Grainne Fionn at Pennsic 38
Grainne thoroughly enjoyed Pennsic this year. Last year, I had to come up with things for her to do including adult classes for her to attend. This year, she had a social year.
Lydia went to Pennsic. Grace had a ball with her. I was in the bathroom putting on make up while Lydia brushed her teeth at another sink. I had a complete stranger ask me if I'd cut Grace's hair. It took me a moment to figure out that she'd confused Grace and Lydia. I have been asked if they are sisters or cousins. Kate from Rowenhall also came to play frequently or Grace hung out with Kate and Lydia under Jhone's supervision.
She went to the water battle and the Children's Fete. I must remember to pack a water fun next time we go to Pennsic. She made a 3 Men Morris game at the Fete and learned to play.
We bought her arrows at Midnight Madness. Of the child sized arrows available, we let her pick out the colours she liked. She ended up with lime green and deep red. We did archery for the first time at Pennsic. We went to the children's area before the adult area, so Grainne actually did archery at Pennsic before her parents. That amuses me. Piers had to help her shoot. She did hit the butt once. We are both proud of her.
We didn't participate in children's theatre this year. It was actually billed as "Kiddie Commedia" and I was intrigued to see if they were attempting Commedia del Arte with kids under 6. We went on Saturday. The organizer (whose name I forget) was having problems. She had started 2 days before and hadn't had consistently the same kids. The kids were having problems memorizing lines. Parents were making all kinds of suggestions. The tent was right beside the playground and kids wanted to go and play instead of doing the play. She went home to rethink things. Unfortunately, after promising to support her, Sunday morning brought rain and Monday morning brought tent repair do to Grainne breaking the zipper the night before. We went back on Tuesday and the organizer did not show up. (One parent filled me in on what had happened on Sunday and Monday.) Grace just played for an hour. I decided, in consultation with Grace, that with only 2 practices to the performance to just let it slide this year. It hope it turned out. I know how challenging it is to do children's theatre.
Grainne danced at the Middle Eastern Exhibition. We were the first act. She did reasonably well with the choreography, especially considering we only practiced once and without music. She apparently took another bow after I left the stage. I love that she is so fearless about performing in public.
She picked out her own belt mounts. I am buying her a purple belt from the Fettered Cock. I took her buy to let her pick out her own mounts and she chose seashells (July 25 is the Feast of St. James) and fleur de lis. Later on I took her to the Pillaged Village to buy buttons for the cotehardie I'm going to make for her. She looked at between 10-15 kinds and asked if they made buttons with fleur de lis. Menken may rubbing off on her. :)
The hammocks continued to be a source of endless amusement. At one point, Grace, Lydia, and Kate were all in the same hammock. I briefly wondered if they were going to overload it until I realized that they probably weighed less than 150 between them. There is a tire stuck perpendicular in the ground near Skrael. This also was a source of endless amusement.
My favourite Grainne story happened as we were coming home from Pennsic. She is often slow in the bathroom. At Skrael, she was allowed to go to the bathroom by herself. The rest of the time, I had spent part of Pennsic standing outside a port-a-potty asking how much longer this was going to take. We stopped on the toll highway at Denny's. In the middle of dinner, she had to go to the bathroom. Because it is not in the restaurant but out in the main area, I was not letting her go by herself. I was hungry and had had about 2 bites of dinner. Knowing how slow she can be, I told her to hurry up. Then a voice from another stall said, "Dubh ... is that you?" It turned out to be Eleneud. This amuses me that I am recognizable as a voice telling a child to hurry up in the bathroom. :)
Lydia went to Pennsic. Grace had a ball with her. I was in the bathroom putting on make up while Lydia brushed her teeth at another sink. I had a complete stranger ask me if I'd cut Grace's hair. It took me a moment to figure out that she'd confused Grace and Lydia. I have been asked if they are sisters or cousins. Kate from Rowenhall also came to play frequently or Grace hung out with Kate and Lydia under Jhone's supervision.
She went to the water battle and the Children's Fete. I must remember to pack a water fun next time we go to Pennsic. She made a 3 Men Morris game at the Fete and learned to play.
We bought her arrows at Midnight Madness. Of the child sized arrows available, we let her pick out the colours she liked. She ended up with lime green and deep red. We did archery for the first time at Pennsic. We went to the children's area before the adult area, so Grainne actually did archery at Pennsic before her parents. That amuses me. Piers had to help her shoot. She did hit the butt once. We are both proud of her.
We didn't participate in children's theatre this year. It was actually billed as "Kiddie Commedia" and I was intrigued to see if they were attempting Commedia del Arte with kids under 6. We went on Saturday. The organizer (whose name I forget) was having problems. She had started 2 days before and hadn't had consistently the same kids. The kids were having problems memorizing lines. Parents were making all kinds of suggestions. The tent was right beside the playground and kids wanted to go and play instead of doing the play. She went home to rethink things. Unfortunately, after promising to support her, Sunday morning brought rain and Monday morning brought tent repair do to Grainne breaking the zipper the night before. We went back on Tuesday and the organizer did not show up. (One parent filled me in on what had happened on Sunday and Monday.) Grace just played for an hour. I decided, in consultation with Grace, that with only 2 practices to the performance to just let it slide this year. It hope it turned out. I know how challenging it is to do children's theatre.
Grainne danced at the Middle Eastern Exhibition. We were the first act. She did reasonably well with the choreography, especially considering we only practiced once and without music. She apparently took another bow after I left the stage. I love that she is so fearless about performing in public.
She picked out her own belt mounts. I am buying her a purple belt from the Fettered Cock. I took her buy to let her pick out her own mounts and she chose seashells (July 25 is the Feast of St. James) and fleur de lis. Later on I took her to the Pillaged Village to buy buttons for the cotehardie I'm going to make for her. She looked at between 10-15 kinds and asked if they made buttons with fleur de lis. Menken may rubbing off on her. :)
The hammocks continued to be a source of endless amusement. At one point, Grace, Lydia, and Kate were all in the same hammock. I briefly wondered if they were going to overload it until I realized that they probably weighed less than 150 between them. There is a tire stuck perpendicular in the ground near Skrael. This also was a source of endless amusement.
My favourite Grainne story happened as we were coming home from Pennsic. She is often slow in the bathroom. At Skrael, she was allowed to go to the bathroom by herself. The rest of the time, I had spent part of Pennsic standing outside a port-a-potty asking how much longer this was going to take. We stopped on the toll highway at Denny's. In the middle of dinner, she had to go to the bathroom. Because it is not in the restaurant but out in the main area, I was not letting her go by herself. I was hungry and had had about 2 bites of dinner. Knowing how slow she can be, I told her to hurry up. Then a voice from another stall said, "Dubh ... is that you?" It turned out to be Eleneud. This amuses me that I am recognizable as a voice telling a child to hurry up in the bathroom. :)