Siege V

Thursday after work headed out to site a bit earlier than I had planned. Got a canyou call from the Count. Got the stuff he needed gathered up and I got out the door.
Worked my troll shift which was rather quiet. Off and on busy but no big rushes. My replacement showed up and I decided to head back home. The bugs were out in force and I would have all weekend to catch up with people.
Del and Katsuo called to see if they could come over for a hot shower. Kol showed up about two seconds before they did. We ordered pizza since Kol was hungry. I didn't think I was until I started eating. We got some free molten lava chocolate cakes with our pizza order and they were super tasty.

Katsuo reminded me about the history channel show Holy Grail in America that he and Ajax were in. I set the DVR for Sunday night. If you get the chance to see it, the boys show up around 25 minutes in.

Friday Kol and I went for breakfast at Jones, got groceries and stuff at PRC outlet store (wal-mart). Headed out to site. It was a very nice day. Would have been a bit better if there was a breeze but it was nice to relax and work on projects.
Gave Hagan a bag of little ninjas. He and Roisin planned out battle stratagem with them.
Shadowes Company rocked out the BBQ Friday night. It was great to see Alistair and Kateryn there.

The torchlight tourney in honor of Ian McTawish. Rue had asked me to help run the list. Zahoorie heralded and I think we did okay. Katsuo proved victorious for the third year in a row. After the tourney went down to the Shadowes encampment with Kateryn and hung out there for awhile.
Rue and I were talking about Steve and the Greek. Doesn't that sound like a tv show? Anywho I decided that the boys really need SCA names. Steve showed up at that point so we could ask him what kind of persona he had. He is going for Viking. Svien has been trying to pin Finnbogi on someone for ages so Steve got dubbed Finnbogi. We couldn't think of any greek names at the moment but Kol suggested Lysandros. I think that works. Never did get around to telling Drake his new name. Hung out until super late and I believe it was 3 am when my head hit the pillow.

Saturday morning we had brunch of scones and egg bake at my apato. It was very tasty. Got cleaned up and headed out to site. Heavy weapons were having lots of fun in the corn when we got there.

It was another lovely day. More windy but it was nice to keep the bugs off. Visited with John and Caillie got a huge box of Nutty bars. People were very helpful in eating the nutty bars. :-)

Feast was porktastic. Lots of other good things too. Nailz, Seti and I headed back to the apato early since I was super tired. Guess we missed out on a wild night. I don't feel bad tho since I could hardly keep my eyes open.

Sunday more breakfast at Jones. Waved goodbye to Fiona, Seti and Nailz. It was fun hang out with everyone.

Kol and I hung out until I decided it was time to get the laundry done. Got to try out the new washers at the mat. Worked on glove pattern while we waited.

We ran out to Doris's to get walnuts for dye stuffs and then to the store again to get fixin's for lasagna. mmm it was good.

I took this morning off since I though it would be nice to have an extra day to sleep in. Was a good choice since the weather has turned.

Fall Coronation

After a super busy short week it was nice to run away again. Del had asked if I would like to head to Fargo early. Normally Friday afternoons are quiet so why not. Of course the universe seems to know when I am leaving early so after ton of phone calls (my phone hardly rings, its all email) I ditched out of work and headed to SF. Made it Delphina's. We loaded stuff into her car and then went over to Szchwan's for lunch. Yum!

The trip up was quick. Funny how a 4.5 hour drive is short. Made it to Toramassa and Una's around 6. Kol pulled up as we did. That was cool. Unloaded stuff and then headed off to Bennigan's for supper. Got introduced to the Wii. Played a few games including rock band. Video games are fun but I am glad I don't have them at home.

Made it site about a half an hour before court. Probably would have been there sooner if we hadn't had to wait for the long train.

I was honored to have a small part of the show, saying what it is to be King and Queen. Hopefully it sounded okay. Thank goodness for cheat sheets and little books to hide said cheat sheets.

Most of the day was spent enjoying the company and the weather. I had brought a project along but it was nice just to be.

The rose ceremony was simple and nice. Duchess Eleanor spoke of what it is to be a rose. Tatiana make a lovely Rose cloak. The Roses welcomed Ailleanne and gave presents.
This is what I gave.


Feast was very tasty. Lots and lots of food. By the third remove I was full. I did save room for applesauce and cookies.

After clean up we headed back to Toramassa's. Nice to put on the pajama pants. More Wil was played but I pooped out early because I could hardly keep my eyes open. Just as well since we had to get up before the crack of dawn. Del had to be back in SF by 11 to go to work. We were able to get up and on the road just before six. I told Del I could drive since she looked wiped out. Drive was good but foggy until we hit Sisseton where it magicly cleared up. I enjoyed driving her new Element. Very comfortable and roomy. Wouldn't mind having one myself.

Made it to SF in plenty of time and I headed on down the highway. Stopped by to see the parents since its kinda on the way home. Haven't seen them if a few weeks. Had lunch. Did laundry and naps. Other chores were accomplished as well.

This week I need to clean and prepare for impending company for Siege. Will be nice not to have to travel and be able to sleep at home.

Oh yeah I got a new Kingdom job...Web minister. Should be fun. Webstuff is fun and it will be similar to what I do in my everyday job so shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Gimli

Gah I forgot to post this! Its been a very busy week.

Last Thursday I bolted out of work. Nice to no have to think about it for 4 days. Picked up Svien in SF. We tootled up the highway and made it to Fargo around 11ish.
Eithni and TRM weren't there yet so we hung out at Perkins until they arrived.

Friday we got up late and then poked around downtown Fargo to find somewhere to eat. We ended up eating at the Pita Pit. Good but I have never seen them roll a pita like that before.
Eithni really wanted to go to the Hjemkost center so we played tourist. I never watched the movie about the viking ship last time I was up. LOl crazy 80's style. Don't miss those days.
We had a nice guided tour of the stave church. We looked around for a bit more and then hit the highway.
The boarder crossing wasn't too bad. Bit of a wait and Svien was a little coy about how many beers he had a long. But they let us cross without hinderance. The highways north of Winnipeg had heavy traffic. Everyone heading to the lake for the weekend.
We made it to Gimli about 7. We ate at the Europa, greasy spoon palace. Eithni and I both ordered cheese burgers and thats not really what we got. Burger buired in chili. i couldn't see much cheese. Moutain of fries. I think it was about 4 potatoes worth. It was good but not really what i was after.
Got to site and settled in. Went to war Court then hung out.

Saturday was a beautiful day. Made even better by french toast and snausages. mmmm. It was a nice morning to chill. I had asked Kol to bring her ball winder so I could ball up some skeins I had. Which was good since the yarn was a mess/a bit sticky or both. Took much less time with the winder than it would have done by hand. Now I have to decide what I am going to do with my snape, griffindor, and Irish wool yarn.

Court was lovely. Congrats to HE Doodie and HE Evil Eric!

The bugs were horrid in the evening so the Perudo set was pulled out and more victims were sucked into the fun. Thunderbunny was victorious for both rounds.

Sunday was more of the same. Knitting, enjoying the sunshine, grumbling about bugs, doing the flail to keep them off. I got fed up with them late afternoon and decided it was time for a nap. Huzzah for screened in cabins. After supper I tagged along with Johann and family to get ice cream in town. Such a nice treat!

Monday was the sad day to pack up and leave. The trip home was rather uneventful. We had a super quick stop at the border. Made it home late which made for a sleepy Tuesday.

Previously in the Kingdom of Doom...

So yeah the slacker blogging continues... Let's see... what's been going down...

John and Red Caillie came down to have supper with Hagan and I at the the end of July. We went to Chae's. We had a lovely supper and I got Irish yarn and an interesting book mark. ;-)

My Gran had her 93rd birthday. We had a big party for her at my cousin's house. Good food and good times. Her house is fabo. Who knew they made screens that can be velcroed around the garage door opening so you can have a impromptu porch. Pretty cool!

I started watching Burn Notice. I love spy shows.

I had talked to Jess and Rue a few weeks about going to Mankato for St. Radegund's Fair. Markov (Phillip) had the weekend off and wanted to go too.

Last Friday Jess and I drove up to Markov and Rue's. As much as I love getting up at 5 am to drive 4 hours, driving half way to Mankato and staying over at friends house is a better option. Rue was doing some sewing so it was a good chance for me to re-hem my white linen under dress and Jess did some more hand sewing on HRH's under dress. After sewing we watched Ken Branagh's Much ado about Nothing. Couldn't believe that they hadn't seen it before! Hit the hay after that.

Saturday we got up around my normal work week and we got ready and headed out. We took the Hannan truck so no extra driving for me. We got to site around 10:30. Its a huge place just a bit south of Mankato. The site is at the end of this tree lined road that is pretty but could be creepy, hell in the winter I bet. Inside jokes about Wisconsin werewolves, vampires and getting killed in the woods easily came to mind.

We got trolled in and then hung out with some of the nordskogenites. They had a nice spot in the shade to sit. You could see archery and fighting. It was quiet humid and people got melty melty if you moved too much. Watched the fighting for a bit but then went back up the hill since the breeze was better. Checked out the A&S exhibits. Lots of nice stuff. Probably would have sat in on the judging but it was nicer to be outside. kathysmurf showed up around 4ish on her way back to CO. Kathy was going to stay over in SF but I told her she could just as well follow me home and stay at my house. An hour closer and we could probably catch up with Hagan on Sunday.

Late afternoon got very hot and miserable. We got out of there around 6. We stopped along the way home to get pizza and then headed back. Kathy wanted to stop by to see Mr. Funk so we did but then we had to deal with construction woes trying to get out of town. Stupid construction. Blocked my escape from SF!!! Curses. Made it out tho and then home to bed.

We had talked to Hagan to see if he wanted to do breakfast. He did. Katsuo and Del came along since they were staying at Hagan's working on stuff over the weekend. We ate and then I headed home to do laundry and nap.

Going to Omaha for work trip thursday. Hopefully it won't be super hot. My Mp3 player is all charged so I should be good to go for the road hours.

Viking Village

I have been a real slacker about posting. Summer laziness. That's my excuse for not writing.

Earlier on this summer Jess had asked me if I was interested in going with her to the Viking Village fest at the Hjemkost Center in Moorhead. I have always wanted to go see it but normally when I think about it, I am on my way to or from an event. Not the best time to stop. So when she asked I said yeah that sounds fun.

In the meantime, a pin on one of my viking brooches broke and that just a good excuse to order a new set from Raymond's, right?

We drove to Fargo early Saturday morning and made it to the center by noon. They have booths set up doing all sorts of viking crafts and selling things. Danr had his forge set up and of course there is fighting, people were dyeing, weaving, you name it. Jess and I settled in with Kol and Arbon at the welcome/show and tell table. We had a nice sewing circle in between visitors. It was a lovely day to be outside. Wandered around a bit and took pictures of the church. It makes me want to re-visit the one in Rapid.

The fair wrapped up at 6pm Saturday night. Volunteers were treated to salad, pizza and ice cream. Some people went to see Harry Potter and some were hanging out around the fire at site. I opted to stay at site but my energy crashed after sunset. Was only interested in going to sleep. Watched people play after dark boccie ball. Arbon has two sets that light up. A bit mind blowing if you are tipsy. Finally it was declared time to go to sleep and we headed off to Toramassa's for bed. We pretty much hit pillows shortly after getting in the door.

Sunday the village was open Noon to 4. Bayard had arranged to have a church service for the volunteers in the stavekirk. Bayard's brother ran the service and he talked about what it was like for the early Christians. Very nice.

Sunday afternoon was a little hotter than Saturday and I don't think they got as many people as they hoped. It was still nice to sit out and enjoy the weather. Things wrapped up at 4. Jess and I got our gear packed and headed off. All and all it was fun and a good time.

More pictures are on my flickr page.

Moorish Tavern

Go away for 4 days and everyone becomes Russian novelists! Sheeshh. Took forever to catch up on facebook and email but I think I am through it all. Still need to catch up on recorded tv.

I had a good trip with Tom and Heidi. We left Vermillion around 8 am on Thursday. Picked up Heidi in SF and didn't stop until Fargo for gas and lunch. The trip past Grand Forks was interesting. I had never been up that way before. We counted graineries. We made good time and got to site around 7. Checked in, dumped off stuff and went to Bottineau for supper. We stopped at the Pizza Inn for Mexican food. Its pretty good. I had a quesadilla that was about the size of a small pizza! It was at the restaurant where Heidi got two texts that Micheal Jackson was dead. Crazy that. We ate and headed back to site. We bummed around a bit, got our beds made and such. Sat around in the dorms. They have big cabin doors kind of like the ones at Gimli but no stairs and more beds. I found a bed that wasn't a bunk. Yay no bonking of heads. The bed was softer than I am used to so that was an adjustment and I am always concerned I am going to roll over and out of bed since i am used to my full size bed. We went to bed early since it had been a long old day and we had two days to visit with everyone.

Friday morning we got up and went into town for breakfast at the Family bakery. Its a nice homey place. I like it because they have fried potatoes!! I purchased some donuts on the way out. So miss the donut shop that used to be in Vermillion. Then we stopped the grocery and walmart for a few things. Headed back to site and I got in a shower and got garb on. Spent most of the day in the dining hall hanging out with people and knitting a bit. Trying to think what else I did but mostly sit around. Late afternoon got talking to Tiff about Seneschal stuff. She is our regional seneschal. She was thinking of convincing the Bismark group to put in a bid to host spring crown. She asked if I would come along for support. Sure why not and besides nice to go visit. Anyway after the discussion was over, I hung out and got delicious brownies and ice cream that they made with dry ice. During this it started to rain. Hung out there for a bit and then when it finally stopped went back up to the dining hall and Kol arrived. By then, Heidi and Tom wanted to go to dinner so we all went down the road a bit to one of the lake restaurants. It was okay. No great shakes but food good. Went back and hung about in the dining hall.

Saturday was super lazy and laid in bed for a long time. Ate donuts that never got around to eating. Still good so you know the bakery is kick ass. Got dressed and up. Hung out more in the feast hall with peeps. Handed over one of my hats for the silent auction. Figured it was for a good cause. Saturday we basically hung out, watched it rain, and hung out some more. Got to see Robin's staples. Wow ouchies. Feast was very tasty. Much good food. After feast we hung out, drinking and telling of old stories.

Sunday drive home was uneventful. We had breakfast at the Family Bakery and then stopped in Grand Forks for a bit of a rest. Dropped Heidi off and got back to Verm about 8.

This week should be short. Today I have off to recover from my trip and I have Friday off due to the fourth. Yay for 3 day weeks!

Catch up and Bardic Madness

To say the doldrums of summer has set in would be a vast understatement. The last couple of weeks there has been bupkiss to write about so I haven't. Work has left me rather bereft of good thoughts so ehhh. Mental doldrums and insomnia hasn't helped either but it will work itself out sooner or later.

On a better note Bardic Madness was in Sioux Falls this weekend and that was rather fun. Hagan and Asa rode up with me. Not a whole lot of people but a good time none the less. It was good to see everyone who came. Challenges were fun to listen too and I participated in a few. Painted a scroll blank, visited and basically hung out. Feast was Russian themed and very good. Several people were super excited. Things got cleaned up and most everyone headed over to Rick's in Brandon for the post revel. Spent a few hours there. After the fire dancing was done, several people insisted I stay for that, Asa and I went home.

Pictures of the event are posted on my flickr page.

Sunday was Father's Day and went home to see Dad and the rest of the fam. My niece was staying the weekend so things had been busy there. Everyone else must have been tired too since a hour or so after dinner everyone was taking a nap. I decided to be a sheep and have one too. Nice and cool down the basement.

Hot and stormy this week. Very glad the AC at home and work is working just fine. Yay for that.