My Sanctuary

Greetings!  Welcome to my inner Sanctum. 

My persona is known in the hobby of re-creating and re-enacting the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as Lady Alys de Trois Rivieres.  She is a 14-16th Century Welsh dollmaker. She was born on the northwestern coast of Wales and now resides in the port town of Criccieth.  She has two children by her late lord husband, Alain de Trois Rivieres, a Norman, who died of old wounds received in battle.  Our children are our daughter, Jenefer a dark haired wonder with beautiful eyes, and our son, Daffyd a very intelligent and gifted child with reddish blonde hair and blue eyes. 

Within the hobby she has been a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism for over 20 years in the Kingdom of An Tir before moving onto other realms.  From there she moved to a place named the Realms of Avalon.  Her stay there was only brief.  She now resides as a part-time citizen in the Empire of the Emerald Dragon in the Alliance of Medieval and Renaissance Empires as well as the Kingdom of An Tir.  Ever the officer and willing to give service, currently I hold a position as one of the members on the Board of Directors for the Alliance.

Together, my late lord husband Alain and I, were involved in this hobby for 20+ years until the day he died .  For many of those years I simply observed a lot and watched people (which I still do as much and whenever possible), I did a little here and there, and tried to keep as anonymous as possible. This has been by and large a very enjoyable hobby for me.  This hobby has allowed me to learn many, many new skills, crafts, and arts.  Some of the skills learned have crossed over into the world of the Mundane to help me accomplish much in my work.

Like many other people, persona development is a continual work in progress for me.  After a few years of research I finally found my persona's home town. From a little bit of the research that I have done so far it is possible to have been a dollmaker from Wales in the later centuries. Dollmaking was a cottage industry during the time period in much of Europe. There was a woodcut illustration I once found in a library book on doll history It was captioned "a 15th Century Welsh doll merchant booth".

My first introduction to the hobby concept of re-creating the Middle Ages and the Renaissance well over 20 years ago was while I was attending a science fiction/fantasy convention in Portland, Oregon on October 31, 1981.  I was with my then current boyfriend at the time. I remember standing on a balcony when a sound caught my ear and something begged for attention out of the corner of my left eye.  It made me turn. Looking down, I saw men in armor bashing away at one another and I saw other men in bright colored clothing and in the livery with crossed horns. (I did not know what I saw then but I do now.)  I saw women wearing beautiful gowns from a time period that I only got barely a day or two of in 7th grade History class. (Which was the only time that I recall learning that there was such a period as the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.)  I remember hearing the sounds of swords upon armor and shield. I remember hearing the winners’ names being called out and who needed to make ready. It was not until January of 1982 that I found out what it was that had caught my ears and eye. It turns out that it was the Portland area branch known as the Barony of Three Mountains of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

After 20+ years with this hobby, out of curiosity and a need to explore, I embarked on a quest in earnest for other groups besides the SCA.  I came upon the Realms of Avalon just on the cusp of their formation. (Another long story.)  Still the exploration bug did not let me go and I went on quest again.  This was a quest that both my late lord husband and myself undertook.  In the wilds of the ethereal web, we stumbled upon a group based out of Arizona.  One that has some logic and common sense behind it.  What I especially loved about this group is that awards are earned on a point system.  In my opinion, it is a most fair and logical one and makes the most sense of all the groups that use points systems.  Points are given for everything.  It says to me that everything you do matters and that they have a philosophy of care towards their members.  They understand that everything you do contributes and should be counted.  I really really like that.

In real life, my name is Laura Stalter. I was married to one of the most wonderful and awesome men I have ever met, Richard Henry Stalter.  He was my love for over 22 years until he died quite suddenly on November 04, 2004. We have a daughter named Jennifer and our son is Nathaniel.

My interests and hobbies in life are many and varied. It is a very long list and by no means complete.  They include:
    appliqué work
    brewing
    calligraphy
    cartography
    chocolate (another passion)
    costuming
    crocheting
    culinary arts
    dance - all kinds
    doll making (hoping to pursue puppetry eventually)
    gardening (particularly herbs)
    graphic design
    lace making in various forms and currently teaching myself tatting
    learning new stuff
    Mariners baseball team
    Mathilda, our family dog
    mead making
    movie and T.V. series DVD collecting
    my cats (one of three of my greatest passions in life): Alexander 'Xander' Harris and Gulliver Tea.
    my children - Jennifer and Nathaniel
    persona development
    re-inventing myself
    sewing
    soap making (my newest consuming passion)
    watching DVD movies and T.V. series
    website building
    writing
   
I love reading fantasy novels particularly those of a medieval Celtic bent (currently ones by Anna Lee Waldo).  My other favorite books to read are mysteries.  Favorite authors include Sara Paretsky, Lillian Jackson Braun, Ellis Peters, P.D. James, Tony Hillerman, and G. A. McKevett.  Somehow the combination of listening to jazz with a cat accompanying me while reading a mystery seems to be a perfect one.

Other parts of me, besides being "Mom", include being a partner in a crafting partnership named "Needwood Emporium", Doll department Superintendent for the Grant County Fairgrounds, being a student at Big Bend Community College and freelance transcriptionist with only one client at the moment.
WELCOME TRAVELER or THE MAP ROOM

This page and all other pages found herein on this site were designed by Alys de Trois Rivieres herself. 
As such they are maintained and updated by her as time allows.  Her hand last touched this page on June 21, 2007.