damont

More posts will be forthcoming (though not today), as I've also got this immediately past weekend to talk about, and I may also post some random contemplations. But first, after bashing on this for a week, I've got the more detailed post about How I Spent My Crown Tourney Weekend.

On Friday (the 4th) it was determined that

montuos was driving by herself. I wasn't too happy about that; I'd have preferred a more carpoolish arrangement to save on gas. But, in the end, the extra cargo space would be needed for the return trip, so that's all good. I drove out to

jacylrin's where we loaded her car with the gear for her and Cora and me. We still didn't manage to leave Manassas before dark, but such are the vicissitudes of certain jobs at times. Got to the site about 2330 without getting lost, and without incident except for the traffic checkpoint just off the Interstate (which was annoying in that it held us up).

The troll gate was dark and empty, and it wasn't midnight yet. This is something that should not happen at kingdom camping events; there always tends to be a significant clump of arrivals between 2300 and 0200, so the gate should stay open and manned until then, even if it's only to give directions.

orlacarey and LLT came in just ahead of us, and there were a few other people who came in just after. Eventually someone did come by and introduced himself as the camping coordinator, and said he'd lead the lot of us up to where we could camp. Found an okay spot near one of the latrine-and-sink shacks, set up camp by car headlight, drove back down to park the car, walked back up to camp and crashed.

Saturday (the 5th) was

giselle0002's birthday, and also

wednesday1971's 5th anniversary, and also the anniversary for

grayhawkfh and

mousecat0, though I didn't have a way to get in touch and wish anyone happy returns that morning. Was up and over to the shower house about 0830, and got down to the main activity area under an hour later. Found the autocrat, discovered that they hadn't left a space near the list field for the heralds. Oops. We were in luck as one of the combattants had left their pavilion home and were sharing with someone else, so the heralds got that spot. Found

mistressrhi and Peter, and told them where to put the heralds' pavilion once they found the folks who'd brought it. Out to the car, got the non-camping-related gear, and signed up for table space at the feast (in the tent next to the troll gate; right next to a map of the site).

The procession started rather late, but the tournament was over remarkably quickly even so. Donal and I ended up heralding the entire Crown Lists and didn't need relief, it was finished that fast.

jacylrin and Batcok shuttled cards back to the list table for us, while Cora helped with waterbearing. (Because you *just* *can't* turn down the cute 7YO girl when she asks you to hydrate yourself!) Duke Logan and Lord Jonathan both advanced to the finals without losing a bout; Logan beat Sir Vlad in the semis while Jonathan dispatched Sir Bryan. The finals were active, with both fighters whacking away; oddly enough given the general nature of the bouts, Logan won both times with a well-placed face thrust during a relative lull in the action. And then they were placing the coronets of the Heirs on the heads of him and

bronx_baroness, as the latter has described so well herself.

Afterwards I got some food at the Bright Hills "light lunch" (yeah right) and probably should have had more, but I didn't get to hang out long with

martelvonc and her gang; I needed to talk with

mistressrhi and also with Alisoun. Managed the former pretty well, the latter not as well, as she was getting ready to break down the consult table by the time I got over to see her. So we talked while Batcok and I helped her pack up and load her van; then we helped set up the chairs for Court, and waited for it to actually start. We scored seats in the front row, at least in part because I'm a court junkie...

Court had many cool things happen: two well deserved Golden Dolphins (Cristofana and Luce); a Sea Urchin for the amazingly well dressed kid (Isaac) who's helped design and make all his garb; Yew Bows for

ballistabob and

belfebe, with

jacylrin having combat-scribed the scroll until after Court had started; a Coral Branch for Jonathan (the other finalist in Crown Lists) for his Viking poetry. There was one item where a gentle was awarded something in absentia, so that the wonderful scroll wouldn't need alteration; the scroll will be presented later, and Their Majesties requested that we keep the matter under our hats until then so as not to spoil the surprise. So I lifted my hat, mimed stuffing something under it, and put the hat back on. This got a few giggles from those seated near me, and a chuckling "Thanks Evan" from Queen Arielle.

I could see the note cards being used to keep track of the docket, though not the writing thereon. So I knew when we'd gotten to the last scheduled item of business. King Valharic himself called up the Order of the Pearl. When they were assembled, His Majesty started speaking of a gentle who had skill in instrumental music and could join in quickly when needed on any one of multiple instruments. Well, I know a guy in Rencester who does that a lot; I play with him in dance bands when we're both at an event where dancing breaks out. So I figured "Cool, they're giving him a Pearl. I wonder where he is." Then Valharic mentioned singing, and leading singing at Pennsic Choir, and I immediately thought "Nooooo, he can't be talking about *ME*... you have got to be &^%$#@! kidding..." and then Rhiannon called my name. I know I must have looked poleaxed the entire time from the moment Pennsic Choir was mentioned.

feymaker made the scroll, which features a guy playing a really weird brass instrument that looks like a cross between a 13th-century sackbut and something out of Dr. Seuss. I find this a wonderful thing; Seuss pictures have a lot more in common with medieval drolleries and such than people might realize. So thanks again Daniela; I really appreciate it. For a medallion, Daniela presented an embroidered belt favor, which if I heard and remembered correctly was made by

alscott93 -- thanks Alex! (And how did I manage to not see you *at all* the whole day?)

I was late sitting down to feast, as I was still trying to talk to Alisoun before she headed out (she was crashing with

grouchyoldcoot). Feast was a little fragmented for me, as I got up occasionally to play some incidental music with

psalite on recorders. The first two courses served (numbers 1 and 3 on the printed menu) didn't have a lot of food, maybe about half as much as I'd have expected, and I got worried that people might leave hungry. The remaining two courses, numbers 2 and 4, had considerably more of each dish, so in the end there was enough food. Had the courses been served in the originally intended order I wouldn't have been nearly as worried. The food itself tasted pretty good; this was the head cook's first feast so I expected there would be room for improvement: don't over-vinegar the pickled beef, please put a bit more salt in the broth for the soup, cook the rice a little longer, and the dessert pie-lets were yummy and figgy but where was the advertised cheese? Nothing major.

It had rained quite a bit during feast, and was still raining off and on afterwards. Once feast was over we set to cleaning up the hall, and we also hung out a bit on the porch where I talked a bit with

ladycaviar. We loaded up vehicles during the intervals of lighter drizzle. Eventually the folks staying at the hotel decided to go back there to crash; I finished helping with the hall cleanup, took a lot of my gear back to the car, said goodnight to LLT and

orlacarey and

isenglass, went back to camp and fell over myself. Luckily, the rain stopped before the pre-dawn latrine run, and it was a clear sunny morning, so we were able to pack out mostly dry. We didn't manage to meet back up with

fuzzface00 and company, so had lunch on our own and headed home.

Eventually I got home, unloaded my stuff, and headed over to Maryland for the gathering at Cait's. I got to say hello to

kfitzwarin and

make_your_move, who I don't manage to see nearly often enough. They and the rest of the crew had put together a very nice spread under a pavilion in the back yard. I was late getting there, having just enough time to say hello to

orlacarey and LLT before they headed home, but I wasn't the last arrival: Johanna came in even later. I asked

webqatch facetiously if he thought his feet might grow back by Memorial Day; he'd been walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer that weekend, which made the whole gathering at Cait's just a bit more poignant. I helped clean up the food, take down the tables and the pavilion, met Cait's parents, and said hello to various others I hadn't seen in quite some time; then I headed over to Casa Houghton, to show my Way Cool Pearl Scroll to Megan,

herveus,

cariola, and

morgynleri. I was also there when Matt and

killerbunnie007 got home, to be chewed out for not calling the night before when they decided to crash at King's Ransom. Then it was time for me to head home and crash.