Smouldering Arrow
Sep. 2nd, 2018 09:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaThis weekend was the fourth Smoldering Arrow SCA event, which, while I had never heard of it before, appears from context to be a Drachenwald archery event that rotates to different parts of the Kingdom, and is always a four day event, even when it doesn't fall on a holiday weekend. It was held in Reengarda this time, only a 1 hr 45 minute drive south of me, so, of course, I went, even though I am not doing any archery, and, given that one needs to go out and stand in the sun in order to do it, I am not likely to.
I worked a couple of hours Thursday morning, then packed and loaded the car, went to uni and met Johan for one last acroyoga session before he returns to Storuman. Some of the others from Phire were in the room preparing for the fire show they would be doing that evening, so I was able to give Villiam some of the black currant pie crumble that he had helped me pick berries for and make the day before (but didn't get to eat as he ran out of time before he had to go to his gaming session) and he gave me his sleeping gear and jester costume to take along to the event, where he would meet me in a couple of days. Then I picked up my friend Louise at 16:00. This got us to site reasonably soon after site opened, and no one had yet chosen a sleeping spot in the upstairs room, so I grabbed the corner for my mattress and spread out Villiam's camping mat next to my mattress to reserve him a spot and put my sheepskins atop it, which gave me a nice extra area to use the first couple of days.
The first evening I would up talking with one guy, Max, whom I had previously met in passing, but hadn't really gotten a chance to get to know. We were both tired and kept yawning at one another. Eventually I commented that since no one was singing and no one was massaging me, I should just give up and go to bed. To which he replied "well I could massage you", whereupon I promptly moved around the table and sat on the floor at his feet, and got a nice massage. Then he lay down on my sheepskin (which I had brought downstairs to to yoga on earlier), so I gave him a massage. At which point one of the Finnish ladies asked if there was a queue, and so I gave her one too, and then she worked on my shoulders. Then Pól, one of the grand master archers, visiting from Ireland, asked if I would walk on his back, so I did (which pushed all kinds of things audibly back into place), and then he massaged my back (he is really strong!). After that I sat and visited with folk a bit longer, but then decided that three massages in one evening was good enough, and I went up to sleep at about 0:35.
Friday morning I got up a bit after 07:00, which gave me time to do some sit-ups before they served breakfast at 08:00. When everyone else went outside to archery stuff I went upstairs, got out my computer, and spend a couple of hours working. I put the computer down a bit before noon, as that was when lunch was scheduled to be served. However, there being a break in Archery, the Frostheim Bågskyttsmafia” had their juggling toys out, so I joined them for a bit. First I introduced Max to acroyoga—he isn’t flexible enough to lay down and put his feet straight up in the air, but he often tosses around feed bags for his livestock that are nearly as heavy as I am, so he had no problems letting me fly like superman on his shoulder. Then I practiced some hand stands and borrowed some juggling. Lunch was finally served at half past, so we put the toys away and went in to eat. After lunch I got out my dulcimer and played for a bit. Then I went upstairs and tried to work again, but only managed about 15 minutes when I decided that I needed a nap, and slept for about 15 minutes. Then I went downstairs and hung out with folk. They served dinner at just after 17:00, so I was still hungry, and I am glad I was, since it was definitely designed to appeal to me: Rice cooked in too much vegetable broth (or chicken broth for the meat-eaters), and then thickened with lots of almond meal till the rest of the liquid is absorbed, and finally mixed with some quorn (I would also have been happy with the food if they had left out the quron, but I don’t mind eating it, either), or chicken for the meat eaters. It was really yummy. There were only two vegetarians on site, and the cook made more than we needed, so I happily put the left overs in the fridge, and continued eating it when I got hungry for the rest of the event, and even got to take home the last bit, so I know what tomorrow’s lunch will be).
I was tired again fairly early that evening, and did my yoga (with a friend) around 21:20. I would have happily gone to bed directly after yoga, but David and Caroline hadn’t arrived yet, and since I had spent some time rearranging furniture in the upstairs room (moving a table out so we could put Louise’s extra tall air mattress against the wall, thus freeing up space for David and Caroline’s double bed), I wanted to stay up to show them where their sleeping spot was. They finally arrived just after midnight (not only had he worked that evening but the company’s annual Surströmming party was that evening, and, as he has just accepted a job elsewhere, he thought it would be a good idea to attend and get the chance to talk to his co-workers in a social setting one more time before leaving), and as soon as I showed them were to set up I went straight to sleep.
Saturday morning I slept in till nearly 08:00, enjoyed some of that yummy leftover rice and almonds for breakfast. My back was hurting a bit from the mattress I was sleeping on, so I asked Pól if he would be able to work on it again. He said yes, after the morning’s horseback archery demonstration. So I took my sewing project outside and watched the demo, which was quite impressive. The guy has clearly put in lots of hours shooting at things from the back of a galloping horse. After the demo most of the archers (including Pól) wanted to talk with the guy who had done the demo, so I did some yoga (which helped my back a bit), and went upstairs and worked for about 45 minutes, till it was time for lunch. After lunch I did a bit more yoga, some sewing, and then took an hour nap.
Then I helped people decorate the feast hall, a round barn on the property, which has a really tall ceiling, but a couple of solid timber beams that cross the room at about half way up. Max asked me if I would be willing to stand on his shoulders to attach a string of pennants to each of the beams, to make an arch above of/in front of high table. I thought this sounded fun, but since standing on someone’s shoulders is still rather scary to me (I really prefer three points of contact), I needed to do the climbing up there against the wall. The back wall was a bit too lacking in hand-holds for my taste, so I climbed up at the front wall, which had a high window frame I could hold on to as I climbed. Those beams turn out to be at a good height to hold on to above my head as I stand on Max’s shoulders, so he walked slowly across the room, with me standing on him, and moving my hands, one step at a time, along the beam. Eventually we got to the place we wanted the pennants, so Pernilla handed me a hammer and nail, and I attached the first end of the pennant. Then I climbed down Max’s body to the ground. He decided that while he didn’t mind at all my standing on his shoulders while walking across the room, it was a bit much to have me up there while he was standing still, so he went on a quest for another tall, strong, man for me to stand on, and soon returned with Mihal, one of the Irish visitors. Since there were now two tall men it wasn’t necessary to climb up at the wall, but instead I could just climb up right under where we needed to be, and use Max’s hand to hold onto till I was high enough to reach the beam. Shortly after we accomplished that the autocrat came in and told us where we could find a ladder, so the rest of the decorations were put up with that, which was also fun, but not as fun as climbing on people.
After the hall was decorated I went and changed out of tunic and trousers into my bliaut, because a pretty dress, with circlet and veil sounded more appropriate for court. After court I reported to the kitchen. Since I am not hungry in the evenings I volunteered to serve the feast. Since I was wearing my 12th century clothes, I also wore my pattens, which are kind of tall, which, given the length of my skirts, is a good thing. I wondered when I put them on how they would go, since I had twisted my ankle last spring, but for most of the running back and forth from the kitchen to the feast hall, I was fine. There was one time I started to slip off of the patten, but rather than twisting my ankle this time, all that happened was that the leather band holding it to my foot wound up bruising the top left side of my left food, which, while annoying, isn’t near as bothersome as twisting the ankle is.
During the feast I finally got Pól to work on my back, and after a bit of massage he rotate my arms a bit and then used his knee as a pressure point while tugging at my shoulders, which caused something in my spine to pop back into place loudly enough to hear it over the din of the conversation. After that I was about 1 cm taller and my back was much happier.
The feast, like many six course meals, wound up having more food than was needed, and by the time the saffranspannkaka* was served, just after 20:00, not so many people were hungry, so there was plenty of that to save for breakfast the next day. However, of course, the whipped cream to go with it, ran out. Therefore I told the cook that I would be happy to buy more cream when I went to town to pick up Villiam later that evening. However, by the time he managed to reach me (for some reason my bluetooth adaptor quit talking to my phone, so I didn’t hear him try to call at 20:50) it was 21:40, and the store was soon closing, so I sent him to the store to buy the cream as I drove in to get him, and we managed to get back to site just as the kitchen served the Princess with a rainbow cake with unicorns and little crown sprinkles (a perfect gift for this Princess). After the feast the Frostheim “Bågskyttsmafia” got out their LED juggling balls and poi, so, of course Villiam got his LED poi out, too. His have a rainbow setting, so, of course, I had to call the Princess out to see it, and we had the fun of seeing him spinning the rainbow poi around while also juggling with three glowing balls (one each red, green, and blue). It was a really pretty effect.
By then we were getting a bit cold, so we returned to the hall and visited with a few folk, before getting too tired to stay up any later, and heading to bed at about 0:50.
Sunday morning I again got up a bit before 08:00 and promptly whipped the cream so that we could eat left over saffranspannkaka with cream and jam for breakfast. They also made waffles, which some people had with cream (I was happy with the saffranspannkaka, so I didn't bother with a waffle, even though I normally like them. Then Villiam and I went outside and did half an hour of acroyoga before going in to pack stuff. I got the car loaded fairly soon thereafter, and then spent the rest of the morning alternating between talking with people hand helping out with cleaning stuff. I also packed up to take home one of the loaves of bread (in addition to everything else she cooked over the weekend, the cook baked fresh sourdough bread for us every day), some saffranspannkaka and some of that yummy rice dish from lunch the day before.
We left site around 12:00, and I dropped Louise off at home just before 14:00. Villiam went back to my place to help me unload the car, and we had lunch relaxed a bit before going out to climb on rocks in the yard and then picking some black currants to eat for dessert. I dropped him off at home at 17:00 and went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Then I had popcorn and salad for dinner and went to the first session of Folk dance for the autumn, which was ever so much fun. Now it is much later than I want it to be, so I had better do my yoga and get to bed so that I can manage both work and unpacking after the event tomorrow.
*I am not certain what recipe they used this weekend, but here is a typical saffranspannkaka recipe:
Saffranspannkaka
2 dl porridge rice
4 dl water
Dash salt
1 liter milk
2 eggs
0.5 g saffron
1 dl chopped almonds
1 dl sugar
Cook the rice in the salted water for 10 minutes. Add the milk and cook an additional 45 minutes. Let it cool a little and then blend in the egg, almonds, saffron, and sugar. Pour into a cake pan and bake at 200 C for 20 to 30 minutes. Serve with whipped cream and berry jam.
I worked a couple of hours Thursday morning, then packed and loaded the car, went to uni and met Johan for one last acroyoga session before he returns to Storuman. Some of the others from Phire were in the room preparing for the fire show they would be doing that evening, so I was able to give Villiam some of the black currant pie crumble that he had helped me pick berries for and make the day before (but didn't get to eat as he ran out of time before he had to go to his gaming session) and he gave me his sleeping gear and jester costume to take along to the event, where he would meet me in a couple of days. Then I picked up my friend Louise at 16:00. This got us to site reasonably soon after site opened, and no one had yet chosen a sleeping spot in the upstairs room, so I grabbed the corner for my mattress and spread out Villiam's camping mat next to my mattress to reserve him a spot and put my sheepskins atop it, which gave me a nice extra area to use the first couple of days.
The first evening I would up talking with one guy, Max, whom I had previously met in passing, but hadn't really gotten a chance to get to know. We were both tired and kept yawning at one another. Eventually I commented that since no one was singing and no one was massaging me, I should just give up and go to bed. To which he replied "well I could massage you", whereupon I promptly moved around the table and sat on the floor at his feet, and got a nice massage. Then he lay down on my sheepskin (which I had brought downstairs to to yoga on earlier), so I gave him a massage. At which point one of the Finnish ladies asked if there was a queue, and so I gave her one too, and then she worked on my shoulders. Then Pól, one of the grand master archers, visiting from Ireland, asked if I would walk on his back, so I did (which pushed all kinds of things audibly back into place), and then he massaged my back (he is really strong!). After that I sat and visited with folk a bit longer, but then decided that three massages in one evening was good enough, and I went up to sleep at about 0:35.
Friday morning I got up a bit after 07:00, which gave me time to do some sit-ups before they served breakfast at 08:00. When everyone else went outside to archery stuff I went upstairs, got out my computer, and spend a couple of hours working. I put the computer down a bit before noon, as that was when lunch was scheduled to be served. However, there being a break in Archery, the Frostheim Bågskyttsmafia” had their juggling toys out, so I joined them for a bit. First I introduced Max to acroyoga—he isn’t flexible enough to lay down and put his feet straight up in the air, but he often tosses around feed bags for his livestock that are nearly as heavy as I am, so he had no problems letting me fly like superman on his shoulder. Then I practiced some hand stands and borrowed some juggling. Lunch was finally served at half past, so we put the toys away and went in to eat. After lunch I got out my dulcimer and played for a bit. Then I went upstairs and tried to work again, but only managed about 15 minutes when I decided that I needed a nap, and slept for about 15 minutes. Then I went downstairs and hung out with folk. They served dinner at just after 17:00, so I was still hungry, and I am glad I was, since it was definitely designed to appeal to me: Rice cooked in too much vegetable broth (or chicken broth for the meat-eaters), and then thickened with lots of almond meal till the rest of the liquid is absorbed, and finally mixed with some quorn (I would also have been happy with the food if they had left out the quron, but I don’t mind eating it, either), or chicken for the meat eaters. It was really yummy. There were only two vegetarians on site, and the cook made more than we needed, so I happily put the left overs in the fridge, and continued eating it when I got hungry for the rest of the event, and even got to take home the last bit, so I know what tomorrow’s lunch will be).
I was tired again fairly early that evening, and did my yoga (with a friend) around 21:20. I would have happily gone to bed directly after yoga, but David and Caroline hadn’t arrived yet, and since I had spent some time rearranging furniture in the upstairs room (moving a table out so we could put Louise’s extra tall air mattress against the wall, thus freeing up space for David and Caroline’s double bed), I wanted to stay up to show them where their sleeping spot was. They finally arrived just after midnight (not only had he worked that evening but the company’s annual Surströmming party was that evening, and, as he has just accepted a job elsewhere, he thought it would be a good idea to attend and get the chance to talk to his co-workers in a social setting one more time before leaving), and as soon as I showed them were to set up I went straight to sleep.
Saturday morning I slept in till nearly 08:00, enjoyed some of that yummy leftover rice and almonds for breakfast. My back was hurting a bit from the mattress I was sleeping on, so I asked Pól if he would be able to work on it again. He said yes, after the morning’s horseback archery demonstration. So I took my sewing project outside and watched the demo, which was quite impressive. The guy has clearly put in lots of hours shooting at things from the back of a galloping horse. After the demo most of the archers (including Pól) wanted to talk with the guy who had done the demo, so I did some yoga (which helped my back a bit), and went upstairs and worked for about 45 minutes, till it was time for lunch. After lunch I did a bit more yoga, some sewing, and then took an hour nap.
Then I helped people decorate the feast hall, a round barn on the property, which has a really tall ceiling, but a couple of solid timber beams that cross the room at about half way up. Max asked me if I would be willing to stand on his shoulders to attach a string of pennants to each of the beams, to make an arch above of/in front of high table. I thought this sounded fun, but since standing on someone’s shoulders is still rather scary to me (I really prefer three points of contact), I needed to do the climbing up there against the wall. The back wall was a bit too lacking in hand-holds for my taste, so I climbed up at the front wall, which had a high window frame I could hold on to as I climbed. Those beams turn out to be at a good height to hold on to above my head as I stand on Max’s shoulders, so he walked slowly across the room, with me standing on him, and moving my hands, one step at a time, along the beam. Eventually we got to the place we wanted the pennants, so Pernilla handed me a hammer and nail, and I attached the first end of the pennant. Then I climbed down Max’s body to the ground. He decided that while he didn’t mind at all my standing on his shoulders while walking across the room, it was a bit much to have me up there while he was standing still, so he went on a quest for another tall, strong, man for me to stand on, and soon returned with Mihal, one of the Irish visitors. Since there were now two tall men it wasn’t necessary to climb up at the wall, but instead I could just climb up right under where we needed to be, and use Max’s hand to hold onto till I was high enough to reach the beam. Shortly after we accomplished that the autocrat came in and told us where we could find a ladder, so the rest of the decorations were put up with that, which was also fun, but not as fun as climbing on people.
After the hall was decorated I went and changed out of tunic and trousers into my bliaut, because a pretty dress, with circlet and veil sounded more appropriate for court. After court I reported to the kitchen. Since I am not hungry in the evenings I volunteered to serve the feast. Since I was wearing my 12th century clothes, I also wore my pattens, which are kind of tall, which, given the length of my skirts, is a good thing. I wondered when I put them on how they would go, since I had twisted my ankle last spring, but for most of the running back and forth from the kitchen to the feast hall, I was fine. There was one time I started to slip off of the patten, but rather than twisting my ankle this time, all that happened was that the leather band holding it to my foot wound up bruising the top left side of my left food, which, while annoying, isn’t near as bothersome as twisting the ankle is.
During the feast I finally got Pól to work on my back, and after a bit of massage he rotate my arms a bit and then used his knee as a pressure point while tugging at my shoulders, which caused something in my spine to pop back into place loudly enough to hear it over the din of the conversation. After that I was about 1 cm taller and my back was much happier.
The feast, like many six course meals, wound up having more food than was needed, and by the time the saffranspannkaka* was served, just after 20:00, not so many people were hungry, so there was plenty of that to save for breakfast the next day. However, of course, the whipped cream to go with it, ran out. Therefore I told the cook that I would be happy to buy more cream when I went to town to pick up Villiam later that evening. However, by the time he managed to reach me (for some reason my bluetooth adaptor quit talking to my phone, so I didn’t hear him try to call at 20:50) it was 21:40, and the store was soon closing, so I sent him to the store to buy the cream as I drove in to get him, and we managed to get back to site just as the kitchen served the Princess with a rainbow cake with unicorns and little crown sprinkles (a perfect gift for this Princess). After the feast the Frostheim “Bågskyttsmafia” got out their LED juggling balls and poi, so, of course Villiam got his LED poi out, too. His have a rainbow setting, so, of course, I had to call the Princess out to see it, and we had the fun of seeing him spinning the rainbow poi around while also juggling with three glowing balls (one each red, green, and blue). It was a really pretty effect.
By then we were getting a bit cold, so we returned to the hall and visited with a few folk, before getting too tired to stay up any later, and heading to bed at about 0:50.
Sunday morning I again got up a bit before 08:00 and promptly whipped the cream so that we could eat left over saffranspannkaka with cream and jam for breakfast. They also made waffles, which some people had with cream (I was happy with the saffranspannkaka, so I didn't bother with a waffle, even though I normally like them. Then Villiam and I went outside and did half an hour of acroyoga before going in to pack stuff. I got the car loaded fairly soon thereafter, and then spent the rest of the morning alternating between talking with people hand helping out with cleaning stuff. I also packed up to take home one of the loaves of bread (in addition to everything else she cooked over the weekend, the cook baked fresh sourdough bread for us every day), some saffranspannkaka and some of that yummy rice dish from lunch the day before.
We left site around 12:00, and I dropped Louise off at home just before 14:00. Villiam went back to my place to help me unload the car, and we had lunch relaxed a bit before going out to climb on rocks in the yard and then picking some black currants to eat for dessert. I dropped him off at home at 17:00 and went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Then I had popcorn and salad for dinner and went to the first session of Folk dance for the autumn, which was ever so much fun. Now it is much later than I want it to be, so I had better do my yoga and get to bed so that I can manage both work and unpacking after the event tomorrow.
*I am not certain what recipe they used this weekend, but here is a typical saffranspannkaka recipe:
Saffranspannkaka
2 dl porridge rice
4 dl water
Dash salt
1 liter milk
2 eggs
0.5 g saffron
1 dl chopped almonds
1 dl sugar
Cook the rice in the salted water for 10 minutes. Add the milk and cook an additional 45 minutes. Let it cool a little and then blend in the egg, almonds, saffron, and sugar. Pour into a cake pan and bake at 200 C for 20 to 30 minutes. Serve with whipped cream and berry jam.
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Date: 2018-09-16 10:20 am (UTC)