Lessons Learned: Defending the Gate and Performer's Revel

(Before I get going on the weekend event wrap-up, let me just state that the missing cat came home. Now all three of my landlord and landlady's cats are sporting collars with Airtags.)

Now ...  on to the wrap-up of the end of the month. I've done a lot of things in the SCA, but never before had I gone to two separate events in one weekend. But now I've done just that: Defending the Gate in the Barony of Stierbach and Performer's Revel in my own Barony of Storvik.

Stierbach's Canton of Sudentorre actually runs Defending the Gate as its annual signature event in early spring. The fighters build some sort of temporary "gate" structure and the heavy fighting scenarios revolve around it. That's about all I know about the fighting. I've never been a fighter. At the evening feast, the servers hail from the Renaissance Club at the nearby University of Mary Washington, and any tips they collect go toward the club's activities. Personally, I think this is a great idea; I think more colleges should have such clubs that collaborate with the local SCA, given that most institutions of higher education these days make it tough for outside organizations to get a foothold on campus.

The thing I want to remember for next year is: Prepare for the WEATHER. The main building where food was served and court was held is UNHEATED. The day was sunny, but the site, so far away from the modern urban heat island, was chillier than I'd expected. I should have brought a warmer hat, fingerless gloves (for playing my recorder), and my wool hood. Really, I need at least one plain wool dress with long sleeves. As much as I fuss about having the right garb for hot-weather events like Pennsic, I really need to keep in mind that sometimes events are cold.

The Performer's Revel* was cozy as always, even though it took place in a community center gym. I danced, played my recorder, and did some drumming. So, yeah, I performed! A few of our regular attendees were away on a cruise, but maybe they will be able to come next year.

Next up on Lady Patricia's progress is Spring Coronation, also in Stierbach. (Impressive that that barony is holding two events one week apart!) Per the request of the incoming Royals, each barony will be given a display table so that people can make a pilgrimage through the Kingdom by visiting the tables. I've stepped up to organize Storvik's table, largely because no one else wanted to do it. I hope to have some photos to show for it in future entries (however, I haven't yet downloaded this weekend's photos off my DSLR, so don't hold your breath).

* I think the event should be called "Performers' Revel," but people keep spelling it "Performer's Revel," so I'm just going along with it. 

Really quick report...

Still working on the newsletter. Hoped to finish it tonight, but one of my landlord/neighbor's three cats has gone missing, and I feel terrible about it.

I was at Awesome Con on March 14 and 15. I was one of the "ringers" during the afternoon dance sessions and hung out at the Storvik booth, which was ... awesome. 😊 My biggest purchase was a hardcover book on the classic Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles," written by David Gerrold himself. And I bought it at his booth on the exhibit floor. I follow him on Facebook and I know that he's in his early 80s and not in the best health, so I'm glad I could say hi to him. And he signed the book for me. 😊

I haven't done much weaving lately. Need to get back into that. Laydes Fayre rehearsals continue.

I'm worried about the kitty cat. 

More unexpected change

A couple of days after I finished writing the previous entry, I woke up to a message from a friend (our barony's social media minister) saying something like, can you please call me when you get up? (It was a Saturday.) I also had an email from another friend (our barony's seneschal) with the subject line "Sad news." Half asleep, I thought that some elderly person who had stopped playing in the SCA decades ago had passed on.

That was NOT the news.

Our CURRENT Baroness had died, most unexpectedly. She was only 53.

At first our social media minister wanted to keep the news off social media, to give the family some space to spread the news among themselves. But by the late morning, Baroness Gracia's Peer (to whom she'd been apprenticed before she became a Peer in her own right) and his wife (also a Peer) posted their heartfelt tribute to her on Facebook, and then the online floodgates opened.

I felt gutted, of course, but I also realized that I had to pull together some sort of tribute for the Drekkar, which is the Barony of Storvik's newsletter. I sent out word that I really wanted some contributions in memory of Her Excellency, and people responded with photos and a recipe. You can read that issue here.

Because Gracie knew so many people throughout the Kingdom of Atlantia, two celebrations of life were organized: one "up north," here in Maryland, and one "down south" at War of the Wings in central North Carolina. The two events bracketed the weekend when her birthday would have taken place. I went to the Maryland service, which was held in modern clothing at a local church. There I met Gracie's older sister and her mother-in-law; the latter is a first cousin of one of my high school classmates up in central Massachusetts. How small this planet truly is!

For the cover image of the November issue, I used Baroness Cassair Warwick's photo of the central table at the War of the Wings celebration of life. The table was decorated with flowers, photos, and an urn (probably Gracie's). But I ended up realizing that if I was to get the issue out in November, I couldn't accommodate all the other photos in my stash. So I decided that I will put out a "special issue" about Gracie early next year and keep the monthly Drekkar focused on current happenings, like next month's Yule Revel here in Storvik.

* * * * * * *

Incidentally, my elderly cat, Julia, passed away less than 48 hours after I'd learned of the death of our Baroness. Julia was at least 17 years old and she had been going downhill quite rapidly. To be honest, I think she had been grieving the loss of Nick since last Christmas. She may or may not have known exactly why he went away and never came back, but she certainly missed his presence. And now I miss her presence, as well as Nick's.

* * * * * * *

My lack of posting this year has not escaped my notice. I'm certainly not ignoring the SCA -- so far, in 2025, I've been to 14 in-person events (including Pennsic), two demos, and two virtual events. I've learned a new-to-me type of weaving, and I've explored more music and dance.

Perhaps next year, which will mark the 60th anniversary of the SCA, I should post something weekly, even if it's brief. Even if I just say something like, "This week I attended dance practice and finished editing this month's Drekkar." Knowing that I need to post something might help me get off my duff and do more projects, like making new garb.

 

Restarting this blog

OK, it's been a long while now. While the hunt for full-time employment continues, I try to keep up with my SCA life as well as I can with my limited means. I haven't been doing much Lithuanian research lately, but I have been attending events when I can and trying to make myself useful to the Barony of Storvik.

For example, this past January my Barony hosted Atlantia's Kingdom Twelfth Night, a very Big Deal in SCA circles. We held it at the Shriners' temple in Washington, D.C., which inspired the event's Ottoman theme. Some of my friends and I made brand-new late-period Ottoman garb specifically for this event -- I was literally working on it at 1 a.m. the morning thereof! Plus, I organized the heraldic consult table. So, even though it was the first completely Metro-accessible event in our Kingdom in many years, I couldn't really take Metrorail, because I was lugging 50 or 60 pounds of stuff -- books, musical instruments, refreshments for heralds, etc. Plus I was wearing clothing that looked vaguely Middle Eastern and I would have been getting off the train a few blocks from the White House. On top of everything, the skies gave us cold winter rain all day. Nevertheless, it was a lovely event.

I recently returned from spending a week or so at Pennsic 43, and, now that I have mostly finished unpacking and doing laundry, I have concluded that I really should be chronicling everything I do for the SCA, not just research and crafts related to Lithuania. Don't worry, I'm not giving up my Baltic studies, but many times I find something interesting and enjoyable to do that falls within the purview of the SCA but does not pertain to Lithuania. I really ought to record that stuff for posterity, too, until some greater pattern emerges.

So, to start with, here is a link to some photos depicting the construction of my Ottoman outfit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/34356022@N03/sets/72157639457065966/. A few of the photos at the end of the album depict me as I was trying to convert the coat pattern into a vest pattern, so that I could make a sleeveless, unlined vest with the remainder of the fabric I used for the outer layer of the coat. I'll post more of the details some other time.

And here are my photos from the event itself: https://www.flickr.com/photos/34356022@N03/sets/72157639717114533/. I'm in the very last picture (apologies for the blurriness; we were trying to avoid flash).

At this most recent Pennsic, I was extremely cautious with my spending and I didn't want to take a class in something that would make me run out and buy all sorts of expensive supplies. However, I did take a class on how to make a St. Birgitta's cap. The cost was just a few dollars for the linen and the handout, and I did most of the hand-stitching at Pennsic and finished it up at home. I will try to write about that very soon in a separate entry.

I'll just close this one off with a couple of images. Here is a selfie of me at Pennsic on August 6, halfway through War Week. (I'm wearing a kerchief, not the St. Birgitta's cap.)

Finally -- just so I can have some Lithuanian content in this entry -- here is a portrait of my cat trying to look learned. :-)