All in a Garden Green

It's been almost a week, the truck and trailer are unloaded (but boxes of stuff are still all over the basement, and I am now mostly caught up on sleep. Should really have taken Monday off like I usually do, but the one extra day of vacation somewhere will be worth it, I think.

( HOT and humid. But Fun. )

Overall, a fantastic weekend. I have just enough time to recover and collect all my personal camping gear and try to get it organized before my next Big Adventure.

Pictures here:

07-12 to 07-15 GNEW XXVI

GNEW XXVI Embroidery Challenge

Friday morning dawned bright and clear, fortunately not too early... people were arriving, stuff was happening, it was Friday of War!

( Three days goes SO quickly... )

Sunday packout went smoothly, and without sunburn. Home by 10PM, and so glad I had today off. I don't much want to return to work tomorrow, the pile of paperwork on my desk and in my inbox will not be a fun thing, I think... Only 3 weeks till Pennsic... I've got to get sewing and re-packing!

EDIT: Completely spaced this last night... it was late, I was tired. Here's a bunch of pictures of court, and dinner. I was too busy running around the rest of the day to do any photographing, but there's all kinds of other galleries out there! If anyone got good shots of the A&S display, point me at them? I didn't see much of it after I ran off to fencing, but what I did see was beautiful!!

Home from GNEW. Absolutely Wonderful Weekend. Could not have had better weather, or better staff, or better help, or better friends.

One scroll of mine went out this weekend, for a dear, dear lady in IDD. Congratulations to Eliane, it is so well deserved. Photos of my first (but definitely not my last!) foray into 'squashed bug' style are right here. I'm thrilled with how it came out, and I'm pretty sure she is happy too. :) Thanks to anna_mickel for calligraphing moonandtree's words so beautifully.

Right. I have GOT to go to bed now. More photos and news later, after I've had some sleeeeeeeep.

So. Finally got to sit down and sort through nearly 400 photos from last week. Two weeks ago. Agh. Week of vacation and it feels like I never left. Finally caught up on sleep, though...

GNEW was truly lovely, even if Saturday was not a lot of fun. Tuesday and Wednesday were both frantic and relaxing, getting last-minute things done, but getting to the site in time to set up the tent and have dinner before Mosquito Hour hit. Wednesday Mickel and I went to the store, and I helped Max finish laying out the roads when we got back. Thursday was A&S tent setup and a bit of frantic scramble, and the arrival of more of the Haus. Friday was archery setup till about noon. Then I decided to dive in the pool before gate shift. This was a Good Idea.

Usual gate shift is 2-6PM on Friday. This year I was joined by Ninian, Q, and Bryn (who is now OK, it appears, with being called "Gramma Bryn". ;) hee.). We had a fantastic time. Saw lots of people! Dance class with Mickel at 6, in prep for the ball at 8. Xavier showed up sometime in between everything, and we ran off to camp to get his tunic, which fit perfectly. YAY! I Did Good. (Many thanks to pet_spider, being a perfect-sized model the weekend before when I'd finished it...) The dance was lovely, as usual. Got to play music, got to dance, got to try and get Xavier to dance with Anne Marie, with some measure of success... they're so cute. ;) Enjoyed a nice fire post-dance. Bad thing of the evening - my favorite basket broke. :( Handle pulled right out. Dunno if I can fix it or not. Sigh.

Saturday dawned bright and not terribly clear, but fencing gear went on, and off I trekked to the field. Also set up the barn for the A&S display. Tried to get organized and do fencing at the same time, which did not work at all. At about 9:30, the skies opened, and the rain came. And kept coming. Fencing was called till noon. I sat at A&S for a bit, visited in IDD a bit, discussed the merits of fencing in cleats with Dannicus and Angall, wandered back to fencing during a light lull... Fencing was called officially around noon, and the warpoint was decided by a Wager of Law. Quite amusing. And well done. At that point, I was done. Cranky, wet, soggy. Ended up going offsite, which I never do during an event, but it was necessary. Xavier and I went shopping for wool for the next garment project, with mixed success. Found wool, was lovely, but not enough. Plans are still percolating. Sigh. At least we obtained both dry firewood and Coca-cola. Essentials.

The rain did stop shortly after returning, dry enough so that some fencing happened. I did not. A&S needed to be tallied and cleaned up. Many thanks to Ninian here, helping total things.

Court was nice. I was tired, plunked myself down in what I think was a good photo spot, and did what we do during court. Most enjoyable. Lots of people got lovely awards. The gold glittered in the half-sunlight, and no scrolls were harmed in the little spots of rain that fell and struck panic into at least one scribe's heart... All better now.

Was late to feast. Important things happening in IDD. Cider with Tigger is not to be rushed, but was, a little bit. We will make up for it some other time, when we have time. Feast was lovely, as always. Saturday evening also was the addition of a new apprentice sibling, Lady Honig. A wonderful ceremony. The three of us will cause such trouble... ;) Post-ceremony was the first Woolfe's Companies gathering at Wanderstamm, then we all wandered out for socialness in other camps. Stopped by to see Tim & Einarr try to light themselves on fire (so cool...), stopped by Endewearde, and then it was just Vincent and myself, a bit of a flashback to Pennsic, wandering to Carolingia... it was later that usual, sorry we missed gryphonsinistre, but had some tasty snacks and good conversation with Valerian et al. Wandered to IDD, "just for a bit", I said. Ended up staying for an hour or so longer than "a bit", talking and laughing with folks. All in all, a good evening.

Sunday closing ceremonies - we win! By one point. Took A&S and shopping quite handily. Yay! Fencing was a draw, Archery was a slaughter... don't remember the rest... Packout happened in a most timely manner, everybody putting away Dry Canvas before Certain Impending Doom dumped gallons of water on the camp.

I learned a lot this year. What I can and cannot do at the same time. How to better use and plan for my deputy and people who are willing to help me out so they don't go as crazy as I did. Took notes. Need to consolidate them, but took lots of notes.

Photos from the event are here.
Nicholas' GrandMaster Bowman Scroll is here. Quite happy with the vinework and whitework, but I need to work on Portraiture. Next project, maybe.

Page of GNEW photos put up by Max, a wonderful collection from several peoples' cameras. Lots of good stuff there.

This is one of the neatest photographs ever taken of me, I think... That's it, right there... right inside the door of the Taj... that's what I love.


















(bedtime now... I'm going to pay for this late night tomorrow, I think...)

Home, and rested now. Am mostly unpacked. Laundry is in the works. The post-event depression wasn't that bad this year, but still definitely there. I miss you all, all you who I get to see only a couple times a year (if I'm lucky). Among the missing this year were frothgar and evensongs_fall, sprirtwolf, moonandtree, Guthfrith and Isobel from Nova Scotia, and Jehan, and others... One fellow I definitely did not miss was not even there, so a nice, stress-free dance and and afternoon of fencing happened.
( full loooong post with details under here! )

Photos (though I wish I took more) are here: GNEW 2009, and here:AoA for Damiana. Such a wonderful weekend. Wish it could have gone on for a few more days, just to relax with everybody.

Between unpacking and half-catnapping, I have done it. Here are many many photos from GNEW. 560 photos is a lot to go through, but I think I've got them pared down to the good ones... They have been semi-sorted and captioned for your convenience and enjoyment. Please do enjoy. :) Click on the photo of the Haus Wanderstamm Traveling Herb Garden (2nd ed), or here to see a bunch.

A final GNEW note... When I headed up the stairs to go to bed on Sunday night, I realized I really, really wanted to be in the pavilion again... The light and air were just right last week, and I miss it. Hopefully I'll still feel the same after a week in PA...

Don't wanna go back to work and return to reality tomorrow, but I suppose it's one of those things that must be done...

So... GNEW is done, we are home, the car/trailer is mostly unpacked (and everything is randomly strewn about the living room and kitchen), I have done a load of laundry to clean icky fencing gear, and there is to be sleep soon. Not before, though, sharing what ate up many an evening in the last month and a half, and was received with all the appropriate and expected reactions at court... I give you Iain's Grandmaster Bowman Scroll, from start to finish, in all it's illuminated glory. Calligraphy by alexsaintpierre, words by Max.

A most excellent weekend. Bed now. Me go thunk.