Fri Nov 17: Late Evening - So, frenzied packing done and I headed over to the "planning meeting" for our Barony. In the shire, we were actually able to get event details covered in the shire meeting. In this barony, there's two meetings per month. One for the general baronial council, one for the event details at the planning meeting. I'd never been to any of the planning meetings yet, although I'd been going to the council meetings for nearly a year now.

There were more people there than I thought would be, showing me that the event planning meeting wasn't just the autocrats and seneschal, which had been my impression. It's a little daunting, to think there's *another* meeting that I really should be attending. But, well. *sigh*

Anyways, the meeting went well, I got my embroidery back from Marcos, and I headed up to my sister's house. They arrived just a few minutes after I did, and we got to visit a little bit before heading to sleep. My bro-in-law was sweet enough to let me borrow his laptop for the evening, and I managed to get all my bills paid. How did we ever survive before being able to pay things online? *grin*

Sat Nov 18: Frost Dragon - The event Saturday was nearly four hours north of my home, so going to my sister's was going to shave an hour off the drive. So I was up at 4 am, showering, dressed, doing my "medieval hair," and curling up with the scribal assignments before hoping in the car. It took a little less than an hour to pen all the awards planned for Saturday and Sunday, and took much less than the three hours planned for the drive.

The event was really casual and lovely. One of the guys from the last court asked to fight for me on the field for the day, which was really adorable. I had a lot of fun watching his fights, making certain he was drinking water, and saluting him for each fight. I also spent the whole day on the field as a herald, which is to say that I shouted for the audience so they could know who each fighter was in each round.

The group out in Ridgecrest (near China Lake) does an interesting thing for their Anniversary: They have what's called the "Frost Dragon." There's a frame that stands for the dragon's body, and a team of 8-12 people or so work different killing portions of the dragon. There are claws, a tail, and the guy working the tall neck of the dragon can shoot "frosty breath" (some kind of CO2 or other fog machine pressurized vapor). The fighters who attack the dragon are armed with a foam sword (like the kids use), a shield/buckler, and eye-protection goggles. If you get hit with the frost vapor, you're dead. If you don't defend against the claws or the tail, you're dead. And the dragon can even sit on you, which one of the fighters died to. *grin* Only one fighter managed to leap in and hit the little cymbal on the dragon's neck, which indicated killing the dragon. I got some wonderful photos of the fighters and the dragon, and one really cute video where you can hear the frost dragon's breath. At the very end, the Queen walked out and petted the dragon, taming it with her very presence. *hee hee*

A bunch of us went out for dinner afterwards, and we ended up noticing they were all from the barony that covers Palmdale/Lancaster--everyone except me. So it was really fun to get to not only know some friends better, but suddenly be able to remember who's from which area, since they were all from the same barony. I meet so many people from so many places, I almost never get to know where they hail from.

I might have made it home to my sister's by 9:30 or 10, except for two adventures. First, a young lady needed help at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. I didn't stop, being concerned for my own safety as a female traveling alone, and I couldn't tell who was trying to flag someone down in the dark. But I stopped about 2 miles down the road and was trying to call 911 to have a patrol car go check out the stranded motorist, when she pulled up ahead of me and came up to my car. Seeing she was (a) another single female alone and (b) she just needed help with directions, I hung up with the highway patrol since we didn't need them afterall, and got out my California maps book and helped her figure out where she was and where she was going. She was nearly hysterical with relief, and called her family on my cell phone to let them know she was still okay and about an hour away from seeing them. She was driving a U-haul alone, and was frantic with confusion on the backroads in the middle of nowhere. She kept calling me an angel, and I've been meaning to call her back and make sure she's doing okay (since the number she called is still in my cell log).

But the other adventure is just simply that I was too exhausted to finish the drive in one fell swoop. I did as I always do, pulled over for a nap when I couldn't drive safely anymore. So it was nearly midnight when I woke up, and just before 1 am when I pulled in to my sister's.

Sun Nov 19: Queen's Champion Equestrian - Sleeping was *wonderful* and there was no rush to get out the door early on Sunday. The Queen wasn't planning to arrive at her Equestrian's Champion tournament until just before noon, so I was comfortably on site finally around 11. I'm even more convinced than ever that I need a quick single-person shade where I can neatly store my things at events. I have a wonderful plan in mind, and I'll probably complete it within the next 2-3 weeks.

The tournament was entirely in the horse arena, so the majority of us on site were really lounging around and enjoying one another's company, some lunch, some music, and some dancing, while watching the horses compete. Two of my friends were in the final three (Arabella and Catherine White Acre) but neither of them won. Ah well. The competitions were fun to watch, we got great photos, and the event was relaxing. More dinner out with friends, and then the final trip home to my own apartment. Again, I had to nap partway home, but I got home safely and in my own bed. You gotta love being home.

Mon Nov 20: Just Home - Today was a pretty good work day--I finally felt back on top of things, even knowing it will be a short week for the holiday. I had hopes to unpack everything from the weekend, but never really got up the energy at the end of the day. I'm happy to say that I did exercise as I had planned to, on both Friday last week and again today, and then had a long leisurely dinner with some books and learning to relax to. Caught up on email and television as a final relaxation, and now I'm headed to sleep. I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend, too.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Liz: I'm really looking forward to spending Thanksgiving weekend with you.

Exercise: Fri - Walking 32 min; Mon - Walking 48 min (3 for 3 on M/W/F walking)

Weight Loss: Fri - 17.4 lbs lost, so far to date (up +0.2 from Wed) It's hard to not watch the scale, but at least I'm really proud of walking 3 for 3 now.