We have chosen for a more existential way of living.
Per example for heating the farm we chop wood. Direct labour instead of for money to buy it.
We have a vegetable plot, keep pigs, goats, chicken, rabbits all for consumption.
My wife bakes our daily bread.
We try to recycle as much within out litle system as possible.

This for ús means a lot of quality of life but very little cash.
My wife is a véry easygoing peson who undrstands about good living. We both have active minds and for either the exploitation of iideas is a part of oúr quality of living.
All the understanding of the world even though not for the súbject but that is already covered by the understanding persé.

The snag is the cash. Sometimes, like with the flintlock I can buy a kit and thus involve a bít of direct labour. Sometimes I can use an old hoof rasp to grind into a knife and cut a handle from wood.
To buy a colichemarde from GGG however the addition to the mental quality of life must be weighed against necessities for physical survival and we do have díffering views on that but not nearly conflicts :lol:

peter

My girlfriend is extremely supportive of my hobbies and interests, and she shares some of them. We're both rennies (actually having met at the renfaire), and she has her own knife/dagger collection, and a fondness for maces.

Heck, she knew what she was getting into since I already had a solid collection when we met, since I started collecting when I was about 13.

My wife is amused by my hobby. She says it's better than being a football or NASCAR widow ;) Then again, she knew i was an arms and armour geek from day one of our meeting, since my swords were in full view in my barracks room during the B grade fantasy movie night I hosted monthly. Which is where we first met. The Chris Achillos posters might have given it away too. To date, most of the money I've spent has been on SCA armour, with forays into Windlass knives and daggers. I continually kick myself for not buying some Czech swords when I first got to Germany in the late 1990s, the dollar/DM exchange rate was awesome then. Unlike the current dollar/Euro rate.

My wife has no interest in swords, and I bring them up with her as little as possible although every time she asks me what I want for Christmas/birthdays/fathers day I just need to look at her with a silly grin on my face to which she says "I'm not buying you a sword". If she actually ever buys me a sword I will probably pass out form the surprise.

To her benefit whenever any of her friends visit us their husbands usually take an interest in the swords so the men are busy cutting while the women talk about whatever they talk about.

I only tend to buy them when I come into some spare cash, as at the moment we are relatively new homeowners and parents and of course there are a lot of priorities that come before swords. When I do buy them or if anyone raises the issue that they are a waste of money I simply point out that I will have these for forseeably the rest of my life, and they basically become heirlooms, so over that time the cost of each sword is very minor.

I have an office at home where they hang on the wall , so they are out of the way and safe from little hands. It is a space that is by and large my own and the ambience that the swords give the room makes working from home more enjoyable.

A picture is worth a thousand words.
[ Linked Image ]

The old and new Coustilles. :p Picture taken on Sunday at the Texas Ren Fair. :lol:

Great picture, Gary! Your lady is lovely and deadly! :D

This is indeed an interesting thread, and its made me think about the practical side of this hobby (something which I often ignore in my passion). I suppose I ought to already be thinking about the practical side of things here, being "the lady." :p However, I have been obsessively interested in swords and weapons in general for a long time now, much to the confusion of my immediate family. They are not against it, and they have kindly allowed me to have a few sharp pointy objects around, but they do sometimes wonder where this interest (along with my obsession with archery and riding horses) came from. I just jokingly tell them that there must have been some sort of equestrian Persian warrior princess amongst my ancestors or something. ;-)

Now, in terms of a significant other, I am very blessed. The warrior in my life is just that......a warrior! One of the first things we discovered during our very first conversation was our mutual love of bearded warriors and their weapons. ;) I am a medieval studies major, and he is a military history major, so I guess we sort of complement each other. He probably has the biggest arsenal I've ever seen, though most of that consists of historical rifles, hunting guns, and tons of archery equipment. (Lets just say that that when the zombies come, he'll be ready.) He is trying to build up his sword collection as well (he has some Angus Trim, but wants the Albion Valkyrie sooo badly). Unfortunately, like me, he is a poor graduate student and therefore has to put such things to the side for now. But in the meantime, he and his friends amuse themselves by practicing archery, making shields, throwing knives, axes, and spears, and just generally having a blast together. I join in when I am at home, but I have been out of the country on and off for a while now, in places where is not so easy as it is in the good ol' US to just go in your backyard and throw some projectiles around. ;-)

For my birthday this past summer, when I was back home in the States for a while, my band of warriors had gotten together and made me a seax and an Anglo-Saxon shield. Of course, it was a very amateur attempt, but I was so pleasantly surprised. Honestly, I wouldn't trade these items (which were crafted with such love) for anything! In fact, I like to sleep with my (sheathed) seax! :D

Thank you for your kind compliment of this thread Shamsi! I think it is Awesome when I learn of women who are interested in this hobby and I've long been familiar and observant of your postings, and I find them to be inspirational, uplifting and you bring to the table the fact that women too can, have been and are, very fierce warriors :!: In my years of studying Karate and Kung Fu, I've personally observed a number of women who would be a Nightmare to tangle with in a real life situation, especially for the potential male culprit seeking to commit a crime upon them.
Women tend to be more flowing, smoothly coordinated, fast and deceptive as well as cunning in their strategies.
This would of course most certainly apply to a female warrior with a sword or rapier!

Though she is not a warrior, my wife Gayle is a good shot with her pistol and she does have a solid appreciation for fine swords and her own particular fancy for fine daggers, of which I have bought her 5 or 6 so far and the next acquisition that I will make is the Arms & Armor "German Rapier" for Gayle to go with her A & A German Parrying Dagger I bought her earlier this month at Kult of Athena.

To my lady colleagues in this hobby, Your Rock! ;)

Bob

Now it’s not so much what my spouse thinks about this hobby, as it is what I think about it. Missed delivery dates and communications failures from so many different vendors over the years are wearing me out on swords. I'm incredibly tired of throwing money into black holes hoping something comes out someday.

Tip-toeing around so as not to offend people in breach so I can have some hope of them filling their promises.

Being told by the peanut gallery it’s something that should be accepted and expected because artists run businesses that way!

Maybe I'm just getting older. Perhaps it’s just that I need a change of pace. I just know I'm really tired of supporting the business practices that are so common in this hobby. I'm seriously thinking the best thing for me is to do is to start letting starving artists starve.

My wife convinced me to buy a new high performance sedan last weekend and I love it. It was in stock and available on the lot. Quality of the product is top notch. I left the lot with it in less than an hour. The dealer made the buying experience prompt, simple and transparent! I was treated as if my business mattered. An altogether enjoyable diversion.

Can you believe that?

Buying a car was a better experience than most of my sword buying experiences have been over the last couple of years!!

My long-term girlfriend and swords: She thinks its crazy. No interest whatsoever.

Then again, I was VERY briefly involved with a girl like seven years ago who wanted me to give up martial arts because of a guy she was with before me who was violent with her. That was an interesting conversation. So I guess it could be worse. That was back before I was into swords.

Folks,
Let's not let this thread go any more in the direction of "what we hate about this hobby" or "I'm tired of the crappy customer service so frequent in this market". If you guys want to discuss that, please make a new topic. I'll even join in. :)

Let's keep this one about how our spouses/partners/significant others feel about our hobby.

Thank you.

Thank You Very Much Chad for steering this thread back in the proper direction! :)

Bob

Gary, thank you for sharing that Really Nice photo of your wife and self, you too, are one of the lucky one's Gary, to have a soul mate who takes enjoyment in that which you love, we are both very lucky to have the wives that we have been blessed with and it just does not get any better than this.
Your absolutely correct Gary, that picture is indeed worth a thousand words at the very least, and a lovely lady you have in your life :!:


Sincerely,

Bob