A Saturday In Retrospect.

[arontius]

.....I just finished the Doomsday Financial Report for the 2nd Quarter of 2011 of The Crier. Which isn't doing all that badly, to be honest. THL Godith took the directive to heart about 'tightening the financial belt'. The Crier is one lean publication now, and still does everything it is supposed to do. And looks good to boot. :-)

.....The transition to an electronic version will be interesting next year. Although I am rather glad I'm not currently the Kingdom Chronicler as I can see a few headaches on the horizon. Namely, dealing with those who want a hard copy of their Kingdom Newsletter at the same time you are publishing an e-version.

.....Financially speaking though, I'm thinking that my reports will get even easier to do than they are now.

.....It was a good day at Hot Summer Lights in Druim Doineann. The weather was beautiful. I love the site. High enough up in the Olympics to take the bite off of the heat felt lower down. And the breeze coming right off of the mountains had a slight chill to it that took the edge off of any heat baking the site. Rather good for fighting. :-)

.....TBT and I arrived at about 10AM. The Baronial Pavilion had been set up the night before, for which we were grateful. We threw our chairs and stuff under it and went off to wander the site. I need to remember to add my thank yous to the e-mail of HSL thank-yous later this evening or tomorrow morning.

.....The Baronial Encampment was just on the other side of the infamous flagpole. I had a little bit of nostalgia looking at that thing. I can still picture various bits of Caitlin Spenser's clothing hanging from the lines there. :-) It was an HSL where the Spenser-Longfellow Household had its last grand party before imploding with impunity not long after. But that last party, with the Hawaiian print theme was definitely a memory of epic proportions. That huge Hawaiian print tunic I wore still wakes me up in a cold sweat on occasion. It was awesomely bad. :-)

.....A good representation of the Baronial Populace was camped this year! Jahnkin and Adelheidi. Conchobar and Eilidh. Eadric and Katerina. Marion. Myrick and Aileen. Morgan. Morrigan. Caedmon. There were others as well. TBT and I enjoyed hanging out with them before the war itself started.

.....Marion also gave us a tour of her new 'Soul Pad' pavilion. It is a modern tent that has a rather medieval look to it. It has a plastic floor and is supported by a single center pole and an 'A' Frame door. Incredibly easy to set up. Folds to a very small amount of storage space. Looks 'relatively' medieval. Moderately priced ($700 is a little more than I would want to spend, but still worth the consideration). I wasn't so sure about its longevity, but TBT says the canvas is of good quality. I also considered that the poles and ropes could be replaced for low cost. So definitely worthy of consideration for the future. I love Panther. But the five million poles, ropes and stakes take up a lot of space in whatever vehicle is hauling it. Just sayin'... :-)

.....TBT and I set up for the day in the Baronial and watched the 'war' from there. There were at least twenty or thirty fighters. Baron Alexsii even showed up for the day. THL Althon was in charge of the scenarios and he had a good set of scenarios planned.

.....THL Jahnkin did a good job leading as the Baronial Warlord and the Dragon's Laire troops were motivated and eager. I was quite proud of them all as Baron. Dragon's Laire ruled the day. But I suppose I shouldn't say that too loudly as we all concentrated on the 'fun' aspects of the day. Her Excellency Brighid was even in her combat archery gear and on the warfield. Made TBT and I wish we had made the time to get our armor in gear. Well, maybe me more than TBT. She has been very focused on getting caught up with her orders and assignments.

.....Today was also the Trial of Sargent for both Jahnkin and Caedmon (in heavy fighting). Master Cedric had agreed to be the judge and he took it very seriously. TBT and I were both very grateful. He set up scenarios for both Jahnkin and Caedmon to show their abilities to lead and strategize on the war field. He set up scenarios to demonstrate their fighting abilities. He interacted on several levels with both of them and made sure TBT and I were in the loop at all times. All of this while still making the candidates feel at ease with what they were doing, and teaching them an item or two along the way. Totally a win.

.....By the time the war itself was done, everyone was tired but very elated. You could tell that everyone had had a great time.

.....TBT was anxious to get started on her orders again and we had stayed at the event a little longer than I had first surmised. So we gathered our 'stuff', and as several of the populace grabbed it from our hands to haul it off to the car (I'm still not used to that :-)), TBT and I wandered to say our good-byes and do a few last minute functions.

.....Spoke with THL Ivan about September Crown. I've been holding off on launching the e-list until I had heard from Druim Doineann about their wants and desires for participation. Ivan let me know that they wanted to help, but weren't sure how or what yet and that we basically should go ahead with our plans. So I will ensure that Ivan is on the e-list and start things moving. Actually, I'm pretty happy as the major up-front positions already have volunteers. The only one I still need to find a volunteer for is Gate / Pre-Registration. But I have a couple of ideas on this one, so I'm not really worried.

.....I'll launch the e-list tomorrow (or rather re-launch T.H.II, Part III :-)), and we can start talking about a site visit sometime in late September or October.

.....The unbelted fighters had a Tournament scheduled for 4:30, and I think that it was pushed until later. We knew that Myrick, Dillon, and Caedmon were going to be participants. So TBT and I ensured that we stopped and gave tokens to each of them and wished them well.

.....We stopped by the Archery Range for a bit. Wandered through the Arts and Sciences area. Then said our final good-byes and drove off.

.....I really need to clean up the disaster area that is my Computer Room, so that I can find things again. Then I need to concentrate on finishing the clean out of Lobelia and the garage tomorrow so that I can get ready for the Summer Madness next weekend. For all I know TBT and I, and Madrun and Dillon might be the only ones camping the weekend there. :-) But that's O.K., we'll light a fire and sing 'Baby Shark' all night long. :-) Which might be better than it sounds with enough tequila. :-)

Willows Whiten, Aspens Quiver
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Through the wave that runs forever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot
Four gray walls and four gray towers
Overlook a space of flower
And the silent Isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott

.....Second verse, which I need to look up and see how good my memory is. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.