Coronation of Vladimir and Kalisa II
My event journal has been precious thin as of late. I have been doing a lot of training and practicing but very little traveling. Hope to change that this year.
Left for coronation at 5:30 to drive up and pick up Amanda, realizing that driving up to Frederick the day before for training was probably foolish. I've been trying to up our training to two sessions a week, but we had already had a short session tue and very good session Thursday, should have left well enough alone as A got tired and managed to over extend her arm. She has worked very hard lately, has made a big jump in ability. I need to keep a tight reign on her to keep her from hurting herself as she can now throw much harder and faster than she could just a couple months ago. It will take her body a while to catch up. Live and learn. The drive up to Frederick in the wee hours was easy and gave me time to think on my own a bit so no real loss.
Picked up A and headed south. The GPS refused to find the address, even the town in VA near the site so I picked the last big intersection and went there. As always when we were near I was able to point to the place on the map and the GPS helpfully asked if we wanted to go where I had told it to go in the beginning. Sigh. Driving home I was talking to A about an ill fated trip early in my career that involved me standing out on a side road in backwoods Missouri searching for the polestar like Magellan at 3AM so we could find our way back to 70. So I guess we have come a long way but still, it is annoying in that very specific "It's 2012 and computers are still morons" fashion.
No traffic, and pretty smooth sailing to the site so I should not cavetch too much.
Pretty site, kind of nautical themed scout camp. Didn't have time to drive around and enjoy the area but will if we get back there sometime. Sunny day, more than a little warm for october especially as it's 45 today. But again, clear weather for fighting and a very pretty day so I'll not be ungrateful. It got very cool and rained later but I'll get there.
Trolled in, and made it over to court in time to play a very small roll and reaffirm my fealty. I enjoy the ceremony, kneeling there with my hand on the sword of state is very meaningful to me, especially with the presence of some truly admirable men gathered round.
I hadn't planned on fighting the tournament as it was supposed to be 8 man team melees and I couldn't commit to the event till about a week before. Jos reminded me that none of us were knighted for our beauty so I suited up. He is a fine addition to our order. But there were not enough heavies there to make for more than a few teams so they made knight based triads and ran a bear pit. I liked it, that kind of ad hoc fighting is good practice for what really happens in grand melee. They assigned two unbelts to each knight in mostly random fashion, turns out I was the odd knight out so they paired me with Baron Jonathos pulling him from Tas' triad (that would have been a formidable team) leaving us as the two two-man teams. I didn't mind at all Jonathos fought as two men and I like being pressed hard. Had some good runs, won against some teams we should have lost to, and overall got a lot of fighting in a very short time.
The knights were encouraged to hold the field afterwards, it was pretty lonely. I'm very concerned that we are not bringing in the kids we used to as the SCA. I dont have a fix, I dont know why we have really stagnated. The 'young' unbelts just are not there, was it just this event? I havent travel enough lately to know. I know that I need to start working very hard to recruit and bring people into the society. Don't know how to do that, will see if I can plug into a local group that is able to do that. I just dont see the 17 year olds that we need to be the backbone of our society in 20 years. Have we made it too hard to get started? too expensive? Are we all getting too old and the kids just dont want to hang out with us? I dont know. Was there anyone on the field yesterday under 30? Maybe one or two.
My pickup fighting was way off, dont know what was going on there. Tired?, only got a couple hours of sleep in the previous two days, certainly wasn't "on game" Kept hitting my opponents after they were bested, even snapped at a marshal, ; ( not happy with my fighting or my demeanor after the tourney. I need to get out more and have some of these rough edges polished off. Not fit for polite company anymore.
Walked back to the car and fell half asleep in the seat watching the last of the equestrian stuff. I have to say that our horsemen are really looking fine. Saw some very nice riding yesterday. The afternoon light was so pretty, horses coursing back and forth, tired from fighting and long days, chatting with A who was crashed in the back of the car. It was very nice, helped get my spirits up after a fairly dispiriting chiv meeting.
Almost napped though feast, but managed to haul myself back up and out. Feast was pretty lavish with some very choice dishes. I very much liked the dumplings and the lamb, there were some soft powered sugar confections that also made a mark. I think my favorite was a bread loaf baked with a savory cheese filling. I could have destroyed one of those by myself. The kitchen staff worked very hard to make a great feast. Did a little mini bardic after feast, not much intrest. I had a feeling the sight would be a ghost town after dark, very few people camped and coronation often seems like a day only event. played till 10 or so. I was way too tired to drive back so A set up her pop-up and I crashed in the back of the Rav 4. The rain came down pretty heavy, she claims she was warm and dry. Dont know if she is always trustworthy when her personal comfort is at issue. She is not a whiner, that is for sure. Got up at 8:45ish and packed out. Drive home was the two of us groggy and speaking in monosyllables. Probably alright as we were pretty damn garrulous on the way down ; ) Having good company makes a long trip so much easier. I think I'll save my thoughts on the first year of having a squire for next week after War of the Wings. but I do want to note here how much it has added to my experience in the SCA, I expected it to be very significant in my role as a knight, but I could not have known how much it would change me and my outlook on the society.
-Justus