Sunday, February 17, 2013

A New Year of Events on the Horizon

Greetings & salutations, gentle reader.

’Tis now the middle of February, and my SCA event itinerary for the year ahead looks something like this:


This is an annual event (although it may be taking a hiatus after this year) for the children and youth of the SCA.  As the dad to three small children, I will be attending principally as a parent.


Although this event isn’t actually an SCA event, per se, the Shire of Midhaven (with a little support from the Barony of Aquaterra, the Shire of Earnrokke, and the Shire of Shittimwoode) typically puts on a demo of heavy fighting, rapier combat, and various arts & sciences.  If I do get to go this year, I don’t know quite in what capacity I will participate.


This is the semi-annual coronation of the new King & Queen of An Tir.  Leading up to the event, I will be coordinating pre-registration, reservations for RV camping, and reservations for large group camping.
I also designed a logo for the event, to be used on the site tokens.  (A “site token” is a little souvenir that one received when one checks in for the event.  It is ostensibly used to prove that one has paid the required admission fee, but does also serve as a memento of the event.)  The design features a tulip with a crown superimposed upon it (as if the tulip is poking up through the middle of the crown, but seen in profile).   The tulip is for the Shire of Midhaven, where the event is being held, and the crown is because it is the coronation of the new monarchs of An Tir.
While at the event, I expect I’ll probably do some voice heraldry (town cry, field heraldry, court heraldry), and will try to get in a shift or two on King UlfR’s guard.  Apart from that, I mostly plan to take it easy & spend time with family & friends.


This is the Ithra session sponsored by the Shire of Midhaven.  Again, I may or may not attend, and if I do, I may teach or merely take a class or two.


This is Midhaven’s annual holiday feast.  This year, I will be the event steward, which is to say, the project manager for the whole event.  This will be the first SCA event for which I have been event steward.  So far, I’ve had plenty of ideas with respect to it, and plan to devote an entire blog post just to these ideas.


Seeing as how this event is so close to home (South King County, Washington), Lady Avelyn & I will be taking this opportunity to get away for the weekend, and play in fancy new costumes.  We’re planning to dress in 15th Century Burgundian garb.


  •  Friday, 24 January - Sunday, 26 January, 2014 - Ursulmas
This is the large annual public demonstration & off-season fighting event hosted by the Barony of Aquaterra at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, Washington.  Once again, I will be handling pre-registration for the event, and may possibly be handling RV camping reservations as well.  IF I actually end up attending, it may be that I will mostly help out with heralding the tourneys.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Back again

Well, I started my last post (October 25, 2012) saying how it had been so long since my previous post.  Well, I just beat that record into the dust.  (Sorry folks.)

Since then, a fair amount has happened:

  1. Between the end of August and the beginning of September, I submitted a heraldic will, Lady Avelyn submitted a badge, and the Shire of Midhaven re-submitted both a populace badge and a badge for the Company of the Tulip.  As of now (February 2013), all of these items, except the badge for the Company of the Tulip passed at the Kingdom level and are being considered at Laurel.  I have proposed some more designs to the Shire for yet another resub of the Co. of the Tulip badge, and will probably submit next month.
  2. The Shire of Midhaven held its annual Harvest Feast, wherein my lady wife was awarded membership in the Order of the Jambe de Lion (and her Grant of Arms), and several others were given Awards of Arms, including Lady Martha at Gore, Lady Elizabeth at Gore, Lady Libuše Makovička, Lord Cailin Cobb, and Lady Fujioka no Kaorime.  For these last two, the court ceremonies for their Award presentations were written by me.  Also at this event, we met a new friend, Baroness Stephania von Graz, OC, OD, OHA.  She is an accomplished scribe.
  3. After Harvest Feast, I was invited to serve on the retinue of the next King and Queen of An Tir.
  4. In December, we attended the Barony of Aquaterra’s annual Good Yule.  Lady Martha was there made aware of her Award of Arms, a great secret that we had kept since she was unable to attend Harvest Feast.  After about 30 years playing in the SCA, it was about time, and she is still basking in the appreciation.  Also we sat with Baroness Stephania during the feast.
  5. Over the holidays, we took some time and visited family in Arizona and California.  One of the gifts I received was a large brass hand bell -- perfect for doing town cry!
  6. Then in January, we were unable to go to Twelfth Night, but heard report that the Towne of KeyPoynt (a confederation of small households, mostly within Midhaven) was made an armigerous group by King Vik and Queen Astrid.  Huzzah to KeyPoynt!
  7. Later in January, all the work that Lady Avelyn and I had been putting in toward Ursulmas came to fruition.  That is, Ursulmas happened.  Originally, I had not intended to attend, but being on royal retinue, I wanted to come so that I could actually get a chance to serve while Their Majesties still reigned.  It was a success.  Lady Avelyn had a successful time demonstrating period garb with her friend and teacher, Lady Elewys, and while I was on guard duty with the King, I got to see a surprise knighting on the field.  I also got to assist in heralding royal court in the evening, and Duchess Angharad added Baroness Stephania to the family as a fellow protégé.  Also, one of my heraldic consultation clients, Mistress Gulenay, finally submitted her name, device, and badge to the College of Heralds.
  8. Now, looking forward, I'm accepting pre-registration for Youth Allthing, which has been postponed until April, and beginning work on July Coronation, for which I am in charge of pre-registration for gate and RVs, coordinating camping reservations, and helping with site layout and created the artwork for the site tokens.  I want to see if we can get a web form posted online for pre-registration, so as not to have to deal with illegible handwriting and postal delays.