Travelling Time and Space

The world around me resembles a blasting furnace. It's a searing 89F and it officially feels like 98F. This weekend at Coronation will be bathed in sweat and misery.

Oy :o/

God have mercy on us! 

So for the past three days we have been more or less locked up at home thanks to "Fay". No school, no public library and slowly but surely we're developing a nice case of cabin fever. 1800 sqft are not big enough for a 5 y/o and me for this long and we both miss going outside, seeing friends and discovering the world.

Right now we're waiting for a light break in the pouring rain to go out to hop a few puddles. Fay is still noodling about and just can't seem to get her fat @$$ out of Florida. I can see the creek - usually safely ensconced in an oldfashioned canal with columned railings - spreading across the park from the dry vantage spot on our front porch.I don't think it'll rain enough for it to leave the park but it's close enough to create a "waterfront property" feeling in the middle of downtown. Hubby called back after leaving this morning and declared our neighborhood an island, heh. Several streets around us are flooded and cut off tand it takes some maneuvering to get where you want to go.

Nothing more happened, just lots of wind and rain, and we're doing fine. There wasn't even so much as a flicker in our electricity supply and we even had access to Comcast on demand which doesn't work reliably at the best of days (imagine our surprise when it worked during the worst of the storm).

The worst thing about my case of cabin fever is that it sucks me clear of any kind of creative energy. All I want to do is sleep. But I have scrolls to finish for next week and plenty of ideas about what I -could- do ... bleargh.

Let's get over and done with this storm and get back to work! 

Finndragon, our little baby boy, must have grown overnight. Monday was his first day in Kindergarten and yesterday he traveled on a real school bus for the first time in his life.

There he goes, all grown up and ready to conquer the world

We love his school and so does he. So of course it's a bummer that darling dear Tropical Storm "Fay" is putting a speed bump into this week - today and tomorrow our County schools remain closed. Bah!

People seem to be bored beyond belief with this year's summer which is the only way I can explain the incredible excitement about Fay. Finndragon with his 4 years can tell me that F is the 6th letter in our alphabet so we have happily ignored 5 storms before the current one, five storms strong enough to warrant a name from the hurricane list 2008 and this is the first that people started running around like headless chicken for.

If you live in Florida and you aren't prepared for a possible hurricane since June 1st you need to be rapped with a rolled up newspaper for being needlessly stupid. Or, perhaps, you enjoy wrestling with other crazies over basic foods and water in supermarkets a day before a storm, I don't know. I just like being prepared and having the peace of mind of knowing that I have time to leisurely watch a storm and its development, not having to waste my time with last minute runs to get my stuff together.

Be prepared.

Have a plan. 

Keep your calm.

And use the National Hurricane Center web page at www.nhc.noaa.gov for your updates and not a crazed local news station.

What happens at Pennsic, stays at Pennsic.

This is not just true for any kind of escapades, but appears to apply to the general experience as well. For some odd reason it just doesn't feel real. I was there, I have the photos, stories, tan and merchandise to show for but other than that it feels like an otherworldly experience, insubstantial and fleeting.Maybe that's why we have to do it everey year anew?

So what is this Pennsic War I'm taking about?

The Pennsic War is the largest annual gathering of members of the Society for Creative Anachronism, held every summer at Cooper's Lake Campground in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. Two of the Society's 19 kingdoms - the East and the Middle - fight against each other and there's a whole collection of other activities from classes to shopping to simple socializing. General attendance ranges in the 10,000s spanning at least 3 generations.

This year I went for the first time since I joined the SCA and attended what is referred to as the "war week", the second week of the event. I kept a journal throughout our stay at Pennsic, to sort my thoughts, to record my experiences and to keep track of my spending :o) and I'm glad I did because it adds another evidence to my list of things that make this experience real.

The weather this year was fabulous. After last year's flood and rain in previous years this year was bright and bathed in sunshine with pleasant temperatures - spring-y to the average Trimarian, really - and only occasional thundershowers which aided more in keeping the site from turning into a dust desert than stirring up the dreaded Pennsic mud. We left Thursday, July 31st dividing up the 14h drive into two chunks over two days with a comfortable overnight stay at a hotel on the way. The car, a rental Toyota Highlander, turned out to be much smaller than anticipated but thanks to some seriously divine packing fu we were able to pack everything into it, including our loot on the way back. Nice car, by the by, even if the cargo space wasn't all that great. We arrived on site on Friday ate afternoon, sailed through gate and reservations and found our way easily down to Trimaris' kingdom encampment. After a little shuffling the tent about we settled on a spot, pounded in the stakes and moved in.

So what did I do at Pennsic, you might ask?

Well, I was doubtful that I had any business at Pennsic as I told hubby on Thursday morning before leaving: I don't party, I don't drink, I don't fight, I hate getting wet and/or cold. Hubby laughed and told me to go and have a fun time. He was right. I had a great time :o) I walked a lot needing to see everything with my own eyes. Every morning I woke before the familiar sounds of the honey sucker cleaning the porta-potties, got dressed and moseyed over to camp to have breakfast. Julianna and Philippe ran a beautiful kitchen, a kitchen that made you want to move right in and live there. I'm really surprised I lost 3 pounds during war considering how enarmored I was with Philippe's cooking.Then I was off to take classes, nose through the many merchants or find a nice shaded spot to sit and watch the coming and going of the many people on site. My timing for trips to the battlefield needed improvement: I usually managed to show up to the second "Kaboom" from the cannon heralding the end of the fighting.

Here's the list of classes I attended, in no particular order:

1. Above the neck - Renaissance hats
2. How to recruit in the SCA
3. 15th century Italian clothing: A guide to Gamurre
4. Classic Cryptology: Codes and Cyphers through Antiquity
5. 15th century Italian clothing: Accessories
6. 15th century Italian clothing: Giornea, Cioppa and Mantella
7. Late period beekeeping as redacted from two period manuscripts
8. 16th century German women's hats
9. An in-persona encampment: the enchanted ground 
10. A Ball from Ulm 1503
11. Cascarda Favorites: 16th century Italian Dance
    
12. Beginning Sprang
13. Relics and reliquaries: fun with body parts
14. Review of medieval and Renaissance German cookbooks
    

I also went shopping a little and consider merchants' row one of the nicest places at Pennsic because of the atmosphere. This is what it looks like at 8am

Isn't it pretty? Slowly people will begin to fill the streets between tents while merchants ready their wares. Then you can hear laughter and voices, the jingling of belts and the tuning of instruments as musicians prepare to play up for the entertainment of those braving the temptation of the many stalls.

I bought small cast pewter buttons as well as leaf-shaped bezants, a small laurel pin with a flying pig attached to it from Billy and Charly, found a dozen skeins of silk at the Fabric Dragon for a future project and splurged on a beautiful glass and a fabulicious tablecloth at Historic Enterprise. Add to that some pigments and oakgalls from Master John and two toys and a t-shirt from Claus the toymaker and you have the extent of my shopping spree. Oh, I almost forgot my new lantern that I picked up at .... *scratches head* I forgot where. Something or other forge ....

No excessive shopping by any means but partially that was because a lot of the things I saw were of no interest to me and those that were tended to be a bit pricey and warranted a bit more thought. I was not all that impressed by the choice of merchandise offered at Pennsic but then again I'm an avid and happy online shopper so I don't feel that all the cool things are out of reach with Pennsic being the only opportunity to get your hands on it.

One thing I really truly enjoyed was socializing with members of my own kingdom who I do not hang out with on a regular basis.Mornings spent in the kitchen reading the Pennsic Independent together and our meals together rank really high on my list of favorite  things I did at Pennsic. One of the loveliest afternoons I spent in camp stitching happily away at a piece of linen turning it into a veil so I could wear my 14th century cotehardie the next day while chatting with everybody who didn't venture off to the top of the hill. Just us swamplords in the bog having a good time :o) 

I also had the chance to spend some time with my ever elusive Laurel (while I kept running into people from Trimaris all the time and even managed to say hello in person to a few internet acquaintances finding him was as tricky as getting a good photo of the monster of Loch Ness, natch). next time I'll bring duct tape, I swear :o)

So, all together Pennsic was -awesome-. The weather was fantastic, the tent held up fabulously, I was comfortable, well fed and loved and I enjoyed myself immensely.

So much, I'm really considering doing it again, next time with hubby 'cause I've got to show him all of the cool things. If only there was a way around doing laundry .... sigh