Dandelion Festival
It was my first Dandelion Festival. The date used to float around and it always worked out that it was on a weekend when I had other plans or it was too close to Pikeman's. While being on the long weekend was inconvenient to some people, it actually worked out for me ... and I was so glad I went.
I got to see Lucia and Giovanni's investiture. It was my third baronial investiture since joining the SCA. I think I had remembered the ceremony as being longer; I was surprised by how short it was. They both looked great in their garb. Their court was really short. They made reference to their entourage of children and made Xrstina their baronial conscience. It was nice for her since she served us as Vicar and since she was the only one of the past barons and baronesses to show up. (And before someone writes to me and complains. I am not trashing any of these people. I realize that they all had their reasons for not being present, all of which could be attributed to "unfortunate timing". The fact remains that I felt badly for Lucia and Giovanni when Derfel and Melisande had all 6 past B&B show up for their investiture while Lucia and Giovanni got 1 out of 8.) I temporarily wished I would have brought my daughters, but in the end to have had to look after them all day and miss the things I did would not have been worth it to have had them look cute for 10 minutes in court.
Other than the investiture, the main reason that I am so glad that I went was that it turned out to be a very bardic event. My telling of "The Lineage of Skraeling Althing" was well received. (I think I have settled on calling it "The Lineage of Skraeling Althing" instead of the more informal "The Line of the Hare".) Marian of Heatherdale was at the event. I knew she was a wonderful song writer and that she had a beautiful voice; what I only found out at the event was that she is a sweet and gracious person. She ran a bardic circle in the afternoon between courts. It was the bardic circle of my dreams. She sang several of her songs and invited us to join in. She kept encouraging the rest of us to take turns performing. May de la Wold stood and sang a song. TSivia sang two songs. Nathaniel told a story of his travels to Spain. Duncan shared a story. I recited two of my poems: the one for Cennedi and Susanna's coronation and Lia Fail. I probably could have done more, but they were the two that I could reconstruct in my head. The lesson is to re-memorize more of my works; it had been so long since anyone had wanted to hear from me that being asked to perform took me by surprize.
Marian brought her new apprentice to the event. MariHannah is from Caer Draeth. Before the bardic circle even started, she pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to hear a song she wrote about her first event. It was exciting to hear someone so excited about performing. She give me a lovely pin. I wanted to give her something in return so I gave her a choice of the amethyst beads I bought last year at Pennsic or the amber that came from Jeff. She chose the amber and I suppose it worked out. He bought it for me as a travel gift when he went to Pennsic before I did; the amethyst were bought during my first Pennsic as a complete family. We hugged after I gave her the amber and it's like she's my new bardic sister; I also told her that on behalf of Skrael that she was always welcome to come and perform for us.
Mistress Marian told me that I inspire her. I don't believe it for a minute, but it was lovely of her to say it. She gave me a ring. The Queen also gave me a ring and told me to keep performing. I got to trade amber that came from someone in my past for 2 rings and a pin. It is very symbolic and I will wear all three with pride, knowing from whom they all came.
It was fun to perform by myself again. I have done children's theatre at the last 3 Caldrithg events (Practicum 2008, Hare 2008, Practicum 2009). I want to keep doing things with kids. The kids like it, it keeps them occupied during feast, and I feel like I'm training future bards. I'm going to do a better job of balancing performing by myself with performing with kids. Dandelion certainly pushed me back into performing. Dandelion also reinspired me bardic-wise. I was getting a little frustrated with apathy. I still need to find a group to practice with; even practicing my poem before Piers that morning was helpful since I did it too fast. I ended up performing it in court at half the speed that I did it for Piers.
Marie came to Dandelion. She is thinking about restarting instrumental music and choir in the fall. If it is on a night that I can make, I would love to go since singing is my deficiency in my bardic repertoire. Marie agreed to teach me some of the songs of Ealdormere that I never learned in my 10 years in Caldrithig. I basically want to learn "The Blazing Scarlet Banner" and "Arise" from Hector and then a lot of Marian's songs. I am planning on buying her songbook online so that I'll have notes to actually help me learn to sing on key.
Afternoon court was lovely. Gabrielle and I had been chatting with a nice lady named Aveline. We got to see her get her AoA. The mother of the twin girls also got an AoA. Micaylah and Sydney got Awards of the Wolf Cub; their scrolls were read by Brand's son. Gudrun got a well deserved AMH. The biggest applause occurred when Edhan received the Order of the Wain.
Feast was good. I loved Gudrun's homemade cheese. The chicken pie was probably the best part of feast. Gabrielle and I sat with Ketheryn. Tables were set for 7 instead of 8. It kind of worked out since I found it awkward to sit while wearing the horn and so I gave it it's own place. Duncan did a play of the children's version of Beowulf. It was the most entertaining that Duncan has ever been. I had been impressed that he wrote it, but it turned out that it came from a bard in Meridies. TSivia sang her song about Skraeling Althing, proud land of the Hare. I was slightly disappointed in myself that I did not get my other poem done for Dandelion. I will get it done for Pikeman's and if they let me, I will perform it there.
In between all the courts, I got to chat with Gabrielle and Micaylah. It was the event of returning Caldrithgites. Marie was there as was Jacomo. It was nice to see him back to play. It was also great to see that the majority of the other candidates for baron and baroness came for the investiture. Life is too short to get bitter over things like that. Sebastian - the newest Skrael - made his first appearance at an event. I also got to meet Linda, a newcomer from Ottawa who was at her first event.
I bought some of Etaoin's fabric. I picked a pinkish burgundy to make a cotehardie for Grace. For the first time ever, I bought fabric without knowing what I was going to do with it. I bought some bright red and some navy blue, both in a linen with a bit of cotton or rayon. They were such great basic colours that I'm sure I can make something with them.
I got to see Lucia and Giovanni's investiture. It was my third baronial investiture since joining the SCA. I think I had remembered the ceremony as being longer; I was surprised by how short it was. They both looked great in their garb. Their court was really short. They made reference to their entourage of children and made Xrstina their baronial conscience. It was nice for her since she served us as Vicar and since she was the only one of the past barons and baronesses to show up. (And before someone writes to me and complains. I am not trashing any of these people. I realize that they all had their reasons for not being present, all of which could be attributed to "unfortunate timing". The fact remains that I felt badly for Lucia and Giovanni when Derfel and Melisande had all 6 past B&B show up for their investiture while Lucia and Giovanni got 1 out of 8.) I temporarily wished I would have brought my daughters, but in the end to have had to look after them all day and miss the things I did would not have been worth it to have had them look cute for 10 minutes in court.
Other than the investiture, the main reason that I am so glad that I went was that it turned out to be a very bardic event. My telling of "The Lineage of Skraeling Althing" was well received. (I think I have settled on calling it "The Lineage of Skraeling Althing" instead of the more informal "The Line of the Hare".) Marian of Heatherdale was at the event. I knew she was a wonderful song writer and that she had a beautiful voice; what I only found out at the event was that she is a sweet and gracious person. She ran a bardic circle in the afternoon between courts. It was the bardic circle of my dreams. She sang several of her songs and invited us to join in. She kept encouraging the rest of us to take turns performing. May de la Wold stood and sang a song. TSivia sang two songs. Nathaniel told a story of his travels to Spain. Duncan shared a story. I recited two of my poems: the one for Cennedi and Susanna's coronation and Lia Fail. I probably could have done more, but they were the two that I could reconstruct in my head. The lesson is to re-memorize more of my works; it had been so long since anyone had wanted to hear from me that being asked to perform took me by surprize.
Marian brought her new apprentice to the event. MariHannah is from Caer Draeth. Before the bardic circle even started, she pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to hear a song she wrote about her first event. It was exciting to hear someone so excited about performing. She give me a lovely pin. I wanted to give her something in return so I gave her a choice of the amethyst beads I bought last year at Pennsic or the amber that came from Jeff. She chose the amber and I suppose it worked out. He bought it for me as a travel gift when he went to Pennsic before I did; the amethyst were bought during my first Pennsic as a complete family. We hugged after I gave her the amber and it's like she's my new bardic sister; I also told her that on behalf of Skrael that she was always welcome to come and perform for us.
Mistress Marian told me that I inspire her. I don't believe it for a minute, but it was lovely of her to say it. She gave me a ring. The Queen also gave me a ring and told me to keep performing. I got to trade amber that came from someone in my past for 2 rings and a pin. It is very symbolic and I will wear all three with pride, knowing from whom they all came.
It was fun to perform by myself again. I have done children's theatre at the last 3 Caldrithg events (Practicum 2008, Hare 2008, Practicum 2009). I want to keep doing things with kids. The kids like it, it keeps them occupied during feast, and I feel like I'm training future bards. I'm going to do a better job of balancing performing by myself with performing with kids. Dandelion certainly pushed me back into performing. Dandelion also reinspired me bardic-wise. I was getting a little frustrated with apathy. I still need to find a group to practice with; even practicing my poem before Piers that morning was helpful since I did it too fast. I ended up performing it in court at half the speed that I did it for Piers.
Marie came to Dandelion. She is thinking about restarting instrumental music and choir in the fall. If it is on a night that I can make, I would love to go since singing is my deficiency in my bardic repertoire. Marie agreed to teach me some of the songs of Ealdormere that I never learned in my 10 years in Caldrithig. I basically want to learn "The Blazing Scarlet Banner" and "Arise" from Hector and then a lot of Marian's songs. I am planning on buying her songbook online so that I'll have notes to actually help me learn to sing on key.
Afternoon court was lovely. Gabrielle and I had been chatting with a nice lady named Aveline. We got to see her get her AoA. The mother of the twin girls also got an AoA. Micaylah and Sydney got Awards of the Wolf Cub; their scrolls were read by Brand's son. Gudrun got a well deserved AMH. The biggest applause occurred when Edhan received the Order of the Wain.
Feast was good. I loved Gudrun's homemade cheese. The chicken pie was probably the best part of feast. Gabrielle and I sat with Ketheryn. Tables were set for 7 instead of 8. It kind of worked out since I found it awkward to sit while wearing the horn and so I gave it it's own place. Duncan did a play of the children's version of Beowulf. It was the most entertaining that Duncan has ever been. I had been impressed that he wrote it, but it turned out that it came from a bard in Meridies. TSivia sang her song about Skraeling Althing, proud land of the Hare. I was slightly disappointed in myself that I did not get my other poem done for Dandelion. I will get it done for Pikeman's and if they let me, I will perform it there.
In between all the courts, I got to chat with Gabrielle and Micaylah. It was the event of returning Caldrithgites. Marie was there as was Jacomo. It was nice to see him back to play. It was also great to see that the majority of the other candidates for baron and baroness came for the investiture. Life is too short to get bitter over things like that. Sebastian - the newest Skrael - made his first appearance at an event. I also got to meet Linda, a newcomer from Ottawa who was at her first event.
I bought some of Etaoin's fabric. I picked a pinkish burgundy to make a cotehardie for Grace. For the first time ever, I bought fabric without knowing what I was going to do with it. I bought some bright red and some navy blue, both in a linen with a bit of cotton or rayon. They were such great basic colours that I'm sure I can make something with them.