Escondido Faire, first weekend
The one thing that I can safely predict about Escondido faire is that I will be busy. And it usually rains, or at least drizzles. I was right about both.
Friday my daughter and I drove down to faire site. Her bf was unable to join us, so it was us girls. We pulled on site, unloaded, got our tent up, then helped others. We both helped unload the company trailer. Unfortunately Connor had our table tops fall on him in the process. Not good! The command tent and the range (mostly) got up too. With the big chores done a group of us went over to Killer Pizza from Mars. No surprise, we found other faire folks there too. Good times, good food!
Came back to camp and eventually did a walkabout. Still no sign of the Midsummer Fairies. I ended up playing cards over at Tim's new guild for a while. Eventually I went back to my own camp-in time to join my daughter in doing the midnight sweep. One of Ravenwood's chores is running afterhours security at Esco. Luckily for us, although there were lots of drunk and stupid people, they all had friends looking after them and folks were willing to quiet down. After we got back my daughter went over to the Viking camp and I went to bed. Tired!
Saturday started, as always, too early. 8 a.m. battle meeting. I barely had time after to get dressed so I could take part in the 9 a.m. battle archery ranging. This was my first time ever to take part in battle archery. I qualified. Yay! Back to camp for morning notes. Quick, run around getting camp ready for faire's opening. I think my daughter and I finally got breakfast after opening. We did get a little walk about done. We found the woman who makes the Ravenwood coathardies. Since my daughter is the archery second, it's about time she had one of her own.
We got back in time to get ready for procession. Now normally I try to avoid the daily procession. It's frankly a death march (it's supposed to start at noon, but the Queen is almost never ready on time!) that runs too close to time to prep for battle. But Connor wanted us to make our presence known, and we had to deal with a memorial bit, so I went.
There were two memorial services scheduled. The first one happened in the middle of procession. The Queen had the procession halted while we honored Michael Morgan, the late guildmaster of the Royal Light Horse, formerly of the Guild of St. Paul, formerly from back east, etc. Michael had died only a day or so before under tragic circumstances. The memorial consisted of people saying nice things about Michael and then the Queen commenting. It was supposed to be a short thing. It lasted 45 minutes! In my opinion it was too soon and too public. My opinion of the Queen has sunk to new lows.
Finally back at camp there wasn't time to teach the lesson I had planned. Only time to eat something light before getting stuff ready for battle. Besides doing battle archery, I was helping JD run support for the battle. Somehow at 1:30 Ravenwood took off for House McFionn and the pre-battle meeting. JD ran the Intro to battle support (watering only) for the newbies we had. A few veteran support people have returned. We assigned locations and then we were off.
Doing battle archery was fun. Once it was over though, I had to rush over to the crowd side of the battle to do my job of helping run support. I was exhausted when it was over. Could I collapse? Nope, I got to go to the Captain's meeting, where the day's battle was discussed. No real injuries and no major problems that couldn't be fixed, we hoped.
Back to camp in time for the daily archery tournament. I shot a 2! Worst I've done in ages. A reminder to me to not be so busy. After I was done shooting I took a break and rested in my tent. Came out in time to get something to eat and then to go do my shift on the archery range. Connor ran off with our flag and claimed the Shadow Kindred guild yard. That was funny! When my shift was done faire was closed. As soon as we could my daughter and I changed out and went off site for a quick dinner.
Around 8:30 a memorial started for Ray Lau over at House McFionn. It was, of course, an Irish wake. Since Ray was from from China, we started the evening by burning paper images of things for Ray in his afterlife. I gave him a sterling silver water pitcher from all of us in support that had to deal with him over the years. Ray was an amazing swordsman, but also a micro manager and I know, had managed to piss off support people over the years with his 20 page battle plans (normally they're about 3-4 pages). Lots of good stories were told. I think our favorite quote from Ray was one that happened a lot-him explaining his role at faire, "I'm an Engrishman, damnit!" Lots of laughter. I eventually went back to my own camp and sat down by my campfire. After realizing that I was dozing off I went to bed. I think I was asleep by 11:15!
Sunday started early, too early. Connor and Quail (in the tent next to me) apparently forgot to change their alarm clock and it went off at 6 a.m. Lots of mumbling until they found it and turned it off. I finally got up around 7. Usual busyness until the opening of faire. I managed to get most of my persona class done. Then it was time for procession again. I got to talk to Dee from Black Guard. It had been a while. No stupidness this time. My daughter and I each ate an apple before getting ready for battle and it was wonderful.
Battle went better. Still problems with watering the fighters once they got into the wedge formation. Tobi from Black Guard was fighting under the new guild of Santiago's colors. It was good to see him fighting again. JD went to the Captain's meeting and I went to get food with my daughter. It felt great to sit in the shade to eat the faire foods I'd been craving. Then we went to get her measured for her new coathardy.
Came back in time for archery tourney. My daughter competed, but I took the time to start packing my stuff. And to rest a bit. Connor was wiped out and we sent him home early. Lord McFionn was taken by his people to the hospital with a possibly broken ankle. He insisted on being in the battle anyway. So as soon as it was over, they hauled him out. After the tourney, it was time for my archery range shift. Then faire was over and it was time to pack up to go home. I wasn't hungry. I just wanted to go home.
The big lesson I learned this weekend? Never do battle archery and be in charge of support. It's just too bloody hard!
Friday my daughter and I drove down to faire site. Her bf was unable to join us, so it was us girls. We pulled on site, unloaded, got our tent up, then helped others. We both helped unload the company trailer. Unfortunately Connor had our table tops fall on him in the process. Not good! The command tent and the range (mostly) got up too. With the big chores done a group of us went over to Killer Pizza from Mars. No surprise, we found other faire folks there too. Good times, good food!
Came back to camp and eventually did a walkabout. Still no sign of the Midsummer Fairies. I ended up playing cards over at Tim's new guild for a while. Eventually I went back to my own camp-in time to join my daughter in doing the midnight sweep. One of Ravenwood's chores is running afterhours security at Esco. Luckily for us, although there were lots of drunk and stupid people, they all had friends looking after them and folks were willing to quiet down. After we got back my daughter went over to the Viking camp and I went to bed. Tired!
Saturday started, as always, too early. 8 a.m. battle meeting. I barely had time after to get dressed so I could take part in the 9 a.m. battle archery ranging. This was my first time ever to take part in battle archery. I qualified. Yay! Back to camp for morning notes. Quick, run around getting camp ready for faire's opening. I think my daughter and I finally got breakfast after opening. We did get a little walk about done. We found the woman who makes the Ravenwood coathardies. Since my daughter is the archery second, it's about time she had one of her own.
We got back in time to get ready for procession. Now normally I try to avoid the daily procession. It's frankly a death march (it's supposed to start at noon, but the Queen is almost never ready on time!) that runs too close to time to prep for battle. But Connor wanted us to make our presence known, and we had to deal with a memorial bit, so I went.
There were two memorial services scheduled. The first one happened in the middle of procession. The Queen had the procession halted while we honored Michael Morgan, the late guildmaster of the Royal Light Horse, formerly of the Guild of St. Paul, formerly from back east, etc. Michael had died only a day or so before under tragic circumstances. The memorial consisted of people saying nice things about Michael and then the Queen commenting. It was supposed to be a short thing. It lasted 45 minutes! In my opinion it was too soon and too public. My opinion of the Queen has sunk to new lows.
Finally back at camp there wasn't time to teach the lesson I had planned. Only time to eat something light before getting stuff ready for battle. Besides doing battle archery, I was helping JD run support for the battle. Somehow at 1:30 Ravenwood took off for House McFionn and the pre-battle meeting. JD ran the Intro to battle support (watering only) for the newbies we had. A few veteran support people have returned. We assigned locations and then we were off.
Doing battle archery was fun. Once it was over though, I had to rush over to the crowd side of the battle to do my job of helping run support. I was exhausted when it was over. Could I collapse? Nope, I got to go to the Captain's meeting, where the day's battle was discussed. No real injuries and no major problems that couldn't be fixed, we hoped.
Back to camp in time for the daily archery tournament. I shot a 2! Worst I've done in ages. A reminder to me to not be so busy. After I was done shooting I took a break and rested in my tent. Came out in time to get something to eat and then to go do my shift on the archery range. Connor ran off with our flag and claimed the Shadow Kindred guild yard. That was funny! When my shift was done faire was closed. As soon as we could my daughter and I changed out and went off site for a quick dinner.
Around 8:30 a memorial started for Ray Lau over at House McFionn. It was, of course, an Irish wake. Since Ray was from from China, we started the evening by burning paper images of things for Ray in his afterlife. I gave him a sterling silver water pitcher from all of us in support that had to deal with him over the years. Ray was an amazing swordsman, but also a micro manager and I know, had managed to piss off support people over the years with his 20 page battle plans (normally they're about 3-4 pages). Lots of good stories were told. I think our favorite quote from Ray was one that happened a lot-him explaining his role at faire, "I'm an Engrishman, damnit!" Lots of laughter. I eventually went back to my own camp and sat down by my campfire. After realizing that I was dozing off I went to bed. I think I was asleep by 11:15!
Sunday started early, too early. Connor and Quail (in the tent next to me) apparently forgot to change their alarm clock and it went off at 6 a.m. Lots of mumbling until they found it and turned it off. I finally got up around 7. Usual busyness until the opening of faire. I managed to get most of my persona class done. Then it was time for procession again. I got to talk to Dee from Black Guard. It had been a while. No stupidness this time. My daughter and I each ate an apple before getting ready for battle and it was wonderful.
Battle went better. Still problems with watering the fighters once they got into the wedge formation. Tobi from Black Guard was fighting under the new guild of Santiago's colors. It was good to see him fighting again. JD went to the Captain's meeting and I went to get food with my daughter. It felt great to sit in the shade to eat the faire foods I'd been craving. Then we went to get her measured for her new coathardy.
Came back in time for archery tourney. My daughter competed, but I took the time to start packing my stuff. And to rest a bit. Connor was wiped out and we sent him home early. Lord McFionn was taken by his people to the hospital with a possibly broken ankle. He insisted on being in the battle anyway. So as soon as it was over, they hauled him out. After the tourney, it was time for my archery range shift. Then faire was over and it was time to pack up to go home. I wasn't hungry. I just wanted to go home.
The big lesson I learned this weekend? Never do battle archery and be in charge of support. It's just too bloody hard!