Late September: Looking back, looking forward

In general, I've had a good month of September. The SCA is never far from my mind.

I began the month with a totally non-SCA road trip to Florida, which actually started in late August, because the goal was to witness the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on August 30. Which my friends and I did from an oceanside beach called Alan Shepard Park. We also visited the Kennedy Space Center and other fun sights. It's been a long time since I traveled for reasons other than the SCA. It was, quite literally, a blast!

I've done a little bit of weaving -- not much, and I made a couple of mistakes in my pattern, but I have a lot of empty warp left on my loom. The instrumentalists in Laydes Fayre have started on a few new pieces to perform at a later date.

Events: Last Saturday I enjoyed my trip to Stierbach's Baronial Birthday, and this coming weekend I will attend Fall Coronation, where Laydes Fayre will perform at lunchtime.

The Laydes also will sing at Battle on the Bay, which this year will feature the investiture of Storvik's next Baronesses. Yes, our next Coronets will be two women, Lady Orla Carey and Maestra Tirzah di Nola. They are best friends, and both have contributed in many ways to Storvik over the past decades. I just don't know yet whether I will be able to join the Laydes at this outing, as I am waiting to hear whether I will be serving as an early-voting election judge (Maryland's fancy term for "poll worker") for eight consecutive days centered on the same weekend as Battle on the Bay. I really hate to miss the event, especially as baronial chronicler, but I need the money.

I've formulating plans for a couple of other SCA projects that are bigger than the tasks I usually do, but I'm not ready to write about them publicly. Stay tuned!

And now I need to work on the newsletter....

Late June update: more sewing

Well, I had high hopes of getting lots of sewing done last Saturday ... but I left the draft pattern pieces for the apron dress at home! Drat! I was still able to be productive, though, by finishing up the hand-stitching on a late-period chemise that I started way back during the pandemic. (I think I'd intended it to be an entry in a virtual A&S competition, but I hadn't finished it in time, obviously.)

Now I'm hoping to go to town on garb work on Friday and Saturday, when Storvik has the Cheverly Community Center gym for two consecutive days. I'll finish basting the apron dress draft together, and, if it fits, I'll start getting the real dress cut out and assembled. On Saturday, my friend Laura will teach a class on making a Roman stola, another thing I've been wanting to do. I also have enough lightweight white linen to make a tunica to wear under the stola. Last year I bought some fibulae for the tunica at Pennsic. (See this link for what I'm talking about. However, I don't think I'll bother with the palla. Not in Pennsic's heat and humidity. Plus, my persona is that of a widow, so ... I'm looking!)

Yes, I know that Saturday is a special Fourth of July and Friday is the corresponding legal holiday. I have reasons for not planning other activities for those two days, but I don't want to fill this blog with mundane politics. Besides, this whole region will be baking in a heat dome over the next few days ... and the community center gym has frigid air conditioning.

The end of May

Right now I'm working on the June newsletter. I've written a lot of obituaries in my life -- mostly about old people, but also about a 5-year-old with a brain tumor, a victim of Pan Am Flight 103, and an elderly couple who died 12 hours apart after 49 years of marriage. But it sucks to be writing about a longtime friend. And not for the first time since I became the baronial chronicler in August 2024.

I hate death.

On a happier note, last week I spent a couple of days at Balticon, where I hang out with some SCA friends who don't go to Gem Joust, as well as non-SCA friends. I was one of the ringers for the Renaissance dance class that my friend Patches always teaches there. It was also a "Needles, Fiber & More" weekend -- a weekend every six weeks for working on some fiber-type project and reporting the results to a Facebook group. Dame Scholastica started this during the pandemic and it's still going on. I did a bit of knitting at the con; my inkle loom is too clunky to lug along to an indoor convention. I partially warped my next band, but I have to finish that. After all, it's newsletter time.

I'm trying to decide whether I'm going to On Target, a Lochmere archery event that's taking place this coming Saturday. I think I'm likely to enjoy it, but the weather might not be the best. Then again, we're still talking a long-range forecast, so things could change.

Finally, I am planning to lead a Slavic Interest Group Meetup during Pennsic 53. It will take place on Tuesday, August 4, at noon in one of the Pennsic University tents (exact location TBA). I might teach a class on Lithuania too, but it's too late to get it into the printed program book, so interested people might not notice it.

The month of May

As I expected, SCA stuff quieted down for me once May began. I haven't been to an event this month and won't be attending one till June, at least. However, the SCA is never far from my mind.

Examples:

• I finished the baronial newsletter on May 8. A few days late, but not too bad.
• I also finished my second piece of Baltic pick-up weaving and am working on a pattern for a wider band. I intend to work my way up to more complex designs.
• I prodded a few people to agree to teach heraldry classes at the June University of Atlantia, which I won't be able to attend because I have to work long hours on both days of the event.
• Now that my sewing machine is finally running again, I'm planning the sewing projects that I'd like to tackle in June and July (i.e., before Pennsic). New garb will make me feel great.

I have several other things to do in terms of Pennsic advance planning, but I will try to list them in the next entry.

Unfortunately, sadness has returned to Storvik. Master Igor Medved, Third Territorial Baron of Storvik, passed away on May 18, four days before his 51st wedding anniversary. He was a giant of a man, not just physically, but also in terms of his personality, his hospitality, his generosity and his sense of justice. The world is poorer without him.

The second half of April

The "big news" for the second half of April was that Storvik held its annual Novice Tournament on the last weekend of the month. We've been holding it in June for quite a few years, but we always get quite a few complaints about heat, humidity and mosquitoes. Now that we have added horses and dogs to the activity mix, it behooves us to pick a date with weather that's less likely to make the critters overheat.

This year, though, we inadvertently drew a weekend on the other end of the temperature spectrum. April 2026 has seen quite a few days in the 70s and 80s, but Saturday was cool and cloudy, with the threat of rain in the afternoon and evening. Things weren't too bad in the middle of the day, and my friend Patches was in charge of the archery range, so I went out there to shoot some arrows.

After a brief refresher lesson from a marshal-in-training -- who was named the next Kingdom archery champion during afternoon court! -- I started firing off my loaner arrows with my loaner bow. And I did not suck! It wasn't long before one of my arrows found its way into the center of the target! My instructor captured the moment on my phone camera. (I seem to be having issues with uploading the actual photo.) And more arrows hit the center zone, too! I really should be doing target archery more often.

Later in the afternoon, after I'd rested my feet for a while, the wind really picked up as the temperature dropped a bit. The site that Storvik rents for outdoor events is very flat -- it was a Black-owned airport decades ago -- and it sits next to a wide part of the Patuxent River known as Jug Bay. So when the wind blows, it doesn't encounter much in the way of barriers. Also, the various weather apps on people's phones converged on 5 p.m. as the time when rain would hit.

At many events, I stay for feast, while one of my friends (who has a number of dietary issues) eats her own food and plays the hammered dulcimer for the enjoyment of feast guests. This time around, she didn't want to expose her instrument to a potential rainstorm. And, truth be told, when afternoon court ended just before 5 p.m., both she and I were chilled to the bone (again -- I should have learned my lesson last month!) and I agreed that feasting in the rain didn't sound appealing (even though I just LOVE tacos, especially when cooked by my Pennsic campmates). So my $10 for feast became a donation to the barony, and my friend and I picked up a bucket of KFC on the way to her dry, warm home.

That's my tale of Storvik Novice Tourney 2026, A.S. LX.

Speaking of which ... tomorrow is the first day of A.S. LXI. Happy New Year, and Happy 60th Birthday to the SCA!

How things stand, mid-April

I enjoyed both Spring Coronation and Night in the Port. The latter was the Barony of Lochmere's annual rapier event as well as its Baronial Investiture. Laydes Fayre performed four vocal selections before the afternoon Great Court, and five of us Laydes performed an instrumental processional for the Last Court of the outgoing Baron and Baroness.

Yesterday I finished up and sent out the April baronial newsletter -- eight days late, unfortunately, but still better than my performance in March. This time last year I fell WAY behind, but my mundane-work-for-pay schedule was different.

Before I get any further, I should probably explain that I have several different "threads" of SCA activities going on, more or less simultaneously (or ebbing and flowing).

First of all: service. I'm serving as baronial chronicler. I'm Sea Tyger Pursuivant, the deputy senior herald in charge of education (though whether or not we'll have a University of Atlantia session in June is still up in the air). Those obligations aren't going away.

Second: Lithuanian studies. Often I shove this topic onto the back burner because so much else is going on in my life. However, I have a few goals in this area: schedule another Slavic Interest Group meetup for Pennsic 53, start working on a display or class about women in the medieval Baltic region, and maybe even start a website for SCA resources about the Baltic region.

Third: dance and music. I participate in the local dance group almost every Monday, even when my feet are hurting. I would really like to get back into instrumental music, because there will come a time when I am just too old and physically messed up to dance. I play soprano recorder and am trying to learn alto recorder (different fingering). I can also contribute percussion if necessary.

Fourth: weaving. I'd put my inkle loom aside for a while, but last Pennsic I took a class in Baltic pick-up weaving, and I love it. I'm slow at it, but I don't care. For once I am doing a craft that feels authentically aligned with my persona! I'm keeping a Flickr album of my work so far. I'm hoping to get as much done on the second band (gold design on a brown background) as possible before Storvik Novice Tournament on the last weekend in April, so that I can enter it into the competition A&S display there.

Fifth: Everything else ... making garb, fixing garb, knitting, making lucet cord and kumihimo braids, wire weaving, writing pysanky (called marguciai in Lithuanian), and doing all the other things I've tried over the past two decades.

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. 

Progress report, end of February

Whoo-eee ... I am up to my ears in non-SCA work right now. But I did not skip this week's Laydes Fayre rehearsal, as singing groups work best when everyone shows up to practice.

Also this week: Storvik's A&S night featured a viewing of a Turkish documentary called Osman's Dream: Ottoman Janissary Band of America. (Don't worry, it was in English, with Turkish subtitles.) The film follows the Janissary Band around Pennsic 50 and shows the great lengths to which the group has gone to get their depiction of the band historically accurate, from a lot of original research to much hand-sewing. A couple of my friends participate in the band, so it was great fun keeping an eye out for them. You can watch the film yourself by clicking on the title.

Something to noodle over: I was looking over an unofficial website of songs related to the Kingdom of Calontir and found a song that is basically an SCA filk of "Charlie and the MTA." The lyrics are Calontir-specific, of course, but perhaps I could tweak them for Atlantia. (Insert evil grin here.) Then I'd have something to pull out of my hat if I'm at one of those bardic circles where everyone is asked to participate.

Progress report, mid-February

This month I don't have quite as much to report.

I had wanted to attend Bright Hills Baronial Birthday and Investiture on the first Saturday of the month, but during the week leading up to that event, I had spent so much time chipping away at the thick ice that encrusted the driveway that I decided not to go. Wind gusts of 60 mph or more would have made the driving difficult, anyway. I ended up sealing off the bathroom crawl space with plastic bags and duct tape.

I finished the February issue of the Drekkar a few days late. I was waiting for a contributor to send in her item, but she didn't have time to finish it because she was taking care of another resident of our Barony who had surgery. It's hard to fault her for that. And the patient is well on her way to a full recovery.

Tonight is the monthly baronial business meeting, and I will attend and take notes. Then the newsletter cycle will start all over again. 

A lot of other stuff (weaving, sewing, etc.) will have to wait because I have a non-SCA feature article (for freelance pay) due in TWO WEEKS. The events for the rest of the month are all in Richmond or south of Richmond, anyway. (Richmond is more than 120 miles from my home.) March and April will bring lots of events, though!

Another bit of news to savor: The next Known World Dance and Music Symposium (KWDMS) has been announced! It'll take place in July 2027 at Carleton University in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. I've never been to Ottawa, so maybe we can even practice a little tourism before or after the event. Something to look forward to!

Another new year

I hope all who read this are enjoying the new year, despite any upsetting mundane news. Each January is like a shiny new penny before it accumulates all the scratches from circulation.

As I said in my last post, I want to spend this year -- in which the SCA will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding -- documenting exactly what I do within the context of the Society, both in terms of arts & sciences and of service. My first idea was to make weekly posts, but when I told this to one of my friends, she said that might prove to be too much of a burden. So ... twice a month? We'll see how that turns out. If I stick to that schedule, that will make the most posts on this blog since 2009.

So, here we go.

Service as chronicler: The Drekkar, Storvik's newsletter, is due out on the 5th of each month. So I'd better finish up the January issue. I've got all the materials for it. At some point I will make a special memorial issue for Baroness Gracie. But I also need to earn some freelance money to keep my head above water.

Service in heraldry: I need to recruit some teachers for the Tri-Kingdom University session that is rapidly approaching. 😱

Musical arts: Dance practice resumes tonight after a couple of weeks off for the holidays. Laydes Fayre continues to rehearse for two upcoming events, one at the Lochmere Midwinter Revel on the last day of this month and another at Kingdom Arts & Sciences Festival (KASF) in March. The Laydes primarily sing, of course, but some of us play musical instruments, so we're rehearsing an instrumental cantiga for the Lochmere revel. I play soprano recorder semi-competently; recently I was given a used alto recorder, so I should try to learn that too. But someone else has already claimed the alto recorder part for this cantiga, so I'll play soprano melody. No big deal. It's a simple piece.

Tangible arts: I have warped my inkle loom for a second Baltic pick-up band. (Woven band, NOT musical band!) One of these days I'll have to write an entire post about Baltic pick-up weaving, but this is not the time for it. I am also planning what to wear to Highland Hearthglow later this month. Some alterations are in order, and maybe one new thing, but I don't have time to create an entirely new outfit from the inner layers out.

I think that's it. For now. 

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.

 

Giving thanks

I've been busy with non-SCA things for a couple of months, but of course "my medieval life" is never far from my mind. Let me summarize things here on Thanksgiving Day.

First of all, service. A few months ago, I took over the role of baronial chronicler. The previous chronicler had been doing the job for seven or eight years. Guess I'm stuck with it for a while. 😃 It's really not that difficult for someone who has been writing and editing for a long, long time. The two hardest things are (a) remembering to get going on the next issue and (b) making the notes of the last baronial business meeting sound coherent.

My other piece of general service is my role as Sea Tyger Pursuivant -- the "heraldic education deputy" for the College of Heralds and Scribes of Atlantia. (I don't do the scribal education part, though.) My task over the next couple of weeks is to contact some people and convince them to teach heraldry classes at the next University of Atlantia session, which is completely online. That session also the weekend after a virtual Known World Heralds and Scribes Symposium; I guess we'll be having those every winter now, because not everyone can get to the summer sessions in person.

And now for A&S...

I am still a member of Laydes Fayre and enjoying it. At one of our rehearsals in September, we held a mini-shower for a member who was expecting a baby. She gave birth, right on her due date, to a healthy baby boy named Declan. We'll also have a cookie exchange at our December rehearsal.

Several of us Laydes who also play instruments have formed an ad hoc mini-consort to perform at an upcoming event called Highland Hearthglow. The Barony of Highland Foorde (the whole northwestern region of Maryland) is holding a cozy day-long banquet event at a lodge in Thurmont that is usually affordable to the wedding-industrial complex. It sounds very posh in a 14th-century, High Middle Ages sort of way. Our mini-consort will be performing several pieces that are NOT dance music. I am no expert, but in general these pieces are slower and easier to play than most of the dance music of the era. You just have to watch out for a few weird bits like occasional irregularities in the time signatures. I think we will sound great together. (Incidentally, I'm playing the soprano recorder. No way do I know enough ukulele for this. I've really put the uke on the back burner with all my mundane work lately. I should really get back into it.)

(Also, the whole Laydes Fayre group will perform at both Hearthglow and Lochmere's Midwinter's Revel. One of the pieces we're rehearsing is called "Ave Maris Stella," which I believe means "Hail the Star of the Sea.")

Of course I am still a member of Three Left Feet. We still rehearse on Monday nights during Storvik fighter practice. I went to a couple of dances at Pennsic 51 (since I helped publicize them, after all). Pennsic wasn't even my biggest dance event of the year; that would be the Known World Music and Dance Symposium, held just outside Indianapolis at the fairgrounds where the SCA 50-Year event took place in 2016. It was a long drive, but I'm glad I went.

With all this musical stuff going on, it's not surprising that I haven't done other A&S stuff lately. At least I've finally hit a holiday lull in my mundane work, so I can pick up a needle and thread again. I have some mending projects to do and a linen chemise that I started sewing two years ago. Plus, I would like to make at least one totally new dress. To that end, I picked up a bin full of really nice fabric -- mostly linen and wool -- from the estate of the late Dame Brenna, who was quite the fabric hoarder in her lifetime. My non-SCA partner is annoyed that I acquired a bunch of fabric when I don't have much storage space, so I'll have to figure out some place to put my new stash until it gets sewn. I'm thankful that I received a copy of The Medieval Tailor's Assistant (2nd edition) for my most recent birthday; it will certainly help with all that sewing!

One final thing I am doing: I am knitting myself a pair of socks. Nothing special or SCA-accurate. Just a pair of socks, because I have not knitted socks in several years.

Starting a new year

Six days into 2024, and things are already happening, SCA-wise.

On New Year's Day my barony had a silk-banner-painting activity at a community center here in the northern part of Storvik. Our current Queen has been handing out banners painted with the word "Inspiration" at the events she attends within Atlantia, and our own Dame Emma West is in charge of the project. She did all the fabric preparation and the outlines of the design, and about 20 of us took turns coloring in the design. It's rather fun and not stressful at all. We finished painting two banners and probably could have done a third that afternoon. Here is a picture I took:

That's the one I worked on.

On Wednesday I commemorated a special day in my life. It was the 20th anniversary of my very first SCA event, Storvik Yule Revel. Here's what I posted in our baronial Facebook group about it:

Twenty years ago TODAY, I went to my first-ever SCA event: Storvik Yule Revel! It was in our fighter practice hall at St. Andrew's.

Outside the hall, a friendly young couple named Pedro and Devora accosted me and introduced themselves. Once we got past Tirzah at troll, Pedro and Devora introduced me to their Peers, Herveus and Megan, who explained tablet weaving to me -- I had never seen it before. Taira no Akiyo taught a class in spinning wool with a drop spindle. I watched some people dance and sat in the audience for Baroness Johanna's court. Finally, Pedro and Devora invited me to sit at their table with their Peers for a delicious feast.

I was just blown away by how welcoming everyone was to me! Obviously, I decided to stick around and get a membership and you all know the rest of the story.

Sadly, not everyone who was at that Storvik Yule Revel is with us today (Dame Brenna, Sir Gauss, Pedro...). Because of that cozy little event, though, the SCA has become a big part of my life. I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has welcomed me along the way.

I hope I brought some warm memories to folks. Also, I hope that just maybe someday we will hold another Storvik Yule Revel in the community center. (It's been 10 years since Kingdom Twelfth Night was held in northern Atlantia ... fancy event sites are just too expensive around here.)

Incidentally, Storvik has also revived the tradition of a monthly A&S night in person. I couldn't go this week, but I hope to attend in February.

Gains and losses, March 2023

 Happy Day of Restoration of Independence of Lithuania! (Remember, it's the tiny little country with two "independence days.")

My personal life is still somewhat chaotic, most recently because my car was rear-ended at a stop light on March 3. It's somewhat drivable, but without the right rear taillight or turn signal. Also, the right rear wheel well is bent (bad for driving over bumps) and there's an exhaust scent that wasn't noticeable before the crash. This was the LAST thing I needed.

Fortunately, I had already made plans to drive someone else's car (with the owner inside it too) to our Kingdom Arts & Sciences Festival on the 4th. It was the first time in five years that I've been able to attend KASF. Since Laydes Fayre didn't have a scheduled performance, I was free to wander around and admire all the wonderful exhibits and gorgeous garb. Yes, I took pictures, but they're on my non-phone camera, so they haven't hit the Internet yet.

Finally, a personal sadness. Dame Brenna of Storvik was the very first person I met in the SCA. When I started considering getting involved in the SCA in the fall of 2003, I looked up my local branch and noticed that it had a weekly "sewing night" on Thursdays. Since the only requirement for attending an SCA event is making an attempt at pre-17th-century clothing, I thought I'd better show up there and get an idea of what to wear. So one chilly, damp night I knocked at her door and introduced myself and explained why I was there. Dame Brenna and her friends answered my questions and helped me figure out what was acceptable and how to start sewing it. In recent years, after her husband (and the love of her life), Sir Gauss, died, Dame Brenna attended far fewer events. I meant to catch up with her, but a few days ago she passed away. I think she was a bit short of her 69th birthday.

Life is short. Spend time with your friends.

Status report, August 2022

 So ... what have I been doing since I taught "The SCA on a Budget"? It's certainly been a while...

As we make the transition from "pandemic" to "endemic" covid-19, I have been attending both in-person and virtual events and classes. Of course, it's always more soul-satisfying to see people in three dimensions, but sometimes it's just not feasible, either because of covid-19 precautions or great distance. Let me summarize the year 2022 so far.

Early in the year, I watched the virtual court at Kingdom Twelfth Night in January and took classes online -- one at a Virtual Known World Heralds and Scribes Symposium (KWHSS), and several at a virtual session of the University of Atlantia. I skipped Bright Hills Baronial Birthday; some years I go to it and some years I don't, but I was still concerned about the "omicron variant" of our least favorite virus.

As springtime rolled around, I participated in a successful demonstration at Costume-Con 40 (more on that in a bit) and sold a bit of excess gear at "Lochmart," the flea market that the Barony of Lochmere holds at its annual April event.

The first weekend in May, I went to Spring Crown Tourney, held in the Barony of Stierbach. Nobody I asked could remember the last time, if any, that Atlantia has held a competition for the Crown indoors (our parent Kingdom, the East, does it fairly often), but because of the heavy rains that occurred before and during the event, the staff moved all the proceedings indoors to a couple of barns. (Fortunately, the event had been long scheduled for a county fairground.) The main hall was rather crowded, and only two lists could be set up instead of four, so the preliminary rounds took a lot longer than anticipated. If I recall rightly, the final round -- between a super-Duke and a Knight who had never reigned before -- happened around 3:30 or 4 p.m. (The Knight who had never reigned before became a first-time Prince.) The damp cold drove a deep chill into our bones; by the time afternoon Royal Court was over, I could hardly wait to slog out to my car in the parking lot and crank up the heater.

June brought another public demo, this time at AwesomeCon (again, more on that in a bit), and a few online classes at another virtual KWHSS, this time hosted by the brand-new Principality of Vindheim in the Kingdom of Ansteorra. In fact, two classes I took were taught by my friend in Lochac, Mistress ffride wolfsdottir, who is an extraordinary researcher.

Storvik held Novice Tourney a bit later than usual -- shortly after the Fourth of July weekend. I did not go to Pennsic this year for financial reasons. I'm a freelance science writer mundanely, and I finished up a feature article on the opening weekend of Pennsic and got paid for it at the end of Pennsic. That's actually a speedy payment in the world of freelance writing -- some poor souls have to wait months for their financial rewards -- but the timing did not work out well for Pennsic 49. Oh, well, next year is Pennsic 50, and after missing Pennsic 40, you'd better believe I am bound and determined to attend Pennsic come hell or high water or any other disaster induced by climate change.

This post is already getting pretty long, so I'll save the reports on the two public demos for the next entry.

Welcomed to the Pod

Certainly the highlight of my SCA year -- indeed, the highlight of my SCA experience since the beginning of this cruel pandemic -- took place at Storvik's Battle on the Bay on Saturday, September 25.

The weather was GORGEOUS, with clear blue skies and PERFECT temperatures. I arrived on site in plenty of time to set up my chair on the field in front of the Royal pavilion, where the morning courts would be held. Since the theme of the event was "Hannibal's Crossing," a.k.a. the Second Punic War, we were encouraged to dress up like Carthaginians (not that there's a lot of archaeological evidence telling us how Carthaginian women dressed), I tried to approximate what I learned in an online class. I wore my only solid-color chiton or "bog dress," the light pink one I made when Atlantia was honoring the late Duchess Arielle the Golden. I suppose I could have altered it for the event, but I ran out of steam over the last few days prior to the event and figured that I might not ever need another dress from the Second Punic War era again (it's not a common event theme in Atlantia). I did try to drape a darker pink cotton bedsheet around myself as an attempt at a himation. Patches (who gave me that sheet) said that anything I could do with that sheet would up my game. At least I could use it during morning court to supplement the spray-on sunscreen in protecting my arms against the morning sun.

Also, shortly before court, Master Stefan asked me if I would be available to take some pictures with my phone during court. I said yes, but I thought that was a little weird.

The morning featured the final court of Baron Celric and Baroness Ilaria as they stepped down from the leadership of Storvik. Their Excellencies cut fine figures as they handed out their final awards and spoke their final words. They gave back their Storvik coronets and received their personal Court Baronage awards. Then John and Graciela stepped forward to serve as the next Baron and Baroness of Storvik, and they held a brief first court to do a few items of business, such as asking Lady Sonya (Patches) to be their archery champion.

Around this time, it suddenly occurred to me that Master Stefan's wife, Baroness Evelynne, was not yet a Peer. And, sure enough, at the end of all the morning court business, Evelynne was called up before Their Majesties and asked to sit vigil to contemplate joining the Order of the Laurel.

I took photos as best I could from my seat, which was a row or two behind Stefan and Evelynne's seats, just far enough back that I didn't show up on the video of morning court. Then the candidate was led away to the vigil tent, so I hopped up and followed the procession, while trying to keep a distance from the throng of other Laurels so that I wouldn't get in their way. At first I was taking still photos, but then I got a nudge from someone (Stefan? Now I don't remember) and started taking video. (All of this was after the court video cameras were turned off.)

After Evelynne was properly envigilled (is that a verb?), I went back to the Newcomers' Point day shade, as I had promised to watch it while Patches, our outgoing chatelaine (i.e., baronial officer in charge of helping newcomers) went off and did other things, such as teaching a dance class. We had a few attendees who were relatively new to the Society, and I chatted with them. Plus, we had a table of "free for the taking" stuff that anyone could paw through. (Heck, I pawed through it, but none of the clothes and accessories fit me or sparked my interest. I'm wary of bringing home things that I'm not going to use right away for a specific purpose.) I also had a chance to chat with Dame Emma West for a while. (Already a Pelican, Dame Emma was made a Laurel at morning court for her excellent painted silk banners.)

Eventually Baroness Margaret Lad, the Kingdom Chatelaine, came over to Newcomers' Point to relieve me (and cheerfully organize the pile of free garb that people had been pawing through; she does everything cheerfully). That gave me a chance to wander around and greet people and even spend a few moments with Baroness Evelynne in her vigil tent. Clan Cambion, Evelynne's household, was planning a procession into Court for her, but they invited me to join in. Once the procession got to the front of Court, those of us who are not Laurels would simply reverence the Thrones, walk off to one side and go back to our seats. Thus, when the populace was getting ready for afternoon Court, I set up my chair toward the back of the audience so that it would be less obvious that I was getting up to join the lineup for the procession. I ended up sitting next to Master Herveus, who belongs to Clan Cambion, so that I could tell when it was time to leave our seats and line up to follow Evelynne.

As expected, the new Baron and Baroness of Storvik held a court and gave out several baronial awards, and then afternoon Royal Court commenced. Their Majesties gave out a number of grant-level awards, for which it is customary (at least in Atlantia) to call up fellow members of the Order into the Royal Presence to greet their newest member. People who are both Golden Dolphins (service) and Pearls (arts and sciences), like Herveus, had to keep getting up and sitting back down. He joked that it was good exercise.

At some point I started to think, Hey, isn't it almost time for Evelynne's procession? Shouldn't we be lining up? But then I heard the court herald call my name.

My name.

So I stood up and somehow shuffled up to Their Majesties and bowed, probably less deeply than I should have. They told me it would be acceptable if I remained standing instead of kneeling on the padded stools in front of the thrones.

Queen Jane started off by saying something like, "So, you have been baronial herald since 2007," and then I gently corrected Her -- I have not been baronial herald for a few years now, although my actual cutoff date is pretty mushy. So then she started praising me for staying active in heraldry and hospitality. (And I'm thinking, "Huh? I spent a couple of hours at Newcomers' Point, but...") And then the herald commanded members of the Order of the Golden Dolphin.

I bowed to their Majesties again as the populace applauded and various members of the Order approached the thrones. Their Majesties said more nice things about me, asked if there was a medallion, and Dame Emma stepped forward with a shiny Golden Dolphin attached to a lovely necklace of red beads and white pearls. She said it was a legacy medallion in that she had passed it around to many members of the Order before getting it back and giving it to me. She gave me a copy of her statement after she read it.

I was just so overwhelmed. As the crowd cheered and I went to "greet the order," all I could think of was ... Pedro. Pedro, my heraldry teacher, my friend whose wife was so proud of his Golden Dolphin, who should have been a Pelican (the highest-level service award) ... I would have never received this award if he had not taught me so well. I wanted to tell him about it so very much.

My head was spinning so much that I floated back to my chair and didn't join the procession for Evelynne's Laurel ceremony. I enjoyed watching it, though. You can watch the entirety of the afternoon court here.

* * * * *

A true NOVICE event!

The Barony of Storvik's signature annual event is the Novice and Unbelt Tourney, generally held in June or early July (but not Independence Day weekend). In many years (but not all, depending on when we can rent the site), Novice is the last event at which new fighters can authorize for Pennsic. ("Authorizing" is like passing your driver's licensing test, except for SCA fighting.)

Once again this year, Pennsic isn't being held because of the covid-19 plague, so we didn't have any pressure to get authorizations done, but we did want to have an in-person event after all these months! And June 5 was the very first Saturday after the SCA's North America-wide ban on in-person events expired on May 31.

To get ready for Novice, we did everything the way the SCA higher-ups said we had to: pre-registration only, limited attendance (but bumped up from 50 people to 150 in the last week prior to Novice, yay!), face masks on everyone, no shared food or drink, no feast, no camping, nobody under the age of 18. (I think I've listed all the major restrictions.)

As the day grew closer, I grew more excited to see friends who had been just video images on my laptop's screen for more than a year. Maybe my Baron and Baroness would hold court, although the Baroness had been looking mighty pregnant at the last business meeting. In addition, some folks I know just weren't interested in Zoom-based meetings and were holding off on Virtual Atlantia in favor of the promise of real-life activities. At any rate, I felt sufficiently worried that I would forget something that I staged my gear -- accessories, mugs, chair and cover, whatnot -- on the dining-room table.

Finally, the appointed day (June 5) began and I headed out on the familiar route to the site. For some reason, a section of Croom Station Road was marked "closed." I wasn't sure if it was for paving work or for replacement of a bridge, so I just got on U.S. Route 301 down to Croom Road (normally I take Croom Station Road all the way to the end at Croom Road and then take a left onto Croom Airport Road -- and, yes, the road names are way too similar). When I arrived at the park, my site token (a fancy ribbon strip) was awaiting me in an envelope with my name on it.

But ... no Baron and Baroness. It didn't take long for me to learn why. Apparently the Baron showed up at the start of the event, dropped off all the baronial gear (day shades, the baronial thrones, all sorts of things) and then announced that he was heading to the hospital. Later in the morning he changed the cover photo of his Facebook page to an image of a sign saying, "Welcome to Labor & Delivery Check-In."

So ... naturally many of the attendees of the event spent the day in happy anticipation of the baby boy's arrival (Their Excellencies had revealed the baby's sex/gender a couple of months ago). Many of us were hoping that some sort of dramatic announcement would happen at Royal Court. However, while Their Majesties Anton and Luned noted the absence of Their representatives who hold the Storvik lands, They had no further information on the impending birth. If you want to see what They did do in court, Atlantia has the video: 

The event broke up a bit early because of the hot weather (duh, this is Maryland in June). I tried to help some with the breaking down and packing up. As I went toward the restroom trailer for a last pit stop before heading home, I heard a few voices yelling, "Vivat! Vivat! Vivat!" The Baron had just posted on Facebook that the Baroness had given birth successfully to a fine and healthy boy, well over 8 pounds. The newest resident of the Barony of Storvik!

The baby photos are not mine to publish -- I am always cautious about putting pictures of other people's children on social media. But the little fellow, who was named Ari, looks adorable, and his older brothers, Connor and Braeden, seem extremely pleased to be big siblings. (Notice the naming pattern?) Of course I am thrilled for all of them!

Decisions, decisions

A few of us Storvik residents have formed a small support group to work on the Atlantian Persona Pentathlon for next year.

What, you may ask, is the Persona Pentathlon? It's totally a challenge: create five items that all could have been used, worn, performed, or eaten by a person out of a single time and place within the SCA. But wait -- if you're really good at something, like tablet weaving (for instance), you can't just make five tablet-woven bands and enter the competition. Oh, no! You have to make/bake/perform items from at least three different categories:

• Category 1: Manuscript & Fine Arts (bookbinding, calligraphy, drawing, illumination, painting, papermaking, pigments & inks, sculpture)
• Category 2: Garb & Fiber Arts (beadwork, clothing accessories (including belts, pouches, and fans), clothing/costume, hats, knitting, nalbinding, knotted work, lacemaking, needlework (counted thread or free form))
• Category 3: Glass & Pottery (ceramics, enameling, glass blowing, lamp working, lapidary, mosaic, pottery, stained glass)
• Category 4: Medieval Life (basket weaving, brewing & vintning, cooking, dyeing, furniture making, herb craft, soap making, spinning, toys & games, weaving (full-sized fabrics or narrow bands))
• Category 5: Performance-Related and Writing (lyric composition, masks, music composition, performance (vocal, instrumental, poetry, storytelling), poetry, prose, dance performance and composition, martial arts performance, research paper)
• Category 6: Metal, Leather, Wood & Other 'Hard' Arts (armor, chain mail, blacksmithing, jewelry smithing, iron work, tool making, casting, leather work, wood carving and construction, making musical instruments)
• Category 7: Miscellaneous (heraldic display, horse barding, subtleties, and anything else that just doesn't seem to fit into the other categories)

(Source for the above list.)

One might think that, as a dabbler in many different A&S activities over the 17 years of my SCA adventures, I would find this competition easy as pie. Heck, no! Remember, I dabble, not excel, at many things. I take a class, learn some new method, use that method to make a couple of things, then move on. (I probably have ADHD, though I've never been formally diagnosed.)

Now, I'm crazy about the history of Lithuania, as you probably know. But to figure out five things to do related to Lithuania? Early period (like the experimental archaeologists at Kernave) or late period (like Bona Sforza and her descendants)? What to do, what to do?

Don't worry, I shall let you all know what I decide.

The "Before Times" and the "New Normal"

Despite my last post, I have not spent the past few months in sackcloth and ashes. Yes, we are still in the novel coronavirus pandemic. No, we will not have any in-person SCA events until the end of January 2021 at the earliest. However, I am plugging along.

Since I've been self-employed at home for the past decade, I am quite used to the concept of spending many hours alone at my desk. However, I "get out" quite a bit, thanks to Zoom (and the occasional Google Hangout or Facebook Live). Pretty much all my social outlets -- not just the SCA, but also my church, my professional organizations, and my Toastmasters club -- have moved online. I can "go out" in the evening and not worry about driving in the rain or catching the Metro train home.

If Virtual Atlantia had seams, it would be exploding at them. Check out the Activity Calendar for starters. Is that calendar packed or what? Not all the activities shown there are from Atlantia -- a few are from other Kingdoms. And some baronies don't always put their own activities in the Kingdom's calendar, so there are even more online goings-on than Virtual Atlantia would have you know.

Plus, so many online classes! Early in the pandemic I took several classes at an online university in the Kingdom of Atenveldt, mundanely Arizona. In our Kingdom we had two virtual University of Atlantia sessions, one in June and one in September. At the former, I taught a "Medieval Lithuania" class via Zoom -- and I had attendees from six Kingdoms! Two from as far away as Lochac (Australia)! In September I didn't teach anything, but I learned that my June effort had earned me a "Masters of SCA Studies" degree from the University. (Totally unaccredited from a mundane standpoint, but still a nice feather in my cap for all the work I've put in since 2004.)

Thanks to Zoom, I also had the chance to attend some classes at the Known World Heraldic and Scribal Symposium (KWHSS). This was only the second KWHSS I've been able to attend -- the first was the one that took place in Atlantia's Barony of Sacred Stone in 2011. For me, KWHSS involves expensive travel and hotel arrangements. This year the symposium would have been in Lochac, specifically the Barony of Stormhold, and there was no way I could have afforded that kind of trip. But thanks to the Web, I could even hear the voice of a Stormhold friend, Mistress ffride, with whom I've been corresponding for years.

Their Majesties have been recording nearly weekly messages to the Atlantian populace, and they have also started holding virtual courts to hand out actual awards. This past weekend, They traveled all the way up here to Storvik. Our barony rented a tiny live-theater space in downtown Silver Spring, and the only people permitted to attend Their Majesties and Their Excellencies in person were the herald (Duke Ragnarr) and a couple of tech-crew members. Two poignant moments took place. One was the tribute that Baron Celric and Baroness Ilania paid to the late Baron Rorik, in the presence of Rorik's faithful companion, Fred the goose.

In the other poignant moment, Their Majesties called Duke Ragnarr in front of them to present him with his long-delayed Award of Arms (AoA) scroll from way back when, before he was a Knight or a King or a Duke. Their Majesties pointed out that Ragnarr was always more concerned about other people getting their AoA scrolls than getting his own. What made this moment especially poignant was that the Royals who awarded him his Arms in 1993, Kane and Muirgen, were killed in a car accident a few years later.

These virtual courts are the only ones we're likely to see for a while still. Official SCA events in North America are banned through the end of January 2021, as the pandemic continues to rage. We didn't have Pennsic this year. Atlantia is not having War of the Wings this week.

This is the "New Normal," as opposed to the "Before Times" (I am not the only person using this terminology).

Some people don't like participating in online SCA classes and courts. I get that. I have a Toastmasters friend who spends so much time in videoconferences while working from home that she just cannot bear to sit through another 90 minutes of a club meeting in the evening. That's understandable.

I'm just glad that we Atlantians have some sort of online presence for those people who say, "Hey, I was thinking of getting involved in the SCA once the pandemic is over," or who are curious, or who are super-interested in online learning. We may even try some court video recording after the pandemic, so that people who have a hard time joining us in person because of health issues can still see what's going on. It may seem odd at first, but no more so than internet communications seemed to SCAdians of 20 or 25 years ago.

Losses

Even though I haven't been to an SCA event in person since February, I've been keeping quite busy and social within the Society. However, my reports on that will have to wait, because of the heavy losses we have incurred.

First, Baron Rorik Fredericsson, eighth Baron of Storvik. During these last few years, he had been looking increasingly tired, and he suffered from various health problems. At one point, he fell at home and broke eight ribs all at once. Ow. That set him back for a while. He'd also had some problems with slow-healing leg wounds and a tiny spot of a tumor on his liver. When I saw him at the Bright Hills birthday event in February, I asked him how he was doing, and he replied, "Surviving." In one of his last Facebook posts, he said he actually tested *negative* for the novel coronavirus. He needed the test before some surgical procedure (something to do with his stomach).

He went into the hospital for surgery on April 27, and something went south, and he died that day. I believe he was 73 years old.

His Excellency was well known throughout our barony and kingdom and fought in SCA battles for many years. Decades, even. I think he finally gave it up around age 60 when he got his bell rung pretty hard on the Pennsic battlefield. He also enjoyed the gentler art of playing cribbage, an ancient card game. He was also a huge science fiction fan. the first time I ever saw him was at the Millennium Philcon Worldcon in 2001, more than two years before I joined the SCA. He was wearing a Babylon 5 character's costume and was carrying his gray goose puppet, Fred, the one with the studded leather collar. When I did eventually join the SCA, I recognized him and thought, "Oh, that's the guy with the goose from the Millennium Philcon."

Baron Rorik was also that fellow who looked so much like George R.R. Martin that some Game of Thrones fans actually asked him (Rorik) for his autograph. (But Rorik was taller than George.)

Baron Rorik was very happily married to Mistress Janina for 40-plus years and they had a grown daughter and son (who adored him) and many "friends who are like family." My heart has been grieving with them. I often thought that if I could have told my father (who died in 1982) about the SCA, I would have introduced him to Baron Rorik, who could have explained all the different pieces of armor to my Dad (who was a professional welder) and then sat down and played a good game of cribbage together.

Here is a photo of Baron Rorik from the 2015 Storvik Novice Tourney:

It's not the best photo of him, but it was the first one of him I found among my photos when I heard he had died.

Lest you think that my SCA circles had escaped covid-19 ... in late April the family of Master Liam St. Liam of the East Kingdom said that he was in the ICU with the pandemic disease. I kept checking his Facebook page for updates on his progress, but there weren't any.

Who was Master Liam to me? By one measure, he was the first SCAdian I ever met, although neither he nor I had joined the Society way back then. When he and I were both juniors at our respective high schools -- me in central Massachusetts and him in southern Rhode Island -- our schools' bands and choruses did two "exchange concerts," one in our town in April and the other in their town in May. I honestly don't remember as much about the concerts as I probably should, because my grandmother was ill in April and passed away just before the May weekend (and my mother made me go along on the weekend trip, because "Grammy would have wanted it," but I wasn't in a good mood for it).

Many years later, when LiveJournal was still going strong in the United States and I took an interest in the SCA, I started looking up the journals of people who were posting in the SCA-related communities, Liam posted that he'd graduated from a certain high school in a certain year. I inquired ... and, yes, he'd been part of the same band-chorus exchange! So we "friended" each other in cyberspace, first on LiveJournal and later on Facebook. He was a high school history teacher who went back to his first love, journalism, in upstate New York. He married his second wife, who served a reign as queen of the East, and his grown daughters became Peers, one a Laurel and the other a Pelican.

I met Master Liam in person (in the SCA, not high school) only a couple of times at Pennsic, because he was so busy teaching and writing for the Pennsic Independent and doing a lot of other things. But he always remembered exactly who I was and how we'd gotten to know each other.

A couple of years ago, Master Liam suffered a major stroke and had to give up working as a newspaper reporter. He moved to a rehab facility in Massachusetts and still kept on posting on Facebook as well as he could under his own power. Usually his posts were short exhortations to be well and do good. He didn't go back to Pennsic, but he did get a chance to attend the East Kingdom 50th Anniversary celebration in 2018, albeit in a wheelchair.

So he wasn't posting for a while, and then we waited for news ... and then on May 13, his daughters wrote that, while listening to the Dropkick Murphys and his other favorite Celtic punk bands, he passed away. He was 61.

Tributes poured out from all corners of the electronic Known World. One of his daughters wrote an SCA-specific obituary (I was a bit surprised to learn that his registered name was actually NOT Liam St. Liam), and one of his former newspaper colleagues wrote a very nice tribute to him. Other comments pointed out his tireless efforts to support causes ranging from the Special Olympics to high school gay-straight alliances. Someone praised him for his "radical inclusivity."

We in the SCA have had other losses. The first Triton Principal Herald whom I worked under, Baron Eogan mac Alpein, passed away in late May. I hadn't seen him for quite some time, but I think he was in his mid-60s. Then a woman who was on the winning team at last year's Revenge of the  Stitch died of complications from an aneurysm. I didn't really know her, but she was apprenticed to one of our Atlantian Duchesses, and she was young enough to have three school-age children.

The only good way I can end this post is to note that on Friday, May 29, the Dropkick Murphys played a live concert (without an audience) at Fenway Park. The band members even socially distanced themselves around the diamond as they played their greatest hits. I drank a beer, logged into a Facebook "watch party" hosted by Master Liam's daughters, and agreed with everyone that it was the best "virtual wake" we could have had during the pandemic.