Happy Twice Holidays - First, a slightly belated "Happy Flip the Calendar Day" (Happy FtCD) -- which feels like today even though it's after midnight so it's actually yesterday. My actual "yesterday" I was awake after midnight too, and Sarah (Enid) was all excited to wish me a "Happy Flip the Calendar Day" on the first of the month.

Secondly, "Happy Daylight Savings Ends Day" (Happy DSED) or "Happy You Get 25-Hours Today Day" which is truly my favorite administratia holiday of the year. I've actually thought that if I were to ever get married again, I would REALLY want to get married on "Happy Daylight Savings Ends Day" so that I can have a 25th-hour night for my wedding anniversary.

I still need to go through my home and flip the calendars, but since I get to stay in bed an extra hour, I think I'll do calendars in the morning. *grin*

BBBB - This afternoon and evening was the Baroness' Bardic and Birthday Banquet event. It is/was Angelina's birthday today/yesterday [that whole midnight thing] and so we created an all-day revel and feast just to celebrate. I was asked to be part of the "invitational music" in the evening, and was worried that I didn't have time to write something new. At first, I polished the Queen's March, to celebrate the women who inspire us. And I'd attended the feast "off board" which meant I paid a smaller entrance fee to be allowed a seat in the room, but not a portion of the food at the table. Most of the feast menu included foods I cannot or choose not to eat, and so I ate before I arrived, and enjoyed everyone's company while they had their dinner. [The feast looked AMAZING, by the way, both in the preparation, styling, and presentation. VERY well done!]

As I was signing in at gate, I was looking around the hall trying to find some friends to sit with. While I was paying my site fee, Gareth came over to invite me to join him and his table, which turned out to be a perfect arrangement. I got to see some of the new members in our Barony whom I just met on Monday, to my left. And to my right were several friends and acquaintances, whose company I definitely enjoy. And by sitting in the center of the table, I could actually hear everyone which was quite a nice surprise. (I'm constantly unable to hear the conversations near me. It worries me occasionally, this loss of some of my hearing.)

So, as they all enjoyed their meal, I finished several more inches of purple silk embroidery on my (last year's) 12th Night overdress. I was able to tell a few stories, listen to several stories, and entertain with several songs. Gareth had never heard "the sheep song" from my Apprenticing. The new young students to my left had never heard the Caidan Kids' Song or the Caidan Fighter Song. And to fill some of the space between two courses in the feast, the Baron asked me to entertain the room. So I sang the Queen's March for them, or more rightly, taught them to sing with me.

Unfortunately, with all the songs at the table and the one song for the hall, that knocked out most of the repetoire I'd been considering for the Baroness. After browsing some lyrics online (on my phone internet browser) I decided to do "Jack Rogers" (by Mateo) and polished my memory of the lyrics for a few minutes. The presentation of the song was well-received, even if I did pitch it a little higher than usual for me. Darn those male vocal ranges, training me to memorize a key for which I'm not always in full voice.

Cliar cu Buidhe sang two songs next, including one with props and jokes in Italian, which we still understood and enjoyed. Then our dear Baron sang and played guitar, sharing two songs with us in celebration of his darling wife. (And I got some great photos for the newsletter.)

Old Friends, Great Talks - Some old friends from my college days were working in the kitchen, and so I got to have some *wonderful* conversation with them after the feast. Gayle was the roomie of an old college boyfriend of mine, from 1993, and I hadn't seen her probably since '94. Philip and Rebecca are great friends from back in those college days (and oddly, Philip is also an old roomie of that same former boyfriend). He's apparently a few courses away from his Masters (yippee!) and they're looking for ways to come back and participate more often again. They also brought their swing dance instructors to the feast, so I got to meet two new friends, too.

Chatting with Gayle and chatting again with Rebecca were definitely highlights of my evening (although a dinner spent in the company of Gareth and Luta is a VERY close second for most-enjoyable highlights). And best of all, Rebecca has been considering the possibility of publishing major portions of her research into painted cloth from the middle ages (from flags and banners to window coverings to clothing). So when she mentioned she might want to publish in our quarterly society artisans' pamphlet series, I dragged her over to my dear friend Tonwen (Rae), who just HAPPENS to be the editor of said publication. Eowyn was sitting with Tonwen, and *GREAT* conversations happened between those three excellent ladies. Yippee! Just the right catalyst at just the right time!

I also got into an excited and passionate discussion with Eowyn about what I want to be working on in education for the performing arts within our Society. It was the right kind of conversation to reinforce some things I've discussed with Tonwen before. I've got another spark in me (again) to re-double some of my efforts, in this passion of mine. And I think I have some ideas to flesh out for publication and research, too. I'll speak more on that again over the next several years, I'm certain.

No new pictures today, as I'm headed to sleep to enjoy this 25th hour.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Rebecca, Gayle, Eowyn, Tonwen, Angelina, Luta, and Gareth