King's & Queen's Rattan Championship Summer 2014 Omega & Etheldreda

In the summer of 2014 AS 49 my Barony of an Dubhaigeainn won the bid to host the K&Q Rattan Championship.

This was a Royal Progress event, (RP) meaning that the sitting King and Queen as well as the sitting Heirs,  come to your local area and attend the event...

The Royals need a space of their own (the Royal Room) that is not needed at Non-RP events.
If the Heirs attend they need space too, that is not needed at Non-RP events.

There will be at least 2 courts (local and Royal).
There may be Vigils and Elevations; these usually mean a morning court as well as the evening court.
Vigils require extra space that is not needed at Non-RP events.

Local people will receive awards.
Non-local people will receive awards.
Royal Entourage people will receive awards.
The Royal Heralds need space that is not needed at Non-RP events.

There are usually Merchants selling things.
Merchants require extra space that is not needed at Non-RP events.


There is MUCH more stuff for court, and much more time required for court

There is usually a larger than normal feast.
There may be 'Special Guest Feastocrats' (folk who normally wouldn't cook for a Non-RP event.)
There is usually a special menu, with items that are not usually available at Non-RP events, like Duck, Venison, etc.

There will be extra people coming for the special Feast.
There will be the people that come with these extra people.

There will be extra people coming to participate in the Main Thing (in this case the Rattan fighting.)
There will be the people that come with these extra people.

There will be extra people coming because It's An RP.
There will be the people that come with these extra people.

There will be extra people in the Entourage for the Royals, and for the Heirs.
There will be the people that come with these extra people.

There will be extra people coming to Shop at the Merchant Booths.
There will be the people that come with these extra people.

There will be MORE CHILDREN among all these extra people.
There will need to be children's activities.
We usually have this, even at Non-RP events, but this will need to have larger capacity.

There will be A LOT more cars.

All of this requires a LOT more space, time, organization, and (you guessed it) people that are not needed at Non-RP events.

The autocrat for this event was Thorolf Egilsson, the real life husband of then Baroness Mistress Suzanne Neuber DeLondres.  I volunteered to be his assistant. The assistant is the Autocrat should the regular autocrat need to go offsite (which he did.) The assistant basically is a second set of eyes, ears, hands as needed during the event.  You spend a lot of time waling around the site. Either you are on a mission to find a particular person, or an answer, or a thing; or you are checking on your Marshall's, retainers, liaisons etc. to make sure that all is well with them. You also have to fix it (or find someone who can, or get the autocrat in on it) when all is NOT well.

I also wrangled the merchants.  This was not really a big deal as we didn't need to charge them anything  extra. It was mostly serving as point of contact before and on the day, and showing them where to set up, and making sure they closed during evening court. I did have one merchant who was a last minute entry, who was told by the Baroness that she could set up in a spot that was actually reserved for someone else, and had a bit of a kerfuffle when I required her to move.  She was a local who actually should have known better, but it all worked out in the end.

I also did my favorite thing to do at an event, Retain!!!  It was at this point that I met and served then Princess Caoilfhionn and Prince Brennan, and their children Girl C and Boy B.  The Princess and I hit it off very well, and became quite friendly.  It is only geography that gets in the way of becoming closer friends... she's in Jersey and has 2 young kids, I'm on Long Island with teenage/20's kids... different mundane worlds, similar personalities... Brennan and Caoilfhionn went on to sit the thrones 3 times, and I retained for them in each reign.  They are 2 of my "I would love for you to speak" for my elevation (if it ever happens)

The event went well and helped establish An Dub as a good RP location.  I got more Autocratting experience and learned a lot about an RP and how it works. I met more folks from off the Island and had a lot of fun.

Pelican in Their Piety Hunt 2019 1st catch

I have caught and released my 1st Pelican, Master Richard the Poor of Ely.

Very nice conversation from which I took away that
the Path includes a lot of THINKING about What you are doing, Why you are doing it, and How you are doing it...

One should be open to changing the Course mid-stream...
if what you're doing is not working,...

STOP!!! 

Re-group,...
rethink, ...
see if maybe you should tweak it a bit, ...
change it a lot, ...
or start over...

Plan your goals and, more importantly,
plan the steps to get there....
be open to updating your plans as you go.

In the Martial world they say that no plan survives first contact with the enemy.

In our case, any plan may need revising at any point in execution....
If the goal is your goal,
and your guidelines are about How you behave on your way,
then the individual steps have a lot more flexibility.

Be flexible and
find a takeaway from every sidestep or setback...
you may accomplish more than you thought if you allow for this.

Thank You Master Richard.

Laurel Hunt 2019 (I know, it's out of order!!!)

Caught and released my 1st Laurel... Dame Judith Fitzhenry the Uncertain !!

(Edited to correct her name, about which I was Uncertain)

Good Conversation, got to know her "thing."
She liked what I'm doing on my "for fun-sies" scroll blank.

She also validated "Art as Service"

I am NOT an Artist.
At best I am a competent colorist, who can do some pretty calligraphy.
(And I am working to be better than "competent" and "pretty".)
ALL of my "artwork" is traced from the source material...

While this does not invalidate the importance of the scroll, (especially to the recipient) it DOES separate me from my geographically nearest other scribes THL Onora and Master Vettorio...

I create these artworks as a service to my Barony or my Kingdom.
If a Practitioner like myself can take the entry level scrolls (AoA's and Silvers)
then ARTISTS can be free to do the Journeyman/Master level ones (GoA's and Peerage.)

Thank you, Dame Judith for that validation. A successful 1st "hunting" day

Spring Schola: Russian Exchange Ducklings March 2014

Later in March of 2014...

Back at home in An Dubhaigeainn... 

My Peer had me co-Autocrat something with him earlier... now it was my turn to take the reins.  I was still not comfortable doing it alone, so Lady Juliana le Chaluner decided to sign on and do it with me.

Spring Schola:  Russian Exchange Ducklings!

The Ducks of the Barony of An Dubhaigeainn have turned 22 and are soon to graduate college.  What are we going to do?!  We have mastered Swimming, Waddling, Quacking, & Rolling Water Off Our Backs, so it's time for some fun traveling.

We are excited to announce this year's annual Spring Schola and Feast inspired by the faraway lands of Russia!  Learn to cook the "local" cuisine, classes in fiber arts, silk painting, scribal arts, and perhaps even learn some nefarious uses for medieval herbs.  Get your hands dirty with woodworking and blacksmithing, or put on those gauntlets for some martial instruction in both heavy list and archery.  Exact class schedule TBA, See www.SCADucks.org or this listing for updates


Baronial Champions Lady Juliana le Chaluner and Lady Galle Amsel will be stepping down from their posts after a long hard winter, calling for new Arts & Sciences and Bardic Champions to be named on this day.  All are invited and encouraged to participate in these Annual Competitions that welcome Spring's Beauty back into the lands of our Barony.


https://eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.php?eid=2580

It was a great event... classes, martial stuff... it was fun.  I did well as an Autocrat, and gained the confidence needed to do it again, on my own.

Biggest lesson learned is that the Autocrat CANNOT sit troll.  I knew there was a reason for me to sit in for Lorenz back at Yule, but I tried to sit troll anyway.  It worked only because I had a co-autocrat in Juliana, and had further assistance both at troll and in ther rest of running things from my lord husband and my Peer.

SCA Invades Genericon March 2014

My daughter, Miriam Giant Slayer, was an Undergrad at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. They have an annual Sci/Fi,Fantasy,Anime,Geeky stuff convention and in March of 2014 she was on the staff... so she posted on our local FB page for folks to come up and help... of course the Family FitzRobert couldn't resist.  

My Lord Husband, Ronan FitzRobert and I drove up to Troy NY for him to Fence & Fight, and me to Chatelaine. Baron Don Jean Xavier Boullaine and his Lady wife Baroness Gianetta also went up for the same reason... They were socially close with Miriam, and wanted to help her.  

We spent the day fencing, schmoozing, helping folk try on chain mail and helm, heft weapons, hit a pell... Ronan also made an "Emergency Brisket" for Miriam (which she and her friends enjoyed for the next 2 days) and we had fun demonstrating our hobby to a bunch of our Target Audience... college kids and local Geeks/Nerds... we helped to Recruit for the local group (Anglespur) with no net gain for an Dubhaigeiann...except good will.... and a daughter's smile for her parents.

Totally Worth It.