damont

So, Friday I helped load Moishe, saw Tony off, then started packing myself in earnest. I loaded Dora Sue as the rain increased, and was a bit late getting to pick up

montuos. We left LabCorp about 1715, and took mostly surface roads in to McLean, got across Legion Bridge, then surface roads again up to Rockville and across Montgomery County to the TCEP hotel. Arrived just after 1830. That was *excellent* time given the rain and wind we were getting.

The Holiday Inn is in MUCH better shape than the same hotel was last year (as a Best Western). No problems with construction dust and noise; all the elevators worked; and our *room keys* even worked consistently. We decided to go get dinner earlier than the scheduled 9 pm dinner runs; went to the Outback attached to the hotel. After dinner, I said goodbye to

montuos, ran through the rain to Dora Sue, and headed north and northeast to Conviviencia. Got there about midnight; helped

bunnyjadwiga and

maziemaus finish up the evening's kitchen activities, hung out and talked for a while with the local folks plus

herveus and Megan, and then went to bed. I stayed in the Headquarters apartment with

bunnyjadwiga, her mother,

juergen,

maziemaus, and Becky.

Saturday dawned much too early and nobody's alarm went off, so we got a late start in the kitchen, and without much in the way of breakfast I was moving rather slowly at first. We got timely help from

cariola and especially from her friend Flora; we actually had enough people working in the kitchen that folks could take regular breaks. While on breaks I saw Shannon, Cat, and

alphaggek (who came into the kitchen to help in spots). I didn't see

sskipstress there, though I thought I would; turns out she didn't make it to the event. Back in the kitchen, things went swimmingly, save for a few bobbles close to the end which affected the timing of bringing certain dishes out. (And there wasn't a serving plan figured out ahead of time; we improvised something workable. Luckily we only had 6 tables to serve.)

Looking at the feast menu, the underlying theme of "Ooey Gooey Cheesy Goodness" seems a lot more obvious now than it did when I first read it. However, the Lombardy Sops took forever to cook and were a lot more liquidy than we expected... turns out we forgot to toast the bread before putting it in the baking pans! Oops... we ended up serving them with the second course instead of as an appetizer. The millet polenta wouldn't congeal enough to be neatly sliced; I suspect that less liquid should be used when scaling up the recipe. Thanks to Bruce and John for frying them up like pancakes (which takes a lot more time than when one can do it like scrapple).

I announced the dishes as we brought them out, with occasional facetious comments thrown in. We actually started the feast *early*. People liked it. They ate everything we put out there. Well, they *tried* to eat everything, but eventually everyone was stuffed to the gills and we still had lots of leftovers to contribute to the next day's meals. And eventually I decompressed enough to eat, and even I ate a bit too much. We then went back in to clean up, and later on hung out in the hall talking to folks past midnight, and eventually went to bed.

Sunday was still cloudy to start, but dry, and we actually saw some sun later on. We slept in a bit late, eventually wandered over to the dining hall, ate a little and had coffee, and started packing things up and taking them out to the car. This was interrupted for a game of "Spanish long-ball", a two-base stick-and-ball game with obvious similarities to other baseball precursors. The gentle running the game had even made a period-style ball, designed after balls depicted in period pictures, though stuffed with dryer lint instead of straw or wool. This ball bounces a little, but nothing like modern baseballs, which allows for a smaller field. Presumably such a ball also hurts less when you hit someone with it -- and like all precursors to baseball, you get baserunners out by throwing the ball at them and hitting them with it. The most entertaining rule is that, when a batter flies out ("caught out") or a baserunner is hit by the ball in between bases ("hit out"), the offense and defense change sides *immediately* -- and the former defensive players must run to reach a base before one of the former offensive players can get the ball and peg someone with it. Sides can switch back and forth multiple times during the same play, often within seconds. There is sufficient chaos and silliness generated by this rule that SCAdians will probably love this game. As

herveus noted, baseball skills can be applied to good effect, and the winning team is the side with the best highlight reel.

The game wound down and we continued to pack up the car. After dinner and a shower, I said my goodbyes and headed back to Laurel. So of course my cellphone's battery decided to go into "discharge mode" 20 seconds into my call with

montuos, and stayed in discharge mode all the way back to Laurel. I found a pay phone to let her know I'd get there around midnight, which I did; after saying hello to lots of people and getting glomped by

angel_vixen, I headed up to the hotel room and went to bed.

I saw lots of friends at TCEP as well, and I do hope that next year I won't be double-booked! A big hello (again) to

alchemystery,

angel_vixen,

asaia,

blackpaladin,

blaisedec,

byronczimmer,

cariola,

centuren,

dagopher,

grayhawkfh,

killerbunnie007,

killernurd,

marklrose,

montuos,

mousecat0,

nostasia,

principia_coh,

stoooooooo, and

theimp79, plus lots of others who either don't do LJ, or whose LJ "handles" I don't remember. And hello also to

ecwoodburn,

fuzzface00, and

lite, who couldn't make it to TCEP for various reasons. All valid and good reasons, yes, but it still sucks that you couldn't be at TCEP.

I didn't play too many games on Monday, as I had again slept late and then had to pack and clear the room; when

montuos decided to leave I decided I was too worn out to stick around, so I left with her. We went home... then up to Sterling so she could kidnap

fuzzface00 (who was feeling sick), take him back to our house and administer some TLC. It seems to have helped some. Eventually

killernurd and

asaia got home; we unloaded most of Moishe in a light rain. A trip to our storage unit in Calverton is needed soon, as we have custody of the TCEP shelving units until next year, and they're *not* being kept in the house!

A very fun and mostly relaxing weekend, albeit very busy. This coming weekend I'm going to Pennsylvania (for the SCA demo at the Green Lane Scottish Festival); current plans are to pick up

montuos at work tomorrow and leave straight from there in the same fashion as we did this past weekend.