A seriously busy extended weekend...
Well, I went to MGT this weekend. It was an interesting mix - on the good side, I had great food, wonderful conversations with old and new friends, and on the bad side there was a sulky teenager, Crazy weather, pestilence and a bit of logistical mayhem.
I rode down with Faelan and Keina. It was steaming hot when we got to site Friday Night and Faelan had to drop us and our gear off at the main hall so he could pick up Master Alexander who was waiting patiently at the airport.
Keina and I had both sent in our reservations separately, and had failed to mention that we wanted to share a cabin, so when we trolled in we discovered that they did do assigned spaces (instead of letting you fend for yourself) and we were in separate cabins. By the time we trolled in it was getting dark. so we took turns lugging our gear to our respective cabins. There was much bumbling about in the dark. (this is what I get for traveling light!).
We (and the poor chap who was kind enough to help us carry Keina's box) were covered in sweat by the time we got her stuff to her cabin. She changed and then we went back to my cabin to make my bed and get me in garb to change into. We tried to be quick about it - so as to get away from the rude/sulky teenager. (she thankfully got over it the next day once I took the time for us to get to know one another-it's easy to be rude to a stranger, it's hard to be rude to a person you know).
So, I took everything I'd need to spend the rest of the evening in the hall - among other things, it was too hot in the cabin to go to bed early. I did my initial spinning up of the fushia and royal blue roving into single strands and got to hang out with Keina, Jaque and his sister (whose name escapes me) and William, the Herald of Tal Mere (who got is AOA later at court) . Turns out by happy accident that William and Jacque's sister had the same cabin as Keina - so she got to know her cabin mates ahead of time. The mom had kindly left a night light on (what a great idea!) so I was able to find the cabin in the dark with the help of my cell phone.
The cabin was hot and buggy, I used my roman fan and fanned myself while I tried to sleep. When the wake-up herald came through, I immediately went to take a shower. So much better. I ran up to the hall and had breakfast. The food and caffeine made up for the lack of sleep.
The morning had strangely cooled off - if only it had happened sooner! So the day was actually very very pleasant. I hung out for a bit with my cabin mates, and got to know them a bit, and they kindly offered to ride me and my humongo basket down to the field. I found Emma and Liam's pavilion (the big blue and green striped one) and hung out there most of the morning plying up the singles I'd spun last night. I was able to pair those with the orange-yellow and green skeins I'd spun up earlier and contribute those to the OVO gift basket.
As it was MGT, food got passed around, and I ate a lot of fruit and way too many pastries, and one nice salty piece of spanikopita... yum!
Then I did a pre-walkabout with some of the OVOs to view pavilions and fighter kits (we were giving a prize basket on the best combo of pavilion and fighter kit) . It was really interesting going through this process, because it does make you think about what do you do yourself on your own setup (much like when you judge an A&S entry, it spurs you to improve your own work).
I had to run back topside to attend Lorenzo's vigil, and to grab the gift that THL Julia had contributed (I'd left it in my purse by mistake) , so even more food at the vigil made by Mistress Serena.. good stuff. The garlic dip/paste was incredible, as was the rosewater Mascarpone dip for the apples (name?) .
Made it back down in time to put Julia's gift in the gift basket, made one more turn around the field to chat, and then saw they were toting the chairs back uphill for court due to an incoming storm, and opted to take me and my gear back topside before it started raining. Got a ride halfway up and hiked the gear the remainder. Just in time, as it was a deluge. That's when we found the second of 2 scorpions in the cabin. (Lovely...more bugs). Did I mention that the site was overrun with anthills. I think they migrated up over the past year, it was not this bad at Red Tower a Year ago....
So we are looking at the rain runoff building up in front of our threshold, and I advise the cabin mates to get their gear high and dry once it's a quarter inch from breaching the thresh hold (that's when they found the second scorpion) . Fortunately the rain eases back to a light shower, and the water does not rise beyond that.
We go to court and with standing room only on concrete, get to see Lorenzo get elevated. I gets pictures, which I'll post later.
Andreva Rigaldi got her GOA, (congrats girly-girl!), and Leon and Giovanna were both inducted into the order of the bough, so good things happened for a few good folks that I know, which made the standing more bearable, (Although I'm pretty sure I was fidgeting more than anyone else-my calves felt like iron from standing in those thin sandals). Finally nearly everyone filed out, many going to the buffet. I just grabbed a bench and was resting my legs hesitating to go to the hall when the power went out for the entire site.
Ironically, because it was a buffet, many people did not bring candles, and because the cabins had good lighting, many did not bring lanterns, etc... So it was an interesting mix of cobbled together lighting items and you basically had to get your food and eat it largely in the dark. I wasn't thinking about this when I was in the buffet line, putting a big glob of this awesome hot brown mustard on my plate. It made for some interesting accidental food combination(s).
I braved the mud puddles to fetch my chair from the vigil pavilion, in the dark. I fetched it and was heading back to the hall when I was stopped by William who had asked me a question. I immediately feel ants swarming my feet where I stopped and had to excuse myself and I hit every mud puddle on the way to the hall in an effort to get rid of the stinging. Strangely it took nearly 2 days for the blisters/welts to come up...how weird is that?). So I'm wet, I'm tired, I'm all bitten up, and I try to make the best of it, eventually heading back to the main hall and end up thankfully immersed in good drink and good conversation which in this instance was just what I needed. It felt like a proper mead-hall even after the lights came back on, we had people being goaded into various feats, one fellow walked on his hands, and another was set upon to stand on the tables and sing the SCA version of Bohemian Rhapsody... it was the most jovial Saturday night hall I'd ever seen and I'm so glad I did not have my own vehicle or I'd have left after the ant attack and missed it.
Sunday Morning we left out fairly early, had a tasty breakfast at THM's place, and took Alexander to the airport and hurried back home as we had to help out with a demo for our local group. I took a quick shower, threw on my cobbled together 14th century costume, and grabbed my spinning and went over for the second half of the demo. I stood out front spinning up some nice soft pale gray merino wool on my drop spindle, and nearly lost my voice talking to folks. Got to chat with an elderly chemist about natural dyes and mordants, and a young girl about medieval fashion, and a couple of dads with their sons about how wool is spun. I didn't have time to explore the market aside from getting some BBQ and lemonade. I came back home and vegged out with a cat in my lap all evening.
On Monday, it was
Reptile Delivery Day: my-lady-f.livejournal.com/72507.html
So I've got a pile of dirty clothes waiting for me, a tabard to finish sewing up, and pavilion to continue working on, and furniture to re-arrange.
I rode down with Faelan and Keina. It was steaming hot when we got to site Friday Night and Faelan had to drop us and our gear off at the main hall so he could pick up Master Alexander who was waiting patiently at the airport.
Keina and I had both sent in our reservations separately, and had failed to mention that we wanted to share a cabin, so when we trolled in we discovered that they did do assigned spaces (instead of letting you fend for yourself) and we were in separate cabins. By the time we trolled in it was getting dark. so we took turns lugging our gear to our respective cabins. There was much bumbling about in the dark. (this is what I get for traveling light!).
We (and the poor chap who was kind enough to help us carry Keina's box) were covered in sweat by the time we got her stuff to her cabin. She changed and then we went back to my cabin to make my bed and get me in garb to change into. We tried to be quick about it - so as to get away from the rude/sulky teenager. (she thankfully got over it the next day once I took the time for us to get to know one another-it's easy to be rude to a stranger, it's hard to be rude to a person you know).
So, I took everything I'd need to spend the rest of the evening in the hall - among other things, it was too hot in the cabin to go to bed early. I did my initial spinning up of the fushia and royal blue roving into single strands and got to hang out with Keina, Jaque and his sister (whose name escapes me) and William, the Herald of Tal Mere (who got is AOA later at court) . Turns out by happy accident that William and Jacque's sister had the same cabin as Keina - so she got to know her cabin mates ahead of time. The mom had kindly left a night light on (what a great idea!) so I was able to find the cabin in the dark with the help of my cell phone.
The cabin was hot and buggy, I used my roman fan and fanned myself while I tried to sleep. When the wake-up herald came through, I immediately went to take a shower. So much better. I ran up to the hall and had breakfast. The food and caffeine made up for the lack of sleep.
The morning had strangely cooled off - if only it had happened sooner! So the day was actually very very pleasant. I hung out for a bit with my cabin mates, and got to know them a bit, and they kindly offered to ride me and my humongo basket down to the field. I found Emma and Liam's pavilion (the big blue and green striped one) and hung out there most of the morning plying up the singles I'd spun last night. I was able to pair those with the orange-yellow and green skeins I'd spun up earlier and contribute those to the OVO gift basket.
As it was MGT, food got passed around, and I ate a lot of fruit and way too many pastries, and one nice salty piece of spanikopita... yum!
Then I did a pre-walkabout with some of the OVOs to view pavilions and fighter kits (we were giving a prize basket on the best combo of pavilion and fighter kit) . It was really interesting going through this process, because it does make you think about what do you do yourself on your own setup (much like when you judge an A&S entry, it spurs you to improve your own work).
I had to run back topside to attend Lorenzo's vigil, and to grab the gift that THL Julia had contributed (I'd left it in my purse by mistake) , so even more food at the vigil made by Mistress Serena.. good stuff. The garlic dip/paste was incredible, as was the rosewater Mascarpone dip for the apples (name?) .
Made it back down in time to put Julia's gift in the gift basket, made one more turn around the field to chat, and then saw they were toting the chairs back uphill for court due to an incoming storm, and opted to take me and my gear back topside before it started raining. Got a ride halfway up and hiked the gear the remainder. Just in time, as it was a deluge. That's when we found the second of 2 scorpions in the cabin. (Lovely...more bugs). Did I mention that the site was overrun with anthills. I think they migrated up over the past year, it was not this bad at Red Tower a Year ago....
So we are looking at the rain runoff building up in front of our threshold, and I advise the cabin mates to get their gear high and dry once it's a quarter inch from breaching the thresh hold (that's when they found the second scorpion) . Fortunately the rain eases back to a light shower, and the water does not rise beyond that.
We go to court and with standing room only on concrete, get to see Lorenzo get elevated. I gets pictures, which I'll post later.
Andreva Rigaldi got her GOA, (congrats girly-girl!), and Leon and Giovanna were both inducted into the order of the bough, so good things happened for a few good folks that I know, which made the standing more bearable, (Although I'm pretty sure I was fidgeting more than anyone else-my calves felt like iron from standing in those thin sandals). Finally nearly everyone filed out, many going to the buffet. I just grabbed a bench and was resting my legs hesitating to go to the hall when the power went out for the entire site.
Ironically, because it was a buffet, many people did not bring candles, and because the cabins had good lighting, many did not bring lanterns, etc... So it was an interesting mix of cobbled together lighting items and you basically had to get your food and eat it largely in the dark. I wasn't thinking about this when I was in the buffet line, putting a big glob of this awesome hot brown mustard on my plate. It made for some interesting accidental food combination(s).
I braved the mud puddles to fetch my chair from the vigil pavilion, in the dark. I fetched it and was heading back to the hall when I was stopped by William who had asked me a question. I immediately feel ants swarming my feet where I stopped and had to excuse myself and I hit every mud puddle on the way to the hall in an effort to get rid of the stinging. Strangely it took nearly 2 days for the blisters/welts to come up...how weird is that?). So I'm wet, I'm tired, I'm all bitten up, and I try to make the best of it, eventually heading back to the main hall and end up thankfully immersed in good drink and good conversation which in this instance was just what I needed. It felt like a proper mead-hall even after the lights came back on, we had people being goaded into various feats, one fellow walked on his hands, and another was set upon to stand on the tables and sing the SCA version of Bohemian Rhapsody... it was the most jovial Saturday night hall I'd ever seen and I'm so glad I did not have my own vehicle or I'd have left after the ant attack and missed it.
Sunday Morning we left out fairly early, had a tasty breakfast at THM's place, and took Alexander to the airport and hurried back home as we had to help out with a demo for our local group. I took a quick shower, threw on my cobbled together 14th century costume, and grabbed my spinning and went over for the second half of the demo. I stood out front spinning up some nice soft pale gray merino wool on my drop spindle, and nearly lost my voice talking to folks. Got to chat with an elderly chemist about natural dyes and mordants, and a young girl about medieval fashion, and a couple of dads with their sons about how wool is spun. I didn't have time to explore the market aside from getting some BBQ and lemonade. I came back home and vegged out with a cat in my lap all evening.
On Monday, it was
Reptile Delivery Day: my-lady-f.livejournal.com/72507.html
So I've got a pile of dirty clothes waiting for me, a tabard to finish sewing up, and pavilion to continue working on, and furniture to re-arrange.