Arontius of Bygelswade

.....Greetings All,

.....What a busy weekend! Seems like it should still be Friday, it moved so fast. But I am glad it is over as we hit and passed several major milestones on the summer's schedule. Only a few more weeks of stress and things should then start slowly winding down. Huzzah!

.....We picked up the keys to Mom's apartment on Friday and moved in the first van load of stuff. It is not a big apartment by any means, but it is far nicer than the apart from which she is moving! Mom hates change and I could see that she wasn't exactly happy with everything, but she was trying her best to be a trouper and move forward.

.....After dropping her off at the old home I ran to pick up the Beloved Tamm and Rhys and we made the 4:15 boat to Seattle. We had to drop Rhys off for the weekend, which bummed the Beloved Tamm somewhat, but there were definitely enough distractions to where she didn't have to think about it much thankfully.

.....We loaded the van with some furniture and other odd pieces, then had dinner at our favorite restaurant, had a little ice cream under the almost full moon, and enjoyed the nice evening. Just hanging out with the Beloved Tamm was so much fun. She is the most beautiful and wonderful woman I know. It was the perfect evening just because she was there.

.....We were home rather late but still managed to get up early enough to make the trip through Starbucks before meeting up with everyone at Mom's old house on Saturday morning. Wow! I have the most fantastic friends in the whole freakin' world! Besides the Beloved Tamm, Bernie, Tsuruko, Gwen, Cedric, Brighid, Talon and Jenae all showed up for the move. Most of these people had never even met my mother before Saturday, but gave up their day to help. Amazing! Everyone swooped in and we had everything loaded up in about 45 minutes. The moving of a lot of the stuff over the past couple of months paid off as well. We rolled over to the new apartment and had everything moved in and set up in about an hour or so. The Beloved Tamm and Brighid ran to K-MART (NOT Wal-Mart :-)) and bought some supplies for the new place. Then everyone got into the act of setting things up (making the bed, setting up the computer, etc.).

.....We then ran out for breakfast then. Afterwards I took Mom shopping and by the time we made it back to her place she was DONE with people. :-) I started putting away groceries and she told me 'NO, go home. I need a nap.' She looked a little overwhelmed a few times, so I told her to call me on the cell if she needed anything and that I'd check in with her on Monday.

.....Saturday afternoon was the big Blackberry Hollow Farm party! Good times. I enjoyed just hanging out and talking with people. The Beloved Tamm was able to hook up again with people that she has been able to for a long while. Especially Scott (Skapti), who managed to behave himself all the way up until he started laying the moves out on Tamm. I had to intervene at that point but only got him to stop when I started kissing on Ciar. :-)

.....It was fun all around. AND, I ALMOST managed to make it out of there dropping off the Kingdom Chronicler archives without picking up the Seneschal(e) files. Well, almost. Angharad caught me and MADE me take them home with me. :-)

.....Sunday was another early riser. We still managed to make it through Starbucks AND get on the 7:15 ferry to Seattle. :-) We started picking things up and loading the van before the rest of the crowd showed up for the day's work. It was Cedric, Brighid, Stivyn (Doug), Bernie, Tsuruko, Gwen, Ralg, and little Brigget for this run. Wow! Again with the thankfulness at having such wonderful friends!!!! We'll have to think of some way to pay them back.

.....By the time we loaded everything up I was seriously worried about how in the hell we were going to get everything into the house. I kept my mouth shut until an opportunity popped up to store a few belongings in Cedric and Brighid's garage, an offer for which I was VERY grateful.

.....Those who drove around made it back to the house at least a good half hour before those of us who took the ferry. Unloading was tricky, the big furniture taking a lot of negotiating to get up the stairs and into the living room. Ralg and Bernie made it happen relatively easily though.

.....By the time all the vehicles were off-loaded, we'd managed to get everything into the house (HUZZAH!). We even had a little bit of negotiating space left. Although the basement seriously reminded me of one of those Bugs Bunny cartoons where the house is stiffed so tightly with dynamite that when Yosemite Sam hops up and done to force the last few sticks into place, the entire place starts buckling at the seams. :-) Come to think of it, maybe the dynamite thing isn't such a bad idea. :-) Just kididng, Tamm would KILL me if I did that to her stuff. The Beloved Tamm and I were DONE at this point and just went out for dinner with Rhys. We felt a little better by the time we got back home and managed to rearrange the Living Room to make it habitable.

.....I'm tired again just thinking of all the work that has been done. But we're finally seeing the end of this particular dance. Yay! Just need to make it through the final clean out of Tamm's house and getting through the mountain of STUFF at the house. Then it'll really start feeling like home.

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....Although the more I think about that statement, the more I realize that it just ain't possible. :-)

.....I thought that getting June Faire off my plate would yield me tons more extra time. Not so. I'm still scrambling to try and keep up with myself. Wish I had more of the Beloved Tamm's determination. These days it doesn't seem to take a whole lot for me to start feeling overwhelmed. But I am slowly getting things done, so I remind myself to take things one step at a time.

.....After helping the Beloved Tamm with a few things around the house last weekend I did manage to make it down to Richard's party in Olympia. It was a good turn out and I did enjoy myself. Good people were there. It was pleasant and comfortable. I had to leave fairly early, before the Sir Ran Wrap stage of the evening. :-) Damn! I forgot the party colored saran wrap anyway. :-)

.....Got a few things done on Sunday, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. Picked up the house, did laundry, pulled a few things out of the garage for Cedric and Brighid. I basically gave them my Panther (with borrowing rights :-)). I felt rather sad seeing it go into their van, another object with a lot of memories attached to it. I remember the first time Ingasbo appeared at Mudieval Faire, although I can't remember exactly what year that was. I do remember that 'She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' was still the reigning terror at the time, so I think that places it like in '98 or there abouts. But none the less, I do remember the OMG rain that fell and the mud battles fought that year. Ack! :-)

.....Was able to finally wrap up June Faire checks on Sunday for the most part. I think that we are on the verge of calling June Faire good for this year. Yeah!

.....Last night was all about getting the Library / Dining Room ready for The Renaissance Tailor's Grand Re-Opening. :-) The huge A** display case was cleared out by Brighid and Jenae. We boxed up about twenty boxes of books (only two book cases worth, there are still another handful of bookcases left to go). I'm actually glad that B & J handled the display. It would have taken me forever to go through everything and box it up. Talk about memories. :-)

.....Ugh! The display case itself was a terror. I had forgotten up until that moment that it took four of us to get it into the house and into position. But Cedric and I managed, with a minimum of fuss to get it out the door and into the basement. Anyone want a 6'x3'x3' glass and wood enclosed display case like you see in jewelry stores? I'll give to you free. :-)

.....Library table and chairs went out the door as well. There is now this huge open space between the Living and Dining rooms, already for the Beloved Tamm's tables and stuff. Must remember to advertise the table and display case on the Baronial list and see if anyone wants either. The table is in good condition, the chairs not so. They'll probably just go to the landfill.

.....Tonight is Fight Practice and June Faire clean up. Tomorrow is shopping for Mom. Sometime in the next few days must get Crier finances done for the 2nd Quarter and prep for the August issue. Also have a handful of circlet orders to get done. Sigh! That means excavation of the garage, or at least part of it, so I can get to the workbench.

.....I wish I could go to An Tir / West with everyone. Looks like fun. But July Coronation will be fun as well. :-)

.....Everyone take care and enjoy. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....It was a pretty good day today. I woke up to the Beloved Tamm in the house, ALWAYS a very good thing! I get some reminder of how beautiful she is and I carry that picture throughout the work week. Somehow it helps, especially when the week is really bad.

.....Anyone with spare fingers, please cross them to help in any way possible to ensure that the Seattle Real Estate market stays good. We want the house sold as soon as possible so that we can get her moved over here! :-)

.....More boxes from the Beloved Tamm's house went into the basement. More 'stuff' came out. With the removal of more I started feeling a little more comfortable about how much space is actually available for use down there. I am starting to see in my mind's eye the lay-out with her workshop and the entertainment area. It'll be cool.

.....Ophie came on over today to clean the house upstairs. I was a little embarrassed. I had totally forgotten that she was coming and the kitchen and my room were both a mess. I'm strange, I like having the house at least straightened up before the housekeeper shows up. She doesn't seem to ever be phased, but I get the feeling that some of her clients do not treat her so well. I just love how much work she puts into cleaning up, the place always looks a thousand times better.

.....The afternoon brought Lobelia time. I went and started Spring cleaning inside the RV. Cleaned out the furnace and refrigerator area. Cleaned up the Dry Air stuff. I think that I'll leave them out for a little while longer, at least until the first event in May with Lobelia. I also put up the picture that Their Majesties gave me at Twelfth Night. It was an illuminated picture that proclaimed that Their Majesties Amalric and Caia slept in my RV at Kingdom Bardic last year. I thought it a very cool idea on Their part and love having it hanging up in Lobelia. :-)

.....Had a quick dinner at Cedric and Brighid's house (they made these pulled pork tacos that were mmmmmmm, good). Then I ran home to catch the Loreena McKinnet concert on PBS. I love her music. The concert was FANTASTIC! Even on TV. She's going to be in Bellingham on May 16th. I may have to break down and just go.

.....The concert had everything on the new album. She played a lot of her older stuff as well, including my absolute favorite, 'The Old Ways'. I listen to that over and over again sometimes on the computer when I'm putting together The Crier. Very cool. Easily transports me to a time and place that is very 'elvish' in its make up. Is it just me or is Loreena looking more and more Sylvan the older she gets? :-)

.....Hopefully the purists among you don't hold this preference against me too much. :-)

.....Time for bed. It was a good day, even if I didn't get my 'to-do' list done. Hope it translates into a good week as well. June Faire meeting on Tuesday. Gotta have my agenda scoped out by tomorrow night. Could be something of a busy week.

.....Hope that everyone has a good week! :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.