Deer River notes
mia_mcdavid has written a good account of our experiences with colgaffneyis at the White Oak Rendezvous this past weekend, so I will just note a couple points:
It was a lot of fun, but very busy during the day. Not a lot of down time. One family of four, all good workers, fell sick and were unable to attend. As a result we were quite short-handed. I had brought a lot of my woodworking tools, but had no chance to set up for a demo. I was busy with camp chores or participating in our common corporate presentations. The issue of individual demos vs. corporate work is something that we as an organization need to think about more.
I did not really mind the common tasks: They had to get done, and I really enjoy working hard with friends toward a common goal. I am not terribly fussy about what that goal is :-)> Our location in the campground was also a compensation. We were fairly close to the main stage and sometimes had live music while washing the dishes.
The tools did come in handy a few times over the weekend, just in the course of camp work or helping other members with their projects. With the Tinker no longer able to come to events I am glad I can bring them.
With our small numbers we could not put together an impressive pike line, so the main military demo was firing the mortar, always a crowd-pleaser when we can do it. We had several demos with multiple shots each time. Shooting more than once is important; it shows the somewhat involved procedure for reloading the weapon. This involves several tools, including the screw (or worm), the swab, the ram, and the prick. Informally these terms are also applied to the crew members using the specified tools, which leads to some merriment :-)>
Despite partying late Saturday night I was up fairly early the next morning, and usefully employed in the kitchen. In the next camp over there was a church service, very much in the modern evangelical mode. I have thought about doing something more period for us with an Anglican Book of Common Prayer, but that is not an option with the labor shortage our camps have experienced lately. For now I will have to be content with the short prayer by Jacob Astley, a senior Royalist officer in the English Civil War: "O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee, do not forget me...."
It was a lot of fun, but very busy during the day. Not a lot of down time. One family of four, all good workers, fell sick and were unable to attend. As a result we were quite short-handed. I had brought a lot of my woodworking tools, but had no chance to set up for a demo. I was busy with camp chores or participating in our common corporate presentations. The issue of individual demos vs. corporate work is something that we as an organization need to think about more.
I did not really mind the common tasks: They had to get done, and I really enjoy working hard with friends toward a common goal. I am not terribly fussy about what that goal is :-)> Our location in the campground was also a compensation. We were fairly close to the main stage and sometimes had live music while washing the dishes.
The tools did come in handy a few times over the weekend, just in the course of camp work or helping other members with their projects. With the Tinker no longer able to come to events I am glad I can bring them.
With our small numbers we could not put together an impressive pike line, so the main military demo was firing the mortar, always a crowd-pleaser when we can do it. We had several demos with multiple shots each time. Shooting more than once is important; it shows the somewhat involved procedure for reloading the weapon. This involves several tools, including the screw (or worm), the swab, the ram, and the prick. Informally these terms are also applied to the crew members using the specified tools, which leads to some merriment :-)>
Despite partying late Saturday night I was up fairly early the next morning, and usefully employed in the kitchen. In the next camp over there was a church service, very much in the modern evangelical mode. I have thought about doing something more period for us with an Anglican Book of Common Prayer, but that is not an option with the labor shortage our camps have experienced lately. For now I will have to be content with the short prayer by Jacob Astley, a senior Royalist officer in the English Civil War: "O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee, do not forget me...."