Arontius of Bygelswade

.....It was a pretty typical Monday in that my brain was fried by the time I walked in the door after work. But after a nice dinner and conversation with TBT, and a little Starbucks pick-me-up, I felt at least slightly refreshed and willing to get a few things done. :-)

.....The Serjeantry hand-outs were tweaked and finalized. There is still some longer term work to be done to them, especially as concerns the requirements for Yoemen. But the write-up is complete for tomorrow night's discussion at Fight Practice. Only thing left to do is print out a dozen or so copies and practice the fine art of not looking nervous as the presentation is made.

.....Need to speak to Master Andrus, Arion and Cedric about a 'get-together' to talk about fleshing out the Yoemen section, and add appropriate verbiage for Thrown Weapons.

.....The silk banner was tweaked slightly. It needed far less work in outlining than I imagined. But it is now ready for actual painting, which will be done on Wednesday night while TBT is away at a Western Regional Laurel's meeting. I think we'll see both mine and TBT's flying over our pavilion at May Crown. I can't wait to see them. Actually I'm even more excited to get moving on the follow-up generation. I can already see them in my mind. Need to get some more silk ordered as soon as possible.

.....Probably should have been more productive on other things, but had fun looking through TBT's ruffs on display on the web-site she posted in her Live Journal entry this evening. Made me want to do something creative. So I put away thoughts of finishing my taxes for Ingasbo and started working on the Heroic Couplet exercise that Master Gaerred assigned to us on the 'Bards of An Tir' list in Facebook. Kind of wish that group had been done in Live Journal instead of Facebook. But I'll still make it work.

.....The exercise wanted us to conentrate at creating Heroic Couplets. Two lines of Iambic Pentameter, with each line finishing with a rhyme. Five sets of Heroic Couplets were assigned, with bonus points if all five sets were related to the point of creating a cohesive poem. I didn't get the bonus points, but I did manage to finish the assignment:

In ordered rows of grey providing lore
Celestial armies forward into war

With joy they surge in fearsome ships of war
Thrown tridents pierce the dark with bolts that gore

Their streaming manes did roil with efforts fierce
Great hearts in passion heavens soul will pierce

To soar the heavens wide my soul did leap
The beauty in her eyes did make me weep

The summer wind did laugh with childish glee
A warmth that wraps the soul, it is the key

.....I may have to try this again later this week if time allows.

.....On the 'to-do' list for this week are:

.....Tuesday: Fight Practice with Serjeantry Presentation.
.....Wednesday: Work on Silk Banner.
.....Thursday: April Business Meeting.
.....Friday: Relatively Free. Huzzah! :-)
.....Saturday: Trip to J.C. site in the morning. Madrone Banquet in the afternoon / evening.
.....Sunday: Brunch at Gwen's.

.....I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting. Just too tired to remember at the moment though. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....I'm not a big Facebook fan, but Jahnkin started a 'Bards of An Tir' group there in which a Sonnetry 'challenge' was thrown out by Master Garraed. Given a sonnet by Wordsworth, the challenge was to take two consecutive lines and make them the first and last lines of a Sonnet of your making.

.....Rhyme Scheme is ABBA ABBA CDDC CD. Iambic Pentameter as usual.

.....The rules were modified later, which went unnoticed by me. But I did enjoy both the entries by others and the writing of my own. If I had given myself more time to edit, I think I could have beat this more into submission. But I wanted to a.) get something submitted before the group moved onwards, and b.) get something submitted before my brain was beaten up by dealing with the Shipyard tomorrow.

.....I did have fun with it however, and hope that the challenge continues.

.....Here is the original Wordsworth:

Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room
And hermits are contented with their cells;
And students with their pensive citadels;
Maids at the wheel, the weaver at his loom,
Sit blithe and happy; bees that soar for bloom,
High as the highest Peak of Furness-fells,
Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells:
In truth the prison, into which we doom
Ourselves, no prison is: and hence for me,
In sundry moods, 'twas pastime to be bound
Within the Sonnet's scanty plot of ground;
Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be)
Who have felt the weight of too much liberty,
Should find brief solace there, as I have found.

.....And here is my construction using the first two lines as the first and last lines of my sonnet:

Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room.
A hutch of six sides that provides a home.
A craddle holding bodies in rich loam,
From which they will emerge babes from the womb.
In the deep night from the dark of their tomb,
Their souls sail heavens ways in ships of foam.
Unfetter'd from this earthly weight they roam,
The mysteries of God they will illume.
The manna of divinity is joy.
It nourishes these sailors from deep wells,
As their ships navigate swift moving dells.
Springs effervescent as loves endless toy.
A world essential to the nun who's coy.
And hermits are contented with their cells.

.....I could improve the whole thing significantly had I seen the revised rules, which stated that one only needed to use one line from Wordsworth somewhere in your sonnet. I would definitely remove the last line of mine and replace it with something that completed it better.

.....But I'm recording it here in Live Journal so I can track it with my own sonnets. And add commentary to later creations.

.....Fun though. Should probably poke at Sir Richard and get him added to the Facebook group. He would present some good material to the group, I'm sure.

.....Aaron / Arontius.