Postscript from Crown - My friend Patrick (Pierre) managed to click the "video" button on his camera, from behind me when I was singing at Crown Tourney. I was mortified after the whole thing, that I had made FAR too many lapses and mistakes and pauses to be okay with any video of the performance. It seems my memory is worse than the recording, so I gave him permission to make it available publically. (Yes Mom, this is on YouTube, and you really SHOULD watch it when you get home.) Enjoy this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9-g2USthfs


Black Oak Lodge - Friday I completely shocked and surprised myself when all my pre-event tasks were done, I was packed, and on the road ON TIME. Yes, I wanted to leave by noon, and I left by noon. It was amazing. Maybe packing for camping events has just gotten easier over the years? Or maybe I just have learned to balance my stress better. Once I was packed, I stopped off at the deli to pick up five large loaves of braided egg bread (and I'm very glad I did), filled the tank with gas, and bought a few last minute spices needed. LA traffic was worse than usual for early afternoon, but fortunately I'd built in time for the delays. In my shire's town, I stopped for a quick break and a chance to browse the art supplies at Michael's crafts. I picked up som narrow wire, some tiny wire cutters, and a few different medium/large sized pearls or pearl-like beads. More on this, for Saturday.

Arriving on site, it was a quick "stash my things in the cabin, throw on my costuming" and hurry to the kitchen to start dinner. My roomie and I volunteered to cook and serve dinner for the traditional Friday night "Soup Kitchen." She put together two vegetarian soups and I made the chicken soup. I researched several versions of chicken soup recipes from the middle ages, and had combined my favorite portions into one recipe. In a large pot, I started cooking the three large packages of chicken thighs (having pulled the skin off by hand). In a smaller pot, I began simmering four onions diced, in a little bit of the chicken broth being made from the chicken thighs and about a cup of white wine. I ground together spices in my mortar and pestle: a Hyssop blend from Vons (in the Kosher foods section) that had hyssop, sumac, sesame, parsley, olive oil, and salt (probably about 2-3 Tbsp); about 1-2 tsp each of ground mace, ginger, and cinnamon; and about a tsp of "Powder Forte" that I had been given at an SCA event (a blend of pepper, grains of paradise, ginger, and a few other spices that escape my memory at the moment). They smelled *heavenly* -- which was the effect I was going for. I tossed the spices in with the onions to continue simmering and added a few more ladles of broth from the chicken, and about 1-2 Tbsp salt. I chopped up a large bunch of fresh parsley (about 1 cup), and added that to the onions. Then I added about half a large bag of raisins (maybe 2 cups?). In a bowl full of ice and water, I began pulling all the cooked chicken meat off the bones. By the time all the chicken was shreaded off the bone, all the ingredients fit together in one large pot, and was set to simmer. People gave me rave reviews on the chicken soup, which really made me happy.

Magdalene put together a lentil soup with spinach, carrots, and lots of fresh lemon juice, that came together as a really sweet and flavorful soup. Her second soup was chock full of cabbage, carrots, onions, and rice. Then she worked on fresh scone-shaped biscuits, each with different fresh chopped herbs. We served soup and fresh biscuits for the next 3+ hours, along with the 5 large loaves of bread, bowls of fresh apples and oranges, and a large bowl of hard-boiled eggs. People mixed and matched the soups together --> a huge hit was a bowl of half lentil soup with spinach and half chicken soup with raisins. And when it was all over, I put aside two pots of leftovers: one with lentil and vegetable, one with chicken and vegetable. These were reheated and served as extra food for lunch on Saturday, helping out the one person there who couldn't eat any wheat [and lunch was entirely little pastry-wrapped meals].

Saturday, after breakfast, I spent my morning either braiding people's hair or taking photos, followed by working on my beaded-pearled project. Because of the new Court Baroness title, I have been given the right (and responsibility?) to wear a coronet with six raised pearls. (To explain this all visually, please enjoy the short article I wrote for my Shire's website.) Having no such coronet, nor a way to acquire one yet, I figured I'd make a "stealth coronet" from pearls on pins and on bobby pins. I picked out some bronze-colored pearl beads, and lashed them to six bobby pins, lashed more of them to six corsage pins that had white pearl-like ends, and lashed another six bobby pins with one bronze-colored and one white pearl bead each. So I know have three sets of six matching pins or bobby pins --> two sets are both white and bronze, one set is only bronze. The bobby pins clip neatly into my hair, and the corsage pins work in my veil. Overall, I love the effect, and it amuses me greatly. *grin*

After Saturday lunch, I took lots of photos of the classes, fighting, and relaxing throughout the site. Then by evening, I changed into my nicer clothing, and practiced the last of my story-telling portion of the Bardic competition, and rehearsed lyrics for my songs. Back up at the Bardic Hall, it turned out for the second year in a row, the competition had only one entry. So Magdalene passed the Bardic championship to me, along with a mimed presentation of the "grand collection of regalia" of the office. She placed on my shoulders an invisible cloak, girded me with the invisible champion's sword, placed an invisible tiara on my head, and two lovely invisible Viking arm bands on my arms. Everyone got a great laugh from the presentations.

Then she and I each performed for the assembly. She did a short performance on her Lute, which I followed with my Darashire song "Back as I Remember" written for the first Bard of Caid competition. She then offered to take requests, and Conri asked for the Don Eogan song (his dad). So she sang a Duke Conn song first, which always reminds her of Conri, and followed it with the Eogan song. Then, in honor of Her Majesty Kolfinna, I presented a new story from the Book of Dede Korkut, a collection of Turkish sagas that pre-date the first manuscripts in the middle ages. (I told the story of Prince Kazan taking his son Uruz on his first hunting trip, during which Uruz is taken prisoner, and his mother Lady Burla the Tall helps turn the tide in the rescue mission. You have to love when it's the Women Warriors who fix the mess the Men got into in the first place. *grin*)

Then it was off to the feast. It was a lovely feast, where the food and the wine and the drinks flowed easily, stories were boisterous and humorous and enjoyable. The super-seekrit extra entertainment put together by the event staff was a recreation of entertainment done by Da Vinci. His wedding feast entertainment included people turning in orbit as the planets in the heavens. Our recreation involved oil-lamp globes for each of us, and we walked in "orbits" down on the field while the observers were at the top of the cliff overlooking the field. We filed up the stairs, and gave a recitation about the characteristics of the planets, written as small monologues about the characteristics of our Queen. William and Illiuna (Bill and Lynn) had built a huge lamp stand for the oil globes, which even rotated so that the planets were in orbit. (These two people are amazing.) Everyone seemed to really love the entertainment, and it was facinating to recreate something from an actual medieval feast. Back in to the second half of the feast. The company was delightful and rich, and we closed the evning some well-deserved awards given by our Queen's hand. A fantastic feast for a fantastic day.

Sunday morning we contined a Black Oak Lodge tradition: Eating leftover feast food for breakfast (or alongside our breakfast)! I have come to believe that the tradition is really to enjoy a fantastic feast, leave to take a nap, and return in the morning for the rest of the feast. And typically, the breakfast staff invents something new from all the feast leftovers. This year's invention was a bread-pudding made with the sour cherries that had been served alongside the beef course -- dreamy delicious!

Benji's Birthday - After leaving the site, I headed straight for Jeff and Adrienne's house. A year ago, I was heading straight to the hospital so it's no suprise I was heading to Benji's one-year birthday party. The place was packed with friends I hadn't seen in a while, and it was just a delight to play with Benji.

More String, Better! Weaving - Amya and I have been hosting a series at Arts and Sciences in our Barony for the past year, called "More String, Better!" Part 4 of 4 was taking string and turning it into woven cloth. Amya spent a good portion of Sunday morning in my home, warping up the large loom, and then preparing a number of other looms around her house. On Monday, she brought over three small table-top box looms and a large tapestry loom which she'd altered to stand up on its own like an easel. Fedelm, Meala, Aliskye, and I all gathered around as Amya explained weaving technology ("more jargon than anyone else!"), showed us how weaving works on tapestry loom, then let us weave a bit on that loom. Taking up the box looms, she cut the warp off the front bar, and showed us how you tie on a warp and then weave a header to space the warp threads evenly. Then heading over to the four-harness floor loom, she showed us how the warp was tied on, how the heddles and the shafts and the treadles work together, and then showed us how the twill pattern emerged in the cloth.

I spent some time weaving on the tapestry loom, then handed it off to everyone else. Both Fedelm and Meala added to the weaving. Then I took up one of the box looms and worked the header a little bit more, then wove for a good dozen or two rows (or picks) with the shuttle. I *really* love the box loom, also sometimes called tape looms. Jon Thomme built these looms for a class that Amya taught at Collegium, and I definitely would like to own one. Finally, I didn't spend any time on the floor loom, but it's *my* loom and it's in *my* house, so I'll be weaving on it later. I may change the weft thread, but I'll definitely work the warp that Amya put on there for the class.

Leaving Today - And here's the last of my panic and stress -- I leave for Gulf Wars today. I attended this event two years ago, when Raphael (Saul) and I drove out together. This time I sent my Coffee Bar supplies out on a trailer with some other friends, and will be flying with Meala this evening. We're on the same flight, although not likely to be sitting together on the plane. Then we rent a car, drive to the site, and get some sleep in the Royal Cabins. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will be exciting costumed days for me, and Sunday will be the pack-everything and travel-home day. Catch you all next week.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Amya, best pixie ever!