Entry tags:
The first 3.5 days of Double Wars
We had been on ţrack to arrive on site right around the time that it officially opened on Friday (16:00). However, then we came to a construction zone where traffic was stopped. Google Maps showed it as a red zone on the road with a "+ 4 min" comment. However, the day was warm, and it turns out that the van's air conditioning doesn't work (this trip was the first time we needed it since we bought it last summer), so I suggested early in the wait that we just turn around and try another road. My beloved driver was willing to wait, so I took the car window cover, which we usually use to make it easy to remove snow, and to prevent frost accumulation on the windshield, and put it between me and the sun, shiny metallic side out, and was thus reasonably comfortable for the next 20 minutes, till the traffic started moving forward. Alas, it moved forward only 300 or 400 meters before stopping again, and we waited 20 more minutes before Keldor decided we should just turn around. We drove past a very, very long line of parked cars behind us, returned to the highway, stoped at the station we had decided not to stop at 40 minutes before to use the toilet and buy a medicinal popsicle (cure for warm weather), and then head up the highway to the next road which headed towards the coast and the site, which Google tells me is 11 minutes longer than the one we had just abandoned.
We then enjoyed a beautiful drive, a quick stop at a grocery store to buy a few things, and arrived on site at 17:00 with enough energy to set up camp.
We put up my tent first, then added my white awning extension to that, and the blue sunshade to that and the blue sunshade extension to that, and then set up the little pavilion Keldor got from his brother years ago, after it had had an unfortunate encounter with some mold. Keldor had treated it to kill the mold, and it smells fine, but the discolouration remains, so the poor thing isn't pretty, but it is plenty good enough to serve as both an armour tent and massage tent.
Once the tents were up it was time to start moving in. We hung the hammock we'd bought at a second hand store in the way down between two trees, assembled the rope bed, unloaded the van, set the forge into place, and begun unpacking and organising things, with occasional pauses to hug and greet friends as they went by.
Eventually it became a bit dark, and we were feeling tired, so we checked to be certain we'd gotten everything out we needed and took the van to the parking lot, did yoga in the hall (warmer than camp) at 22:51 before heading to the birthday party at the Gotvik camp.
As soon as we arrived we were greeted by a former Baron of Gotvik, who wanted to talk with Keldor about what he might do to transform a Hema sword he has to look mor like a Viking Age sword. This sparked a long discussion on the differences between how sword handles and cross guards were attached at different times in history, how they were made, the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches, and so on. After a bit we were joined by another man, who would like to see the formation of a Drachenwald smithing guild, and the conversation continued on into forge welding techniques and other topics. I learned a fair bit, and enjoyed watching their enthusiasm in the topic, and loved the part where I understood every word--a couple of years with Keldor has done wonders for my Swedish vocabulary, especially the words that relate to forging and smithing.
When that conversation wound down we left the party to go brush our teeth, and Keldor commented that he'd subjected me to 1.5 hours of "tråkiga" (boring) smithing talk. I replied "are you kidding? I love listening to people geek out about things they love". Then we returned to our camp, and were in bed by 0:51.
Saturday we woke a bit after 08:00 and spent a relaxed day finishing moving in, getting most of the forge bits attached, hanging out visiting with people, I did two half hour massages for friends, and I made time to make and embroider a small pouch with a laurel wreath to hold the forge welded (starburst pattern) Laurel medalion that Keldor had made from the bit of metal that got cut off of a sword in progress.
Then it was time for evening court, at which they gave a few awards, then handed out a good number of backlog scrolls that had finally been completed, all of which were beautiful enough that I suspect that the recipients thought them worth the wait. Then they called up Duke William of Richwood, and her Majesty asked him "Do you know why you are here?", he admitted that he didn't, as the only award he remembers receiving without a scroll was for a Nordmark award. At that point the herald announced that the Crown commands the presence of the Order of the Laurel. We came forward and confirmed that we feel he belongs in the order, the herald read the ceremony reminding his grace (and everyone present) the duties and responsibilities that go with the title, and we whisked him away to vigil to contemplate if he will accept the Laurel.
I was lucky, and was the first of the order to go speak with him, after the King and Queen. I gave him the pouch I made, and told him not to look inside till Keldor comes to speak with him. Then I returned to camp to find Keldor, who had looked for us after court, but failed to find the vigil location, and led him back there.
By that time a crowd had started to gather, so, after he got his name on the list to go into the vigil we enjoyed havging out with friends and waiting. After quite some time Keldor was looking tired, so I went towards the vigil tent to ask how far we were on the list, but ran into![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
vatine, and enjoyed a really nice getting-to-know-you conversation (a really delightful person, who I look forward to visiting with again) before finally asking, and learning that Keldor was now fourth on the list, so I reported that to him, and he worked his way over to the vigil tent as I took a moment to write in the vigil book.
Then we went to the hall for evening yoga and went to bed just after midnight.
Monday we woke at 08:30, and I noticed a very small (less than 2 mm) black lump on my left thigh. I hate ticks, even little ones like that. We scratched it off, put hydrogen peroxide on the wound, and I went to the hall, put hand disinfectant on it, washed it with soap, and the added more disinfectant. Hopefully this year it won't lead to needing antibiotics, like it did last year (did I mention that I hate tics?).
Monday was the day of the tournament I most wanted to enter. One with a format of challenging the person of your choice to a specific number of bouts, with matched weapons, to a counted number of blows. It sounded fun. However, when it was time to armour up my body said "nap time", so I went to bed, and Keldor went to the tournament. I woke three hours later, when he returned to camp, having had a fun time fighting.
After he was out of armour I followed him to the showers and then, feeling refreshed from nap and shower, put on my brown bilaut, veil, circlet, and long nålbinded socks and 12th century embroidered shoes, because only the fanciest clothes would do for William's Laureling. Keldor put on the embroidered silk tunic I had made for Clovis years ago, and which he gave me when he quit playing.
Then I took my (rather late) lunch and a blanket and we went to await court. I finished eating just as they heralds called to announce the arrival of the Royals, which I felt was perfect timing.
Court was lovely, and the highlight was William's ceremony and the touching words spoken on his behalf. There were tears. After court Keldor changed directly into his comfy clothes directly, but I stayed in the bliaut, it being difficult to lace on, I am going to spend some time wearing it.
So I escorted him to the hot tub, and told him I would return after sunset, when it was cold enough to want the hot water.
I then wandered through camp, and joined some of my favourite Finnish friends in their camp for an hour or so delightful conversation. Then I saw Countess Elia, and, still being dressed in pretty clothes, I followed her into the forest to take advantage of the evening light for a photo shoot. It will be interesting to see later how the photos came out.
Then I went back to my tent and changed to a loose, easy to remove tunic and trousers and started heading towards the hot tub, which process involved visiting the toilets, talking with people, taking stuff back to camp, heading back to the hall, talking with people, going back to camp for the mug I had set down last trip, being called over to another camp and talking there, another trip to the toilet... eventually, Maggie and I made it to the tub, where I happily sat in hot water enjoing good company, till my water mug wad empty and my bladder full.
Then Keldor and I rinsed off, dressed, and returned to the hall for evening yoga. Then we returned to camp to head to bed just before midnight, and noticed an even smaller tick on my right thigh, which may not have surrived an hour or more in the hot tub, as it was fairly easy for Keldor to remove. (I really hate ticks)
I awoke at 07:40 and have just taken an hour and a half to type this up. So now I will take my phone off of flight mode so I can post this, and then resume being off line till the next time I feel I have time to type up our adventures.
We then enjoyed a beautiful drive, a quick stop at a grocery store to buy a few things, and arrived on site at 17:00 with enough energy to set up camp.
We put up my tent first, then added my white awning extension to that, and the blue sunshade to that and the blue sunshade extension to that, and then set up the little pavilion Keldor got from his brother years ago, after it had had an unfortunate encounter with some mold. Keldor had treated it to kill the mold, and it smells fine, but the discolouration remains, so the poor thing isn't pretty, but it is plenty good enough to serve as both an armour tent and massage tent.
Once the tents were up it was time to start moving in. We hung the hammock we'd bought at a second hand store in the way down between two trees, assembled the rope bed, unloaded the van, set the forge into place, and begun unpacking and organising things, with occasional pauses to hug and greet friends as they went by.
Eventually it became a bit dark, and we were feeling tired, so we checked to be certain we'd gotten everything out we needed and took the van to the parking lot, did yoga in the hall (warmer than camp) at 22:51 before heading to the birthday party at the Gotvik camp.
As soon as we arrived we were greeted by a former Baron of Gotvik, who wanted to talk with Keldor about what he might do to transform a Hema sword he has to look mor like a Viking Age sword. This sparked a long discussion on the differences between how sword handles and cross guards were attached at different times in history, how they were made, the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches, and so on. After a bit we were joined by another man, who would like to see the formation of a Drachenwald smithing guild, and the conversation continued on into forge welding techniques and other topics. I learned a fair bit, and enjoyed watching their enthusiasm in the topic, and loved the part where I understood every word--a couple of years with Keldor has done wonders for my Swedish vocabulary, especially the words that relate to forging and smithing.
When that conversation wound down we left the party to go brush our teeth, and Keldor commented that he'd subjected me to 1.5 hours of "tråkiga" (boring) smithing talk. I replied "are you kidding? I love listening to people geek out about things they love". Then we returned to our camp, and were in bed by 0:51.
Saturday we woke a bit after 08:00 and spent a relaxed day finishing moving in, getting most of the forge bits attached, hanging out visiting with people, I did two half hour massages for friends, and I made time to make and embroider a small pouch with a laurel wreath to hold the forge welded (starburst pattern) Laurel medalion that Keldor had made from the bit of metal that got cut off of a sword in progress.
Then it was time for evening court, at which they gave a few awards, then handed out a good number of backlog scrolls that had finally been completed, all of which were beautiful enough that I suspect that the recipients thought them worth the wait. Then they called up Duke William of Richwood, and her Majesty asked him "Do you know why you are here?", he admitted that he didn't, as the only award he remembers receiving without a scroll was for a Nordmark award. At that point the herald announced that the Crown commands the presence of the Order of the Laurel. We came forward and confirmed that we feel he belongs in the order, the herald read the ceremony reminding his grace (and everyone present) the duties and responsibilities that go with the title, and we whisked him away to vigil to contemplate if he will accept the Laurel.
I was lucky, and was the first of the order to go speak with him, after the King and Queen. I gave him the pouch I made, and told him not to look inside till Keldor comes to speak with him. Then I returned to camp to find Keldor, who had looked for us after court, but failed to find the vigil location, and led him back there.
By that time a crowd had started to gather, so, after he got his name on the list to go into the vigil we enjoyed havging out with friends and waiting. After quite some time Keldor was looking tired, so I went towards the vigil tent to ask how far we were on the list, but ran into
vatine, and enjoyed a really nice getting-to-know-you conversation (a really delightful person, who I look forward to visiting with again) before finally asking, and learning that Keldor was now fourth on the list, so I reported that to him, and he worked his way over to the vigil tent as I took a moment to write in the vigil book.Then we went to the hall for evening yoga and went to bed just after midnight.
Monday we woke at 08:30, and I noticed a very small (less than 2 mm) black lump on my left thigh. I hate ticks, even little ones like that. We scratched it off, put hydrogen peroxide on the wound, and I went to the hall, put hand disinfectant on it, washed it with soap, and the added more disinfectant. Hopefully this year it won't lead to needing antibiotics, like it did last year (did I mention that I hate tics?).
Monday was the day of the tournament I most wanted to enter. One with a format of challenging the person of your choice to a specific number of bouts, with matched weapons, to a counted number of blows. It sounded fun. However, when it was time to armour up my body said "nap time", so I went to bed, and Keldor went to the tournament. I woke three hours later, when he returned to camp, having had a fun time fighting.
After he was out of armour I followed him to the showers and then, feeling refreshed from nap and shower, put on my brown bilaut, veil, circlet, and long nålbinded socks and 12th century embroidered shoes, because only the fanciest clothes would do for William's Laureling. Keldor put on the embroidered silk tunic I had made for Clovis years ago, and which he gave me when he quit playing.
Then I took my (rather late) lunch and a blanket and we went to await court. I finished eating just as they heralds called to announce the arrival of the Royals, which I felt was perfect timing.
Court was lovely, and the highlight was William's ceremony and the touching words spoken on his behalf. There were tears. After court Keldor changed directly into his comfy clothes directly, but I stayed in the bliaut, it being difficult to lace on, I am going to spend some time wearing it.
So I escorted him to the hot tub, and told him I would return after sunset, when it was cold enough to want the hot water.
I then wandered through camp, and joined some of my favourite Finnish friends in their camp for an hour or so delightful conversation. Then I saw Countess Elia, and, still being dressed in pretty clothes, I followed her into the forest to take advantage of the evening light for a photo shoot. It will be interesting to see later how the photos came out.
Then I went back to my tent and changed to a loose, easy to remove tunic and trousers and started heading towards the hot tub, which process involved visiting the toilets, talking with people, taking stuff back to camp, heading back to the hall, talking with people, going back to camp for the mug I had set down last trip, being called over to another camp and talking there, another trip to the toilet... eventually, Maggie and I made it to the tub, where I happily sat in hot water enjoing good company, till my water mug wad empty and my bladder full.
Then Keldor and I rinsed off, dressed, and returned to the hall for evening yoga. Then we returned to camp to head to bed just before midnight, and noticed an even smaller tick on my right thigh, which may not have surrived an hour or more in the hot tub, as it was fairly easy for Keldor to remove. (I really hate ticks)
I awoke at 07:40 and have just taken an hour and a half to type this up. So now I will take my phone off of flight mode so I can post this, and then resume being off line till the next time I feel I have time to type up our adventures.