Apparently for the last few years, before we became a Barony, a group of people from our area have been going up and they work the gate that lets people in to the event. For freeing up members of the local Barony, Dragon's Laire, we have been paid for our services a portion of the event's proceeds. Some of the normal group of people that have attended were not able to go up this year, and I kind of think we had the smallest group that did go. It was just the Baron and Baroness, who originally planned to bring their two teen kids and didn't. Eoghan and Maghreid's family with their three girls and their friend Heather with her three kids with Brandon and I going. We had Jenna, a very new member to the SCA also join us in camping as a last minute addition.
I had volunteered to organize the land grab for the Baronial Encampment. So had to get the tent dimensions from everyone going and then figure out the best configuration and how much land would be needed to fit that. I came up with a number and communicated it up to the landocrat for the event. Then waited. Then got an email from him and how he wanted the information provided and fed that back to him. Then waited. Then a few days before the actual event heard from Eoghan that he was going to need space for an extra tent - oh no! So contacted the landocrat to let him know and was assured that we had 'ample space' and that it would not be an issue. When we got up there, surprisingly we were the first there (Eoghan had said when they were planning on leaving and we left after that) and saw the space, I was very dismayed. It was the size of a postage stamp! Luckily we were on the edge of a 'fire lane' that we could push into a bit, as far as 'the tree' but we weren't supposed to spread out towards the road because that was supposed to be for another clan. Oh my!
Danni (aka Nidda) found us and after hugs explained that the person in charge of land was doing it for the first time and they hadn't had anyone look over his plans beforehand, so I cut him some slack after hearing this. Danni, or Nidda, is the Kingdom Bardic Champion. She won with her puppeteering. She's also become an apprentice under our Baroness. We met her last year when her and her husband Mike, or Caius at Carnivale. She had a very cool dress last year and this year. They live in Dragon'a Laire region, Port Orchard, where I spent a few years as a child.
So my plan was to get our pavilion up first so that could be a defining outer corner if need be on side. Did I mention that our space had a most definite slope to it? Oh yea, trying to find a way to sleep so that you weren't sliding or rolling down hill - joy!
Thankfully, we did have our pavilion up and one of our pop-ups by the time Eoghan and family arrived. Brandon helped them set up their four sleeping tents (remember these are period tents, like these) and one like this, not something you see in most campgrounds) and cooking tent. Our space shrunk further and I was having kittens concerned that there was no space left for the Baron and Baroness and their two kids and I was going to fail at what should have been a fairly simple task. Thankfully, it turns out, Refr and Svava opted to leave the teens at home with grandma. So it was the two of them and Geoffrey that we had to help get setup in the dark of the night when they arrived sometime after 10pm. We had also double-checked with the landocrat and we could extend out into the space alongside our area closer to the road. Whew! We only set up their tents in the dark and waited until morning for their 'Dragonwing'.
The dragonwing is the long one with red poles on the right. I can't find a manufacturer of it, so not truly sure if that's the correct name for it or just what the owners call it. ;-) You can see our pavilion and the green and black round one that was on loan from the Iron Ring household.
Here I am working the gate Saturday morning with Jenna on my right handing our the program and stamping hands, I took money and left Baroness Svava with dealing with campers, but also taking money. I had it coming in from both sides and had to keep it all straight! I'm still learning how to use my French Press coffee maker for camping and don't think I'm getting all the caffeine yet from it.
Since we had Leeloo, Brandon and I took turns working gate. He actually took over for Geoffrey and directed traffic. Usually there is a Booster club that does that, but there was a miscommunication and they didn't show up until Sunday.
After he got done working we walked around and took a look at the Arts and Science demos that were setup, Baron Refr was doing a cooking one:
I was also pointed in the direction of the person using a 'spinning wheel' as a wood lathe by Brandon:
The weight on the front of the treadle is what helps spin the wheel.
More of the A&S village
Looking down at the tourney area from the Merchant's hill.
Looking across to the tourney field and where Court was going to be held later in the day.
View towards Hood Canal from the top of our Encampment.
We had clouds, we did have rain showers Friday and Saturday. We also had sun and clear skies so that we could see the almost full moon rise Saturday night. There was a campfire and bunny marshmallow roasting. Lisa is a riot to hear her get ready to roast her bunny marshmallow. She must be an awesome Campfire leader!
We were also surrounded by pirates on two sides and they did get most loud and boisterous in their carousing. Sleep was a bit of a challenge for some. I know I was awoken a few times but managed to go back to sleep until early morning.
I opted out of staying for Court on Saturday because the dogs at the event had stressed Leeloo out. She really did not like a big poodle and there was a black lab and a few corgis, her trigger dogs. Throw in a teenage girl with a stuffed wolf toy (bigger than her) with a growling face who insisted on walking back and forth in front of us with it and I was ready for a break from people. Jenna came back to camp with us and soon Leeloo was napping, and we were reading. There may have been some napping by the both of us while holding our books, but there's no proof. ;-)
Sunday, Brandon and Jenna worked gate again for awhile before being sent off to wander around. I had stayed in camp and started packing things up, but I do admit that I tried to take another nap here. There was limited success. Much better at packing. We weren't rushing to get things packed and also stayed after we were all packed in the car and trailer to help Eoghan take down their tents so they could finish up their packing. I think we left around 4pm and made it down to the Olympia area before stopping for fuel and food. We were back home by 8pm and I wasn't speeding! An unload of the car and pushing the trailer to the side of the house for unpacking tonight and we called it a day.
We had originally planned to leave June Faire and stay the week at my step-parents cabin by Skykomish, then head towards home and stop off at Honey War in Olympia. Frankly, even with the week of loafing at the cabin, that would have been too much for me. So no Honey War this year, we'll put it on the calendar for next year instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment