Prologue - Hello folks. I've figured out why it's so hard for me to write short notes rather than waiting long patches of time before catching you all up on my adventures. Because I always want to include photos, and editing photos takes time, and I don't have tons of "edit photo time" available every day. So sadly, I put off writing because I've put off photo editing.

But this isn't *just* a photo journal, and I really should remember that I can easily paint you some word pictures, even if my actual digital pictures are languishing, awaiting editing time later. *sigh* It's just how things are right now. [Yes, Faizeh, your photos weigh on my conscience even more than any others.]

That having been said, here's at least one of my narratives for your enjoyment.

Family Memorial - My mom's mom was one of three sisters. My grandmother Dorothy passed away in my early elementary school days, and my grandfather remarried Joyce soon after. So for most of my life, my grandmother is actually my step-grandmother. And the family has remained in close contact with my two great aunts, Lorene and Thelma. In high school I had the good fortune to spend some time interviewing my great aunt Lorene about her career in music. And I've always thought of Lorene and Thelma very fondly.

Lorene passed away just early last year, and then Thelma began to decline recently. She passed away a little over a week ago, and Friday morning was the family memorial. I wasn't able to go to the services for Lorene, but I did find it possible to go out to join the family for Thelma's service. I was really quite glad to see my Grandad, Thelma's husband Dave, and all the extended family of Thelma and Lorene (and Dorothy). The world is very funny -- once upon a time, people exchanged mailing addresses, birthdays, and possibly home phone numbers. Now it's Facebook IDs and cell phones and email addresses, and yes, I collected emails and Facebook connections with some extended cousins after the service. (Mom posted photos to Facebook already, but she's always been fantastic at managing photo albums.)

Crown Tournament - After the memorial service, I headed back toward LA and then north to Fresno. I had a nice drive up and I'm glad I went as early as I did. There's been construction north of LA on the 5 near Magic Mountain / Santa Clarita, and the backup went for miles and hours. Some people driving up were stuck in 2+ hours traffic for 10 miles. Ouch!

Once in town in Fresno, I met up with several friends for dinner. One of the gals had been Queen before, and she recommended, "Everyone will tell you to 'breath.' I want to remind you to 'exhale.' If you never breathe out, you'll have a tight chest and pain and you'll wonder why you're dizzy when you've been breathing just like everyone told you to." I kept hearing her remarks in my head all the rest of the weekend.

Then in the hotel, I got out my sewing machine (I know, I know!) and finished my outfit by about 2 am. My roomie for the hotel room was sweet enough to not care about me sewing til all hours, and I really liked the finished outfit (Byzantine, 5th-6th centuries, to match my fighter's preferences). The key to the finished look: The braids in my hair and the jewelry pinned into the braids. I got more compliments than I ever have for any outfit, and so I may give some consideration to making more outfits like this one.

On site, it was hot and muggy, but major portions of the park were covered in trees / shade, which actually was significantly cooler than the open sunny areas. After all the starting paperwork and ceremony and pageantry, the Knights line up on one side of the field and the non-Knights challenge them for the first round. A nice lad named Thorbjorn challenge my fighter, Sir Andrew Baird, and Baird won that fight. In the second round, he drew Sir Gareth in the lists, who gave him his first loss. No one on the side-lines even saw the blow that got through his guard, so people were impressed that Baird didn't shrug it off, but acknowledged the blow as "good" and took the loss. Less honorable fighters might have a tendency to slough off the less obvious shots, and just barrel through to win at any cost. There was no sign of that with Baird, and he took his first loss in round two.

Round three, he drew my friend Lorccán (Scott) for the fight. Lorccán has fought for me in two Crown lists in the past. So Baird joked as he headed to the field "it's the fight of the Consorts!" At first, Baird took Lorccán's legs, and when Lorccán went to fight from his knees, Baird gave up his advantage standing and met Lorccán on his knees too, to make the fight even. Yielding his advantage, the tradition is for the sideline observers to shout "Hail, Chivalry!" Everyone was impressed, shouted "hail, chivarly" and the fight continued. Baird went for a "low wrap" (a sword shot to the back) and only managed to take Lorccán's hip... which means Lorccán would sit completely back on his knees, and not rise up on his knees. To make the fight even again, Baird closed the gap six inches, to make certain he was still inside Lorccán's range. We were impressed that he would yield an advantage AGAIN. They fought some more, and eventually Lorccán got a shot in that Baird acknowledged killed him. Lorccán insisted, "Are you sure? No, please, let's re-fight that" ...several times, but Baird insisted the shot was good enough to kill him, and he took his second loss (in a double-elim tourney), which meant he was out of the running for Crown, and out of lists.

Baird came over to the side lines, held my hands, dropped to his knees, and bowed his head for not winning the tournament and advancing me to become the next Queen. My eyes were filled with tears, because I was so proud of his honor and chivalry on the field. I was just stunned and amazed at what an honorable fighter he is, and honored that he was my fighter, seeking to advance me to the throne. I've never been so incredibly proud of any fighter that's ever carried my honor on the field. This was a new pinnacle of pride in someone else's honor.

Off the field, we walked back together to the pavilion we were sharing for the day with his barony. Our opponents, Lorccán and his inspiration and consort, Svetlana, came over to meet with us. Svetlana presented Baird with a small jewelry brooch as a gift that he should give to me, for me inspiring him to that level of honor. And so he took the gift from Svetlana, he dropped to his knees again, and presented the brooch to me and pinned it on my outfit. I've never been so stunned and amazed, as having Baird carry my favor in this Lists.

Much later in the day, he asked me if I might allow him to fight for me in Crown some day again in the future. I assured him, "Allow you? Dearheart, I'm in this for the long haul. For as long as you'd like to fight for me, I'd be honored to have you carry my favor. And together, some day, we'll be King and Queen together."

I've never been so amazed and proud, as this Crown Lists.

The rest of the day included other fun elements. Baroness Elizabeth (who stayed in the hotel room with me), and my friends Elisheva and Diego all followed me around like attendents—holding my water, checking that I'd eaten something, holding a parasol for me, taking photos with my camera, or just keeping me company. It was really odd—I've never had attendents for anything before—and they just had so much fun being there to support me in some way, especially if we might have won, but also even when we were out of lists. In the afternoon, I was able to just wander around and visit friends, meet new people, relax, watch the other fights, all sorts of things to fill my day.

And then the lists came out unevenly, so that there weren't two finalists: There were three fighters who each had one loss already, each had fought "the bye" when there were uneven numbers of fighters in a round and so they fight against someone where the result doesn't count but just ensures they're as tired as anyone else in the lists for that round. So they created a round-robin list for the three-man finals, and one of my friends invited me to be part of the Procession for one of the three fighters. We processed in with Sir Patrick O'Malley and his lady the Honorable Kara the Twin of Kelton, and there were processions for Sir Valric and Lady Virginia Reed and for Sir Ragnar and Countess Anastasiia. Patrick won a fight against Ragnar and a fight against Valric, making him the victor of the day, and the new Prince. [Ragnar and Valric fought a sudden-death between themselves, to determine the King's Champion, and Valric won.]

After the event, Elisheva and Diego and I went to a wonderful local Indian restaurant, and then they got on the road to return to LA. I wandered over to the hotel where the King and Queen were staying, and hung out with friends around the pool. [I no longer own a suit, but I sat on the edge of the pool wearing a cute and kicky skirt, dangling my feet in the water.] Baird and his lovely wife Faizeh were there, members of their household, the King and Queen, their friends and family, other members of the court, other friends from the Kingdom, and we all just hung out and relaxed together. It was a great evening.

In the morning, Baird, Faizeh, Edric, and I all had breakfast together, and then we all checked out of the hotel and began the long drive home. I got home mid-afternoon and got to watch the first episode of the new season of Project Runway with my roomie. I had some dinner (leftovers from Indian the night before), went to Erika and Ben's to play poker with the guys, and slept on their couch because their place is closer to my work than my apartment.

All in all, a very nice weekend.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Baird, my fighter extraordinaire