"Friday -- Cold wind, nasty for setting up ... there were at least a couple of "fabric failures" on sunshades (the BC and the DE ... figures, somehow). They were fixed and working later, but ... setup was certainly interesting. On the other hand, with folk being helpful, we got to meet and help people setup we might not have met otherwise, which was kinda fun.
"The Prince and Princess of Oertha (Kylson and Sorcha), and the Princess' husband (Tancred Fraser) were visiting, which was a nice thing (but them I'm a bit biased, they're all friends of mine). We ended up with practically an "Oerthan Row" with the autocrats pavilions, the Prince and Princess of Oertha, Francis Bull of Kent and Cassandra von Verden (former Oerthans, and Francis is Kylson's squire, to the best of my knowledge), and domus entropius (which had me in it, being a former Oerthan) ... there was talk about their being enough Oerthans and former Oerthans (which included Berengeria de Montfort of Carcassonne, Colin MacLear, Kareina Talvi Tytar, and others) at the event to play "Bowling for Oerthans", with Kylson as the "prince pin" (well, he's not King, right?).
"Saturday Court -- Conor and Isa's first court included admitting Ella Gajewi to the Order of the Pelican. I honestly don't recall what other awards may have been given, except as I type I remember Mari Alexander being made a member of the Queen's Guard and then shortly after (or before -- it sort of blurs) being admitted to the Queen's Order of Grace. (I know there were other awards, don't remember them, sorry -- not being a "Court Recorder" I didn't take a pad of paper and pen with me. They'll be reported through the appropriate channels ...)
"Court Part 2 Coronation -- Fabian and Susan's coronation -- the procession was fun -- they did a middle eastern theme, and are aiming the whole reign at being based on the Third Crusade. To that end, Their Majesties are doing some "History Moments" during court, which so far have been fun.
"AND Court Part 3 (Right after Part 2, Magnus, who was herald started to announce a break and was caught by Fabian in the middle of it, and the announcement was changed to "There will be a zero minute break between courts ..." or words to that effect, the "zero minute" bit being the funny part ...).
"During this court, the one piece of business that may be of importance to folks is the elevation of Elspeth the Semstress of Dunkeld to the Order of the Pelican. Again, there were other awards, which I honestly just don't recall.
"There were history moments, which included in the second one the Pope's death of a heart attack after hearing about the loss of Jersualem and the body left there in court after the rest of it was over; and Colin de Bray as King Henry, talking to Stephen of Beckenham as the King of France (with a great cheesy French accent) and allying themselves to go to war to re-take Jersualem ... and then leaving the dead pope's body ... so some Pelicans (led by Frederick of Holland, muttering under his breath about always having to clean up after the royalty ...) carried the body off.
"Saturday was a nicer day, the wind wasn't as harsh. There was a Queen's Champion prize tournament, followed by the Arts bardic competition, followed by the Bard of the West competition, all on the eric area ... the usual partying and socializing in the evening, lots o'fun.
"Sunday opened with (for those of us who are Pelicans) a lengthy Pelican meeting (it was productive, but of course, can't talk about it here).
"After that, we had a really fun little game of "Queen's Rules Croquet", which had some ... er ... interesting obstacles and things. There were "educational" points, a limbo station (you had to do the limbo to play through), the "Bardic Hazard" ... those who played had a great time, from what I could see (I was holding the pole for the Limbo station with Kelvin - Duchess Leticia's son).
"Court was held shortly after, with a variety of competition winners announced, and I cannot recall much detail there (except Ivan and his lady winning the Wooden Spoon and His Majesty being put out that He wasn't invited to help judge ...), and so on.
"All in all a fun event, despite the wind and Saturday night being fairly cold (I heard it was in the upper 30's, felt colder than that)." -- Hirsch von Henford
 Fabian Arnet von Schwetzingen Quarterly sable and argent, in bend two eagles displayed, heads facing sinister, Or. |
 Susan of Wight Or, a castle sable, on a chief gules three compass stars elongated to base Or, and on a base gules a compass star elongated to base Or. |
For those interested, here are the riddles used by Torvald Torgarson as the "Bardic Hazard" in the Queen's Rules Croquet game -- all of these are original pieces, posted with Torvald's permission:
Riddle 1:
Warrior's friend and warrior's bane
When in my prime both the same
When used too long by a warrior fool
At my end the housewife's tool
Answer (Rattan)
Riddle 2:
Holding strong and holding fast
Fighter's friend from first to last
Color of the fog draped land
Never it is far from hand
Answer (duct tape)
Riddle 3:
Ugly is as ugly does
Beauty comes with time and love
Color of the moonless sky
Across the clouds and sun it flies
Answer (Banner of Cynagua)
Riddle 4:
Far from hand but close to heart
Soon the paths of land must part
With winter heat and summer snow
With our hopes and blessings go
Answer (Lochac)
Description of this event (if any), taken from The Page, or from memory of at least one person who attended the event.
The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).