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threadwalkerJune Crown Event Blog:
It was such a strange weekend and I wasn’t even involved in any of the more public, colorful issues.
I’m NOT involved in scribal stuff.
I’m NOT a Spartan.
I’m NOT fighting at West – AnTir War (so I don't need to have an opinion on who the Spartans, Western Pillars, are fighting for).
Yet I had my own nuclear moments, which mostly centered around set-up and tear down.
F’s job called Friday as we were passing through Vacaville to the event. We both burned vacation days so we could go up early and get set up during the daylight without drama or fuss. This is important because we’ve got the added complication of 2 small children. However, our vacations are always in this state of last-minute limbo due to his job. This has resulted in both canceled vacations and him being left behind while I vacation without him. F’s job relates to publishing technical documents and Foreign Contractor X called to say, “we need to change the thing that went out yesterday.” Therein ensues a technical dialogue that immediately switched from “speaker phone” to “headset” while my blood pressure goes up. Grrrr!
The result of that phone call was that we showed up, found our camp site, and he placed another phone call. 30 minutes later we emptied the SUV, disconnected the trailer and he was driving back to Foster City for Da Job. I set up our (monstrous) camp solo, although I had some help in getting the center poles up. F got back after 10 pm just in time for the fealty ceremonies we had in camp.
The other nuclear-stress moment was during tear down. We’d just started packing up and F twisted odd and threw out his back. Guess who got to tear down camp solo? I did have a bit of help at the end, but it was a lot of work. I think his warranty may be up.
So on the happy side was the help from the girls in getting the center poles for the pavilion up. What a huge relief that was. I set up the rest of the beast and interior myself. I don't actually mind doing that if I don't feel pressed for time. For a “yay”, I got to fiddle with the floor plan and maximize space. I admit that I like to be in charge and being in charge of the pavilion makes me happy. I also got to put down the new canvas floor I made Thursday night. (Okay, while sewing three strips of canvas together is not technically challenging it is physically challenging). I also got to put up the “court yard” (or annex) I built on Thursday night. It’s a roofless canvas “bump-out” room that anchors on the side of the pavilion. I worked without measurements and “guessed” it all out. Other than being a few inches too short, which can be fixed with longer loops at the top, it worked great. It doesn’t have a roof, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise since it allowed quite a lot of ventilation when the pavilion entry way was closed. I used it to stash a bunch of stuff out of site and out from under foot. And all the pole hooks we got from Alail helped get loads of stuff off the floor. Now, if only I could teach F to stop leaving his boots where I trip over them in the dark ….heh, heh, heh. But the interior of the pavilion was very comfy.
Friday night I got to witness one of my best friends take an apprentice. It was loverly. I got to watch my former apprentice take her first apprentice. It was utterly surreal and I got all teary eyed. THAT apprentice calls me "grandma", which is still confusing me because that's always been Siranna to me. D’Salie and I presented the patronage baskets. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t even think to make a sly remark about the last patronage “basket” that was presented in October. The recipients were thrilled and overwhelmed. Moth Squire’s item from us is still at my house: box of cast iron cookware from Costco. But I had an apron for him with a Shakespeare quote on it.
Saturday was spent lolling around the place and watching the kids put to good use a wagon and the shady hill we were backed up against. They played for hours with only a few minor boo-boos. They even managed to run down one of their posse only once, which is pretty impressive for a pack of non-self-aware five year olds and toddlers. At various times one of the adults in our camp would drag the wagon up the hill and pull it down with the kids shrieking with pleasure.
I did my turn at pulling the wagon up and down the hill about a dozen times. I was stoked that my foot was good with it. I quit, though, when the kids started chanting “Fas-ter, Fas-ter”. Hah! I’ll go sit in the shade and you little twerps can pull your own wagon!
Then F brought out the swords and it was kids against my hubby for over an hour. F leaped about swinging and defending and the kids couldn’t get enough. Now there’s some exercise! The cameras came out in force and we couldn’t stop cracking up.
When F and our kids took their nap I cruised over to WKNG and dropped off a piece for evaluation. The feedback was so awesome, you could have knocked me down with a feather. Two of the evaluators know that I’m sincerely looking for constructive criticism so they came to me later to pull my leg about how anal retentive I am. So in a Irish-Catholic-Humility moment, I decided I only got good feedback because the technique was relatively easy. It was Opus Teutonicum and as long as you keep your count on target and don’t over-twist threads and don’t mess up your tension and don’t do floats on the back, etc, it will come out all right. But it sure feels good to do something well even if it was relatively easy.
F fought for roses when that part came up. I enjoyed that he went out and fought. He had a reality check about how out of practice he is. Much introspection on his part is resulting. We shall see … But at least I got a rose
Dinner was awesome. It was a very tasty potluck and the company was excellent. Each member of the household invited the peer(s) they were/are in fealty to as well as any fealty student(s) they had. Although not everyone could make it, there were easily 30 or more people for dinner. We told stories about each other, made toasts and generally had a very good time. Between dinner and dessert is when the mantles were presented. My only regret is that we didn’t get any pictures.
I did want to make the point that some of the embroidery was done by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fighter_chick, Ice Skater Lady and the R-Shrew, and in the process commented that "we" were not done yet because much barter was involved. Ms. Em. tried to pull a fast one and got the “what about me” line half way out when I stuck out my hand and asked for the mantle back. That stopped her in her tracks. The only person who I might have some sense of obligation to is the Red Shrew because she did a piece and didn’t get a mantle and didn’t barter. I may talk to her later when I’m not burned out.
After the kids went to bed I saw the Bella Luna play. It was hysterical. We need to camp near them more - it means I get to see the plays. And then some of the camp gang went and visited the Pirates, who were making their first appearance at an event in over 4 years. F crashed out with a request to rouse him later. So I cruised around visiting friends and periodically checking in on F. He did get up eventually and we joined Bella Luna’s fire pit making shmoores. I think we turned in around 2am after watching Sarcastic Spouse and D share a bottle of whiskey. IceSkater Lady was threatening my nose and I was just enough awake to realize how asleep I was, so I turned in.
6am came bright and early, which I would know since it turns out I was up at 5:30 am. There was some disagreement about what time we were getting up to do No-Good ™, but that was inadvertently fixed by me. I was afraid they’d all sleep in, so taking the initiative I crept into everyone’s pavilion and woke up the members of the conspiracy. Thus, “Doing Evil means getting Wet Feet” and if you don’t know what I’m referring to, then you don’t need to know anymore. All’s well that ends with smiles. Although Hawk Girl plainly said that she was offended at being left out and I got the full frontal of her angst. Next time she’ll be the first one I wake up.
After our feet were soaked and we were done doing No-Good™, everyone else retreated to their beds and or tents. I took the opportunity to greet the rest of the morning with some solitude, a good book and left over meat-pastry things for breakfast. Well, until Rat joined me around 7:30 am and then I had to share my breakfast stash and listen to his take on the scribe stuff (feh! I have activated my “no politics zone”. If I don’t think it’s funny, I don’t want to hear about it).
I went to council and found out that Thorfinn is king. I keep forgetting because I have no personal connection with the royalty. I have no idea the name of the Queen or what she’s about, although a few people made some unflattering comparisons to a previous Q of W who was also a heavy fighter. Frankly, the Royals couldn’t make the effort to RSVP for Collegium, a Kingdom event, so I’m not going to bother to remember their names. If they need me for something, they know how to reach me.
I have decided I don’t feel any guilt for dozing off during Pelican council. I was woken up by Jania. I thought it might have been my snoring that gave me away (Gerstan was inclined to let me sleep), but turns out she thought I might be unwell since I was tipped over in such an awkward position. I told her I was in an awkward position because my chair didn’t recline and I didn’t have a headrest. Since I couldn’t possibly participate in council in a meaningful way, I left the meeting and returned to camp to start to break down my personal stuff. There was a brief flash of guilt, but I got over it. Turns out it was a good call since I was going to have to break down most of camp alone anyway.
We got home and to find that a big branch on the mulberry split and it was eating almost all of the front yard. So we cleaned up that, gave the kids a bath, unpacked and surveyed the wreckage my home has become because the Big Scheme ate my life from the comfort of the sofa.
The tourney? Err… Jade won. Who was in finals? No clue. Who did he fight for? The blonde woman from the South Bay that he won for last time. She’s not offensive, so I hope she has a good time (and RSVP’s for Collegium). I haven’t paid much attention to the tourney for years. We don’t camp on the Eric and I prefer to avoid Eric politics, which seems to have boosted the fun-factor in my event experience.
Overall: very fun event. We need more fun stuff like that.
Upcoming: nothing. I’ve spent the last year and a half of my life spending my down time (and creating down time) doing embroidery for others, making costumes for LeChef, making costumes for Queen K, and autocratting large-ish events. I also taught at least one day-long workshop that I can recall. So I’m going to spend the summer keeping up with Collegium, but other than that it’s me-time.
Okay, I have to confess that I've already offered to help with another event, but it’s probably not until 2007 and I may have managed to work out an exchange of autocratting service – if they help with Spring 2006 Collegium Feast, I’ll be happier about helping them with spring 2007 event. Besides, I definitely won’t have to do anything about it this summer, so it won't cut into my "me-time".
It was such a strange weekend and I wasn’t even involved in any of the more public, colorful issues.
I’m NOT involved in scribal stuff.
I’m NOT a Spartan.
I’m NOT fighting at West – AnTir War (so I don't need to have an opinion on who the Spartans, Western Pillars, are fighting for).
Yet I had my own nuclear moments, which mostly centered around set-up and tear down.
F’s job called Friday as we were passing through Vacaville to the event. We both burned vacation days so we could go up early and get set up during the daylight without drama or fuss. This is important because we’ve got the added complication of 2 small children. However, our vacations are always in this state of last-minute limbo due to his job. This has resulted in both canceled vacations and him being left behind while I vacation without him. F’s job relates to publishing technical documents and Foreign Contractor X called to say, “we need to change the thing that went out yesterday.” Therein ensues a technical dialogue that immediately switched from “speaker phone” to “headset” while my blood pressure goes up. Grrrr!
The result of that phone call was that we showed up, found our camp site, and he placed another phone call. 30 minutes later we emptied the SUV, disconnected the trailer and he was driving back to Foster City for Da Job. I set up our (monstrous) camp solo, although I had some help in getting the center poles up. F got back after 10 pm just in time for the fealty ceremonies we had in camp.
The other nuclear-stress moment was during tear down. We’d just started packing up and F twisted odd and threw out his back. Guess who got to tear down camp solo? I did have a bit of help at the end, but it was a lot of work. I think his warranty may be up.
So on the happy side was the help from the girls in getting the center poles for the pavilion up. What a huge relief that was. I set up the rest of the beast and interior myself. I don't actually mind doing that if I don't feel pressed for time. For a “yay”, I got to fiddle with the floor plan and maximize space. I admit that I like to be in charge and being in charge of the pavilion makes me happy. I also got to put down the new canvas floor I made Thursday night. (Okay, while sewing three strips of canvas together is not technically challenging it is physically challenging). I also got to put up the “court yard” (or annex) I built on Thursday night. It’s a roofless canvas “bump-out” room that anchors on the side of the pavilion. I worked without measurements and “guessed” it all out. Other than being a few inches too short, which can be fixed with longer loops at the top, it worked great. It doesn’t have a roof, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise since it allowed quite a lot of ventilation when the pavilion entry way was closed. I used it to stash a bunch of stuff out of site and out from under foot. And all the pole hooks we got from Alail helped get loads of stuff off the floor. Now, if only I could teach F to stop leaving his boots where I trip over them in the dark ….heh, heh, heh. But the interior of the pavilion was very comfy.
Friday night I got to witness one of my best friends take an apprentice. It was loverly. I got to watch my former apprentice take her first apprentice. It was utterly surreal and I got all teary eyed. THAT apprentice calls me "grandma", which is still confusing me because that's always been Siranna to me. D’Salie and I presented the patronage baskets. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t even think to make a sly remark about the last patronage “basket” that was presented in October. The recipients were thrilled and overwhelmed. Moth Squire’s item from us is still at my house: box of cast iron cookware from Costco. But I had an apron for him with a Shakespeare quote on it.
Saturday was spent lolling around the place and watching the kids put to good use a wagon and the shady hill we were backed up against. They played for hours with only a few minor boo-boos. They even managed to run down one of their posse only once, which is pretty impressive for a pack of non-self-aware five year olds and toddlers. At various times one of the adults in our camp would drag the wagon up the hill and pull it down with the kids shrieking with pleasure.
I did my turn at pulling the wagon up and down the hill about a dozen times. I was stoked that my foot was good with it. I quit, though, when the kids started chanting “Fas-ter, Fas-ter”. Hah! I’ll go sit in the shade and you little twerps can pull your own wagon!
Then F brought out the swords and it was kids against my hubby for over an hour. F leaped about swinging and defending and the kids couldn’t get enough. Now there’s some exercise! The cameras came out in force and we couldn’t stop cracking up.
When F and our kids took their nap I cruised over to WKNG and dropped off a piece for evaluation. The feedback was so awesome, you could have knocked me down with a feather. Two of the evaluators know that I’m sincerely looking for constructive criticism so they came to me later to pull my leg about how anal retentive I am. So in a Irish-Catholic-Humility moment, I decided I only got good feedback because the technique was relatively easy. It was Opus Teutonicum and as long as you keep your count on target and don’t over-twist threads and don’t mess up your tension and don’t do floats on the back, etc, it will come out all right. But it sure feels good to do something well even if it was relatively easy.
F fought for roses when that part came up. I enjoyed that he went out and fought. He had a reality check about how out of practice he is. Much introspection on his part is resulting. We shall see … But at least I got a rose
Dinner was awesome. It was a very tasty potluck and the company was excellent. Each member of the household invited the peer(s) they were/are in fealty to as well as any fealty student(s) they had. Although not everyone could make it, there were easily 30 or more people for dinner. We told stories about each other, made toasts and generally had a very good time. Between dinner and dessert is when the mantles were presented. My only regret is that we didn’t get any pictures.
I did want to make the point that some of the embroidery was done by
fighter_chick, Ice Skater Lady and the R-Shrew, and in the process commented that "we" were not done yet because much barter was involved. Ms. Em. tried to pull a fast one and got the “what about me” line half way out when I stuck out my hand and asked for the mantle back. That stopped her in her tracks. The only person who I might have some sense of obligation to is the Red Shrew because she did a piece and didn’t get a mantle and didn’t barter. I may talk to her later when I’m not burned out. After the kids went to bed I saw the Bella Luna play. It was hysterical. We need to camp near them more - it means I get to see the plays. And then some of the camp gang went and visited the Pirates, who were making their first appearance at an event in over 4 years. F crashed out with a request to rouse him later. So I cruised around visiting friends and periodically checking in on F. He did get up eventually and we joined Bella Luna’s fire pit making shmoores. I think we turned in around 2am after watching Sarcastic Spouse and D share a bottle of whiskey. IceSkater Lady was threatening my nose and I was just enough awake to realize how asleep I was, so I turned in.
6am came bright and early, which I would know since it turns out I was up at 5:30 am. There was some disagreement about what time we were getting up to do No-Good ™, but that was inadvertently fixed by me. I was afraid they’d all sleep in, so taking the initiative I crept into everyone’s pavilion and woke up the members of the conspiracy. Thus, “Doing Evil means getting Wet Feet” and if you don’t know what I’m referring to, then you don’t need to know anymore. All’s well that ends with smiles. Although Hawk Girl plainly said that she was offended at being left out and I got the full frontal of her angst. Next time she’ll be the first one I wake up.
After our feet were soaked and we were done doing No-Good™, everyone else retreated to their beds and or tents. I took the opportunity to greet the rest of the morning with some solitude, a good book and left over meat-pastry things for breakfast. Well, until Rat joined me around 7:30 am and then I had to share my breakfast stash and listen to his take on the scribe stuff (feh! I have activated my “no politics zone”. If I don’t think it’s funny, I don’t want to hear about it).
I went to council and found out that Thorfinn is king. I keep forgetting because I have no personal connection with the royalty. I have no idea the name of the Queen or what she’s about, although a few people made some unflattering comparisons to a previous Q of W who was also a heavy fighter. Frankly, the Royals couldn’t make the effort to RSVP for Collegium, a Kingdom event, so I’m not going to bother to remember their names. If they need me for something, they know how to reach me.
I have decided I don’t feel any guilt for dozing off during Pelican council. I was woken up by Jania. I thought it might have been my snoring that gave me away (Gerstan was inclined to let me sleep), but turns out she thought I might be unwell since I was tipped over in such an awkward position. I told her I was in an awkward position because my chair didn’t recline and I didn’t have a headrest. Since I couldn’t possibly participate in council in a meaningful way, I left the meeting and returned to camp to start to break down my personal stuff. There was a brief flash of guilt, but I got over it. Turns out it was a good call since I was going to have to break down most of camp alone anyway.
We got home and to find that a big branch on the mulberry split and it was eating almost all of the front yard. So we cleaned up that, gave the kids a bath, unpacked and surveyed the wreckage my home has become because the Big Scheme ate my life from the comfort of the sofa.
The tourney? Err… Jade won. Who was in finals? No clue. Who did he fight for? The blonde woman from the South Bay that he won for last time. She’s not offensive, so I hope she has a good time (and RSVP’s for Collegium). I haven’t paid much attention to the tourney for years. We don’t camp on the Eric and I prefer to avoid Eric politics, which seems to have boosted the fun-factor in my event experience.
Overall: very fun event. We need more fun stuff like that.
Upcoming: nothing. I’ve spent the last year and a half of my life spending my down time (and creating down time) doing embroidery for others, making costumes for LeChef, making costumes for Queen K, and autocratting large-ish events. I also taught at least one day-long workshop that I can recall. So I’m going to spend the summer keeping up with Collegium, but other than that it’s me-time.
Okay, I have to confess that I've already offered to help with another event, but it’s probably not until 2007 and I may have managed to work out an exchange of autocratting service – if they help with Spring 2006 Collegium Feast, I’ll be happier about helping them with spring 2007 event. Besides, I definitely won’t have to do anything about it this summer, so it won't cut into my "me-time".
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Re: Irish Catholic Worker Bee
Date: 2005-06-30 08:21 pm (UTC)I most certainly do not know what you're talking about. *snif*
I'll call your cell on my way home so we can firm up tonight's plans, unless you want to toss emails back and forth. :)