GNEW Recap

[felis_lupus]

Company of Fools?
Originally uploaded by gshower7

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.

Tuesday/Wednesday: Rainy, mostly. Arrived late Tuesday, had dinner with Max. Alec arrived around 8:00 or so, Mickel shortly after, and we all had a lovely evening in the Taj. Awoke to pouring rain Wednesday morning, which tapered off towards afternoon, giving way to showers and heavy mist. Max & I went out to WalMart for some last minute essentials. Took a wander around the site in the afternoon when the rain actually stopped, and found it was pretty passable. Portents of Gloom and Doom were not necessary, but there would be camping on the battlefield, and battles in the camp area. Folks would just have to deal with it, we figured.

Thursday: Setup went well, thanks to bright sunshine. The weather report improved enough so I felt comfortable risking setting up the tent. So so very glad I did. glassbeetle arrived Thursday night, and we got her settled in, and sat down to an evening of s'mores and sacrificing marshmallows (that was me...).

Friday: Finished setup. After a month and a half of rain, two days of sun dried the site out wonderfully well. Archery was a bit modified, but Fencing was fine. Had lunch thanks to Henry VIII Carvery (and they're coming back next year! Squeee!), did some shopping and wandering before gate shift, and settled into 4 hours in a not-very-comfortable folding chair. I must remember a pillow next year, or send a minion to get it... Gate from 2 to 6 was a bit quieter than normal... when folks from the South finally started trickling in, we got the story that a tractor trailer-sized RV had overturned on 95, blocking the entire road for several hours. Frustrating, I'm sure, for many. Had a wonderful time playing and dancing at the Balle. Just the right mix of dance and music to keep me happy, and not destroy my foot. Mickel and I swapped off on recorder, so she got to dance a bit, I kept away from the bouncier dances just in case, but still danced my favorites. Afterwards headed on walkabout with Xavier from IDD, and we eventually ended up back at the campfire at Wanderstamm for a few hours. Sleep happened when it was realized it was past midnight, fencing started at 9:00 or so, and we were all very, very tired.

Saturday: Bright and sunny again! Busy day ahead. Get dressed in fencing gear, eat some breakfast, and away to the field we go. Met some folks who were there because their daughter remembered *me* from the Durham school demo. Hee! I has a fanclub! Really sweet girl. She's interested in fencing & archery, so I pointed in the proper directions, and let them know when to come back so they could talk about youth fencing, but to come watch the town battle. They did. :) Town battle was awesome. Ended up being some sort of "commander" type person (still don't feel like I know what the heck I'm doing in that situation) for moments in the scenarios, people apparently listened to me and what I told them to do were good things, and Malagentia and her allies actually took the point! Was a grand time! glassbeetle admitted she actually had *fun* during one of the melees, too. Big progress, makes me happy. :) Had an official ceremony for some new Dragoons and Privateers before the tourney, which was lovely. Tourney was good. Didn't win much, fenced lots, including a knock-down, drag-out bout with nomadmwe, ending with me dead, but only because I couldn't quite get my wrist around to chop 'is 'ead off from the back... I will have video to share soon, I hope I hope I hope. Nataliia has dubbed Alia my "evil twin". We've decided we're both evil, or can trade off. :) She kicked butt, my girl. I iz proud. And we look good.

Henry VIII was lunch (again). I love having somebody else worry about keeping sandwich meat edible. And delicious. Post-lunch shopping scored me 3 yards of beautiful purple silk chiffon. No idea what I'm going to do with it. It's mine now, though. eee. 5-person Melee tourney afterward was fun. Vincent and I tacked on with Cosmano, Xavier, and another lady from IDD, and tied for 2nd place overall. Was grand fun. Tried fencing a bit with Quinn afterward, realized I was exhausted, and decided to sit down and finally take some photos.

Court was court, full of awards for well-deserving people, including a very surprised Alia. First order of business, and court actually started on time, so not many people saw, but we were there, and it was wonderful. kurlon snuck in and surprised me. Was happy me. Feast was feast! Had to use a tent as a tripod for the annual family photo, which actually worked out pretty well. Very few leftovers, very happy and well-fed people. Half the camp wandered, I walked out with kurlon to find kr4sh and mylisant so they could get home on the motorcycles (hopefully) before the worst of the rain hit. Almost a success.

Finding myself in the mood for more subdued partying than where alexsaintpierre, Honig, Boden, and Vincent had headed off to, Alia and I wandered to IDD, collected Xavier, and then we wandered to Carolingia, where we found Anssem, were immediately told "here, eat this", and settled in for many hours of good drink and laughter and stories. The rain rained a bit, but there was cover, and excellent company. Vincent joined us sometime later, as did Morty and his lady. 'twas a late night. Came home, poured certain people into bed, and sat by a dying (but still warm) fire with others. A wonderful evening.

Sunday: Sunshine. Breeze. We lost the war, but won the weather lottery this weekend. Cleaned up, had closing court (Carolingia kicked our butts, 13 war points to 6, but we won fencing! and shopping! woo!), said goodbye to folks, and so began the cleaning and packing up of camp, and the end of another successful war...

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.

Comments

[sprirtwolf.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a *wonderful* time. I'm glad it stopped raining and dried out long enough for peeps to get out and play. I missed being up there too.

[aiennanakiir.livejournal.com]

That's my dear husband striking the silly pose, isn't it.... -_-

Glad you all had fun, and that the weather actually let up for you a bit. :D I'd have shown up for Saturday if I didn't have familial stuff going on, maybe next year!

[felis-lupus.livejournal.com]

Thaaaat would be your dear husband, yes. :)