Where Falcon and Dragon Dance
A happier story.
It wasn't just a dance band -- it was a whole dance orchestra!
Mistress K. had said there would be musicians from all over -- and she meant *all* over...
At it's core were our many local musicians, the generous folks who had first welcomed me to the Barony of Three Rivers (St. Louis), as told in the tales Da Capo Aria and other tales. Kind musician friends like our fearless leader Mistress K (left), or Professor N of The Hall of the Two Stags. All the merry folks with who had so kindly invited me to play and sing and dance with them all these many months.
And joining us were musicians from all points of the compass rose. There was a Calontiri contingent all the way from Grimfells, closer to Tulsa, Oklahoma, than St. Louis; led by the legendary Pavel himself. (Pavel, player of period stringed instruments. Also founder of the Calontir Shield Wall. And really nice guy.) There were musicians from throughout the Baronies of the Kingdom of Calontir stretching out to the west. There were musicians from U. Illinois' Wurm Wald; from Chicago's Tree Girt Sea; and old friends all the way from the Barony of Cynnabar (Ann Arbor) itself.
All together, by the time cheerful Mistress K took up her drum in lieu of a baton and led us off at the pre-ball rehersal, we had pipers, fiddlers, lutists, and even a period Hurdy Gurdy, almost two-dozen in all. It was, by three-fold, the largest group of period musicians I'd gotten to play with. And it was a *blast*.
So was the dancing, dancing and dancing!
So, most of all, were the friends, new and old alike. :-)
Newer friends -- all the singers and dancers and musicians who have so kindly welcomed me to Three Rivers since my arrival just a few months ago. Older friends -- all the singers and dancers and musicians from my happy years in Cynnabar. Crystal Ball was a wonderful day spent celebrating with all of my friends, newer and older -- and a perfect way to mark my fifth anniversary in the SCA...
Five years! It actually had been five years since that very first Mass Meeting in the Barony of Cynnabar, as told in To Dance and Fly into a Cynnabar Sky. Since the magical first night dancing under the stars and laughing until our sides hurt, as told in Magic Moments Between Rackham and Hill. Of all the happy memories and wonderful friends in all the five years since I have written many a time in this journal, right up to the touching last surprise as told in A Sovereign Send-Off. And now almost a dozen old friends from Cynnabar came all the way down from my old home to celebrate Crystal Ball with us here in Three Rivers this past fall.
From the first van-load that picked me up straight from my last Child Protection Team case at the hospital and out to an evening at Fitz's. To everyone else who arrived at our apartment complex the rest of that evening. To driving out to the airport to pick up more friends -- the first time in my life that I'd been able to pick up visiting guests in my own car. And the chance to introduce so many of my old friends to so many of my newer friends -- introduce the people who so warmly welcomed me to the Barony of Cynnabar (Ann Arbor) years ago to the people who have so warmly welcomed me to the Barony of Three Rivers (St. Louis) -- it was the perfect way to celebrate my fifth anniversary in the SCA. Even if I entirely forgot about the fact it *was* my anniversary at the time. :-)
Click to viewYes, there was feasting and dancing and music and more dancing and more music and a grand old wonderful time. We went well past midnight and yet there still wasn't enough time to dance with everyone I wanted to dance with, or play music with everyone I wanted to play with, but I suppose there never is. And it was a day filled with laughter and song and music and dance and friendship, and really, there isn't more one can ask for than that.
Two weeks of prior service on the Child Protection Team; eight weeks service after on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the 12th floor Epilepsy/Neuro/Neurotrauma service. And a glorious, shining celebration in between. Thank you, my friends, for a wonderful Crystal Ball, a fitting anniversary celebration, a marvelous day to be remembered for a long, long time. :-)