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threadwalkerLast weekend was splendid.
First - I got my sewing done. I gave up on the hat after I realized that it was going to take me all night to figure out what the heck I was doing. As it worked out, I wouldn't have worn it anyway because it was too freaking hot to wear anything beside my straw hat to shade my face. I'll post a sewing review later when I get some pictures of myself in the outfit to analyze.
Vincenzo makes his appearance:
In my new persona I was Vincenzo de Firenze. My name started as something else, but I became Vincenzo by Friday night. Some folks tried to call me "Bob" per the Bon-bons and their take on that particular Black Adder series. However, I was in Italian clothing from the 15th century, not English clothing from the 16th Century, so Vincenzo is far more appropriate than "Bob". Besides, I like how "Vincenzo" rolls off the tongue. You can say "Bob" as easily as spitting, whereas Vincenzo requires a bit more effort.
Thus as Vincenzo it was my goal to appear as well tailored as Geoffrey Matthias and Wulfric and Ivar (et al), be as self-sufficient as Norham, and to only do things I felt like doing. In this case "self-sufficient" meant "Norham-esque" and carry on my person all the things I might need while wandering around the event. I've often been impressed with how Steven of Norham manages this, so I set him for my example. And by only doing what I felt like doing, I mean with the exception of camp responsibilities and pancake fundraising stuff. Everything outside of that would depend entirely on my mood.
Thus my clothing ensemble complete, I left camp wearing my straw hat, my smallish satchel over one shoulder, my filled Bellermine Jug worn bandoliere style, and utensils suspended from my belt. I carried a chair and my cup. My satchel had class stuff, a bowl for wayward snacks that might fall in my radar, and my watch so I could be on time. When I wasn't using it, I had my cup in there, too. As soon as I can find the time and energy, I'm going to make a little collapsing three-legged stool that I can sling over my shoulder and then my hands will be free. I also need to replace the flimsy ribbon on the jug with a leather strap. However, I was pretty pleased that I could leave camp and be able to wander the event without returning for food, beverage or to drop stuff off.
When I did return to, I found Norham's wife at our place. She'd heard I was trying to be as "Norham-esque" as possible and thought it was hysterical. Apparently I have a lot to learn because I don't know how to do the "10-cookie pick-up" and I'm not generally inclined to mouch food. However, she could not contain herself when I stretched out in our shade to nap and unknowingly took up Norham's lounging position including my hat and hand placements. She yelped, "You really are Steve!" and raced over to explain this to me. It was the best compliment I got all weekend. Besides, how cool is it when just by relaxing you can find something to laugh about?
In my role as Vincenzo I seem to have increased our dinner party from 11 to 17. I can't help myself when I find out someone is going to be alone. IdB was going to be alone and she's a good friend, so after checking with Flavia, we invited her. And I quote Flavia, "The more, the merrier." That quote was probably what undid me later on when I heard that IdB's camping partner's dinner plans fell through and she had no one to eat with because IdB was with us. Of course we had to host her. Then there were the two sisters camped 10 feet from us. Their third sister was camped with us and to me it just feels weird to have a merry party right next to them and to know them and to not invite them. And then I discovered that the Crown Princess was alone, which also struck me as 'wrong', so I invited her to bring her dinner and join us. And there was the young fellow who helped pitch all the pavilions just because it was fun - sheesh, not feeding him would have been criminal. There was going to be one more guest, but I couldn't find our wayward Teufelberger to invite her. The lady was camped alone and local to us and it seems just wrong that anyone should have to eat alone unless they prefer it. Anyway, I couldn't find her, so we were 17 for dinner. Good thing it was potluck. Everyone but our young pup brought something to share, so there was plenty of food and a jolly company. Well - there was a ton of women, so it was a major chat-fest.
Camping:
I got there first and had the daunting task of choosing our fate for the weekend - where shall we camp? This usually makes me nervous because I've been zinged in the past by camp mates. However, I decided that I would camp for my comfort, so I grabbed some shade. Because I was the first from my camp there, the Griffin Comic and his lovely lady to help me raise my center pole. (My! he's strong.) I pitched the rest of the pavilion myself using some pavilion upgrades I implemented at crown. (Yay!). In the spirit of helping I helped IdB pitch her tent (well, first I helped drag her camp closer to our camp since she was having dinner with us). Then the Saucy Embroideress showed up and I helped her pitch her Bell Wedge 3x. After the second go at it, my right arm was toast and I could barely straighten it for the rest of the weekend. However, the bell fell (not sure why) and it took a third try later on. It stayed up on the third try and we had a cute young pup and Countess Embroidery help us out. Whew! (Countess E sure is strong for her small size).
The encampment was pretty fun. It was entirely an estrogen zone, which means all these women talking and bustling about. Hawkgirl's husband showed up for Saturday and William day tripped both days with his wife. But at 12 women vs 2 men, it was definitely a chick zone.
Friday night:
Being that it was entirely an encampment of women, the chit-chatting started Friday night. 5 of us were sleeping in the marquee and several of us stayed up talking and catching up. Plus, friends outside of the encampment slowly filtered in to hang for a while before moving on. It had a slumber-party feel to it and it was very cozy.
Pancakes:
The pancake effort went how I expected. A lot of work on our end and moderate fundraising resulting. I think its best point was that it enhanced the event for those who came (lots of thanks and appreciation from the pancake eaters) and I saw how people were hanging out and drawn together while waiting. So it was more of a public service than any sort of money maker. And heck, maybe for the first time in a long time there's been some organizational cross-over with A&S Tourney and Collegium. Better partnering for better events - it can only be a good thing.
Although we were up by 6:30 and busting our buns, we were still not ready quite on time. Plus, there was a snafu in the kitchen that slowed down the pancake effort. I keep snickering about this, even now. Caterina heard Flavia say "if you see a job that needs doing, then do it", so she took it upon herself to use someone else's equipment to start a batch of pancakes right at the start. That was a failure because it was a steel griddle and you need to oil it first, which she did not do. This was discovered when she said, "Uh-oh, these are sticking." Have you ever seen a pack of predators all turn their heads to stare at the same unwary gazelle? Well, all the cooks' heads popped up and swivelled about to look at her. I'm pretty sure she didn't notice. As soon as Flavia stepped in all the other cooks got back to their own business. For her part, I was really impressed with how restrained Flavia was because things were timed so that we were supposed to be pulling pancakes out and serving them from that griddle at that point. Instead, the batch got dumped, the griddle got washed by Caterina(who then caused it to loose its seasoning), the griddle had to be heated up again and Caterina was kicked out of the kitchen. Caterina kind of wimpered at me about how mad all the cooks got at her and quoted back to me "see a job and do it". I was not the right person to go to because I told her she had no business using someone else's equipment without direction or supervision. I also told her that the kitchen was not her natural habitat and asked her what she was doing in it to start with. Well, maybe I was the right person to go to and now she'll never do that again without first asking the head cook. Ah, well, it all worked out and the drama was quickly water under the bridge.
Classes:
I totally scored. I took awesome classes that have me completely inspired. My instructors were excellent, well prepared and gave good handouts. I took St. Cuthberts embroideries, brocaded tablet weaving, fiama d'amore (my first ever non-middle eastern dance class), Elizabethan Fruits and Flowers, and 16th century foundational hats. My foot was wrecked by dancing into a hole during fiamma d'Amore, but it was sooooo fun. I keep going through it in my thoughts. I wish I had the music to practice to.
Dinner:
The potluck was awesome. The food was good, the company was great and I got to talk to all sorts of people. Caterina and I prepared our contribution the week before, so we didn't have to do any cooking at the event. (I was supervising in my kitchen, so no food needed to be dumped. heh, heh, heh). Hurrah!!! Let's hear it for not slaving over a stove and having a ton of dishes to do. I think everyone brought a bottle of alcohol. There was a lot of wine, some tequila and margarita mix, I brought limoncella, and Domenica and Antonia (evil geniuses) picked up sgroppino mixings so we could toast Villa Luna. "Prima Alba". There was no Drunkery. There was however, about 25 women yammering at the same time who were competing against each-others yammer volume. We were asked to keep it down, which makes me wonder what would be louder: a drum circle or a bunch of women in various conversations competing over each others noise?
The Play:
BL did a hysterical play and most of our camp checked out of dinner to go enjoy it. It's only their third play I've caught, but I've enjoyed them all. I don't know when they are performing again, but I hope we can work the circumstances to catch it. We invited them back to our camp afterwards and socialized quite a bit. I intend to do some field homework on dramatic arts down the road (time will open up after I step down from collegium) and BL has said I'm welcome to lurk, watch and (gasp) help out. I'm particularly curious about the stage lighting and that sort of stuff. But that will have to happen later because right now I have all that I can handle.
New Friends, Old Friends:
I met all sorts of very nice people in my classes, which is one of the best things about the SCA. I got to get to know some people better who camped with us and that was splendid. I met the Crown Princess for the first time and she seems very nice. It's her intention to support Collegium and the arts in general, which is a relief from Royals who forget that there's more to the SCA than combat. One of my students entered a Science competition, which is a huge thing because you place yourself under the scrutiny of others. And I didn't even put her up to it! She happens to have also won her first competition with that entry, so I'm very proud. I saw that she got excellent feedback on her documentation, which rocks. I got to spend quality time with my posse in a relaxing atmosphere.
Pack down was quick and the family missed me greatly. The littlest launched herself at me and clung tome last night and this morning as I tried to go to work. Although the house was wrecked when I got home, the kids were squeaky clean from their baths. It was good to be home after a good weekend.
First - I got my sewing done. I gave up on the hat after I realized that it was going to take me all night to figure out what the heck I was doing. As it worked out, I wouldn't have worn it anyway because it was too freaking hot to wear anything beside my straw hat to shade my face. I'll post a sewing review later when I get some pictures of myself in the outfit to analyze.
Vincenzo makes his appearance:
In my new persona I was Vincenzo de Firenze. My name started as something else, but I became Vincenzo by Friday night. Some folks tried to call me "Bob" per the Bon-bons and their take on that particular Black Adder series. However, I was in Italian clothing from the 15th century, not English clothing from the 16th Century, so Vincenzo is far more appropriate than "Bob". Besides, I like how "Vincenzo" rolls off the tongue. You can say "Bob" as easily as spitting, whereas Vincenzo requires a bit more effort.
Thus as Vincenzo it was my goal to appear as well tailored as Geoffrey Matthias and Wulfric and Ivar (et al), be as self-sufficient as Norham, and to only do things I felt like doing. In this case "self-sufficient" meant "Norham-esque" and carry on my person all the things I might need while wandering around the event. I've often been impressed with how Steven of Norham manages this, so I set him for my example. And by only doing what I felt like doing, I mean with the exception of camp responsibilities and pancake fundraising stuff. Everything outside of that would depend entirely on my mood.
Thus my clothing ensemble complete, I left camp wearing my straw hat, my smallish satchel over one shoulder, my filled Bellermine Jug worn bandoliere style, and utensils suspended from my belt. I carried a chair and my cup. My satchel had class stuff, a bowl for wayward snacks that might fall in my radar, and my watch so I could be on time. When I wasn't using it, I had my cup in there, too. As soon as I can find the time and energy, I'm going to make a little collapsing three-legged stool that I can sling over my shoulder and then my hands will be free. I also need to replace the flimsy ribbon on the jug with a leather strap. However, I was pretty pleased that I could leave camp and be able to wander the event without returning for food, beverage or to drop stuff off.
When I did return to, I found Norham's wife at our place. She'd heard I was trying to be as "Norham-esque" as possible and thought it was hysterical. Apparently I have a lot to learn because I don't know how to do the "10-cookie pick-up" and I'm not generally inclined to mouch food. However, she could not contain herself when I stretched out in our shade to nap and unknowingly took up Norham's lounging position including my hat and hand placements. She yelped, "You really are Steve!" and raced over to explain this to me. It was the best compliment I got all weekend. Besides, how cool is it when just by relaxing you can find something to laugh about?
In my role as Vincenzo I seem to have increased our dinner party from 11 to 17. I can't help myself when I find out someone is going to be alone. IdB was going to be alone and she's a good friend, so after checking with Flavia, we invited her. And I quote Flavia, "The more, the merrier." That quote was probably what undid me later on when I heard that IdB's camping partner's dinner plans fell through and she had no one to eat with because IdB was with us. Of course we had to host her. Then there were the two sisters camped 10 feet from us. Their third sister was camped with us and to me it just feels weird to have a merry party right next to them and to know them and to not invite them. And then I discovered that the Crown Princess was alone, which also struck me as 'wrong', so I invited her to bring her dinner and join us. And there was the young fellow who helped pitch all the pavilions just because it was fun - sheesh, not feeding him would have been criminal. There was going to be one more guest, but I couldn't find our wayward Teufelberger to invite her. The lady was camped alone and local to us and it seems just wrong that anyone should have to eat alone unless they prefer it. Anyway, I couldn't find her, so we were 17 for dinner. Good thing it was potluck. Everyone but our young pup brought something to share, so there was plenty of food and a jolly company. Well - there was a ton of women, so it was a major chat-fest.
Camping:
I got there first and had the daunting task of choosing our fate for the weekend - where shall we camp? This usually makes me nervous because I've been zinged in the past by camp mates. However, I decided that I would camp for my comfort, so I grabbed some shade. Because I was the first from my camp there, the Griffin Comic and his lovely lady to help me raise my center pole. (My! he's strong.) I pitched the rest of the pavilion myself using some pavilion upgrades I implemented at crown. (Yay!). In the spirit of helping I helped IdB pitch her tent (well, first I helped drag her camp closer to our camp since she was having dinner with us). Then the Saucy Embroideress showed up and I helped her pitch her Bell Wedge 3x. After the second go at it, my right arm was toast and I could barely straighten it for the rest of the weekend. However, the bell fell (not sure why) and it took a third try later on. It stayed up on the third try and we had a cute young pup and Countess Embroidery help us out. Whew! (Countess E sure is strong for her small size).
The encampment was pretty fun. It was entirely an estrogen zone, which means all these women talking and bustling about. Hawkgirl's husband showed up for Saturday and William day tripped both days with his wife. But at 12 women vs 2 men, it was definitely a chick zone.
Friday night:
Being that it was entirely an encampment of women, the chit-chatting started Friday night. 5 of us were sleeping in the marquee and several of us stayed up talking and catching up. Plus, friends outside of the encampment slowly filtered in to hang for a while before moving on. It had a slumber-party feel to it and it was very cozy.
Pancakes:
The pancake effort went how I expected. A lot of work on our end and moderate fundraising resulting. I think its best point was that it enhanced the event for those who came (lots of thanks and appreciation from the pancake eaters) and I saw how people were hanging out and drawn together while waiting. So it was more of a public service than any sort of money maker. And heck, maybe for the first time in a long time there's been some organizational cross-over with A&S Tourney and Collegium. Better partnering for better events - it can only be a good thing.
Although we were up by 6:30 and busting our buns, we were still not ready quite on time. Plus, there was a snafu in the kitchen that slowed down the pancake effort. I keep snickering about this, even now. Caterina heard Flavia say "if you see a job that needs doing, then do it", so she took it upon herself to use someone else's equipment to start a batch of pancakes right at the start. That was a failure because it was a steel griddle and you need to oil it first, which she did not do. This was discovered when she said, "Uh-oh, these are sticking." Have you ever seen a pack of predators all turn their heads to stare at the same unwary gazelle? Well, all the cooks' heads popped up and swivelled about to look at her. I'm pretty sure she didn't notice. As soon as Flavia stepped in all the other cooks got back to their own business. For her part, I was really impressed with how restrained Flavia was because things were timed so that we were supposed to be pulling pancakes out and serving them from that griddle at that point. Instead, the batch got dumped, the griddle got washed by Caterina(who then caused it to loose its seasoning), the griddle had to be heated up again and Caterina was kicked out of the kitchen. Caterina kind of wimpered at me about how mad all the cooks got at her and quoted back to me "see a job and do it". I was not the right person to go to because I told her she had no business using someone else's equipment without direction or supervision. I also told her that the kitchen was not her natural habitat and asked her what she was doing in it to start with. Well, maybe I was the right person to go to and now she'll never do that again without first asking the head cook. Ah, well, it all worked out and the drama was quickly water under the bridge.
Classes:
I totally scored. I took awesome classes that have me completely inspired. My instructors were excellent, well prepared and gave good handouts. I took St. Cuthberts embroideries, brocaded tablet weaving, fiama d'amore (my first ever non-middle eastern dance class), Elizabethan Fruits and Flowers, and 16th century foundational hats. My foot was wrecked by dancing into a hole during fiamma d'Amore, but it was sooooo fun. I keep going through it in my thoughts. I wish I had the music to practice to.
Dinner:
The potluck was awesome. The food was good, the company was great and I got to talk to all sorts of people. Caterina and I prepared our contribution the week before, so we didn't have to do any cooking at the event. (I was supervising in my kitchen, so no food needed to be dumped. heh, heh, heh). Hurrah!!! Let's hear it for not slaving over a stove and having a ton of dishes to do. I think everyone brought a bottle of alcohol. There was a lot of wine, some tequila and margarita mix, I brought limoncella, and Domenica and Antonia (evil geniuses) picked up sgroppino mixings so we could toast Villa Luna. "Prima Alba". There was no Drunkery. There was however, about 25 women yammering at the same time who were competing against each-others yammer volume. We were asked to keep it down, which makes me wonder what would be louder: a drum circle or a bunch of women in various conversations competing over each others noise?
The Play:
BL did a hysterical play and most of our camp checked out of dinner to go enjoy it. It's only their third play I've caught, but I've enjoyed them all. I don't know when they are performing again, but I hope we can work the circumstances to catch it. We invited them back to our camp afterwards and socialized quite a bit. I intend to do some field homework on dramatic arts down the road (time will open up after I step down from collegium) and BL has said I'm welcome to lurk, watch and (gasp) help out. I'm particularly curious about the stage lighting and that sort of stuff. But that will have to happen later because right now I have all that I can handle.
New Friends, Old Friends:
I met all sorts of very nice people in my classes, which is one of the best things about the SCA. I got to get to know some people better who camped with us and that was splendid. I met the Crown Princess for the first time and she seems very nice. It's her intention to support Collegium and the arts in general, which is a relief from Royals who forget that there's more to the SCA than combat. One of my students entered a Science competition, which is a huge thing because you place yourself under the scrutiny of others. And I didn't even put her up to it! She happens to have also won her first competition with that entry, so I'm very proud. I saw that she got excellent feedback on her documentation, which rocks. I got to spend quality time with my posse in a relaxing atmosphere.
Pack down was quick and the family missed me greatly. The littlest launched herself at me and clung tome last night and this morning as I tried to go to work. Although the house was wrecked when I got home, the kids were squeaky clean from their baths. It was good to be home after a good weekend.
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Caterina and Cooking
Date: 2005-07-26 01:47 am (UTC)Heh. Flavia gives me one task only because she knows I know my way around a kitchen. I do my one task and take on 5 or 10 others. Or, as she put it, I take over the things she starts and walks away from to do something else, and then back off when (if) she comes back to whatever it was she started.
Heh.
*thoink*
Date: 2005-07-26 05:57 am (UTC)Also...not my first-ever competition win. I've won a Silver Spoon recently, and a Principality Arts many moons ago (for the garnet-studded needlework on its original dress). I also have a Pied d'Argent.
But this is the first Kindgom A&S competition win for me, yes. ;-)