(no subject)
What a fabulous weekend! I am truly blessed with some awesome friends. Thanks for the support, words of encouragement and for all the time spent with me. Wow, the weather was stupendous! 96 heavy fighters in the list! I hadn't seen Duke Edmund in ~ 5 years and it was great to see him both on and off the list field. Valhalric's squiring and Theron's knighting both were magical moments, reminding me of the heart and soul we put into our game. Both touched me deeply. The archery shoot and the fabulous targets were also a highlight for me. I haven't shot in SO long and I hope that the practice I heard about on some Sundays does pan out, because I'd love to get to do this more regularly, but during the week... week nights... I just don't have the time.
Lessee... maybe I should do some of this in order... Friday I got off of work pretty much on time and since I'd packed for the most part on Thursday night I was home, stuff was in the car and I was headed out to the new Ymir site by ~6:30. The drive was... dark, but thankfully uneventful (bad pun intended). I got to site in plenty of time to get all my stuff in my cabin. Thanks Duncan and Manus for helping me cart stuff in. I got my bed made and garb on in time to see the last bit of Baronial court which was nice. I agree with Gaston who said that Friday night court was special and it's really about ... just the local barony. Ymir is a tremendously fun event, but sometimes in the getting all wrapped up in it, we miss the part about it being a Windmasters' event. Loved the big sail back drop for court. :-)
After court I went to help Rhieinwylydd with gate and Dame Anne was there. I haven't spent time with her in quite some time and BOY was she in a great mood and oh boy did we have fun. Lots of laughter. R had it well organized and it was pretty easy to do the job. Lots of talking and lots of friends checking in... embarassed to say I didn't recognize Edmund when he checked in... it's been 5 years and he has a beard, but ... damn, I should've. :-( Thanks, Rhienwylydd, for all your time and support over such a busy weekend for you.
I slept fairly well in the cabins both nights, but I didn't really sleep very long. :-) Warm, but too much fun stuff to do. The heater being by my head was a good white noise/drowner-outer. No, none of the snoring I could hear while awake made one wit of difference while I slept.
Saturday was FULL of fun stuff. Starting with breakfast, moving through watching the knighting, chatting with Rebecca, seeing Hrothny, hugging Ariel, watching Keiran's squiring, walking all over everywhere with Audette, chatting with Padraigin, donating the fabric for her silent auction and watching the bids grow, seeing the A&S entries (LOVED the necklace with it's brass edges holding the 5 strands of beads), stopping by to see Ann teaching Amy naalbinding, the amazing amount of YUMMY food at the Baroness's tea, Bessie/Betsy the sea sea serpent in all her glory, shooting at her and finally being able to hit a wolf then an owl in the last round of competition (no, I didn't bother to do the score thing), seeing Emerson's friend, the German shepard who responds to nordic commands and letting him/her drink out of my mug, seeing my apprentice looking gorgeous in white and being so useful everywhere. I even got a few minutes chat with Michael who actually really smiled. Oh, and a highlight of the morning was seeing Katerina and Allejandro arrive on the motorcycles... I have complete chaps envy, K. Damn, you looked hot!
I totally missed lunch which was sad because I had been looking forward to the tavern's veggie stew, but Galeron's orangy things that were a lot like cream cheese beignet's with honey and cinnamon sugar on time MORE than accommodated my calorie loss from lunch. :-) I got to see the last few rounds of the huge heavy tourney. Weird to see Logan looking small beside Edmund. Met one of Val's mid-realm squires in an odd way, but he was cool about it, thank goodness. I am not usually someone who winds up 1/2 inch from a strangers face and I almost died of terminal blush. Could not tell you the man's name, but Val does have some wonderful folks around him, so I wasn't too surprised he handled my mistake well. Sigh.
Sanooke and Makai were both lovely throughout the day. One of their friends/household members has just moved to Windmasters so it was fun to meet Gregor and bump into him all over the event. Hope his kit gets here soon as he looked like he was itching to fight. Again, not surprised he's a good guy. M&S know so many of those folks.
Another highlight was Elizabeth, a lovely newcomer who'd brought her son. She's in Durham and recognized Valdimar and Ursula's location by having seen fighter practice in their front yard. It's so much fun when new folks find us years later and know us from driving by and thinking... gee, that looks like a lot of fun.
I got to sit with Brian and Briana at feast. Their crew's a lot of fun and ... if you haven't heard her sing.. I had that pleasure for the first time Saturday night and it'll bring tears to your eyes she's so good. Tal has a really good voice, too. It was a sort of surreal experience to hear him singing literally from the rafters... he was sitting up in them. Wow. Sorry I was an idiot and caught my beads on a bed frame, thus interrupting the singing as beads clattered all over the cabin. Sigh.
To Malcom I owe thanks for the libations in the evening. I'm sure, in the end, it made the giggle session in PJ's with the girls even gigglier. JeanMaire, if you don't know it already, is a stitch!
Sunday was about pack out, help a bit, good breakfast and a swift drive back. On the way home I stopped by East Campus and did three laps walking, so ~5 miles. Felt good even in the wind storm. The shower at home also felt really good. Enjoyed a series of phone calls in the afternoon. Always good to know that friends made it home safely, that folks all had a good weekend, that they were as glad to see me as I them, that folks care about me and think to call. Good to feel loved.
Thanks for all the hugs. LOVE HUGS!!!
Lessee... maybe I should do some of this in order... Friday I got off of work pretty much on time and since I'd packed for the most part on Thursday night I was home, stuff was in the car and I was headed out to the new Ymir site by ~6:30. The drive was... dark, but thankfully uneventful (bad pun intended). I got to site in plenty of time to get all my stuff in my cabin. Thanks Duncan and Manus for helping me cart stuff in. I got my bed made and garb on in time to see the last bit of Baronial court which was nice. I agree with Gaston who said that Friday night court was special and it's really about ... just the local barony. Ymir is a tremendously fun event, but sometimes in the getting all wrapped up in it, we miss the part about it being a Windmasters' event. Loved the big sail back drop for court. :-)
After court I went to help Rhieinwylydd with gate and Dame Anne was there. I haven't spent time with her in quite some time and BOY was she in a great mood and oh boy did we have fun. Lots of laughter. R had it well organized and it was pretty easy to do the job. Lots of talking and lots of friends checking in... embarassed to say I didn't recognize Edmund when he checked in... it's been 5 years and he has a beard, but ... damn, I should've. :-( Thanks, Rhienwylydd, for all your time and support over such a busy weekend for you.
I slept fairly well in the cabins both nights, but I didn't really sleep very long. :-) Warm, but too much fun stuff to do. The heater being by my head was a good white noise/drowner-outer. No, none of the snoring I could hear while awake made one wit of difference while I slept.
Saturday was FULL of fun stuff. Starting with breakfast, moving through watching the knighting, chatting with Rebecca, seeing Hrothny, hugging Ariel, watching Keiran's squiring, walking all over everywhere with Audette, chatting with Padraigin, donating the fabric for her silent auction and watching the bids grow, seeing the A&S entries (LOVED the necklace with it's brass edges holding the 5 strands of beads), stopping by to see Ann teaching Amy naalbinding, the amazing amount of YUMMY food at the Baroness's tea, Bessie/Betsy the sea sea serpent in all her glory, shooting at her and finally being able to hit a wolf then an owl in the last round of competition (no, I didn't bother to do the score thing), seeing Emerson's friend, the German shepard who responds to nordic commands and letting him/her drink out of my mug, seeing my apprentice looking gorgeous in white and being so useful everywhere. I even got a few minutes chat with Michael who actually really smiled. Oh, and a highlight of the morning was seeing Katerina and Allejandro arrive on the motorcycles... I have complete chaps envy, K. Damn, you looked hot!
I totally missed lunch which was sad because I had been looking forward to the tavern's veggie stew, but Galeron's orangy things that were a lot like cream cheese beignet's with honey and cinnamon sugar on time MORE than accommodated my calorie loss from lunch. :-) I got to see the last few rounds of the huge heavy tourney. Weird to see Logan looking small beside Edmund. Met one of Val's mid-realm squires in an odd way, but he was cool about it, thank goodness. I am not usually someone who winds up 1/2 inch from a strangers face and I almost died of terminal blush. Could not tell you the man's name, but Val does have some wonderful folks around him, so I wasn't too surprised he handled my mistake well. Sigh.
Sanooke and Makai were both lovely throughout the day. One of their friends/household members has just moved to Windmasters so it was fun to meet Gregor and bump into him all over the event. Hope his kit gets here soon as he looked like he was itching to fight. Again, not surprised he's a good guy. M&S know so many of those folks.
Another highlight was Elizabeth, a lovely newcomer who'd brought her son. She's in Durham and recognized Valdimar and Ursula's location by having seen fighter practice in their front yard. It's so much fun when new folks find us years later and know us from driving by and thinking... gee, that looks like a lot of fun.
I got to sit with Brian and Briana at feast. Their crew's a lot of fun and ... if you haven't heard her sing.. I had that pleasure for the first time Saturday night and it'll bring tears to your eyes she's so good. Tal has a really good voice, too. It was a sort of surreal experience to hear him singing literally from the rafters... he was sitting up in them. Wow. Sorry I was an idiot and caught my beads on a bed frame, thus interrupting the singing as beads clattered all over the cabin. Sigh.
To Malcom I owe thanks for the libations in the evening. I'm sure, in the end, it made the giggle session in PJ's with the girls even gigglier. JeanMaire, if you don't know it already, is a stitch!
Sunday was about pack out, help a bit, good breakfast and a swift drive back. On the way home I stopped by East Campus and did three laps walking, so ~5 miles. Felt good even in the wind storm. The shower at home also felt really good. Enjoyed a series of phone calls in the afternoon. Always good to know that friends made it home safely, that folks all had a good weekend, that they were as glad to see me as I them, that folks care about me and think to call. Good to feel loved.
Thanks for all the hugs. LOVE HUGS!!!