The Free Weekend.

.....It was actually the first weekend since early May where we didn't have five million things scheduled. Both TBT and I both worked hard to try and make sure we didn't book ourselves for anything either. We both needed a weekend to sleep in and catch up with ourselves at least a little bit. All in all, I think we pretty much succeeded. :-)

.....Friday was one of our only two obligations of the weekend. It was 'Fajita Day' at Conchobar and Eilidh's house over in Port Orchard. They traditionally set aside a weekend in June that is sort of a 'School's Out for Summer' gathering. Most of their friend set are public school teachers, so it makes sense. And since Conchobar and Eilidh come from New Mexico, it also makes sense that Fajita's would be the theme of the Bar-B-Que. :-)

.....Both TBT and I were really tired on Friday and it was our intention to simply make an appearance and leave when we could. But I found the food to be pretty good, the conversation nice, and the evening a pleasant experience to sit out and enjoy in the back yard. The only downer were the mesquitos, which were ferocious!

.....After a while, Conchobar and three other friends of his started on some music. They had a couple of amps set up and a full set. Conchobar sang the primary voice. Mainly '80's music. I found myself really enjoying it. I kept remembering with fondness life in the late '80's and early '90's. Hanging out with friends and playing the music of the day in the garage, or in the living room of the Zombie Zone (the 'communal home' we all rented together as that was all we could afford. :-)).

.....After Conchobar played a set, his band took a break and Nidda and Caius grabbed a couple of ukeleles and sang a couple of songs, including my absolute favorite, Hallelujah. :-) Good stuff. But after that, TBT was starting to fall asleep and really wanted to go home. We'd spent a couple of hours there, and it had flown by, so I packed up our stuff and we went home for the evening.

.....Saturday morning was our ritual Starbucks encounter, after sleeping in for the morning. Even I didn't get out of bed until 7AM, which is extremely late for me. :-) Then it was back home and a clean out of Lobelia. Took a couple of hours to pull everything out and then clean her out some. She started right up when I turned on the master switches, but the hotel batteries will not hold a charge for long at all. We will need to replace them before September Crown.

.....Swept her out and put chemicals in the gray and black water tanks, then grabbed TBT to drop Lobelia up at storage. All the gates were open, so it was easy to put away Lobelia. But when we tried to leave, we found ourselves locked out on the wrong side of the gate! Seems that in all the chaos of June Faire we had paid the Storage Unit late. For $19 they had put a lock-out on our code! I was disgusted. $19? I've had Lobelia stored there for over six years now and this is what I get, and we had even paid the rent. Wow! We need to find a new location to store Lobelia, that's for sure.

.....We had a quick lunch and then met Madrun for a visit to the Baronial Storage Units. The stuff picked up from site later, the stuff that made it into our garages anyway. All of this was collected so it could go back to where it belongs. Which is pretty typical for a June Faire, which usually takes three or four trips back to get everything put away. :-)

.....TBT spent time creating and working on a loom, and I spent Saturday evening researching music for my single entry into KBC next year. With much reluctance I finally gave up any thought of performing on the gemshorn. No matter how much I like it, the gemshorn I play is not qualified really to be called period. Although I really like the sound of it. It has a fingering system much more like a recorder. I could cover a hole or two and play something on it, but I really don't have the time to do the research on it that would be required.

.....So, it is back to the Bass Recorder. I'm going to play some Dowland. 'Lady Hammond's Alman' to be exact. An Elizabethan piece that will be fairly easy to document. There is plenty of period source material to detail how it should be played. Even though it was written by Dowland for a Lute, it is very typical of the day to play his music on other instruments, so extrapolation will be relatively easy. I found a score I liked, and even a digital picture of an extant copy of the Alman, so I'm halfway home. Now I just have to play it well. :-)

.....Today was pretty free-form. I did not feel motivated to any large degree. I did manage to extract the bedroom from the masses of stuff accumulated from June Faire and Honey War. Clothes were put away. SCA 'stuff' was collected and put away. You can now see the Hope Chest and the Dresser Drawers for the first time in three weeks. :-)

.....Laundry was done. Clothes put out for the week. Notes started for meetings I had last week. Nothing completed, but starting them all made me feel better. Then a trip to Gwen's for dinner and to say 'Fare Well' to Truly, who will be leaving us within the next couple of weeks. Rather say, but exciting in the aspect of travel. Sometimes I wish I could travel more. :-) Now, if I could get over my hatred of actually moving, I would be more motivated to find new places in which to travel for work. :-)

.....This week looks to be a little slower than last. THANKFULLY! Items to remember for this week include:

* Complete notes and Action Items from Western Regional Pelican Meeting of last week.
* Complete notes and Action Items from September Crown Meeting of last week.
* Complete arrangements for July Coronation support.
* Get insurance information to Tsuruko so she can submit for Site Insurance and Equestrian Insurance.

.....There are a host of others, but those are the big ticket Must Do's.

.....Time for bed I think.

.....Aaron / Arontius.