Weekend Wild Weapons Ringing - Friday night, after knowing full well that I chose to go out with friends for dinner and then an impromptu movie, I knew that I was in for a long-haul to get the monthly baronial newsletter published by the morning. I *didn't* expect to be up all night with no sleep. My darling baron wrote me to say "you make it look so effortless" which tickles me pink. But effort aside, gosh I cannot remember the last time I stayed up all night to finish something. *laughs* I'm no spring chicken anymore, but apparently I've still got some oomph.

I'm really proud of how this issue turned out, and I plunged into my event photos from the end of June to decorate all 17 pages. I also solved one problem with set up for the calendar, and that gets me just another step closer to what I'm looking for eventually. I love to see detailed content on a calendar display: Time, Activity, Location. Just an artistic icon alone does not tell me everything I need. I also love color-coding and icons, but not if they obscure the content itself. I still want to experiment with some colors and/or icons, but my simple calendars this time really looked nice to me.

By 4 am, I realized I needed to also get ready for Highland, so I showed and put on my garb (my costuming from the middle ages), and waited for my hair to dry, to braid up my extensions. Some people in the SCA don't even know I *have* short hair, since I'm very careful to always have long-hair styles with my outfits. It's also been painfully hot lately, everywhere, so braiding my hair up is a must.

The boys were sweet enough to come pick me up, so by 6:30 I was proof-reading my newsletter for the last time, by 7:00 it was published online, by 7:30 the guys were here, and by 8:00 we were packed and on the road. I managed to sleep for about 45 minutes or so, on our drive north, but I was really too wired from activity to rest much. It was also around 100+ degrees on the old air force base where we the event was camped out, so it was near impossible to really nap there, either.

Got to visit with several friends, prepare scrolls for court, help conduct some court business (like a surprise award for the herald who was running court), and hang out with Bill and Jeff throughout the day. Dinner was light (and the heat was oppressively heavy) and by 10 pm or so I was completely wiped out. It's no surprise I barely noticed falling asleep in the car, nor that I have little memory of wandering in to Jeff's living room to fall asleep on their couch. But all's well, and I got a blissfull night of uninterrupted sleep, then Jeff woke me at 7am to head home, clean up, and hit the road again.

Saturday had been at "Highland War" which is north of my home about 2 hours. Sunday was now "Potrero War" which is about 3 hours south of my home. Jeff packed everything he needed, then we returned to my apartment where I showered, dressed, and packed everything I needed. We got on the road probably around 10 am or so, and in to the event just after 12:30. Jeff also taught me a new song on the way to the event, and we have plans to swap lyrics with one another more frequently.

It was easy to find the Romani encampment, and set up under the trees. I found the Royals and began work on the court scrolls for the day, and we headed over to hold court in the evening around 4 pm. It was wonderful to see several more friends receive well-deserved awards, and to be able to assist my friend Thomas Bronwell, as he was the herald for the day.

After another afternoon around 100+ degrees, having a very light dinner made tons of sense. Fall Potrero is much more lightly attended than I was expecting, although the rule of thumb is usually "everyone attends May War, no one attends Fall Potrero" amongs my friends, and apparently this holds true for much of the kingdom. Highland seemed better attended, only because it was more closely packed into a smaller space. Potrero, with the same number of people, looks completely abandoned.

Anyway, after some dinner and wandering around a tiny bit with the last of the sunset illumination to see who was there, it was time for just an entertaining and relaxing evening. I spent some time drumming with the Romani, and then a large event-wide party of drummers and dancers started up on the fighting field. We all trekked over to join them, and although I enjoyed some of the drumming (and definitely enjoyed borrowing Finieous' bass djumbe for a short while), the dancers were abyssmal. It made me miss the dancers up at Highland, who are some of my favorite skilled (and professional) dancers. Sometimes I truly wonder about the lack of dancing skill around some camp fires. *blech* But that aside, I spent some time with Finieous, wandered off, had a blissfully wonderful shower when no one was in line at the bathrooms, stood under the water getting as cold as possible (since it was probably still 80+ degrees out), then went to sleep cool and clean. Jeff wandered in after many hours, and passed out quickly and easily. At least I knew I never woke him up, as I toss and turn at night.

I let him sleep when I woke a little after 6, and I just got dressed, packed, and pulled my things quietly out of the tent. I found his keys, got his car from the parking lot, and had all my things packed in the car before he really woke up. We were done packing pretty much by the time the sun was up and making things unbearably warm again, and off-site before much after 8:30 am. That was probably the fastest and easiest clean up and packing we've ever experienced. (Of course, it probably helps we didn't bring much with us, and I was packed before Jeff was even awake.) We were home before 11:30, a true shock.

After the ickiness of Purgatorio site, the heat of both Highland and Potrero, I figured my hair extensions needed a very thorough washing. I also decided to give them another darker dye job, since they were still lighter than my hair. So I mixed up two batches of hair dye (that were just in my cupboards, waiting for me), slathered it all on the hair, took a shower, then spent the length of a second shower just rinsing all the dye out of the extensions, washing, and conditioning them thoroughly. When it was all said and done, I was exhausted, so I just fell asleep in front of my fan for the rest of the afternoon.

When I finally awoke, my roomie and I watched some "junk food television" (as I like to call it) together, then I went over to Rae's for dinner and projects. Because of the oppressive heat, we opted for dinner out in the air conditioning, but sadly the restaurant we picked wasn't nearly air conditioned enough for our preferences. But after a very nice turkey meatloaf and some veggies, I curled up at Rae's living room work table and continued piecing together Scott's fighter "man-dress" for this weekend. We got to chat even further about more apprenticeship stuff, projects, and pursuits, and "a lovely evening was had by all."

Finally, yesterday evening my friends held a "Wake" for Mara / JJ up in my home shire. We met at a local bar, had food, drank in her honor, toasted her memory, and just generally clung to the wonder of our friendships and love for one another, and our shared grief at losing one of our own. I spent some time all day rememorizing the verses and choruses to a commonly sung song in the Ren Faire crowd, that my friend Mateo also sings in Northshield, "Here's a Health to the Company." In addition to the commonly sung verses, I wrote a new one in Mara's memory:

I once knew a lovely lass, a mother of one son
She raised up her lilting voice, singing to us, each one
She raised up our spirits, and she taught some to sing
And we will always remember her, each and every precious thing

True took some time to speak to everyone, inviting all of us to remain a part of RJ's life, now that his mother was gone. Earlier, James had led off the toasts in Mara's memory, and we'd had a round of toasts to all we remember about her. Since RJ was about to head home for bed (and with school in the morning), before they left I stood to offer a song in Mara's memory, and asked folks to sing along with me, plus a new verse at the end just for her. The entire bar full of nearly 30-40+ people were singing along with me, and there were many of us in tears. I almost made it through JJ's verse without sobbing or cracking my voice, but not completely. And when I was done, I made sure that copies of the lyrics when home with James, True, and RJ each.

And I've never been so proud to have worked hard on a song before an event. I'm so glad I did.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: All those I love and cherish. I love so many of you, and I'm glad you're in my life. Thank you, Morgana, for reminding us to say this more often to everyone we love.

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As a bit of a postscript, on the drive up to the wake, I spent some time re-memorizing several songs. I'm working on making certain my repetoire is more regularly polished and ready, and adding new songs as often as possible. Since I was adding "Health to the Company," it was worth working on another handful at the same time, to make certain I could start any song, from any point in an evening.

After the wake, I went over to Bill and Lynn's to hang out and chat for a bit more (and to keep sewing Scott's tunic). They gave me crash space on the couch, and Lynn and I got to really spend some quality time together. On the way home this morning, I managed to cement 3-4 more songs into memory again, and I'm almost through my memorized set. Then I can time my existing repetoire, start thinking of what songs or stories I know but I'd forgotten about, and start adding new songs (like Lot's repetoire, and my historical studies into period music). Ah, a well-oiled memory just gets better.