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slowly back to work
I enjoyed the weekend, but acknowledge that it wasn't good for thesis progress, since I wound up spending Thursday getting ready for the road trip, then we were on the road from midnight Thursday evening to noon on Friday (including a stop for a nap for both of us, and a stop at a second hand store, where he bought some things for making knife handles, and some silverware for doing silver inlay in swords/axes.
That got us to site well before it opened, so we took another nap, and got up when the autocrats arrived. Friday evening we enjoyed hanging out with people (and I managed to get the gambeson done enough to wear, then did yoga and I went to bed around 22:00. Keldor, on the other hand, stayed up later, despite having done all of the driving (while I happily made progress on sewing my gambeson). Since I had gone to bed early on Friday, I wound up waking early on Saturday, so I used the time to mend the strap holding up my leg harness, which hadn't broken, yet, but was clearly about ready to break, so I riveted on a short extra bit of strap above and below the damaged area. I really need to completely replace the belt and straps--they were made from a second hand belt in the early 1990's. Now that the gambeson, fighting trousers, and quilted collar for under the gorget are done, I can start thinking about doing that, and all of the other upgrades the armour needs.
The armour more or less functional, I had time for breakfast and some yoga before the tournament. The day was cold and very windy. Therefore the did the court for the invocation of the lists indoors. When Keldor and I went up to present ourselves and fighter and consort for one another the prince and princess thanked us, and dismissed him to join the other entrants and bid me stay and kneel, and then presented me with Ljusorden (the order of the light, Nordmarks's arts and science award) for my enthusiastic participation in bardic arts, dance, and acrobatics at events.
The tourney went really quickly--they decided to do a full round robin list, so they had prepared in advance the list of who would fight who in each round, which meant that each fight begin promptly after the one before finished, and each round continued promptly after the one before, which meant that while it was really cold and windy we fighters stayed reasonably warm for the first part of the tournament. I did about as well as expected, given that I hadn't actually been in armor in months due to lack of time and not having gotten the gambeson etc. done before the event, which is to say everyone killed me, but I got to model the new pretty helmet my love made for me, as I fought, and died, for his honour. However, the new helmet was designed to be able to wear my hearing aids in side it, and, being patterned after the Vendel Valsgärde helm, has plenty of openings to let sound in. Guys, it was amazing. For the first time in my life, I could hear while fighting! I could talk to people between fights, and hear what they said! I totally recommend this. Now I just need to get glasses that are legal to wear while fighting (sports glasses), or contact lenses.
Keldor wasn't feeling on top of his game, with timing not working for him till after the tourney and during pickups, so he and I were the first two eliminated, and then they did a five person second round robin, since all of the other fighters had tied after the first one. Since I was no longer fighting at that point, I quickly became quite cold watching the next part of the tourney, even though my helmet was the only thing I took off (and I was wearing a coif--it wouldn't have been possible to be out in that wind wearing hearing aids without one).
Then the final round was between Valdamar and Erik Hane, the two people from whom I had gotten bruises during the tournament. They are both large fighters (Valdemar is pretty close to two meters tall, and while Erik isn't that tall, he is big), and very strong. When Erik hit me his sword first contacted my upper arm, right under the pauldron, and just over the top of the arm harness, and pivoted around to strike my back as well. I shouted "good", and he replied "wasn't that your arm?". I replied "också" (also), and everyone laughed. Perhaps the arm took enough of the force that the sword in the back might not have been a killing blow, but, believe me, it was good, and was happy to take it and not let him hit me again. When Valdemar hit me the sword contacted my sword arm, right on the shin bone. I called good arm, and then said since I can't switch due to not being able to hold a sword with my shield gauntlet, I would happily yield. Valdamar and the marshal both said I could just keep using the sword arm, but it was hurting enough I said that I would rather yield. Better arm armour is on my list of things that needs to be done.
After the tourney I went in to the hall, put out the knives and axes that Keldor and brought for the market (which many people admired, but no one chose to buy--we were not surprised--many of the items he has available are pattern welded and/or inlaid with bronze, and/or have decorative carving on the hilt, which upps the price), took off my armour, packed it, and got some lunch. Then the other fighters came in, and we soon wandered over to the other hall for a sauna.
After the sauna I returned to the main hall, and thought to take a nap. Then I realised that I had left the bag with my nålbinding project at the sauna building, so I switched back to outdoor shoes, put on my Viking coat, and walked back over. I got the bag, and then returned to the main hall, this time taking the scenic route through the forest and over the hill instead of taking the road. Then I noticed that the garter holding up my nålbinded socks was missing on the left leg. After checking the hall for it, I went back out and retraced my steps, without spotting the garter. Came out of the forest just after Keldor and one of the other fighters had walked past, so I called to them, and he accompanied me back to the sauna building (no garter there, nor on the road), and then back through the forest. When we came out of the forest in the parking lot of the hall he made his spot check and found the garter. Yay! But that used up time for a nap before court!
Investiture court went well. The new Prince and Princess hit the ground running, with awards to give out already, which is always a good thing (and kinda impressive, that they even had scrolls ready, given that they have so little time between tournament and investiture). It helps that Anna was the first Baroness of Aarnimetsä and has been Queen, so she knows how these things work. I wish that they had called for people to swear fealty to them, as I would have liked the chance to do so, but they didn't. I get the impression that that isn't often (ever?) done in Nordmark (I have not made it to every Coronet/Investiture here, and it is on a nine-month cycle, and the pandemic canceled a few, so there haven't been all that many I have been to, so I don't know if they ever let folk swear fealty during investiture court).
During the feast there were a few performances and much merriment. At one point I noticed Jovi and one of the jesters doing a little acroyoga out in the entry area, so I quickly changed out of the dress I had worn for court and put my Thorsberg trousers and a tunic on so I could join them. We did only one quick Candlestick before they went in for the next serving of food, but it was still worth the effort to change!
But given the early start to my day, I was feeling tired and started moving towards bed... and got distracted talking fighting with Erik Hane, who gave me a few lessons (fight like a boxer--moving your hands on the shortest possible path between the starting point and hitting the target, and the secret to moving someone much bigger than you are (him, for example), is to get low and then use the force of your legs to generate a push (which worked way better than I expected, given he is about twice my size). However, after that I went to bed, and managed to sleep before midnight.
The next morning it was pack, load the car, eat breakfast, take a couple of the left over boxes that were on offer, say goodbye to everyone, and start driving before 10:00 (I feel guilty that we don't stay to help clean the hall, but given the length of the drive, we didn't).
Long drives are more fun if one makes a date of it, so soon after we started driving we consulted the Swedish runestone map page to find a random one not far off the road home, choosing one that stands directly behind a very nice farm mansion that was built in 1816. We took a photo, and then started to walk back up to the car (we parked on the road, rather than driving up the nice tree lined long lane to the house).
However, before we'd gone more than a couple of meters we saw a group of people heading towards the stone. People we recognize! Four of our friends from the event, who also thought this stone to be located in a convenient location with respect to the road home. So we took a group photo and chatted at the stone a bit, during which time a guy came out of the house and explained that the 1816 inscription on the stone was from when the house was built. Back in the early 1800's people didn't think runestones were that special, so when they built the house they used the runestone for one of the door steps. During a more recent renovation they realized that that step was a runestone, so they stood it in the backyard, and used a plain stone to replace it in the steps. As one can read if one clicks through all the way to the detailed information on this stone, they painted in the runes in 1981, and again in 2005, to make them easier to see.
The other car full of people went to look for the other runestone in the area, and we decided to get back on the road. But as we started driving Keldor noticed an old oak tree that had come down, so he stopped to look, and found a large branch which still had some good wood, so he salvaged it. The farm right next to the oak had a sign saying "Vendel Gård", and while we know this isn't the location of the main Vendel grave finds, about 130 km to the north west, we still think that is cool, and the oak was thick enough to probably have dated from the Vendel period, and will likely make a good sword handel.
Our next stop was at the antique store associated with the Sala Silver Mine, which is a particularly good antique store, with lots and lots of interesting stuff to look at (we went home with a set of hand-forged shears for only 90 Kr (he couldn't make one that cheap--that would be less than 20 minutes work, and shears are much more than 20 minutes), and a small birch box that will be good for storing my old hearing aid with my helmet (while I trust the helmet to protect the hearing aids, I am nonetheless using the old ones when fighting, just in case).
The next stops were not as exciting, in part because it started snowing a bit before Gävle. Petrol and toilet at Tönnebro, toilet and a walk through the store just to stretch our legs at a random Biltema big box store (where we did buy more window washing fluid), a toilet stop at a gas station just before Sundsvall, and at grocery store in Örnskoldsvik (toilet, and buy more energy drink), and one side of the road stop about 45 minutes from home. The company on the drive was great, and I managed to change the sleeves on our new linen tunics--I had done them with straight arms, but we decided that it would be nice to taper them from the elbow to wrist so as to better fit under other tunics.
We got home at 22:30 and unloaded and put away only the bare minimum before doing yoga, taking a shower, and heading to bed.
Today I worked a little, did some laundry and vacuuming, took a nap, worked some more, took another nap, worked some more. Somewhere around there he got home from work, ate, and took a nap while listening to a documentary or something as I kept working, then he got up, I took a break to do yoga with him, and then I finished writing up the results for the sample I had done the data processing for this evening. By then it was midnight, and thought I would just do a "quick" write-up of the event. Now it is 02:00 and perhaps I should get some sleep before starting the next sample's data processing...
That got us to site well before it opened, so we took another nap, and got up when the autocrats arrived. Friday evening we enjoyed hanging out with people (and I managed to get the gambeson done enough to wear, then did yoga and I went to bed around 22:00. Keldor, on the other hand, stayed up later, despite having done all of the driving (while I happily made progress on sewing my gambeson). Since I had gone to bed early on Friday, I wound up waking early on Saturday, so I used the time to mend the strap holding up my leg harness, which hadn't broken, yet, but was clearly about ready to break, so I riveted on a short extra bit of strap above and below the damaged area. I really need to completely replace the belt and straps--they were made from a second hand belt in the early 1990's. Now that the gambeson, fighting trousers, and quilted collar for under the gorget are done, I can start thinking about doing that, and all of the other upgrades the armour needs.
The armour more or less functional, I had time for breakfast and some yoga before the tournament. The day was cold and very windy. Therefore the did the court for the invocation of the lists indoors. When Keldor and I went up to present ourselves and fighter and consort for one another the prince and princess thanked us, and dismissed him to join the other entrants and bid me stay and kneel, and then presented me with Ljusorden (the order of the light, Nordmarks's arts and science award) for my enthusiastic participation in bardic arts, dance, and acrobatics at events.
The tourney went really quickly--they decided to do a full round robin list, so they had prepared in advance the list of who would fight who in each round, which meant that each fight begin promptly after the one before finished, and each round continued promptly after the one before, which meant that while it was really cold and windy we fighters stayed reasonably warm for the first part of the tournament. I did about as well as expected, given that I hadn't actually been in armor in months due to lack of time and not having gotten the gambeson etc. done before the event, which is to say everyone killed me, but I got to model the new pretty helmet my love made for me, as I fought, and died, for his honour. However, the new helmet was designed to be able to wear my hearing aids in side it, and, being patterned after the Vendel Valsgärde helm, has plenty of openings to let sound in. Guys, it was amazing. For the first time in my life, I could hear while fighting! I could talk to people between fights, and hear what they said! I totally recommend this. Now I just need to get glasses that are legal to wear while fighting (sports glasses), or contact lenses.
Keldor wasn't feeling on top of his game, with timing not working for him till after the tourney and during pickups, so he and I were the first two eliminated, and then they did a five person second round robin, since all of the other fighters had tied after the first one. Since I was no longer fighting at that point, I quickly became quite cold watching the next part of the tourney, even though my helmet was the only thing I took off (and I was wearing a coif--it wouldn't have been possible to be out in that wind wearing hearing aids without one).
Then the final round was between Valdamar and Erik Hane, the two people from whom I had gotten bruises during the tournament. They are both large fighters (Valdemar is pretty close to two meters tall, and while Erik isn't that tall, he is big), and very strong. When Erik hit me his sword first contacted my upper arm, right under the pauldron, and just over the top of the arm harness, and pivoted around to strike my back as well. I shouted "good", and he replied "wasn't that your arm?". I replied "också" (also), and everyone laughed. Perhaps the arm took enough of the force that the sword in the back might not have been a killing blow, but, believe me, it was good, and was happy to take it and not let him hit me again. When Valdemar hit me the sword contacted my sword arm, right on the shin bone. I called good arm, and then said since I can't switch due to not being able to hold a sword with my shield gauntlet, I would happily yield. Valdamar and the marshal both said I could just keep using the sword arm, but it was hurting enough I said that I would rather yield. Better arm armour is on my list of things that needs to be done.
After the tourney I went in to the hall, put out the knives and axes that Keldor and brought for the market (which many people admired, but no one chose to buy--we were not surprised--many of the items he has available are pattern welded and/or inlaid with bronze, and/or have decorative carving on the hilt, which upps the price), took off my armour, packed it, and got some lunch. Then the other fighters came in, and we soon wandered over to the other hall for a sauna.
After the sauna I returned to the main hall, and thought to take a nap. Then I realised that I had left the bag with my nålbinding project at the sauna building, so I switched back to outdoor shoes, put on my Viking coat, and walked back over. I got the bag, and then returned to the main hall, this time taking the scenic route through the forest and over the hill instead of taking the road. Then I noticed that the garter holding up my nålbinded socks was missing on the left leg. After checking the hall for it, I went back out and retraced my steps, without spotting the garter. Came out of the forest just after Keldor and one of the other fighters had walked past, so I called to them, and he accompanied me back to the sauna building (no garter there, nor on the road), and then back through the forest. When we came out of the forest in the parking lot of the hall he made his spot check and found the garter. Yay! But that used up time for a nap before court!
Investiture court went well. The new Prince and Princess hit the ground running, with awards to give out already, which is always a good thing (and kinda impressive, that they even had scrolls ready, given that they have so little time between tournament and investiture). It helps that Anna was the first Baroness of Aarnimetsä and has been Queen, so she knows how these things work. I wish that they had called for people to swear fealty to them, as I would have liked the chance to do so, but they didn't. I get the impression that that isn't often (ever?) done in Nordmark (I have not made it to every Coronet/Investiture here, and it is on a nine-month cycle, and the pandemic canceled a few, so there haven't been all that many I have been to, so I don't know if they ever let folk swear fealty during investiture court).
During the feast there were a few performances and much merriment. At one point I noticed Jovi and one of the jesters doing a little acroyoga out in the entry area, so I quickly changed out of the dress I had worn for court and put my Thorsberg trousers and a tunic on so I could join them. We did only one quick Candlestick before they went in for the next serving of food, but it was still worth the effort to change!
But given the early start to my day, I was feeling tired and started moving towards bed... and got distracted talking fighting with Erik Hane, who gave me a few lessons (fight like a boxer--moving your hands on the shortest possible path between the starting point and hitting the target, and the secret to moving someone much bigger than you are (him, for example), is to get low and then use the force of your legs to generate a push (which worked way better than I expected, given he is about twice my size). However, after that I went to bed, and managed to sleep before midnight.
The next morning it was pack, load the car, eat breakfast, take a couple of the left over boxes that were on offer, say goodbye to everyone, and start driving before 10:00 (I feel guilty that we don't stay to help clean the hall, but given the length of the drive, we didn't).
Long drives are more fun if one makes a date of it, so soon after we started driving we consulted the Swedish runestone map page to find a random one not far off the road home, choosing one that stands directly behind a very nice farm mansion that was built in 1816. We took a photo, and then started to walk back up to the car (we parked on the road, rather than driving up the nice tree lined long lane to the house).
However, before we'd gone more than a couple of meters we saw a group of people heading towards the stone. People we recognize! Four of our friends from the event, who also thought this stone to be located in a convenient location with respect to the road home. So we took a group photo and chatted at the stone a bit, during which time a guy came out of the house and explained that the 1816 inscription on the stone was from when the house was built. Back in the early 1800's people didn't think runestones were that special, so when they built the house they used the runestone for one of the door steps. During a more recent renovation they realized that that step was a runestone, so they stood it in the backyard, and used a plain stone to replace it in the steps. As one can read if one clicks through all the way to the detailed information on this stone, they painted in the runes in 1981, and again in 2005, to make them easier to see.
The other car full of people went to look for the other runestone in the area, and we decided to get back on the road. But as we started driving Keldor noticed an old oak tree that had come down, so he stopped to look, and found a large branch which still had some good wood, so he salvaged it. The farm right next to the oak had a sign saying "Vendel Gård", and while we know this isn't the location of the main Vendel grave finds, about 130 km to the north west, we still think that is cool, and the oak was thick enough to probably have dated from the Vendel period, and will likely make a good sword handel.
Our next stop was at the antique store associated with the Sala Silver Mine, which is a particularly good antique store, with lots and lots of interesting stuff to look at (we went home with a set of hand-forged shears for only 90 Kr (he couldn't make one that cheap--that would be less than 20 minutes work, and shears are much more than 20 minutes), and a small birch box that will be good for storing my old hearing aid with my helmet (while I trust the helmet to protect the hearing aids, I am nonetheless using the old ones when fighting, just in case).
The next stops were not as exciting, in part because it started snowing a bit before Gävle. Petrol and toilet at Tönnebro, toilet and a walk through the store just to stretch our legs at a random Biltema big box store (where we did buy more window washing fluid), a toilet stop at a gas station just before Sundsvall, and at grocery store in Örnskoldsvik (toilet, and buy more energy drink), and one side of the road stop about 45 minutes from home. The company on the drive was great, and I managed to change the sleeves on our new linen tunics--I had done them with straight arms, but we decided that it would be nice to taper them from the elbow to wrist so as to better fit under other tunics.
We got home at 22:30 and unloaded and put away only the bare minimum before doing yoga, taking a shower, and heading to bed.
Today I worked a little, did some laundry and vacuuming, took a nap, worked some more, took another nap, worked some more. Somewhere around there he got home from work, ate, and took a nap while listening to a documentary or something as I kept working, then he got up, I took a break to do yoga with him, and then I finished writing up the results for the sample I had done the data processing for this evening. By then it was midnight, and thought I would just do a "quick" write-up of the event. Now it is 02:00 and perhaps I should get some sleep before starting the next sample's data processing...
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