Happy Flip the Calendar Day - Hello my darlings. Since it's the special holiday of turning one's calendars, I suppose it's a good time to post my latest update, which is sadly out-of-date by a month. I'll try to speed up (condense) the intervening updates, and catch up this week. Fortunately I have Wed-Fri off work (with this week being my "regular day off" Friday week, but since July 4th falls on Friday, they're giving us 2 days holiday plus our RDO, awesome).

Coronation and Queen's Champion - At the beginning of June, we had an SCA event up in Bakersfield, for the last court of Edric and Faizeh, and the first court of Edward and Mora. Teffan was in town from MN, carpooling with me, and we were sharing hotel rooms with Lot, Caterina, Benito, and Marcos.

Sat 07 Jun: Coronation of Edward and Mora
* 21:16 - Stunning day. Arrived on time, scribal all taken care of.
* 21:17 - Commendation from Society Chirurgeon, for Al's song at Estrella
* 21:18 - Commissioned poem, written by Secca, illuminated by Aliskye, from Edric, with RRE
* 21:20 - Sang Meala's song for Kelan, to peer-packed audience, Kid's Song to feast
* 21:21 - Ring gift to Shawn, for amazing poem, at feast, now to relax in hotel with friends

So, Lorccan was the Royal Scribe for Edric V and Faizeh II after I'd done both Edric IV/Faizeh (I)'s reign and Drogo & Ithuna's reign. But he had to be out of town for business, and I was pinch-hitting for him by delivering all the Scribe's materials to the incoming scribe, AND doing scrolls last-minute because the Scribe wasn't on site yet.

All during opening court, I was back in the Royal Ready room, working on Scrolls. One of my Baronial friends, Patrick, was apparently the only person who remembered that's where I was. I was called into court with Baron Rowen for a public reading of a commendation from the Society Chirurgeon, for her thanks for Rowen and me at Estrella (the large SCA camping trip in Arizona, back in February). Seeing Rowen in charge of the field when Lord Al Vernon passed away, she felt safe that everything was going to be handled fine. And when she returned to Calontir (most of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and a touch of Arkansas) from Estrella, she had apparently been very touched by my memorial verse added to the Caidan Fight Song, and was moved to commend me (and Rowen) to their Majesties of Caid for being what inspiration is all about to her. Needless to say I was stunned at the letter and the public commendation. Edric gave Rowen and I each personal tokens as His thanks for the Society Chirurgeon's words.

Then I was back in the Royal Ready room, still working on scrolls, when Patrick came back in for me again. This time, I got up in front of Edric and Faizeh, and Secca (pronounced SEH-cha) was standing there with his poem. Now, knowing Secca, I knew he was about to do a performance of some original prose. And I had no idea why he was reading a poem for me. And he started the presentation by saying, "Their Majesties commissioned me to write this poem."

Esteem
Written by Secca of Cantia

Whose voice is that afloat on ebon night,
So softly bringing tears beside the fire,
Intoxicating sylph, a lyric sprite,
Who is this Swan stepped from angelic choir?

What singer lilts a chantey from the quay,
That keeps the White Star sailing swift and sure;
Then, dockside, belts a bawdy roundelay,
Redoubling well the Crimson Spade's allure?

What bard doth lead our army to the field,
Booming martial airs with every stride,
Outstripping even drum, and trumpet's peal,
At bolstering ev'ry Caidan's pride?

Their Majesties do answer hereupon:
Such excellence embodies Eilidh Swann!

Illuminated by Mistress Aliskye, who notes, "I copied the title page from Octonaries Upon The Vanitie by Esther Inglis (1609) for my inspiration."

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Needless to say, I was near sobbing through the entire presentation.

And THEN His Majesty instructed the Herald to start reading the Royal Recognition of Excellence presentation, and hands me THAT scroll too. Faizeh (the Queen) and I were both teary eyed by this time, and I was just weak with shock.
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After a good majority of the first court of the new King and Queen was well underway, I slipped in to ask Kelan if I could present Meala's gift to him. There was no way of adding another presentation to the courts of the day, my hotel buddies all wanted to head back and get changed, and Kelan wasn't planning to be at the Feast.

Our in the lobby, quite a few peers were relaxing on the couches and chairs. It was the perfect place to sing Meala's song to Kelan, with a lovely audience, and he just adored the piece. Aliskye took some photos, and everyone had fun.

Then it was back to the hotel for a rest, cool A/C, and dinner plans for everyone else but not me. We unpacked the car, changed out of our fancy court clothing, and I took the time to re-do my long hair extensions. Just changing out of my gold gown for about 30 minutes made all the difference. And with my hair neatly re-braided, and my black/purple gown swapped in for the Turkish coat, I headed back to the event for the Feast. I joined Marciano, Alanna, Mistress Eilidh, and Mistress Brianna for the meal, and had tons of fun with them.

Master Korwyn and Viscountess Krysta were at the table next to us, and Korwyn introduced me to Lord Shawn, another fighter and bard from Starkhafn (the Las Vegas area). Shawn was preparing to recite an original poem for the Feast entertainment, and I promised to pay close attention.

About then, the Head table wanted to see both Eilidh's (me [not the Mistress] plus Mistress Eilidh), and make some performance requests. Mistress Eilidh had a very funny story about the "Gypsy Laws" and on that segue, I decided we had to have a rendition of the Caidan Kids' Song. Several children (and adults who are children-at-heart) came up front and helped me lead the audience in song (and hand-motions), and we had a very good time together.

Soon after, Shawn came up and performed his poem, and I ran up to the front to sit down and listen closely. He really did a wonderful job -- both in performance and in composition -- and I decided he needed a special gift. Something in my gut said he needed something extra in the way of encouragement. I like to wear lots of rings, specifically so that on occasion I can take a ring off my hand and give it away. Sometimes I've given a ring to really close friend just to say "You're special." Sometimes I've given a ring because it seemed to belong to that person more than me (::waves as Lynn! how's the amber doing?::).

In this case, I was just moved. Shawn tried to slip out of the feasting hall quickly after his poem. I hurried to catch up with him, and the first words out of his mouth were, "I'm going to go throw up," followed by a strained grin. I took the ring off, placed it in his palm, and said, "Please, allow me to give you a bardic gift for a bardic gift. You really gifted us with something special with that poem, and I wanted to give you this." And that was that.

(I was told later how much this meant to him, both his words and a friend's words on the topic. *shrug* It was something I felt right doing. I'm glad it mattered to him, too, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.)

After the feast, I headed back to the hotel, and waited a bit for everyone else to get back from dinner. We hung out, mixed some drinks with a very weird cheap wine (unsuccessfully), and stayed up chatting. I went to sleep first, and never heard my hotel-roomies wander in later.

Sun 08 Jun: Coronation
* 05:16 - Strangely awake, no alarm, debating getting up
* 23:55 - great day: breakfast, to site on time, joined up with barony, field heraldry all day (barely any sunburn), new coif great for sun block
* 23:56 - still can't take white star anywhere (someone wins something)
* 23:56 - Lot now Rapier QC, Marcos new Vanguard of Honor!
* 23:56 - Sang fighter song for closing court (wonderful), safe drive home, pizza w/Adjin, good to be home

I woke up early, bored [I hate when that happens] and puttered around getting ready before waking the hotel-roomies. We all went to breakfast (on-time!), got on site when we wanted to, and hung out with the Barony. I haven't done field heraldry in forever, and really enjoyed having the voice and energy to be out there all day. I enjoyed watching Shawn fight for the first time (the nice young bard from the night before) -- and wow, he's really good. He went to semi-finals, the only unbelted (non-Knight) in the final four fighters, before he was out of lists. It was nice to meet someone new and find out they're not really new at all. *grin*

On the silly side of things -- Lot was the Queen's Champion last summer. Then they had their baby this spring. He decided "Oh, I guess I'll enter the lists after all" --> and won again this summer. So, occasionally we're likely to carpool to events together, though not nearly like last summer when I was Royal Scribe and he didn't have a wife and baby at home. There's much less that I'm required to do for events as Kingdom Bard than when I was Royal Scribe. (And yes, Tonwen, I know I'm not the Scribe now and I'll stop forgetting this. *grin*)

But the fantastic highlights of closing court, besides seeing Lot accept the QC's Rapier position again, was two-fold. One, my dearest household brother, Marcos, was made a member of the Vanguard of Honor, an extremely prestigious award for Chivarly and Honor upon the field. And I started closing court with the Caidan Fight Song, complete with the homage to Lord Al Vernon for whom the memorial verse was written. His loss is still fresh and painful for some people in our kingdom, and I saw some people in the back hugging a Baroness as she wept a little during the song. I just hope that the story and the song outlive me.

We had a great drive home, a wonderful visit with Adrienne over pizza (Jeff had to go to work), and then back to the apartment to collapse. A very successful Coronation and Queen's Champion weekend.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Tonwen. Because.