events since Double Wars
Jun. 19th, 2024 10:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaWhen last I did an SCA related post we were just home from Double Wars, and I have been too busy to post since, so time for a catch-up post!
The weekend after Double Wars was Gränstaverna. That event is held on Seskärö, an island near the border between Sweden and Finland. Since we were heading north we packed everything on Thursday, I did Friday morning's cleaning of the Health Center on Thursday evening, and then we drove to Keldor's dad's in Skelleftåhamn with the cats, and slept there. That meant that after he got done with work on Friday (I brought my computer and did stuff at his dad's) we had only 3 hours to drive to site, instead of more than 3.5, and the cats could stay at their summer home and be fed daily by one of Keldor's cousins, who dropped by. The event was wonderful, as we have come to expect from events done by the Torno group--delightful company, a pretty site, lots of fun things to do. After spending two weeks at Double Wars, where spring had already given way to summer like conditions it was a bit of a contrast to see how much ice was still on the water when we arrived on Friday (and how much had vanished by Sunday when it was time to leave--spring in the north is a very fast time of transition). But all too soon the event was over, and it was time to head south, pick up the cats, and go home.
The following week I did the job interview that I posted about. It was a lovely chat with interesting people, one of whom seems to be a kindred spirit, and I felt that if they offered me the job I would accept, but I was also very aware that they are interviewing five people, and have only one position. Therefore, after the interview I pushed aside all job thoughts and focused on getting ready for the trip to Ireland, which was the first event we put on our calendar for the year...
Some years they did better than others, and on those years the entire Firm would take a journey together, to celebrate their success. One such year occurred four years ago, and another journey was planned, and the tickets purchased. But the fates decreed that none should journey that year, nor the next, as pandemic swept the people of the world into hiding, and the tickets transformed themselves to Frequent Flyer Miles, to await a time when they could be redeemed.
Me: <covers ears> "...frantically finishing my thesis, deadline at the end of December..."
D: "No worries, carry on."
<weeks later, submits thesis, posts in triumph to FB>
<looks into options, asks those assembled for the thesis submitted/New Years party>
And so the decision was made, the miles converted to flight tickets, and the event was written on our calendar, months in advance of it happening.
For the flights to Ireland we had booked travel from Stockholm Arlanda Airport, with the thought of driving down to the airport. As the event drew closer we saw the Majgreve event in Stockholm advertised, and noticed that it was the weekend after Gränstaverna, and before Strawberry Raid. We also realised that we had booked the flights for the Monday after Majgreve. Thus a plan was formed, and this is how it played out...
We packed suitcases to check with his armour, a few knives to sell at the market, and garb for the event, plus put extra garb into carry on luggage, incase our checked luggage went somewhere interesting without us, we would be covered. Then we packed still more bags with bedding so we could sleep on the floor at Majreve, and extra garb for that event, and loaded them all up in the rental van we'd been given when our car broke on the way to Double Wars. We drove most of the way to Stockholm, and stopped at a house in a country neighbourhood where lived a man selling his mom's old car, as she has purchased a new. The small car suited Keldor's needs for a little commuter vehicle, so we bought it on the spot, and we drove on to the event in two cars.
We enjoyed Majgreve, other than the heat, which neither of us really expected, as it was, in fact, still May! He armoured up anyway, and went out to play in the tournament. I hid inside, in the coolest room in the building and took a nap. But other than the heat of the day, the event was wonderful, and I had, in fact, failed to bribe the previous Majgreve for good weather (as I didn't think bribes were required to have cool weather in spring, and I hadn't seen them, either).
After the event we packed everything into the car and returned the rental van--there was no one there at the car rental part of the business, so the guys in car sales said to just drop the keys in the box, which we did. Then we drove to Johan's house and enjoyed a meal with he and Jovi, after which Keldor and I went out to see a few runestones in the area before spending a lovely evening chatting with them. Johan helped us pack our extra stuff in his storage unit, so that it wouldn't be sitting in a car for a week tempting thieves (not that it looked like a high crime neighbourhood, but why tempt them?), showed us the key basket inside of the door where we would find the key to the storage unit when we returned, and gave us a code for the front door so we would be able to get into the key when we returned (as Johan was planning on being elsewhere on the day we would return).
Bright and early the next morning (Monday, 27 May) Johan dropped us at the airport and we made our way through all of the stages of international travel, arriving in Ireland at 10:40. We found our rental car for the next few days of adventures, and set off. We went first to the home of Etienne the Younger, where we met his delightful wife, and friendly dog, where we left all of our SCA luggage (save for our Viking coats, which might come in useful during adventures, and as blankets, then hit the road.
We drove north first, stopping at a random castle for which we sign on the highway, then continued northeast, finally sleeping at a rest area in the middle of nowhere. This was one where there was a little trail from the parking to a small clearing by a stream with picknick tables, and a trail that continued somewhere, which meant that when I needed to pee in the middle of the night I could just head a little way down the trail, and not be visible from the road.
Even though we had put a sheepskin into the checked luggage, so that we were able to tuck carry on bags into the foot space of back seat, and then cover the seat with the sheepskin to even things out a bit, it was not the most comfortable night we have ever slept, and it is likely that only the 10+ hours of driving to get to Majgreve, followed by staying up late talking to people at the event, combined with getting up early for the flight made sleep possible at all. This probably explains why I woke really early on Tuesday morning.
I had done all of the driving in Ireland the first day, as I have lived in Australia, and have driven on the left before. Keldor spent much of the first day in the passenger seat panicking about the proximity of the stone walls and hedges we drove past, and suggesting that I move the car more to the middle of the road. I explained that was impossible, as there was traffic heading the other direction, and I didn't wish to hit them, and just held the car exactly in the middle of the tiny bit of space that passes for a car lane on Irish roads, as everything passed by closer than is really comfortable, but, at least, we didn't actually hit anything.
Since I was awake we decided to drive on, and we came to where the Giant's Causeway is at around 06:00, but what we could see from the car was houses, and a parking lot with a chain across it saying parking closed, and signs indicating that it wasn't to open for several more hours. Neither of us had the energy just then to find someplace we could leave the car and explore by foot, so we asked google for directions to a castle a bit up the coast to the east, thinking we could return to the causeway a little later. Three castle ruins later, and much scrambling around on small trails up the more gradual (but still steep) parts of the coastal cliffs we took a nap in the car in the parking lot of the third castle as it rained (Ireland: that place where it only rains after one gets back into the car!). That castle had a 24 hour toilette available, which made for nicer conditions than the night before. When we woke I remembered that there had been some suggestions on Irish destination in the Strawberry Raid discord channel, so I consulted that, and opted to head southwest to the Navan Centre & Fort, rather than doubling back to the Giant's Causeway. We started that visit with the cafe, and I enjoyed a nice soup and bread before heading out to see the hill and read the signs. However, when I went outside I realised it was much too warm to wear my Viking coat, which had been a perfect outer layer for earlier in the day, so I took it back to the car. The weather gods, seeing that I had returned to the car did their thing, and failed to notice that I didn't actually get into the car, which explains why my cotton sweater got rather wet as we explored the site. Opps, but totally my fault for changing up the pattern on them. Luckily, the bathrooms had force hair dryers, so I was able to mostly dry the sweater before we continued on.
We continued southwest, stopping at a few more castle ruins before arriving at The Old Mill Hostel, were the bunk beds were much more comfortable than the car seat had been the night before. I was too tired by the time we arrived to be able to explore the town, so I just did a short yoga and went to sleep. He took a very short walk to look around before he came back and snuggled up with me. Sometime in the night I awoke needing to use the toilette, and started walking towards the door in the room, only to realise there was already someone at the door, who seemed to be having problems opening it. As I had neither hearing aids or glasses on, I simply waited the short time till she opened it, and once she was through I hurried past her to the nearest loo (the mens room), noticing as I did that she had paused to lean against the wall and hold her hip like she was in pain, but my bladder didn't want to stop and see if she was alright, besides, there was an unpleasant smell.
After accomplishing my mission and washing my hands I left the loo, and started walking back to the room, noticing that there were a couple of fresh looking brown, liquidy spots on the carpet. Ewwwwww, I carefully avoided stepping in them and hurried back to bed, hoping that the problem was food poisoning or chronic health issues, and not some sort of contagious gastrointestinal virus. (it was already too late to hope that she didn't have a problem, but I really didn't want to share it). When we awoke the next morning I quietly explained to Keldor about the midnight occurrences (in Swedish), and we agreed that rather than enjoying a lazy morning at the hostel, it was better to just pack and go, in case it was contagious.
However, as we packed the other couple sleeping on the far side of the room woke, and they chatted with us a bit. During the conversation she commented that "it is a really long way to the women's room" (which was upstairs from where we were), and I agreed that "yes it is, I am really glad that I am non-binary", to which they both laughed, and I understood that she was embarrassed about her accident and had apologized for, and I think she understood that I accepted her apology, even though nothing explicit was said. Certainly there was no longer any evidence on the carpet for the problem. So perhaps it would have been fine to hang out for a while, but it was also nice to get back on the road.
By around 07:00 on the second day Keldor dared to try driving on the left (to which I suggested that he try driving not so close to the stone walls and hedges, and he replied that he couldn't move further to the middle due to the nearness of the oncoming traffic), but I didn't dare to work on sewing as I would during a road trip in Sweden. On the smaller roads neither of us ever dared to drive as fast as the speed limit, and are both quite certain that the only way it would be possible to drive that fast on those narrow curves would be to really and truly know the road. However, on the big motorways I really enjoyed driving--the rental was a new car with a type of cruise control that I had never before experienced, but with which I am now deeply and passionately in love. After one sets the cruise control it drives that fast, unless traffic conditions mean that it shouldn't. Therefore, all I had to do was steer--if we came up behind a vehicle that was going slower than our cruise control setting the car would slow itself down and settle a comfortable driving distance behind the other, and happily kept that distance until and unless I took us to the other lane, at which point it would speed up on its own till it was back at cruising speeds. This technology totally solves my single biggest complaint about driving: I never once had to "break cruise control and use my feet". If I could afford such a car, I would be willing to drive more often, instead of always sitting in the passenger seat.
We started Wednesday with a visit to some nearby castle ruins, and then started making our way towards the Killaloe Cathedral, which houses the only known runestone on mainland Ireland. It was only a few hours away, and we had 12 hours before the cathedral closes, so we took our time, looking at castle ruins, and a spur of the moment visit to the Michael Davitt Museum, as we saw the sign for it on time to stop. We had never heard of him before, and we had our very own private tour guide, so it was interesting to learn Michael's story and how he transformed from a small child evicted from a tenant farm with his family at 4 years old, through losing his arm in a mill accident at 11, to becoming a member of parliament who ended feudalism in Ireland and transformed the country from 3% of the land owned by Irish people living on their own land to 97% of the land owned by Irish people living on their own land. In exchange for those stories we shared a few stories from the contemporaneous Swedish labour movement, and our guide seemed to appreciate that. When he showed us the ruined abbey next door he showed us one stone carving, which looked kinda like a duck, and explained that it was an eagle, and then took us to the other side of the arch to the next bird carving, and said "and this one, which looks more like an eagle than the first, you are going to have to believe me on this one...", at which point I looked and said "it is plucking its own breast, is it a pelican?" He looked very astounded, and said "how do you know that? no one ever knows what this is". We we explained about the SCA and our order of the pelican.
But that visit was so interesting that it took more time than expected, but we were still doing ok for time, so we stopped in a pub in the next town for me to have soup and bread (and he had his first Irish beer), then I drove on to Athenry Castle, the first (and only) of our castle visits that trip that had a visitor's center and an admission price. The person working there was very nice and full of information, and we spent more time there than we expected (and encouraged her to find the SCA, since she sounded like she would enjoy it), so we didn't leave till they were closing for the day, and at that point GoogleMaps explained that if we drove the speed limit all the way we would reach the cathedral 15 minutes after it closed for the day. So, instead we just set the navigation for the pub in a nearby village where we were to meet their Majesties. We had a lovely evening visiting with them at the pub (and oh the bartender's face when Keldor asked what beer he recommends, and the bartender asked "have you tried Guinness?", and Keldor replied "only from a can". The bartender, after he finished making faces replied "that isn't Guinness", and promptly served up a glass full, which Keldor enjoyed very much.
Since we needed to return the rental car by noon on Thursday, and the cathedral wouldn't open till 10:00, we decided not to stay in the area, which was more than a two hour drive from the rental car place at the airport in Dublin. Instead we drove a short distance to the The Barack Obama Plaza truck stop, and slept in the car again. This time with easy access to flush toilets and sinks. The code for night entry was the same year I graduated high school, which made it really easy to remember; I already know that number.
Thursday we looked at a few more castle ruins on the side of the road on the way to returning the car, then got a taxi to the home of Etienne the Younger, where we relaxed, napped, and did some shopping for snacks at Polish imported food store up the street. (yummy pumpkin seeds, tasty candy made from pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds, plus just enough sugar and honey to hold it all together for me, and sausages and chips for him)
Etienne had already packed our SCA stuff in his car the day before, so as soon as he got home from work we tossed us and our last few things into the car and went to the event. Strawberry Raid is about two hours drive south of his house, and it was a delightful drive full of good conversation, and glimpses of yet more castle ruins as we drove past at full motorway speeds. When we arrived on site Adoh pointed us to a pavilion and pile of poles, and we set up our home for the event. It turned out to be a smaller hub and spoke tent than my own, but it made me very happy to have the spokes in which to hang clothing, exactly like at home. So nice of them to make this possible, and I am deeply grateful to whomever loaned us the tent. They also provided us an air mattress, and a couple of mummy style sleeping bags. Since we sleep entwined we opened up the bags to the fullest extent possible and spread them, and my single sheepskin, on the mattress to help keep us warm from below, and then spread my large rectangle viking cloak and both coats over the bed for blankets. This was not enough--the nights were clear and cold. Night two we slept in more clothes, and piled all of our extra tunics over the top of us, which was a little better, and the third night there were a few clouds, so the pile of clothing, coats, and cloak almost seemed like enough.
The days, in contrast, were sunny and pleasantly warm (perhaps a little hot for fighting, but my armour was still in Sweden). It didn't rain the whole event, and many of the visitors expressed surprise, as the had been told to expect rain while in Ireland (but I don't think any of us minded being dry). We had bought into a meal plan, and this turned out to be perfect. The kitchen came with a sunshade, and I spent much of the event under that sunshade, enjoying pleasant company, and eating the yummy things provided.
I did leave the sunshade to go to the barn to teach the dance class I had put my hand up for, which was much fun, and to be at the market, where we sold all but two of Keldor's knives we had brought with us, and if we had had more of the simple ones, we would have sold at least one more of them. But the highlight of the event was, of course, the castle!
For those of you who don't know, Sigginstown Castle is owned by SCA people. It looked like this before they bought it, but they have really done amazing things restoring it. They replaced the missing crenulations on top, cut oak trees to make new hand-hewn floor supports, and put in the floors and roof, fixed up the walls, and painted all the interior walls of the tower with period style art, as well as building themselves a residential section from the lower side building, and making a coach house (where they ran a little cafe, and where the market was) If you ever get a chance to attend an event on this site, do it, it is amazing! I loved the castle tour, and I loved attending the two vigils in the tower--such a magical setting!
The event ended on Monday morning, and it took very little time to pack our few things and take down the pavilion we had borrowed. We stayed long enough to help with taking down our camp kitchen and the big event tent that had served both as a place for checking in and storing event supplies, and as a place where fighters could store their armour. Then we returned to Etienne's house, where I cooked up a quick pot of soup with homemade noodles and enjoyed a quiet evening of doing not much thereafter. On Tuesday we took the bus in to look at Dublin's main museum (where Keldor was pleased to see that they have an Ulfberht sword (the second he's seen in person), have lunch in a caffe, and check out a couple of small shops. We then walked back to Etienne's (about an hour), but arrived before his wife had returned from walking the dog, so we went over to that Polish food store and stocked up on snacks for the flight and drive home.
We enjoyed another pleasant evening relaxing and chatting with our hosts, and got to sleep early. Etienne dropped us at the airport bright and early the next morning, and some hours later we landed in Stockholm and took an overpriced taxi to J's house to pick up our car and stuff. The code worked for the door as planned, but the key to the storage area wasn't in the basket as expected. We looked around a little, but while there was another key on the kitchen counter, we didn't see the key we needed. Johan didn't see our messages, but Jovi did, returning our call when we were at a nearby supermarket, buying more food for the road. She wasn't far away, so she met us there, and we returned to the apartment, where she finally found the needed key, which was in the pocket of his jeans, in the back of the locked car.
So we got all of our stuff from storage, and the bottle of ice for the soft-sided ice chest from Johan's freezer, and we started driving north. We reached the home of Gudrun and Liv in Gyllengran somewhat later than planned, but not so late that we couldn't stay up even later talking! We slept comfortably on their guest mattress, and happily spent the next morning (which was Nationaldag in Sweden, so a holiday) visiting with them, before heading over to Hurberget for the shire picnic. On the way we, of course, stopped to look at runestones, and I fell head over heels in love with one of them. We had a lovely picnic, which nicely slotted an "SCA event" into our schedule, which means that by the time Skellefteå Medeltidsdagar finishes in a couple of weeks we will have attended an event every weekend for 10 weeks running (assuming we do make the picnic in Uma on Friday).
After the Gyllengran picnic we did the five hour drive home and had a full week to recover before heading south to Gyllengran again for Drachenwald Coronation. We had planned to carpool with Þórólfr, as Keldor's new car is tiny, and mine was still at the workshop south of Stockholm. Alas, Þórólfr's daughter got sick on Friday, so he had to make the painful, but responsible, decision to stay home. However, he was really wonderful and let us borrow his car and trailer anyway (and we left Keldor's with him, in case he needed a car while we were gone).
My original plan had been to have everything packed and ready for Coronation by Thursday night. However, I saw a job announcement for a temporary job (one-year) as a research coordinator at the Umeå University Library. I saw the ad the day before the deadline, so I stayed up late preparing my application and sent it in. As a result I was one evening behind schedule on packing, but I think it was worth it. Especially as I got a call on Monday after the event inviting me to an interview for it on Tuesday, and another call Tuesday evening asking if they can please contact my references, so I feel like my chances for this job are looking pretty good.
Despite the delay I had managed to have almost everything ready by the time Keldor was home from work, and he quickly tossed everything into the car while I gathered the last few things. By the time the car was loaded he was feeling pretty stressed about the timing, as he didn't want to miss Friday evening court, so we just started driving without taking time to think over the list to see if we'd forgotten anything. It turns out that what we forgot was my sweater for the drive, which wasn't a problem for the drive down, as it was a pleasantly warm evening.
We got on site just early enough to get the pavilion up and the stuff piled into the tent, and the car put away before it was time to put on nice tunics for court. Oh, such a court! I smiled when the new shire of Löghammar came forward to the news that they are now an official shire, and I was not at all surprised when they went to sit down, and his majesty insisted that Agnes stay behind as they were not done with her, and gave her a chair at his side. Then they summoned forth Branna, and Agnes looked confused. Then they summoned the Order of the Laurel, and we came up as Agnes sat their with a shocked look on her face as she slowly shook her head in disbelief. After the herald read the traditional send to vigil ceremony we took both very deserving ladies off to their respective locations and the party gathered around them as people took it in turns to go speak with them.
I had made a patch for Branna's elevation mantel, as Aleydis had given me the fabric at Double Wars, and it was quick to do such a little bit of embroidery in between sessions of working on the embroidery for Lofnheiðr's dress (which I had taken home with me after Double Wars, and kept working on between events, and then she took back for at least one court at each event, before returning it to me for yet more stitching). However, I hadn't seen the call for patches for Agnes' kaften till after I was home from Ireland (as I have not been checking the forum or even messages as often as normal whilst traveling--not because the call hadn't been done in a timely manner). I checked in to see if they wanted a last minute patch, but while waiting for a reply I saw Keldor's heraldic bag I had made him, and suddenly got inspired to make Agnes a black laurel bag with reverse appliquéd rainbow laurel wreath. I had the wool, and more of the good sturdy checked purple and white linen that I had lined Keldor's bag with, but when I checked my stash of wool fabric I didn't have a full range of rainbow colours, which meant that we needed to go fabric shopping. So on Saturday, the day after we got home from Ireland, we went to the local fabric store. Neither their wool nor their linen collections included the full range of rainbow colours. Both lacked a decent shade of purple, which I thought I had at home in wool, but we weren't going home from the store, so I was forced to make due with what was available in the store, which was some "craft felt" in some synthetic fibre, but at least it had a good range of colours.
From the store we went to Þórólfr's house, where we spent the afternoon and evening playing games, and where I assembled the rainbow strips into a rainbow chunk of fabric, cut out the laurel-wreath hole in the black bag fabric, and started sewing the bag to the rainbow, using osen stitch in black yarn around the edges of the leaves. During the week I managed to get the leaves mostly done, and finished the last couple during the drive to Coronation, and started sewing the heavy linen lining in place. Needless to say, the bag wasn't totally finished before the vigil, but at least the laurel wreath was done, and Agnes says she loves it, and looks forward to taking it home with her when it is done. I am assembling the bag the same way I did Keldor's, which means fully lining the strap and the bag rectangle in linen, seams to the inside, and then using osenstitch in a knitting yarn to sew the strap to the bag. The result is nice and strong, and looks good. But it takes time, especially as the linen doesn't like letting the large needle to pass through, so it is still only mostly done, but soon!
On Monday, we got a text message saying that our car was finally repaired and ready to pick up. From the workshop south of Stockholm. We could have skipped the Umeå picnic and taken the train south on Friday and picked it up. Except for the part where the workshop is only open weekdays from 07:00 to 18:00. So a few posts to FB and Discord later we had a plan... Åsa in Stockholm picked it up from the shop for me, and it is sitting in her parking place. This weekend Alexander will be visiting his friends in Stockholm, and when he is done he will drive the van north to Umeå, where we will pick it up. If diesel costs him more than he would have spent on the train, we will pay the difference. I am really looking forward to being reunited with it. I put a lot of effort into painting it with knotwork dragons to make it pretty for events, and then it didn't make it to the events we have been to this spring!
Now our busy event every weekend spring and early summer is drawing to a close. On Friday is the picnic in Uma for midsummer, then Broken Arrow the following week, and Skellefteå Medeltidsdagar the week after. We haven't made any travel plans after that, yet, though there are some tempting events coming up on the calendar.
The weekend after Double Wars was Gränstaverna. That event is held on Seskärö, an island near the border between Sweden and Finland. Since we were heading north we packed everything on Thursday, I did Friday morning's cleaning of the Health Center on Thursday evening, and then we drove to Keldor's dad's in Skelleftåhamn with the cats, and slept there. That meant that after he got done with work on Friday (I brought my computer and did stuff at his dad's) we had only 3 hours to drive to site, instead of more than 3.5, and the cats could stay at their summer home and be fed daily by one of Keldor's cousins, who dropped by. The event was wonderful, as we have come to expect from events done by the Torno group--delightful company, a pretty site, lots of fun things to do. After spending two weeks at Double Wars, where spring had already given way to summer like conditions it was a bit of a contrast to see how much ice was still on the water when we arrived on Friday (and how much had vanished by Sunday when it was time to leave--spring in the north is a very fast time of transition). But all too soon the event was over, and it was time to head south, pick up the cats, and go home.
The following week I did the job interview that I posted about. It was a lovely chat with interesting people, one of whom seems to be a kindred spirit, and I felt that if they offered me the job I would accept, but I was also very aware that they are interviewing five people, and have only one position. Therefore, after the interview I pushed aside all job thoughts and focused on getting ready for the trip to Ireland, which was the first event we put on our calendar for the year...
Prologue. Once upon a time, when the world was a little younger, and I lived far away, in the Principality of the Mists, in the Kingdom of the West, I had a champion, who was wise in the way of the law, and bored with his job as a very junior attorney in a very large corporate law firm, doomed to countless hours of document review. His was a kind heart, and he ached to help others, so he left his secure job, and his generous income behind, and started his very own law firm, and it was good. As I am a lover of spreadsheets and order I helped him in his work, setting up systems for keeping track of his hours and how and to whom to bill them. Thus his wisdom in the ways of Law helped first one client, and then another. My path soon led me away to Lochac, where I set myself to learning the ways of crystals in stone, and his Law Firm flourishing and grew, as first one friend and then another joined the team, and together they helped more and more people.
When the dust from the pandemic disruptions began to settle the world had changed, on ways that were both small, and great. One of the small changes was that the airlines with whom the people of the law firm would have travelled with no longer flew to the land in which they were located, and so the miles languished, unable to be redeemed by them.
Then they remembered the help that I had provided, when the firm was new, and saw that I live in a land in which that airlines operates...
D: "Psst...Want some miles? They expire at the end of December."
Me: <covers ears> "...frantically finishing my thesis, deadline at the end of December..."
D: "No worries, carry on."
<weeks later, submits thesis, posts in triumph to FB>
D: "Do you want those miles? They don't expire till midnight,"
<looks into options, asks those assembled for the thesis submitted/New Years party>
Me: "so, if we were to fly somewhere for an event, which one should it be?" <looks at the Drachenwald calendar> "hmm, both Crown and Strawberry Raid are in Ireland. One can't drive to get there, so a good choice for flying, but which should we choose?"
Assembled party guests; "You have both been to Crown many times, but never to Strawberry Raid. Besides, they have a castle!"
Assembled party guests; "You have both been to Crown many times, but never to Strawberry Raid. Besides, they have a castle!"
And so the decision was made, the miles converted to flight tickets, and the event was written on our calendar, months in advance of it happening.
For the flights to Ireland we had booked travel from Stockholm Arlanda Airport, with the thought of driving down to the airport. As the event drew closer we saw the Majgreve event in Stockholm advertised, and noticed that it was the weekend after Gränstaverna, and before Strawberry Raid. We also realised that we had booked the flights for the Monday after Majgreve. Thus a plan was formed, and this is how it played out...
We packed suitcases to check with his armour, a few knives to sell at the market, and garb for the event, plus put extra garb into carry on luggage, incase our checked luggage went somewhere interesting without us, we would be covered. Then we packed still more bags with bedding so we could sleep on the floor at Majreve, and extra garb for that event, and loaded them all up in the rental van we'd been given when our car broke on the way to Double Wars. We drove most of the way to Stockholm, and stopped at a house in a country neighbourhood where lived a man selling his mom's old car, as she has purchased a new. The small car suited Keldor's needs for a little commuter vehicle, so we bought it on the spot, and we drove on to the event in two cars.
We enjoyed Majgreve, other than the heat, which neither of us really expected, as it was, in fact, still May! He armoured up anyway, and went out to play in the tournament. I hid inside, in the coolest room in the building and took a nap. But other than the heat of the day, the event was wonderful, and I had, in fact, failed to bribe the previous Majgreve for good weather (as I didn't think bribes were required to have cool weather in spring, and I hadn't seen them, either).
After the event we packed everything into the car and returned the rental van--there was no one there at the car rental part of the business, so the guys in car sales said to just drop the keys in the box, which we did. Then we drove to Johan's house and enjoyed a meal with he and Jovi, after which Keldor and I went out to see a few runestones in the area before spending a lovely evening chatting with them. Johan helped us pack our extra stuff in his storage unit, so that it wouldn't be sitting in a car for a week tempting thieves (not that it looked like a high crime neighbourhood, but why tempt them?), showed us the key basket inside of the door where we would find the key to the storage unit when we returned, and gave us a code for the front door so we would be able to get into the key when we returned (as Johan was planning on being elsewhere on the day we would return).
Bright and early the next morning (Monday, 27 May) Johan dropped us at the airport and we made our way through all of the stages of international travel, arriving in Ireland at 10:40. We found our rental car for the next few days of adventures, and set off. We went first to the home of Etienne the Younger, where we met his delightful wife, and friendly dog, where we left all of our SCA luggage (save for our Viking coats, which might come in useful during adventures, and as blankets, then hit the road.
We drove north first, stopping at a random castle for which we sign on the highway, then continued northeast, finally sleeping at a rest area in the middle of nowhere. This was one where there was a little trail from the parking to a small clearing by a stream with picknick tables, and a trail that continued somewhere, which meant that when I needed to pee in the middle of the night I could just head a little way down the trail, and not be visible from the road.
Even though we had put a sheepskin into the checked luggage, so that we were able to tuck carry on bags into the foot space of back seat, and then cover the seat with the sheepskin to even things out a bit, it was not the most comfortable night we have ever slept, and it is likely that only the 10+ hours of driving to get to Majgreve, followed by staying up late talking to people at the event, combined with getting up early for the flight made sleep possible at all. This probably explains why I woke really early on Tuesday morning.
I had done all of the driving in Ireland the first day, as I have lived in Australia, and have driven on the left before. Keldor spent much of the first day in the passenger seat panicking about the proximity of the stone walls and hedges we drove past, and suggesting that I move the car more to the middle of the road. I explained that was impossible, as there was traffic heading the other direction, and I didn't wish to hit them, and just held the car exactly in the middle of the tiny bit of space that passes for a car lane on Irish roads, as everything passed by closer than is really comfortable, but, at least, we didn't actually hit anything.
Since I was awake we decided to drive on, and we came to where the Giant's Causeway is at around 06:00, but what we could see from the car was houses, and a parking lot with a chain across it saying parking closed, and signs indicating that it wasn't to open for several more hours. Neither of us had the energy just then to find someplace we could leave the car and explore by foot, so we asked google for directions to a castle a bit up the coast to the east, thinking we could return to the causeway a little later. Three castle ruins later, and much scrambling around on small trails up the more gradual (but still steep) parts of the coastal cliffs we took a nap in the car in the parking lot of the third castle as it rained (Ireland: that place where it only rains after one gets back into the car!). That castle had a 24 hour toilette available, which made for nicer conditions than the night before. When we woke I remembered that there had been some suggestions on Irish destination in the Strawberry Raid discord channel, so I consulted that, and opted to head southwest to the Navan Centre & Fort, rather than doubling back to the Giant's Causeway. We started that visit with the cafe, and I enjoyed a nice soup and bread before heading out to see the hill and read the signs. However, when I went outside I realised it was much too warm to wear my Viking coat, which had been a perfect outer layer for earlier in the day, so I took it back to the car. The weather gods, seeing that I had returned to the car did their thing, and failed to notice that I didn't actually get into the car, which explains why my cotton sweater got rather wet as we explored the site. Opps, but totally my fault for changing up the pattern on them. Luckily, the bathrooms had force hair dryers, so I was able to mostly dry the sweater before we continued on.
We continued southwest, stopping at a few more castle ruins before arriving at The Old Mill Hostel, were the bunk beds were much more comfortable than the car seat had been the night before. I was too tired by the time we arrived to be able to explore the town, so I just did a short yoga and went to sleep. He took a very short walk to look around before he came back and snuggled up with me. Sometime in the night I awoke needing to use the toilette, and started walking towards the door in the room, only to realise there was already someone at the door, who seemed to be having problems opening it. As I had neither hearing aids or glasses on, I simply waited the short time till she opened it, and once she was through I hurried past her to the nearest loo (the mens room), noticing as I did that she had paused to lean against the wall and hold her hip like she was in pain, but my bladder didn't want to stop and see if she was alright, besides, there was an unpleasant smell.
After accomplishing my mission and washing my hands I left the loo, and started walking back to the room, noticing that there were a couple of fresh looking brown, liquidy spots on the carpet. Ewwwwww, I carefully avoided stepping in them and hurried back to bed, hoping that the problem was food poisoning or chronic health issues, and not some sort of contagious gastrointestinal virus. (it was already too late to hope that she didn't have a problem, but I really didn't want to share it). When we awoke the next morning I quietly explained to Keldor about the midnight occurrences (in Swedish), and we agreed that rather than enjoying a lazy morning at the hostel, it was better to just pack and go, in case it was contagious.
However, as we packed the other couple sleeping on the far side of the room woke, and they chatted with us a bit. During the conversation she commented that "it is a really long way to the women's room" (which was upstairs from where we were), and I agreed that "yes it is, I am really glad that I am non-binary", to which they both laughed, and I understood that she was embarrassed about her accident and had apologized for, and I think she understood that I accepted her apology, even though nothing explicit was said. Certainly there was no longer any evidence on the carpet for the problem. So perhaps it would have been fine to hang out for a while, but it was also nice to get back on the road.
By around 07:00 on the second day Keldor dared to try driving on the left (to which I suggested that he try driving not so close to the stone walls and hedges, and he replied that he couldn't move further to the middle due to the nearness of the oncoming traffic), but I didn't dare to work on sewing as I would during a road trip in Sweden. On the smaller roads neither of us ever dared to drive as fast as the speed limit, and are both quite certain that the only way it would be possible to drive that fast on those narrow curves would be to really and truly know the road. However, on the big motorways I really enjoyed driving--the rental was a new car with a type of cruise control that I had never before experienced, but with which I am now deeply and passionately in love. After one sets the cruise control it drives that fast, unless traffic conditions mean that it shouldn't. Therefore, all I had to do was steer--if we came up behind a vehicle that was going slower than our cruise control setting the car would slow itself down and settle a comfortable driving distance behind the other, and happily kept that distance until and unless I took us to the other lane, at which point it would speed up on its own till it was back at cruising speeds. This technology totally solves my single biggest complaint about driving: I never once had to "break cruise control and use my feet". If I could afford such a car, I would be willing to drive more often, instead of always sitting in the passenger seat.
We started Wednesday with a visit to some nearby castle ruins, and then started making our way towards the Killaloe Cathedral, which houses the only known runestone on mainland Ireland. It was only a few hours away, and we had 12 hours before the cathedral closes, so we took our time, looking at castle ruins, and a spur of the moment visit to the Michael Davitt Museum, as we saw the sign for it on time to stop. We had never heard of him before, and we had our very own private tour guide, so it was interesting to learn Michael's story and how he transformed from a small child evicted from a tenant farm with his family at 4 years old, through losing his arm in a mill accident at 11, to becoming a member of parliament who ended feudalism in Ireland and transformed the country from 3% of the land owned by Irish people living on their own land to 97% of the land owned by Irish people living on their own land. In exchange for those stories we shared a few stories from the contemporaneous Swedish labour movement, and our guide seemed to appreciate that. When he showed us the ruined abbey next door he showed us one stone carving, which looked kinda like a duck, and explained that it was an eagle, and then took us to the other side of the arch to the next bird carving, and said "and this one, which looks more like an eagle than the first, you are going to have to believe me on this one...", at which point I looked and said "it is plucking its own breast, is it a pelican?" He looked very astounded, and said "how do you know that? no one ever knows what this is". We we explained about the SCA and our order of the pelican.
But that visit was so interesting that it took more time than expected, but we were still doing ok for time, so we stopped in a pub in the next town for me to have soup and bread (and he had his first Irish beer), then I drove on to Athenry Castle, the first (and only) of our castle visits that trip that had a visitor's center and an admission price. The person working there was very nice and full of information, and we spent more time there than we expected (and encouraged her to find the SCA, since she sounded like she would enjoy it), so we didn't leave till they were closing for the day, and at that point GoogleMaps explained that if we drove the speed limit all the way we would reach the cathedral 15 minutes after it closed for the day. So, instead we just set the navigation for the pub in a nearby village where we were to meet their Majesties. We had a lovely evening visiting with them at the pub (and oh the bartender's face when Keldor asked what beer he recommends, and the bartender asked "have you tried Guinness?", and Keldor replied "only from a can". The bartender, after he finished making faces replied "that isn't Guinness", and promptly served up a glass full, which Keldor enjoyed very much.
Since we needed to return the rental car by noon on Thursday, and the cathedral wouldn't open till 10:00, we decided not to stay in the area, which was more than a two hour drive from the rental car place at the airport in Dublin. Instead we drove a short distance to the The Barack Obama Plaza truck stop, and slept in the car again. This time with easy access to flush toilets and sinks. The code for night entry was the same year I graduated high school, which made it really easy to remember; I already know that number.
Thursday we looked at a few more castle ruins on the side of the road on the way to returning the car, then got a taxi to the home of Etienne the Younger, where we relaxed, napped, and did some shopping for snacks at Polish imported food store up the street. (yummy pumpkin seeds, tasty candy made from pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds, plus just enough sugar and honey to hold it all together for me, and sausages and chips for him)
Etienne had already packed our SCA stuff in his car the day before, so as soon as he got home from work we tossed us and our last few things into the car and went to the event. Strawberry Raid is about two hours drive south of his house, and it was a delightful drive full of good conversation, and glimpses of yet more castle ruins as we drove past at full motorway speeds. When we arrived on site Adoh pointed us to a pavilion and pile of poles, and we set up our home for the event. It turned out to be a smaller hub and spoke tent than my own, but it made me very happy to have the spokes in which to hang clothing, exactly like at home. So nice of them to make this possible, and I am deeply grateful to whomever loaned us the tent. They also provided us an air mattress, and a couple of mummy style sleeping bags. Since we sleep entwined we opened up the bags to the fullest extent possible and spread them, and my single sheepskin, on the mattress to help keep us warm from below, and then spread my large rectangle viking cloak and both coats over the bed for blankets. This was not enough--the nights were clear and cold. Night two we slept in more clothes, and piled all of our extra tunics over the top of us, which was a little better, and the third night there were a few clouds, so the pile of clothing, coats, and cloak almost seemed like enough.
The days, in contrast, were sunny and pleasantly warm (perhaps a little hot for fighting, but my armour was still in Sweden). It didn't rain the whole event, and many of the visitors expressed surprise, as the had been told to expect rain while in Ireland (but I don't think any of us minded being dry). We had bought into a meal plan, and this turned out to be perfect. The kitchen came with a sunshade, and I spent much of the event under that sunshade, enjoying pleasant company, and eating the yummy things provided.
I did leave the sunshade to go to the barn to teach the dance class I had put my hand up for, which was much fun, and to be at the market, where we sold all but two of Keldor's knives we had brought with us, and if we had had more of the simple ones, we would have sold at least one more of them. But the highlight of the event was, of course, the castle!
For those of you who don't know, Sigginstown Castle is owned by SCA people. It looked like this before they bought it, but they have really done amazing things restoring it. They replaced the missing crenulations on top, cut oak trees to make new hand-hewn floor supports, and put in the floors and roof, fixed up the walls, and painted all the interior walls of the tower with period style art, as well as building themselves a residential section from the lower side building, and making a coach house (where they ran a little cafe, and where the market was) If you ever get a chance to attend an event on this site, do it, it is amazing! I loved the castle tour, and I loved attending the two vigils in the tower--such a magical setting!
The event ended on Monday morning, and it took very little time to pack our few things and take down the pavilion we had borrowed. We stayed long enough to help with taking down our camp kitchen and the big event tent that had served both as a place for checking in and storing event supplies, and as a place where fighters could store their armour. Then we returned to Etienne's house, where I cooked up a quick pot of soup with homemade noodles and enjoyed a quiet evening of doing not much thereafter. On Tuesday we took the bus in to look at Dublin's main museum (where Keldor was pleased to see that they have an Ulfberht sword (the second he's seen in person), have lunch in a caffe, and check out a couple of small shops. We then walked back to Etienne's (about an hour), but arrived before his wife had returned from walking the dog, so we went over to that Polish food store and stocked up on snacks for the flight and drive home.
We enjoyed another pleasant evening relaxing and chatting with our hosts, and got to sleep early. Etienne dropped us at the airport bright and early the next morning, and some hours later we landed in Stockholm and took an overpriced taxi to J's house to pick up our car and stuff. The code worked for the door as planned, but the key to the storage area wasn't in the basket as expected. We looked around a little, but while there was another key on the kitchen counter, we didn't see the key we needed. Johan didn't see our messages, but Jovi did, returning our call when we were at a nearby supermarket, buying more food for the road. She wasn't far away, so she met us there, and we returned to the apartment, where she finally found the needed key, which was in the pocket of his jeans, in the back of the locked car.
So we got all of our stuff from storage, and the bottle of ice for the soft-sided ice chest from Johan's freezer, and we started driving north. We reached the home of Gudrun and Liv in Gyllengran somewhat later than planned, but not so late that we couldn't stay up even later talking! We slept comfortably on their guest mattress, and happily spent the next morning (which was Nationaldag in Sweden, so a holiday) visiting with them, before heading over to Hurberget for the shire picnic. On the way we, of course, stopped to look at runestones, and I fell head over heels in love with one of them. We had a lovely picnic, which nicely slotted an "SCA event" into our schedule, which means that by the time Skellefteå Medeltidsdagar finishes in a couple of weeks we will have attended an event every weekend for 10 weeks running (assuming we do make the picnic in Uma on Friday).
After the Gyllengran picnic we did the five hour drive home and had a full week to recover before heading south to Gyllengran again for Drachenwald Coronation. We had planned to carpool with Þórólfr, as Keldor's new car is tiny, and mine was still at the workshop south of Stockholm. Alas, Þórólfr's daughter got sick on Friday, so he had to make the painful, but responsible, decision to stay home. However, he was really wonderful and let us borrow his car and trailer anyway (and we left Keldor's with him, in case he needed a car while we were gone).
My original plan had been to have everything packed and ready for Coronation by Thursday night. However, I saw a job announcement for a temporary job (one-year) as a research coordinator at the Umeå University Library. I saw the ad the day before the deadline, so I stayed up late preparing my application and sent it in. As a result I was one evening behind schedule on packing, but I think it was worth it. Especially as I got a call on Monday after the event inviting me to an interview for it on Tuesday, and another call Tuesday evening asking if they can please contact my references, so I feel like my chances for this job are looking pretty good.
Despite the delay I had managed to have almost everything ready by the time Keldor was home from work, and he quickly tossed everything into the car while I gathered the last few things. By the time the car was loaded he was feeling pretty stressed about the timing, as he didn't want to miss Friday evening court, so we just started driving without taking time to think over the list to see if we'd forgotten anything. It turns out that what we forgot was my sweater for the drive, which wasn't a problem for the drive down, as it was a pleasantly warm evening.
We got on site just early enough to get the pavilion up and the stuff piled into the tent, and the car put away before it was time to put on nice tunics for court. Oh, such a court! I smiled when the new shire of Löghammar came forward to the news that they are now an official shire, and I was not at all surprised when they went to sit down, and his majesty insisted that Agnes stay behind as they were not done with her, and gave her a chair at his side. Then they summoned forth Branna, and Agnes looked confused. Then they summoned the Order of the Laurel, and we came up as Agnes sat their with a shocked look on her face as she slowly shook her head in disbelief. After the herald read the traditional send to vigil ceremony we took both very deserving ladies off to their respective locations and the party gathered around them as people took it in turns to go speak with them.
I had made a patch for Branna's elevation mantel, as Aleydis had given me the fabric at Double Wars, and it was quick to do such a little bit of embroidery in between sessions of working on the embroidery for Lofnheiðr's dress (which I had taken home with me after Double Wars, and kept working on between events, and then she took back for at least one court at each event, before returning it to me for yet more stitching). However, I hadn't seen the call for patches for Agnes' kaften till after I was home from Ireland (as I have not been checking the forum or even messages as often as normal whilst traveling--not because the call hadn't been done in a timely manner). I checked in to see if they wanted a last minute patch, but while waiting for a reply I saw Keldor's heraldic bag I had made him, and suddenly got inspired to make Agnes a black laurel bag with reverse appliquéd rainbow laurel wreath. I had the wool, and more of the good sturdy checked purple and white linen that I had lined Keldor's bag with, but when I checked my stash of wool fabric I didn't have a full range of rainbow colours, which meant that we needed to go fabric shopping. So on Saturday, the day after we got home from Ireland, we went to the local fabric store. Neither their wool nor their linen collections included the full range of rainbow colours. Both lacked a decent shade of purple, which I thought I had at home in wool, but we weren't going home from the store, so I was forced to make due with what was available in the store, which was some "craft felt" in some synthetic fibre, but at least it had a good range of colours.
From the store we went to Þórólfr's house, where we spent the afternoon and evening playing games, and where I assembled the rainbow strips into a rainbow chunk of fabric, cut out the laurel-wreath hole in the black bag fabric, and started sewing the bag to the rainbow, using osen stitch in black yarn around the edges of the leaves. During the week I managed to get the leaves mostly done, and finished the last couple during the drive to Coronation, and started sewing the heavy linen lining in place. Needless to say, the bag wasn't totally finished before the vigil, but at least the laurel wreath was done, and Agnes says she loves it, and looks forward to taking it home with her when it is done. I am assembling the bag the same way I did Keldor's, which means fully lining the strap and the bag rectangle in linen, seams to the inside, and then using osenstitch in a knitting yarn to sew the strap to the bag. The result is nice and strong, and looks good. But it takes time, especially as the linen doesn't like letting the large needle to pass through, so it is still only mostly done, but soon!
On Monday, we got a text message saying that our car was finally repaired and ready to pick up. From the workshop south of Stockholm. We could have skipped the Umeå picnic and taken the train south on Friday and picked it up. Except for the part where the workshop is only open weekdays from 07:00 to 18:00. So a few posts to FB and Discord later we had a plan... Åsa in Stockholm picked it up from the shop for me, and it is sitting in her parking place. This weekend Alexander will be visiting his friends in Stockholm, and when he is done he will drive the van north to Umeå, where we will pick it up. If diesel costs him more than he would have spent on the train, we will pay the difference. I am really looking forward to being reunited with it. I put a lot of effort into painting it with knotwork dragons to make it pretty for events, and then it didn't make it to the events we have been to this spring!
Now our busy event every weekend spring and early summer is drawing to a close. On Friday is the picnic in Uma for midsummer, then Broken Arrow the following week, and Skellefteå Medeltidsdagar the week after. We haven't made any travel plans after that, yet, though there are some tempting events coming up on the calendar.
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