Whipping Winds
Whipping Winds is always a great laid back event. Attendance was low this year and the overall organization was less then stellar but like most events, if you open the doors, people will come. That said, I still had a pretty fantastic time but that had less to do with the event and more to do with the people I was sharing it with.
Beothuk, Donnan and I made it out of town ON TIME!!!! We were aiming for a 9am start Friday morning and we made it to the City Limits in the south at 8:44am. It was an uneventful drive from Calgary to the border. The border crossing was another thing though. We did the typical "Whats your real name? Have you ever been arrested or convicted of a crime? Are there any possible issues with you crossing the border?" to each other. As Thuk and I have crossed together before, we knew neither of us would have issues. Donnan on the other hand SAID he was okay.... We pull up to the border guard with the standard plan in place. Answer all questions honestly and do not offer information. Here's how things go Guard: "Have any of you ever been fingerprinted?" Thuk and I: "Nope", Donnan: "Oh yeah, once about 15 years ago". Guard: "Why?", Donnan: "Theft under". Guard: "Were you convicted?", Donnan: "Yes", Guard: "Please follow this guard around to the side of the building. Park, go through the main doors and turn right. Go through the door at the end of the hallway into the cage."
Yes, we got to spend some time in a bleeding CAGE at the border. There was some amusement though. The guard giving us the questionnaire asks if any of us are married. The 2 guys put up their hands and he looks at me, no hand up, I say not to me. Then they clue in with "Not to each other!!". Thuk and I get let go to continue but it looks like Donnan is stuck and not being granted entry. Long story short, Donnan calls us as we walk out of the liquor store in Shelby saying he is allowed to enter the states. Something about his Dad being an American Citizen.
We eventually made it to site and started setting up our stuffs. Thuk was relegated to the road with beer to watch cause he kept getting under my feet.... and if you have ever seen me set up or tear down camp, I am not ever in a particularly good mood during either process. There is a lot of cussing and bossing that goes on. I am rudely efficient (which has ironically caused me a lot of long term work in the SCA, but thats another story all together). We had just about finished setting up camp when the other car loads showed up. More setting up of camp happened with mostly everyone pitching in to help. Yaaa for group cohesiveness, or at least no one taking offense when I start getting even more bossy then usual! Friday night was the night of party hard, which we proceeded to do with a gusto. For the record, I am not very good at being the Adult Supervision when I decide to get my drink on! I have a goose egg from being head butted by a pointy (to be fair, I think he was leaning over to talk to me and lost his balance cause he was as party hard as I was). Some Artemisian's brewed up some Avacal-Killer (something fruity made with high doses of Everclear) and Avacal-Kill it did.
Saturday was a little (a lot) blurry in the morning. A run to the local diner in Shelby for some greasy food was necessary cause we all packed like our parents were out of town and brought nothing but booze for the weekend. I went back to bed after food and took a 3 hour nap (which was more sleep then I got the night before, we won the party on Friday...). I did remember to bring Thore back some Bacon from the diner to maintain my Bacon Cadet status. After napping, I watched the war and finished sewing the new feathers on my Tellerbarret (the old ones have been through too much rain and abuse and were pretty mangy looking). Baron Beothuk got not one but 2 coloured belts. A red one from Sir Terryl (to a spate of tears and emotion filled speeches) and a yellow one from Sir Terryl's wife Mistress Mirrh (sp?!) making him a Squir-toge to the Artemisian couple. A knighting happened then they went back to hitting each other. Avacal was pretty out numbered so it was all somewhat one sided. We did the river thing, but since it was NO WHERE near as warm as it usually is for Whipping Winds, it wasn't a long adventure. Camera's should be neither allowed at the river, nor should photos be taken of people walking back to camp in their swimsuits.... *shudder*, somethings don't need to be immortalized on the internet.
I was on board for feast this year, and it was Meh. Lots of food, but since I don't like smoked meat (the turkey was smoked and cold) and I dont like pork at all I didn't eat much. Court was not only late to start, but was a LONG drawn out ordeal I am hoping to never have to repeat as retinue (at least outside by torchlight). After court I had a somewhat amusing moment when Kirk and I were discussing somethings that had happened and a couple of people came up to us and were loitering just at the edge of earshot. I dont think they were intentionally eavesdropping (cause really, the conversation was less then interesting in reality) but we both turned around and asked for some space. They both scattered like they had just walked in on their parents having sex. That broke some of the tension in the conversation.
<> Oh how could I forget the twilight game of Monkey in the Middle we played between Feast and Court. It started with 2 of us playing catch and ended with our entire camp playing monkey in the middle. Having to remind His Highness not to tackle people in the Coronet pretty much sums up 6 adults and one kid killing time before court. Nothing like losing sight of the ball flying at your head when the sun goes down on you.
I quick walk around the camp with a brief stop at the belly dancers and I was done in for the night. The guy with the Avacal-Killer did try to make it a two night ordeal. Kirk didn't partake, so when he asked me for my mug to fill, I handed him one of the sample cups in the Retinue Bag (silver goblets that hold about 1oz each). Neener! I can be taught! We hung out in camp for about an hour talking then I went to my tent and started packing before going to sleep. Apparently I started a trend cause every time I got up to get something I had forgotten in the camp, someone else had wandered away to bed.
It stared raining about 2am and didn't stop so we packed up camp in record time. Eric decided that there was a race to see who would be done packing first between Kirk and Thuk. I managed to get my hands on Eric with the reminder that his Dad wouldn't be fully packed till he was in it. That apparently spurred Wilma into packing faster! I think we were all at Breakfast by 9am and at the border at 11am. Donnan went in another car home, so Thuk, Wilma and I had no issues getting back into Canada. We had two amusing instances on the way home with members of my household though. As we came over a hill (with Tim and Donnan right behind us) I spotted Bjar's car on the side of the road. It didn't look like anyone was in it so we pulled off on the side of the road. Tim and Donnan pulled off ahead of us and I couldn't raise Blue on the phone. We sent Donnan back to see if Blue was in there. Blue's vehicle started up when Donnan was about 1/2 way there, he must have sensed the 5 SCAdians staring worriedly at his car from a KM down the road. He had pulled off to nap and hadn't turned on his phone. We did the same thing with Philomena just North of Claresholm who AGAIN didn't have her cell on when we went past her car pulled off the side of the road... Wilma managed to give her a heart attack by shaking the car.
Apparently my Household needs to sleep more at events!
Next up, 4 days of work then leaving for Sept crown..... who wants to be my adult supervision?!
Beothuk, Donnan and I made it out of town ON TIME!!!! We were aiming for a 9am start Friday morning and we made it to the City Limits in the south at 8:44am. It was an uneventful drive from Calgary to the border. The border crossing was another thing though. We did the typical "Whats your real name? Have you ever been arrested or convicted of a crime? Are there any possible issues with you crossing the border?" to each other. As Thuk and I have crossed together before, we knew neither of us would have issues. Donnan on the other hand SAID he was okay.... We pull up to the border guard with the standard plan in place. Answer all questions honestly and do not offer information. Here's how things go Guard: "Have any of you ever been fingerprinted?" Thuk and I: "Nope", Donnan: "Oh yeah, once about 15 years ago". Guard: "Why?", Donnan: "Theft under". Guard: "Were you convicted?", Donnan: "Yes", Guard: "Please follow this guard around to the side of the building. Park, go through the main doors and turn right. Go through the door at the end of the hallway into the cage."
Yes, we got to spend some time in a bleeding CAGE at the border. There was some amusement though. The guard giving us the questionnaire asks if any of us are married. The 2 guys put up their hands and he looks at me, no hand up, I say not to me. Then they clue in with "Not to each other!!". Thuk and I get let go to continue but it looks like Donnan is stuck and not being granted entry. Long story short, Donnan calls us as we walk out of the liquor store in Shelby saying he is allowed to enter the states. Something about his Dad being an American Citizen.
We eventually made it to site and started setting up our stuffs. Thuk was relegated to the road with beer to watch cause he kept getting under my feet.... and if you have ever seen me set up or tear down camp, I am not ever in a particularly good mood during either process. There is a lot of cussing and bossing that goes on. I am rudely efficient (which has ironically caused me a lot of long term work in the SCA, but thats another story all together). We had just about finished setting up camp when the other car loads showed up. More setting up of camp happened with mostly everyone pitching in to help. Yaaa for group cohesiveness, or at least no one taking offense when I start getting even more bossy then usual! Friday night was the night of party hard, which we proceeded to do with a gusto. For the record, I am not very good at being the Adult Supervision when I decide to get my drink on! I have a goose egg from being head butted by a pointy (to be fair, I think he was leaning over to talk to me and lost his balance cause he was as party hard as I was). Some Artemisian's brewed up some Avacal-Killer (something fruity made with high doses of Everclear) and Avacal-Kill it did.
Saturday was a little (a lot) blurry in the morning. A run to the local diner in Shelby for some greasy food was necessary cause we all packed like our parents were out of town and brought nothing but booze for the weekend. I went back to bed after food and took a 3 hour nap (which was more sleep then I got the night before, we won the party on Friday...). I did remember to bring Thore back some Bacon from the diner to maintain my Bacon Cadet status. After napping, I watched the war and finished sewing the new feathers on my Tellerbarret (the old ones have been through too much rain and abuse and were pretty mangy looking). Baron Beothuk got not one but 2 coloured belts. A red one from Sir Terryl (to a spate of tears and emotion filled speeches) and a yellow one from Sir Terryl's wife Mistress Mirrh (sp?!) making him a Squir-toge to the Artemisian couple. A knighting happened then they went back to hitting each other. Avacal was pretty out numbered so it was all somewhat one sided. We did the river thing, but since it was NO WHERE near as warm as it usually is for Whipping Winds, it wasn't a long adventure. Camera's should be neither allowed at the river, nor should photos be taken of people walking back to camp in their swimsuits.... *shudder*, somethings don't need to be immortalized on the internet.
I was on board for feast this year, and it was Meh. Lots of food, but since I don't like smoked meat (the turkey was smoked and cold) and I dont like pork at all I didn't eat much. Court was not only late to start, but was a LONG drawn out ordeal I am hoping to never have to repeat as retinue (at least outside by torchlight). After court I had a somewhat amusing moment when Kirk and I were discussing somethings that had happened and a couple of people came up to us and were loitering just at the edge of earshot. I dont think they were intentionally eavesdropping (cause really, the conversation was less then interesting in reality) but we both turned around and asked for some space. They both scattered like they had just walked in on their parents having sex. That broke some of the tension in the conversation.
<> Oh how could I forget the twilight game of Monkey in the Middle we played between Feast and Court. It started with 2 of us playing catch and ended with our entire camp playing monkey in the middle. Having to remind His Highness not to tackle people in the Coronet pretty much sums up 6 adults and one kid killing time before court. Nothing like losing sight of the ball flying at your head when the sun goes down on you.
I quick walk around the camp with a brief stop at the belly dancers and I was done in for the night. The guy with the Avacal-Killer did try to make it a two night ordeal. Kirk didn't partake, so when he asked me for my mug to fill, I handed him one of the sample cups in the Retinue Bag (silver goblets that hold about 1oz each). Neener! I can be taught! We hung out in camp for about an hour talking then I went to my tent and started packing before going to sleep. Apparently I started a trend cause every time I got up to get something I had forgotten in the camp, someone else had wandered away to bed.
It stared raining about 2am and didn't stop so we packed up camp in record time. Eric decided that there was a race to see who would be done packing first between Kirk and Thuk. I managed to get my hands on Eric with the reminder that his Dad wouldn't be fully packed till he was in it. That apparently spurred Wilma into packing faster! I think we were all at Breakfast by 9am and at the border at 11am. Donnan went in another car home, so Thuk, Wilma and I had no issues getting back into Canada. We had two amusing instances on the way home with members of my household though. As we came over a hill (with Tim and Donnan right behind us) I spotted Bjar's car on the side of the road. It didn't look like anyone was in it so we pulled off on the side of the road. Tim and Donnan pulled off ahead of us and I couldn't raise Blue on the phone. We sent Donnan back to see if Blue was in there. Blue's vehicle started up when Donnan was about 1/2 way there, he must have sensed the 5 SCAdians staring worriedly at his car from a KM down the road. He had pulled off to nap and hadn't turned on his phone. We did the same thing with Philomena just North of Claresholm who AGAIN didn't have her cell on when we went past her car pulled off the side of the road... Wilma managed to give her a heart attack by shaking the car.
Apparently my Household needs to sleep more at events!
Next up, 4 days of work then leaving for Sept crown..... who wants to be my adult supervision?!