How do I go an entire week without remembering to update this journal? I have to apologize to Lynn specifically, directly, because bless her heart she tells me I post the longest darn updates ever. *laughs* Well, this little "what adventures have I been on lately" journal taunts me if I skip a tale. *grin*

So, grab a coffee or tea or other drink of your preference. I've a few tales to tell from my past week.

Wrapping Up the Visit: - My daughter was quite a good study on the sewing machine. She spent one day just getting used to the mechanics of the task, and invented some little accessories for a stuffed otter we got over Thanksgiving at the Aquarium with all the cousins and Grandpa and all that. (The otter now has a hat!)

The next day, I gave her some instructions on how to take a pattern off existing clothing that fits her, and she got halfway through patterning a fitted 8-gore cotehardie. Then I showed her how my chemises are constructed, since they're underneath and don't show. She immediately caught on and started measuring and cutting out a chemise for herself. She got most of the pieces edged (sewing a zig-zag stitch on the cut edges since I do not own a serger) and will finish the piece at home later. Voila! She's learned to sew her first garb!

Fri Jan 12: The Dessert Revel - I knew all along that Liz was planning a surprise for me, some sort of "thank you" at the end of our two-and-a-half weeks together. But although she was not subtle, at least I didn't really know what she had planned and so the surprise worked. (I love surprises!)

We had plans to have Eric over for dinner on Friday night, and she had an elaborate meal planned -- Lamb, Rice, Veggies, Homemade Naan (indian flatbread), that Yogurt and Cucumber and Mint salad. And so we ran over to my favorite deli and bought what we jokingly call within the household and amongst friends "Chocolate Mountain" which is a chocolate mousse piled about 8 inches high in a small tart crust, covered in shaved chocolate.

About 20 minutes until 9, she and Eric made their excuses to slip out of the house, and I couldn't resist washing all the dishes as fast as possible. I had an idea we were either going somewhere or someone was coming over, and I just wanted to do something nice for Liz making such a nice dinner. I finished the last dish right as she returned and from outside was saying, "Hey Mom, can you come out here and help me with something?"

And there on the front sidewalk was nearly a dozen of my friends, all with dessert in hands, and Liz with 18 long-stem white roses for me. My daughter rocks!

So everyone scurried in from the cold, and a dessert revel in my honor was thrown. My roomie completely surprised me, tricked me even, by making "my favorite cake in the world" while I was home and I didn't even recognize it: A chocolate bundt cake with white filling and cherry topping, especially homemade non-pie-filling type cherries. She made it in separates, hand-whipping a bowl of cream, and serving the cake separately from the cherries, which she had cooked on the stove and I had never noticed were cherries all along. (They were *phenomenal* by the way!) This way, Adrienne could have some of the cake too (since she cannot eat cherries).

Melissa (Meala) also remembered from ages ago when I went nuts over a Triffle at a party, and knowing how much I love triffle, mixed one up in a few minutes. There were the largest, most amazing blackberries in this triffle, along with pound cake, whipped cream, and rum. It was yummy!

There were cookies, chocolate confections filled with mousse, the "chocolate mountain" that Liz and I bought earlier, my favorite Black Forest Bundt cake, and my favorite triffle. I put on a pot of coffee, heated a kettle of water for tea, and we all just lounged around enjoying one another's company. Mel and Tom, Adrienne and Jeff, Melissa, Liz, Eric, Lilya and Dylan, Saul, and me. Liz wrote me a poem in honor of the occasion (that made me cry, of course). It was so incredibly wonderful.

Sat Jan 13: Bardic Collegium - After the revel, I packed up all the leftover desserts to take north with me, as we spent a day in Santa Barbara, enjoying all things Bardic. I was teaching during first session, and although I only had one student and one drop-in visitor (almost student), I think the class went really well. And I'm quite proud of the class outline I put together, and so I gave out a copy to several friends throughout the day.

At lunch, Liz seemed to have some sort of allergic reaction, making the palm of her hand swell. I cannot say enough amazing things about Meala taking over and being the cool head in the middle of my barely contained panic. But after several hours, Benedryl, washing the skin, and waiting to see what happened, it seemed it might have been a contact allergy with the *tray* in the food court (possibly an industrial cleanser) since the only time it started to flair up again was when they went back for more food later. (We threw out the chinese food she first started to eat for lunch, for fear it was a food allergy.) But by the end of the evening, her hand was fully recovered.

The percussion course I attended wasn't what I thought it would be, but was quite enjoyable all the same. It definitely gave me some food for thought about accompaniment in a bardic setting.

And the afternoon workshops, I was a restless Nellie. I just couldn't sit still. I dropped in on True's storytelling nearly a half-dozen times, sat for a bit in the Ballads class, and wandered over to an empty classroom where Raphael was pouring over some of the historic "Caidan Songbooks" that Selene passed on for the digitizing project he's working on.

Finally it was dinner and revel and bardic circle time, and a way to get in from the cold. (Drat this non-existent global warming! I need more woolen clothing!) I'd finished edging the purple and black wool overdress, as I promised Meala I would, and wore it for the evenings activities. Cormac, one of my newest friends (and the "good pirate" from our 12th Night adventure the week before) had brought 3 friends of his to the Collegium. Sitting at the table next to them, I found out they'd actually had a horrible time all day. So I decided it was worth it to turn that around for them, and began enjoying introducing people to them, hanging out, seeing what I could do to serve them. Once they had food and drink and met some more new friends, their evening seemed to be improving, and I felt really good about the whole thing. I started having fun jumping up and bringing water to all the tables, reminding myself how much I have fun serving at events. I'd almost forgotten.

After the dinner, as dessert was being served, I went table to table with the chocolate confections and triffle saved from the night before. I started, of course, with Cormac's friends Mary, Acacia, and Chiron, then went throughout, offering chocolate and rum sweets to anyone who wanted some. It was so fun to say, "So last night my daughter threw me a dessert revel and I have leftovers to share with you all. Can I offer you some chocolate or some triffle with rum?" and see people just light up with excitement. My daughter and all my friends rock!

The "State of the Community" discussion went much better than I thought it would, and more people were interested in the discussion than I thought would be. We've come a long way in the two full years we've been doing this now, three Bardic Collegiums into the breach. And I see nothing but wonderful things in our future. And then we polished up the evening with song and verse, story and tale, poignant and bawdy bardic goodness. It was lovely!

Then off to our "crash space." Any of you who've ever visited UC Santa Barbara know about Isla Vista (pronounced EYE-luh VIH-stuh) or just IV. And you know about IV on a Saturday night. As we drove to "the Harem" (or an apt with 5 girls and 1 guy), Liz commented "oh, there must be a party." No darling, there's probably about 700 parties. It's a light Saturday in IV. Parking was a horrifying game of car tetris, complete with angry housemates cursing the friends of the tenants in the other half of the duplex who do not know how to park, effectively cutting off room for 2 or 3 more cars on the lawn.

But once all the tempers were semi-soothed with a few drinks and some tales into the late hours, we were comfortably curled up on fold-out couches and the floor. Arye and Lot both curled up to have their heads scritched... I have to say, having two cute boys "curl up in my lap" for attention was really nice. *enjoyable sigh* Of course, one's married and the head of my household, the other is in a stable dating relationship and my "pet" but still! A girl likes to be appreciated! *grin*

Sun Jan 14: Home Again and War Practice - Liz and I were on the road slightly before 7 am, a feat in itself, and it was 12 degrees out when we finally got to her home. Ouch, that's cold! We had a wonderful visit with the friends she lives with, and then I hit the road again. I had to thaw out at the nearby Baker's Square for a while, since my heater died the last third of the trip taking her home. Once I was warm enough to drive again (and not get frost-bite on my toes while driving), I went down to Darachshire where the Kingdom War Practice was being held for the fencers. It was a wonderful turn-out, and dozens of the same friends I just saw the night before at Bardic. My new friends from the dinner were there, and so I spent some extra time with Mary, encouraging her to try her hand with a heavy-weapons sword. My friends in Darach did not let me down -- she had a *wonderful* time with Sabas, Wilhelm, and others who taught her about heavy weapons sword play. Acacia and Chiron were getting colder throughout the afternoon, but it seems they had a much better time now that they knew some people and didn't feel as abandoned and alone.

It was wonderful to visit with so many friends in Darach, and then to lounge around at the Deli over dinner with a good portion of them. We tended to split up in two camps for dinner -- those who went to the Deli and those who went to the Pirates' Grub 'N Grog -- so sadly, I didn't get to visit with Cormac, Mary, Acacia, and Chiron over dinner (or the rest of my friends who did Pirates). But I did have a wonderful time with Marcos, Lot, Grainne, Alexander K, Alexander B, Tezar, Colwyn, and others at the Deli. We came through in shifts, with my Darach heavy weapons friends finishing up as the last of the rapier friends stumbled in. But it was a lovely dinner, and then I went over to Dayle's to spend the night.

Mon Jan 15: All Day in the Shop - I thought getting my heater to work again might only take a simple fan belt. Sadly, $800+ later, it was an entire new heater core. But hey, it's fixed, and my car has heat, and the credit card people were nice enough (snort!) to simply up my limit to cover the cost. (heavy sigh)

I was enjoying brunch near the car shop, and ran into Tina, (new) Brian, and Ismay, so I joined them for their lunch and had a lovely morning chatting with them. And as the car was being repaired, I intended to hang out in the mall. But the bookstore in the mall is gone (argh!), so I had to find a way to wait an entire day without a bookstore. Thawing out the previous morning, I had organized my bag full of bardic materials. So I knew I had some reading material (sagas for inspiration and storytelling), and so I managed to make it until 7:45 pm when I was finally leaving town with a working car heater.

I did find some cute Language Learning Phrase-a-Day calendars, and picked up two as gifts. Eric was free and so as I drove through his town, we stopped to go to dinner and coffee, and I was able to give him an Italian learning calendar. We sat up from 9 pm until 3 am at the diner, chatting about everything under the sun, and having one of the best get-caught-up evenings together, ever. I'm sorry to see all he's gone through in the past several months, but he's really coming out on the other side with strength and dignity, and I'm impressed.

Tue Jan 16: Time in the Studio - Our drummer is going nuts, just playing the "same thing over and over again" so after our rehearsal on Tuesday, he declared we just HAVE to start recording now. He's done. He's sick and tired (and actually catching a cold sick) of not moving forward, so he's kicking the rest of the guys in the patootie and making the recording happen. So I'll be out of the studio for a while, because there cannot be any vocals when we're recording drums. I'll miss being there, but I have plenty of home-learning I can do for the new music. (I'm loving the material on the forthcoming 3rd CD, and find myself humming the tunes all the time. This is a very good sign.)

Wed Jan 17: Mini Tourney - The local baronial rapier practice is held in conjunction with the local Wednesday heavy weapons practice. And although the heavies practice is a little bit lightly attended, there can easily be 6-12 fencers there each week. Once a quarter, Meala likes to conduct a "mini-tournament" to help newer fighters learn about tourneys in general. Plus, they're just fun.

Since I've been attending practice to hang out with friends, or bring Liz to practice, I made a commitment to be there to help do "field heraldry." For those of you who are not part of the SCA and never seen our tournaments, field heraldy is the fancy shouting that announces who you are about to see "in honorable combat." And since the mini-tourney was supposed to be "in garb" (which means wearing costumes), I had to bring my costuming with me to the hair salon. My monthly appointment was right before the tourney, so for the first time, I was able to show my colorist how I go from modern short hair to medieval long hair in about 5-10 minutes flat. And since I had too little hair dye for one of my extensions recently (so there were golden sections that didn't dye dark enough), she was kind enough to use the leftovers on the piece I brought with me, guaranteeing it would match really nicely after she'd finished my hair. She was really impressed, and I was able to get to practice in costume and full hair extensions, almost on time.

The tournament went really well, and again I was reminded how much I enjoy serving in this sort of capacity. Between calling fights on the field, helping with the mathematical and statistical issues of picking who fights in which fight in the lists, I also found myself on the sidelines explaining tournaments and SCA activities to a returning newcomer. I'm really pleased that Leon has been showing up to some many events lately, after having dropped out years ago for being made to feel like he didn't belong. Just like Mary, Acacia, and Chiron -- Leon is someone I enjoy teaching about the SCA and making him feel like he can enjoy spending time with us. [For those of you who are in the know, let's call this foreshadowing for a possible official capacity I'm contemplating in the next five years. And we'll leave it that vague for now.]

Thu Jan 18: More Costuming with Friends - At the beginning of Edric and Faizeh's reign, I'd gone out to the Frost Dragon event in Naevehjem, which is to say I drove way out to China Lake. At the event, a friend of mine, Lorccán asked if he could fight for me for the day. Only household friends had been fighting for me lately, so I was really flattered to have yet another friend to watch out on the field. I had my bright yellow gloves with my device painted on them, and gave him one to wear on the field for the day. He's been one of those friends I've seen around, but never really got to know much more than the normal "Hi, hello!" at events.

Since then, I had subscribed to his journal online, and he's recently moved down from the Palmdale area to the Southern CA area where I live. He posted a request for help with some sewing, and so I invited him over and I'd be happy to help out. He's making a new armored coat for his heavy weapons fighting, and had all the cloth and pattern information. Since he's been living in a hotel for his new job until he gets a new apartment, I figured he could use a good home-cooked meal while we were at it.

So I picked up some chicken, veggies, did up a pot of brown rice, and we had a really nice stir-fry dinner. And wow, am I glad I invited him over. He is really a wonderful conversationalist, and incredibly interesting. (And hopefully I'm not embarassing him too much, since I know he just subscribed to my journal, too. *grin*) We didn't complete the coat, but I did finish a nice hand-stitched blanket stitch for the front neckline. I know, I know, it's really silly to hand-finish an armored coat ... especially when his gorget (neck protection) is going to COVER the stitches, but hey, I know that I've done my best work for a friend! He's offered some sort of barter for my assistance sewing, and I've gotten some wonderful surprise giftie ideas based on another project he's doing for himself. He does some wonderful metal-working and I think we've found a wonderful barter opportunities.

Tonight is a big party to welcome a new member into the household. Tomorrow is Angels Melee, another day event in the park which is more group-fighting oriented than a one-on-one tournament. And Sunday is an event-planning day for the Fiber Retreat later this year.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: New Friends: You invigorate my life. Thanks to Cormac, Mary, Acacia, Chiron, and especially Lorccán