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eveglassThe event yesterday was a lot of fun. And for an event where I walked in with nothing official to do, I wound up actually doing quite a lot. Moreover, I got to see a bunch of friends I've sorely missed, both local and from out-of-town.
I showed up on-site around 10:30, only slightly after site opened. I got to say hello to a bunch of friends, including Mistress Fiana of Clare, who was hiding in the kitchen for reasons which will become apparent in a moment.
Morning court got started almost on time. Pellandres and Valeria made some touching last-court thanks, and then they stepped off the dias as simple court baron and baroness, no longer "Baron and Baroness IDD." Angus and Tadea were invested (looking quite lovely, I might say), and then Cairn was called up on vigil for the Pelican. I had absolutely no idea Cairn was being called up. Fiana came out of the kitchen to an absolutely astonished Cairn (the look on his face was priceless), and she and Conrad swept him off to the vigil tent beside the stage.
It was around lunchtime by this point, so I had some tasty dayboard. The meal was pretty good, but the desserts shone. There was some awesome date bread that I must learn how to make, and a shortbread-and-whipped-cream combo that I kept munching on all afternoon. (Bad Pocket Bard! You're never gonna lose weight this way!)
When Fiana and finished setting up the vigil and got some lunch in her, we retired to a quiet room to practice our respective Beowulf segments. We even had an audience! Master Allyn and his son Didius listened to us stumble through our recitations and provided useful feedback. I finally remembered where I knew Didius from -- I babysat him and his sister at my very first Pennsic in 2003, when he was about three years old. Talk about time flying!
The afternoon was mostly spent chatting with friends. Ernst and Alethea were there and gave me lots of hugs, which are always appreciated. I checked out the Queen's tea, which was very nice. Jean de Montaigne, the queen's bard, was there providing background music on his guitar, along with a lady harpist from Caldrithing (I believe her name was Isabeau, but don't quote me on that).
As court was being set up, I was just telling Varju and Marion (my house sisters) that I was doing absolutely nothing official all day when Alethea came up to ask if anyone wanted to be her back-herald during court. Apparently there were some honkin' huge scrolls that she couldn't wrangle all by herself. So I volunteered. So much for nothing official.
I went downstairs to the royal room to get the scrolls in order, and she wasn't kidding! One of those scrolls was honkin' huge! I also, sadly, missed Angus and Tadea's first court while I was in the middle of all this. Sorry, guys! I'm sure it was great!
While we waited for baronial court to end, I got to play with the Princess Royal Annabel, who's about six months old and utterly adorable. (Me, drawn in to play with a baby? Yeah, that's nothing new.)
I snuck up onto the stage after baronial court ended, gigantic scroll case in hand. Court was relatively long, but it really is more interesting when you're behind the stage and can hear everything. Also when you know how many pieces of business there are and know about how far down you are through the to-do list. A couple of pieces of shtick went long, but it was quite an enjoyable court, all things considered. Cairn's elevation was great, and there was some shtick with that too -- with Conrad, Fiana, and Allyn all claiming that they were the one to release Cairn from their fealty.
Anyway. Court ended and tables were set up for feast. Even though feast was technically called for 6:30, food didn't get put out until after 8:00, which meant I was pretty hungry by that point. The first course was mostly Mediterranean-style appetizers: pita with a variety of dips, stuffed vine leaves, etc. It filled me up enough that my stomach wasn't growling anymore, anyway.
Then came the ever-constant wrangling of toasts combined with the requests for bardic. I'd always been under the impression that you're not supposed to do any sort of performance until after the toasts were done, but I might have been mistaken in that. Anyway, Alethea finally managed to wrangle everyone for toasts, and then I handed out lyrics for the Boreal Army Muster and performed it. It went quite well this time; lots of people sang along and thumped their hands on the tables. I blew my voice out trying to sing over the hall (as always), but at least it was satisfying.
First remove came out, then a few dishes from second remove. And then there was a long, long wait. We all knew that more dishes were supposed to be forthcoming (as the feast list was published ahead of time and handed out at the tables), but nothing was coming out from the kitchen. We actually started up a bardic circle in the interim, which was great. Conrad, Cairn, Fiana, Jean, a bunch of locals... probably about a dozen people overall. It was a really, really satisfying circle.
The hall was supposed to close at 10:00, but more dishes came out at 10:20. Many people had already packed up their feast gear by this point. A few dessert dishes came out 10-15 minutes later. I scarfed some of them down and rejoined the bardic circle. I think I finally left site around 11:20. I didn't stay to help clean up, because my allergies and asthma had been acting up all day and I was very fatigued.
The drive home was a little harrowing (hydroplaning on the highway! whee!), but I got home with both myself and the car in one piece, and that's the important thing. I hope everyone else got home safely, too.
And that's it for this time. Next event is Beowulf in three weeks. Yay! Better get crackin' on the rest of my memorization!
I showed up on-site around 10:30, only slightly after site opened. I got to say hello to a bunch of friends, including Mistress Fiana of Clare, who was hiding in the kitchen for reasons which will become apparent in a moment.
Morning court got started almost on time. Pellandres and Valeria made some touching last-court thanks, and then they stepped off the dias as simple court baron and baroness, no longer "Baron and Baroness IDD." Angus and Tadea were invested (looking quite lovely, I might say), and then Cairn was called up on vigil for the Pelican. I had absolutely no idea Cairn was being called up. Fiana came out of the kitchen to an absolutely astonished Cairn (the look on his face was priceless), and she and Conrad swept him off to the vigil tent beside the stage.
It was around lunchtime by this point, so I had some tasty dayboard. The meal was pretty good, but the desserts shone. There was some awesome date bread that I must learn how to make, and a shortbread-and-whipped-cream combo that I kept munching on all afternoon. (Bad Pocket Bard! You're never gonna lose weight this way!)
When Fiana and finished setting up the vigil and got some lunch in her, we retired to a quiet room to practice our respective Beowulf segments. We even had an audience! Master Allyn and his son Didius listened to us stumble through our recitations and provided useful feedback. I finally remembered where I knew Didius from -- I babysat him and his sister at my very first Pennsic in 2003, when he was about three years old. Talk about time flying!
The afternoon was mostly spent chatting with friends. Ernst and Alethea were there and gave me lots of hugs, which are always appreciated. I checked out the Queen's tea, which was very nice. Jean de Montaigne, the queen's bard, was there providing background music on his guitar, along with a lady harpist from Caldrithing (I believe her name was Isabeau, but don't quote me on that).
As court was being set up, I was just telling Varju and Marion (my house sisters) that I was doing absolutely nothing official all day when Alethea came up to ask if anyone wanted to be her back-herald during court. Apparently there were some honkin' huge scrolls that she couldn't wrangle all by herself. So I volunteered. So much for nothing official.
I went downstairs to the royal room to get the scrolls in order, and she wasn't kidding! One of those scrolls was honkin' huge! I also, sadly, missed Angus and Tadea's first court while I was in the middle of all this. Sorry, guys! I'm sure it was great!
While we waited for baronial court to end, I got to play with the Princess Royal Annabel, who's about six months old and utterly adorable. (Me, drawn in to play with a baby? Yeah, that's nothing new.)
I snuck up onto the stage after baronial court ended, gigantic scroll case in hand. Court was relatively long, but it really is more interesting when you're behind the stage and can hear everything. Also when you know how many pieces of business there are and know about how far down you are through the to-do list. A couple of pieces of shtick went long, but it was quite an enjoyable court, all things considered. Cairn's elevation was great, and there was some shtick with that too -- with Conrad, Fiana, and Allyn all claiming that they were the one to release Cairn from their fealty.
Anyway. Court ended and tables were set up for feast. Even though feast was technically called for 6:30, food didn't get put out until after 8:00, which meant I was pretty hungry by that point. The first course was mostly Mediterranean-style appetizers: pita with a variety of dips, stuffed vine leaves, etc. It filled me up enough that my stomach wasn't growling anymore, anyway.
Then came the ever-constant wrangling of toasts combined with the requests for bardic. I'd always been under the impression that you're not supposed to do any sort of performance until after the toasts were done, but I might have been mistaken in that. Anyway, Alethea finally managed to wrangle everyone for toasts, and then I handed out lyrics for the Boreal Army Muster and performed it. It went quite well this time; lots of people sang along and thumped their hands on the tables. I blew my voice out trying to sing over the hall (as always), but at least it was satisfying.
First remove came out, then a few dishes from second remove. And then there was a long, long wait. We all knew that more dishes were supposed to be forthcoming (as the feast list was published ahead of time and handed out at the tables), but nothing was coming out from the kitchen. We actually started up a bardic circle in the interim, which was great. Conrad, Cairn, Fiana, Jean, a bunch of locals... probably about a dozen people overall. It was a really, really satisfying circle.
The hall was supposed to close at 10:00, but more dishes came out at 10:20. Many people had already packed up their feast gear by this point. A few dessert dishes came out 10-15 minutes later. I scarfed some of them down and rejoined the bardic circle. I think I finally left site around 11:20. I didn't stay to help clean up, because my allergies and asthma had been acting up all day and I was very fatigued.
The drive home was a little harrowing (hydroplaning on the highway! whee!), but I got home with both myself and the car in one piece, and that's the important thing. I hope everyone else got home safely, too.
And that's it for this time. Next event is Beowulf in three weeks. Yay! Better get crackin' on the rest of my memorization!
