Dragon's Mist Defender's Tourney 2011

As previously mentioned, I dropped Brandon off Thursday night after work in Vernonia where the event was going to occur. This allowed him to setup the encampment and socialize with others who also came out early, and me to have the car on Friday so I could get back out there from Sock Summit (I'd been MAXing it in and back).  The spoiled view also said that I would arrive to a campsite almost fully up and functioning. He left the decorating/placement of kitchen stuff to me.

You can't see Dawn-Marie's or Andrea's tents but here's the pop-ups and our pavilion:

Dawn-Marie traded her sewing services for gate entry and meals. She made me sleeves and a caul to go with my former wedding dress. She added some length to the skirt and lowered the neckline. I now need to make one of my chemise a square neck so that I'm not having to fuss with it all the time. I have more garb that needs to be made, I'm definitely going to ask for help with them!

Dawn-Marie and Andrea getting the sleeves all in place and looking pretty.

Caul made from the same material as the sleeves

Showing that the sleeves are fully reversible. Dawn-Marie and Andrea tell me that I can add button to the tops and bottoms of each of the stripes to make the sleeves more fancy and look like the stripes are attached with the buttons. I'll have to find out what kind I can use that won't also dig into me. ;-)

More cleavage! Also means a sunburn if you don't remember to sunscreen. Pretty sleeves! Dawn-Marie also says we can tuck in the sides a bit to give a bit more form for the dress. I'll still need to wear a bra.

Leeloo likes camping and staying in the tent and now the pavilion. Brandon was able to get three more rugs from a work sample sale that will make the floor of the tent. We have the tarp down, but I hate the sound of walking on plastic.

Our encampment is a work in progress. We have ideas of creating curtains that can go up on the sides of the pop-ups to allow privacy in the kitchen area but also shade. I'll be on the hunt for baskets for storage and Brandon will be making cook boxes that will be work/storage areas so that the tables can be used in other ways. I absolutely want to get a collapsible garment rack or two, but also free up or get more totes for storing/carrrying garb. I hate having wrinkles!

We all worked the gate at some point during the event. I cook but also got away for for a "Fire Cooking" class taught by Eulalia, I've pointed to her blog for some past recipes and the mead. I learned that while I have interest in doing period recipes, not so much with the fire cooking. It's not my idea of fun being stuck in camp all weekend long babysitting a fire.  Learned cool things though and glad I took it!

Fire cooking class. We made gingerbread and cheese gnocchi - yummy!

 The gingerbread was made by heating up the honey to soft-ball stage (we didn't get it exactly there but close - no candy thermometer to test) and then mix in ground ginger and long pepper and add in dried bread crumbs (apparently sourdough is really really good with this recipe). Let cool until you can roll into balls with your fingers. We learned that it helps to have a water dipping bowl handy so that the honey doesn't cause the bread to just stick to your fingers. Eat warm or cold. The cheese gnocchi was simply ricotta cheese, egg and flour mixed together then dropped into boiling water. Really more like a dumpling as it came out. Then sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Brandon took a Baking Bread in Dutch Oven class. The instructor's fire pit is a cool tripod setup with a welder's apron underneath that allows him to use it even though it doesn't meet the 18 inch requirement for fires. I learned where to buy charcoal to use in them. ;-)

Brandon got over to the archery field. Caterina is all in purple in front.

Andrea tried her hand at throwing - spears, axes and I think knives.  She discovered she likes it, but it really works out your arm when you aren't used to it.

Frederick the Reckless head of Fire and Steel

Another two nights of Fire and Steel. They were using us as practice for Sea Dogs. The first night we didn't have drummers (very strange) and the second night they just opted to go with their planned music to practice with.

We all agreed the event wasn't long enough. We had the first Bardic competition that went well. The weather was sunny with a breeze that kept things from becoming unbearably hot. There were lots of good conversations with people, some people were drinking, I was just trying to get enough sleep. ;-)

This will be our last Defender's Tourney. We are changing from a Shire to a Barony. So we also had a Baron and Baroness Q&A with the three couples that want to be those roles. Brandon is apprenticing to the Baron of Mountains Edge, the next nearest Barony to us, for woodworking. He was strongly encouraging Brandon to attend the Sport of Kings coming up later in the month. I thought we might day trip it, but Brandon thinks that he may need to be more available to the Baron, so will be camping. It's up by Trojan park and I've heard there are tons of mosquitoes and that just doesn't sound like fun for me, and there aren't any A&S classes I'm interested in taking, so I'll stay home and have a nice quiet weekend. We may day trip to Autumn War, but I need to talk to the A&S Autocrat to find out class details. There are possibilities but there may be overlap in class times so knowing what will be taught is important. It's a couple hours drive north and no potable water, so I don't want to camp for the weekend.

I reorganized the three main kitchen boxes and made room for things, but I need to do more to be happy with it. I'm not sure if that will happen until I get those cook boxes. lol I'll still do the standard re-washing of the dishes and get them back to where they should be. Cool tip we found out was to use those singleton socks that have been looking for their lost mates as covers for our potter cups. What an awesome idea!!