland – and I believe every major city in Ireland, or most of them, started out as Viking settlements during their raiding period. The Normans certainly were of Viking ancestry, and Swedes were pretty much as well (along with Norwegians and Danes). So I am pretty sure that Viking DNA is in me from the Irish, the French, and the Swedes, but what of the Finns?
The article below by Kristian Ola (Wilpuri) on the website All Empires is very interesting. She does a very nice job in English (I believe she is a Finn). Basically, she discusses the Finnic and Ugric tribes that lived in the Finnish peninsula during the Viking Age and how they interacted based upon the archeologic record. I have a better appreciation now of how the Finns (and their ancestors) really got stuck between the Swedes and Russians going back to the days of the Vikings. Curiously, during the Cold War, the Finns did not explore much of their history of that time so as not to alienate the USSR. In any case, I thought this was a good read.
http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=Viking_Age_Finland
Welcome Tabitha Lynn Smedile, our first granddaughter!
So happy to share good news – our first granddaughter, arrived early on December 17th! She arrived weighing 9 lbs. and 10 ounces, and 21 ½” long!
She and her Mom and Dad (Ellen and Chris) are now home and doing well! Merry Christmas!
Thought I’d share some pictures:
Slag or Lava Mounds for Sci-Fi
I have been casting miniatures with pewter for a while now, and I usually use a spoon to remove any impurities, slag, and ash that are floating on top of my crucible before I pour anything into the molds. Up to now, this material was useless to me. As I am now working on creating retro sci-fi units for Combat Patrol™ games, I came up with the idea of repurposing this material for needed terrain – like old lava flow mounds or industrial slag.
To finish up for October, I created four CD-mounted slag/lava mounds using three regular size CD’s and a smaller one. I used five slag piles, gluing each to the CD with wood glue and letting them sit overnight. I also applied a coat of wood glue to the surfaces of the CD’s for better paint and flocking adhesion down the line.
I then primed the group with Krylon “Ultra-Flat Black” matte spray paint. I took Reaper Master Series Paints “Grey Liner” and coated the slag and the CD’s. After this, I applied a coat of Citadel “Nuln Oil”. To bring out the highlights, I used Americana “Zinc” to dry brush the pieces.
I then let the pieces dry. Then, I used white glue to affix two types of flocking from Army Painter – “Ash Grey” and “Battlefield Black” in a random pattern. I applied two coats of Testors “Dull Coat”, allowing for adequate drying in between each.
I am pretty pleased with the results. It was not a difficult process at all. Of course, I will need to acquire a dark cloth for covering my tabletop battlefield with these. I thought about adding some grasses or tuft, but in the end went for a more wasteland look – devoid of life. I look forward to having figures use them as cover in a Combat Patrol™ game!
Labor Day Labors — H.A.W.K.S.
Buck A squad of “Space Roomans” See Ma’k Morin’s blog post about Roomans here. Yesterday I painted 13 that Ma’k converted to “space Roomans” by combining parts of a Ral Partha Rooman with the body of a Reaper science fiction figure. I think the conversion was quite effective. One fire team of “Space Roomans” I […]
Roomans — H.A.W.K.S.
Buck Or is that Roo-men? Sometime in ancient history, Ral Partha made a single pack of figures, called Rooman War Party, which had Roomans in two poses, but all armed with pikes or spears. They are no longer available. Over the years, I collected dozens of the originals, but they have become quite rare, even […]
Lynn’s Got Clubs!
Happy Independence Day!
Lynn and I celebrated with a round of 9 holes at Bay Path Golf Course in East Brookfield, MA today. We had picked her up a nice starter set of Top-Flite Women’s clubs on Sunday at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Worcester. We hit the range, and she tried them out. She also got a “fancy” orange towel, some purple Pinnacles, and a couple of gloves.
Today, after all the other golfers were done, we played her first round with her new clubs. She did try golf at the couples league on Friday night by borrowing some clubs from Justyne Smith – but this was just her and I. I am so grateful that she is giving this a tentative “go” so far.
I did want to take a picture there at the course, but I worried she’d get upset. Golf is not easy on the beginner (or the veteran player for that matter). She was a GREAT sport, and did her best. We will be back out sometimes, but I don’t think that 18 holes in in the cards anytime soon for her. Still, I truly enjoyed spending the time playing with her on her first day with the new clubs. I love my wife!!!
Here she is afterwards barbecuing some delicious chicken breasts!
LYNN GRADUATES SALTER COLLEGE WITH HIGH HONORS!
On June 16th, I had the high honor and distinct privilege of attending my wife Lynn’s graduation ceremony from Salter College’s Culinary program. Even though she completed all her requirements back in December, there had been no ceremony for her class until this month. What a great night!
The ceremony took place at Worcester Vocational High School as Salter College did not have adequately-sized facilities for such a large crowd. I got there early and grabbed a front row seat, only to be bounced to the second row by staff. I still had a good seats and Ellen joined me unbeknownst to Lynn. So when “Pomp and Circumstance” played, and she walked down with her class, Lynn was pleasantly surprised to see Ellen and I together at her ceremony. Ellen brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers for Lynn, which she loved.
I was thrilled beyond belief to see her walk on the stage, and hear “Geralyn Morin, High Honors, Student Ambassador”. As she walked across the stage, the chef professors she had all got up from the faculty seating on stage and high-fived her! I do not exaggerate when I say that I shed a few tears of joy and pride at this moment. I am so proud of Lynn, for her courage, and her tenacity. Without any doubt, this was a great moment for her, and I saw so much personal growth from her in the last year and a half – it was AMAZING!
We had a long wait to reunite afterwards because of the crowd, but we successfully got together and went to Kyoto’s in Worcester where Chris Smedile joined us for a celebratory meal at the teppanyaki cooking table!
WELL DONE LYNN!!!!!! LOVE YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark A. Morin 