Arontius of Bygelswade

.....Getting ready for the third meeting of this week, the May Business Meeting. I'm decidedly tired at this point and want to sleep more than anything else. But I need to get everything pulled together so we can get out of here a few minutes early and double-down on the caffeine. :-) I'm just glad that we finished our reports yesterday. I just have to print them out and paraphrase them at the meeting. Tomorrow is Friday, with a weekend of sleeping in at least a little bit.

.....Last night was a September Crown meeting. I had about fifteen people show up for it. Actually more than I expected. I mainly wanted to go through our list of 'go-dos' and keep people thinking about them before the June Faire madness really takes hold. As soon as June Faire is over we'll be moving fast to keep up with everything we need to do to support the event.

.....I need to find a Volunteer Coordinator. Someone to really start walking up to the branches of the Kingdom and working them hard to volunteer for the big duties, like gate. Finding a really motivated and dedicated Volunteer Coordinator is always difficult, but I've got a few ideas and I will see if I can put together some bribable tid-bits to entice potential candidates.

.....Need to also start hitting up the local Baronial Cousins for branch support of various activities. Aquaterra owes us for our support of July Coronation last year. But I would rather approach it as brethren helping brethren rather than an obligation. I'm thinking that they would rather see it that way as well. Really need some dedicated parking support and gate support. Oooo, and a group dedicated to setting up and tearing down the Kingdom Pavilions around the Erics. I forgot to put that on my agenda last night. Need to hit that up soonest with e-mail traffic.

.....This weekend is May Pole up in Druim Doineann. I would like to day trip, but I just don't know if I can. So many things to get done this month in support of May Crown, June Faire and Serjeantry. Any free time I can shake loose in support of those items is a necessity. There are a number of people attending from the Barony, so as a group we'll be well represented. But it always makes a difference to have the Baron and Baroness show up. Even us (although I think Druim Doineann would prefer a visit from Blatha An Oir. Alexsii and Elspeth are more epically heroic than we are. :-)).

.....I need to get up to Lobelia this weekend and pull out stuff I need for May Crown. Should not be a whole lot, but definitely the mattress is needed, some blankets and maybe pillows. The flashlights are up there, as well as the battery supply. May want to pull out some tables. I think we're good for chairs (although we need to put together the new Ikea chairs and pack them in Heather). Then it will be down to the bins of stuff normally needed to support a weekend (clothes, toiletries, food stuff, etc.). Trying my best to pare down the lists to manageable sizes and not pack Heather full of stuff that will not be needed. That's the beauty of starting the packing process so early. I get to THINK about the stuff I'm packing and whether I REALLY need it, instead of just throwing everything in eyesight into Heather and not using half of it over the weekend.

.....June Faire packing will be done over the Memorial Day weekend. I'll bring Lobelia to the house for that packing. The neighbors know it is truly the summer season when they wake up and find the RV and the Rental Truck blocking all the traffic in the Cul-De-Sac. :-) The sailors across the street will suffer the most probably. They have had a half dozen cars parked all over the street and their drive-way for a couple of weeks now.

.....Must also give some thought to our plans for June Faire. We tentatively have a 'Grand Processional' planned for Saturday. Maybe two with the first being a leisurely tour of site with lots of conversation and recognition of those participating and the second being a processional filled with pomp and pageantry. This one will require at least a modicum of preparation to make happen.

.....Also need to speak to a number of people on having someone take on the Bardic gathering of Saturday night at June Faire. TBT and I will be Zombies before Court is done and need someone to organize a gathering, get a fire going and advertise it. That's a hard one though as everyone else will be busy during the day as well and very tired. Hmmm, I've got a few ideas on people though. Do not want to scare them off though. Must be delicate in approach. :-)

.....Looks like a trip to Indiana over the week of July after Coronation. I'll most likely have to leave that Sunday night, so probably a day trip is in order for Coronation. The drive will be about three hours or so, but it isn't bad. Will make for a long day though. Hope there is no grumbling about the lack of support from the Baron and Baroness. Sigh! Those are the complaints that always make me the most crazy. You can only be so many things to so many people. My limit is between two and three. If I try hard enough I can be in two place at any given time. But in times of extra craziness, I can go as high as three. But more is pretty much impossible. :-)

.....The Live Journal SCA Feed had a story on an 'Inflatable Stonehenge' the other day. It was one of those bouncy structures that kids play on and around (in England, I think). The stones were rather realistic and the whole thing looked rather cool. While I was Googling for information on it though I happened to run across a number of other entries of Stonehenge recreations people have built around the world. Some have put A LOT of work into some of these recreations, down to actual several ton stone blocks being put into position. Full Stonehenge recreations, with all stones in place and fully intact. I ran across one in progress that someone was building out of wire and fiberglass. Once each block was completed and painted, they looked incredibly realistic! For only a portion of the weight of complete blocks. I was suddenly seeing visions of a scaled down model in our back yard. We have a really nice shaded grove of grass under the Cedar trees that would make an excellent platform for a Stonehenge recreation. Another project for the wish list of things to do after we step down. :-)

.....A planetary conjunction coming either tonight or tomorrow night, with an enlarged view of the moon this weekend. Astronomically speaking, it is going to be a number of good days to pull out a telescope, or a good set of binoculars, and take a look at things that are not always so beautifully visible. I need to see if I can find the small lens for my telescope and pull it out of storage. Or at least the good camera.

.....Time goes by fast. Must get everything pulled together for tonight.

.....Aaron / Arontius.