The event itself was packed with fun activities. Saturday was hot and sunny, and Duchess Clare and I spent a good chunk of time keeping the lists for rapier, heavy, and youth combat, which mostly kept us in the shade and entertained us. We also wound up supervising a pack of extremely enthusiastic children who volunteered as water-bearers but spent a lot of time squirting each other, eating the pickles and oranges, and generally being unattended kids. After the fighting was done, we all took part in the dancing held on the dusty fighting field (pro tip: if you offer war points for dancing, especially double war points, EVERYONE will show up. There must have been at least 50 of us!). A great photographer came to the event to take photos (Adventure Bound Media, check them out!), and you can see one below with me, my husband, Master Gomez, and a bunch of our friends getting ready to dance.
The evening was full of socializing and a welcome break from the heat. I admit to turning in fairly early each night of this event. Once it gets dark and chilly and people are drunk (and you can't be one of them) I tend to get bored. I'd rather be in bed with a flashlight and a book, or just catching up on sleep since I'm terrible at sleeping in, especially camping, especially at an event full of unattended feral children (look, don't get me wrong, I like kids. What I don't like is parents who aren't responsible about their kids. The SCA is clear. Under 12 years old, they need to be within sight and sound of a parent AT ALL TIMES. This isn't daycare). I am still trying to forget finding a tick in our bed that night, but it was the only one I saw all weekend, and neither of us got bitten, thank goodness.
Sunday was cooler, and I enjoyed helping run the populace choice Arts & Sciences competition and watching the war scenarios and various melees. There was also a fair bit of napping and crafty time, as usual, and then a nice household dinner to round out the day. Our group also enjoyed attending the medieval pub trivia competition that evening, along with Viking prom and medieval celebrity dress-up contest. My excellent husband, who stepped down as Wealdsmere's bardic champion at court that evening and was enjoying his freedom, wound up being named their new Baronial Arts & Sciences champion, which was no surprise to me. His Norse mead and Oseburg backpack recreation were very well received. He sweetly bestowed his prizes on me, a new ceramic cup (I have lost my favorite somewhere this event season and have been using an old one with a chip in it all summer) and a lovely necklace. What a guy.
Our household team also tied for winning the war competition overall, and split the booty with the Ship's Crew folks who were the other main contenders. There was a lot of good loot in there, but I just took candy for my share. ;)
We packed up and hit the road home by 11 Monday morning, and came home, as usual after events, sunburnt, dirty, exhausted, and full of stories.