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Friday, December 03, 2010

Yikes

I have let this blog become terribly terribly outdated. In my defense I have been very busy, although that's kind of a week defense. All my work on mead has now moved to a new site, now everything mead related is being done at The Mead Hall, my personal little slice of the intertubes. As I stated, I have been quite a busy little bugger of late, my fighting has been left by the wayside and my A&S projects are booming along at a good pace.

I am now officially the Seneschal of Trinovantia Nova, Patrov tricked me into the position a few months back (joking). I am enjoying the role, sort of, but it is keeping me busy. For those of you that are following this because you know my modern persona (Jeff Johnston) and know nothing of the weird cult of the SCA (not really a cult mom, don't worry), the Seneschal position is basically the equivalent of Chapter President. In medieval terms the seneschal was either a steward of a noble's house or (in the French Administration system) the King's representative charged with the application of justice. So in short, I guess I am now the "big man on campus" around Trino. In reality it translates to the guy who gets none of the credit yet all of the blame.

My biggest project to date has been re-engineering a sport, particularly Stoolball. This is a 14th century game which somewhat resembles cricket. Specifically I have been championing the creation of a Cider League Stoolball group of teams. So far we have only one team, the Trinovantian Merpegacorns. Sure I strong armed some people into it using my "clout" as a seneschal, what of it. Seriously it took almost no strong arming, people were quite excited about it. We had our first demo at Masq fairly recently. It went over very well. John of the Goldsworthy clan is not officially the league leader in stolen stools, despite the fact that stealing bases(stools) is not a legal maneuver. In my work at creating this I made (with my own two hands) two balls, two stools (milking stools), and a bat. The bat was the most interesting one to make, as the first attempt was so unwieldy I almost tossed it right out, but after the judicious use of a planer I manged to get it light enough to use.

I have started making my own garment, it started with an attempt at embroidery, that actually turned out quite nice. Since the embroidery turned into such a nice embroidered collar I am planning a whole outfit with considerable embroidered embellishments as part of my Pent entry. I know those who know me are going to have to re read that, yes I am sewing, I know I know I have told everyone I can't sew, well apparently even a big useless oaf like me can learn, who knew.

Well that about catches you up, hopefully I can keep this blog up to date.

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Banana Mead

I am woefully out of date in posting this as it has been brewing for a couple of weeks now, but I have started a new mead. It is a banana mead. I have not quite seen a recipe quite like the one I used, as most recommend a bag for the banana and brewed like tea with the banana removed before full on brewing, but they all report the banana flavour to be weak. So I have decided to throw the banana straight into the must and hope for the best.

I have taken a number of frozen bananas thawed them with water and blended it until it was smooth and about the consistency of a milk shake. I then mixed it with honey and water at 1 part banana slurry 1 part honey and 3 parts water. this makes for quite a sugary mix, and I warn you make sure you have significant room for growth.

I am making a one gallon batch as a test batch to see if its worth the effort of making a larger batch, I have plans for it if it works well. I had only the neck of the demi-jon for growth and it came to quite a shock to me to see how fast the volume increased. Apparently yeast are rather fond of bananas. Due to quick thinking on Faye's part I put the demi-jon in the bathtub and closed the curtains, and it is a good thing too because in less then an hour it blew the bung and sprayed must almost to the ceiling. I have tasted it and the banana flavour is coming out slightly, if it doesn't increase I might just add some more banana to make up for the lost liquid from the explosion and to increase the flavour.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Mead Update

Well the mead has not been bubbling for a while now alcohol content should be in the mid 8% level. I am thinking though that the biggest trick to this mead is patience. It is not the least bit clarified and is showing no signs of serious clarification. I am guessing it is the cocoa solids that are taking the longest to drop, I could try pectin, but then I'd have to clear that with bentonite, besides I really am looking for the mead to absorb as much of the cocoa flavour as possible and the best way to do that is allow it to sit on the cocoa solids as long as possible. Hopefully the mead will pull as much flavour out of the strawberries and cocoa as possible to make one heck of a unique mead.

Naturally I did a taste test. Its an interesting flavour. The strawberry hits you first, then the chocolate flavour follows. It already tastes pretty much as I hoped it would end up, the question will be if the chocolate flavour remains once the cocoa completely falls.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Youth In Charge Event

For a while now Margurite (Faye) and I have been considering planning an event which we are calling "Youth In Charge". This event will be an event run by the youth of Trino (and hopefully youth of all Ealdormere).

Yesterday we presented our sample budget and asked for a show of interest in hosting the event. I was expecting to have to justify why it would be a good event, instead what I got was a resounding love of the idea.

Robby Goldsworthy agreed to co autocrat it with me
Lilley (now going by Lys DuParis for the SCA) is co-feastocratting it with Margurite
and various other positions filled up rapidly. It was such a popular idea that we actually have enough volunteers to do a proper bid proposal. So it looks like I am going to try my hand and autocratting :D.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Thinking of Another Mead Batch

I think I will attempt a banana mead, primarily because I can't seem to find any decent recipe for one. I am going to start with a one gallon batch and see if its any good, if it is I am hoping to do a gallon batch and fortify it with some premium Jamaican rum.

Faye jokingly suggested that the gold medal from Trillies is going to my head, perhaps she's right, but heck I am enjoying the experimentation, and hopefully I'll have some real different entries for next year.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Orange Vanilla Mead

Obtained the recipe for Orange Vanilla Mead from the Lady who won Silver at War of The Trillium. I intend to take a look at it and perhaps adapt it to my own likes and so I would be able to get an accurate reading of the alcohol content. It was a wonderful orange pop type mead, would be great chilled on a hot day.

The Recipe:
20 lbs of raw honey, sweet mead yeast,one small bottle of pure vanilla extract and one large bottle of tropicanna oj. Added more vanilla and more oj about 1/2 way through fermentation after first racking. Was in carboy for 10 months. Until it cleared and airlock dropped.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Mead Update

I had heard conflicting reports about attempting to make chocolate meads, one that the oils in the cocoa inhibited the growth of yeast, the other was that the yeast tended to produce at ridiculous rates. I think I am firmly in the camp that it produces at ridiculous rates. My chocolate strawberry mead is bubbling like crazy, in fact it blew the lid right off the airlock twice yesterday, and Faye tried to clean it up after the second time only to have it turn into a chocolate strawberry volcano.

It is a rather unique thing to watch bubble though. Most times the airlock on the mead bubbles at a constant rate, however with the chocolate mead it bubbles at an irregular rate, a pause then three or four rapid bubbles then a pause. After obsessing over this and watching it for close to half an hour this morning I think I figured out what was going on. The head on this mead tries to a semi solid state, it looks, and seems to have a similar consistency to moose. Unfortunately really the mead itself looks rather like a septic tank that is in desperate need of draining, but I am really hopping that it clarifies nicely and looses that particular quality.

Monday, July 05, 2010

Gold Medal Winning Mead

Although I did mention it in my WOT summary, some readers might not be interested in that stuff, so I thought it important enough to mention on a post all its own. My Oak Aged Chai Mead which is my Chai Mead aged with oak chips for six months won the gold medal at the Urich Von Den See Mead Tasting Competition. I am tremendously proud of this as the list of competitors included some very talented mead makers.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Mead Update

Well after War of the Trillium I got back and tested the mead and was shocked to find out it exceeded my expectations and dried right out. the SG reading is 1.0, well actually a little below that but I figure 1.0 is close enough. This puts the ABV at about 7.2-7.5. I racked the mead into my large carboy and the fermentation kicked back into high gear, so it might actually even dry out some more and could climb a little higher.

Cú Allaidh Goes To War

I made it to War of the Trillium again this year, and once again it was a fantastic event. I geeked in many ways, and partied until I could barely stand.

I finally managed to fight a newbie tournament. Newbie tourneys are a tournament between anyone who has been authorized for less than two years. Its a great way for the green fighters such as myself to actually have a chance at acclaim by right of arms. Of course, even amongst newbies, I am not a very good fighter and was one of the first eliminated. The tourney was an Atlantian Speed Tourney basically everyone was pared off and fought simultaneously, then winners went to one side of the field losers to the other. If you were on the loser side and lost you were eliminated, if you were on the winning side and lost you went to the loser side. Then it was just whittled down from there. While I did poorly two other Trinovantians showed that us shirefolk are hardy and do not fall before a challenge. Victoria (I cannot recall her SCA name) and Lord Tadc had the honour of fighting each other for the gold. I cannot recall who won quite frankly, if anyone was there and recalls please refresh my memory.

I also participated in the individuals tourney, and lost just as fast there as at the newbie, but again had a blast doing it. The sun did me in on my final bout though and I decided that was the last of the fighting for the day. I am afraid I have gotten terribly out of shape after my battle with gout and need to work on endurance a fair amount.

In the A&S field I did not get my mead entered into the A&S competition, however I did get it into the Urich Von Den See 10th annual mead tasting competition. I had two entries, my Cyser and my Oak Aged Spiced Chai Mead. I entered the competition purely for the feedback not expecting to even place. However my Oak Aged Spiced Chai Mead won hands down, it was exceedingly popular. I have a gold medal to prove it and am ridiculously proud of the medal.

So I would say that WOT was a very successful event for me, and actually for our Shire of Trinovantia Nova who definitely won our share of medals. Wassail to all.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Mead Update

I took a SG reading of the mead only to find that the sweetness level was a little low, the maximum level of alcohol would be 5.84 so I added more honey to boost the SG up to 1.055 which makes the possible alcohol level at 7.82% ABV. It should be an interesting mead, a dry chocolate and strawberry mix hopefully. Time will tell what it is like.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Mead

I started a new mead today after bottling. I figured this deserved its own post. This is one of the most unique meads I have even heard of. I am calling it Chocolate Covered Strawberry Mead. The recipe is as follows:

  • 3 Kilos of strawberries 
  • 500grams of cocoa
  • 3 cups of honey
  • Water to make up five gallons
  • 1 pkg of 1118 Lavin Champagne yeast
Boil the strawberries for twenty minutes then put all ingredients except the yeast into your primary fermenter. Once the must has cooled enough pitch the yeast and wait. I will post the initial gravity reading once I obtain it.

Bottled Mead

I bottled two gallons of the three gallons I had aging. One stirred up to much and won't clarify again, the other two were pretty well cleared. I am entering the Cyser and the Spiced mead into the Trillies mead competition assuming we go.

Monday, May 31, 2010

More on Pent

So I have thought some more on entering Pent, and I think I will, however I have refined what I thought I will do for the entry, now I am considering:

Category III Technological Sciences
Weapon Making - atlatl making and using
Woodworking Construction - making and using a pole lathe

Category IV Studio Craft
Bookbinding - Coptic Binding
Pigments and pens - do a comparison of various inks on various papers

Category V Domestic Arts and Sciences
Wine/Mead/Beer/ale/lager - Period beer brewing with a beer bread made from the remains.

The pigments and pens instead of a calligraphy was because I was researching for doing calligraphy and decided I'd do home made period paper and home made period ink, and in researching ink recipes I discovered that there are a number of factors in choosing the right ink for the right paper, so a straight out comparison would be interesting, since I couldn't find such a comparison I decided to do one myself.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Contemplating Pent Entry

I am considering entering Pent in the 2011 Kingdom A&S. Now I know don't have a hope in hell of winning, but I figure it could be a fun experience, plus get me working on more A&S. Pent is an arts and sciences competition where you enter five arts and sciences projects covering a range of categories.

You cannot enter more than two entries in any one main category, and only one per sub category. The categories are:


I. Performing Arts  
• Bardic recitation  
• Dance: Middle Eastern  
• Dance: European  
• Dance: Original Choreography  
• Dramatic Performance  
• Juggling/tumbling  
• Musical Performance: Mixed ensemble  
• Musical Performance: String Instrument  
• Musical Performance: Voice  
• Musical Performance: Wind instrument  
• Music Composition1  
• Poetry1  
• Prose/Playwriting1  
• Research1  
II. Textile and Needle Arts:  
• Costume accessories  
• Costuming: European pre 1200  
• Costuming: European 1200-1351  
• Costuming: European: 1351-1451  
• Costuming: European: 1451-1600  
• Costuming: Non European  
• Free-form embroidery  
• Lacemaking  
• Counted thread work  
• Miscellaneous needle work  
III. Technological Sciences:  
• Armour: cloth/leather/Horn  
• Armour: mail/plate  
• Ironwork/tool making  
• Miscellaneous crafts  
• Musical Instrument making  
• Scientific Instruments  
• Weapon making  
• Woodworking: construction  
• Wood, Horn and bone carving  
• Animal Husbandry  
IV. Studio Crafts:  
• Calligraphy  
• Ceramics/pottery  
• Drawing  
• Decorative metalwork  
• Pewter casting  
• Glasswork  
• Illumination  
• Lapidary  
• Leatherwork  
• Miscellaneous crafts  
• Painting  
• Sculpture  
• Bookbinding  
• Pigments and pens  
V. Domestic Arts and Sciences: 
• Wine/Mead/Beer/ale/lager  
• Cooking: illusion foods  
• Cooking: multiple dish  
• Cooking: single dish  
• Dyeing  
• Knitting  
• Knot work  
• Spinning  
• Weaving  
• Miscellaneous crafts  

Quite a wide variety of categories eh! This is what I am considering entering:

Category I
Research - A paper on beer and bread

Category III
Woodworking: Construction - Making a Pole Lathe and using it to turn bowls

Category IV
Calligraphy - Do some Calligraphy Scroll work
Bookbinding - Do some Japanese bookbinding or Coptic bookbinding

Category V
Wine/Mead/Beer/Ale/lager - Well I am becoming known as a mead maker so what would an A&S entry from me be without some mead. My idea is to find as period a mead recipe as possible (preferably sixth century Irish to fit my persona if I can) and make that.

In any A&S competition there are three levels, Advanced Intermediate and Beginner. Generally speaking Pent entries don't stand a chance unless they are all advanced, but I am not entering Pent to win, am entering Pent (assuming I DO enter pent) for the experience, as such I probably won't be entering every entry as advanced, though the mead would probably have to be advanced since I am gaining such a reputation as a mead maker (even if my mead isn't up to the same level as others). Most entries will probably be at the intermediate level.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Foolish Thoughts

Fruits Of Our Labour, more commonly known as FOOL was run this past weekend. It was more fun then I thought possible. It is perhaps one of my favorite events to date, despite all the "interesting" things that occurred. FOOL is a learning/teaching event, there were classes all weekend, and I took as many as I could, not to mention I taught two classes. The two classes I taught were Fireside mead, and Intro to Mead Making.

I had fun teaching both, but it was much more different than Forward Into The Past. At FITP most of the students had never made mead and had lots of questions about the process. In this case my students had, for the most part, made mead before, and one student actually helps run the mead competition at Trillies. It was daunting.

The fireside mead turned out quite interesting, weak and watered down, but not nearly as yeasty as I expected. In the two days pretty much all the honey was converted to alcohol and the flavor that came though was a hint of honey, fairly strong orange and subtle spice. I wouldn't deliberately make mead like that again, however I could see doing it for camping events, it was actually quite a refreshing drink. The fireside mead also devolved into an impromptu bardic circle, which was fine with me.

The intro to mead I was actually smart enough to make an extra couple of bottles so I had one to take home this time, well to be fair I didn't have a full class, but I also gave some away to others who hadn't taken the class for various reasons.

Sir Edward the Red's Pole Lathe class had to be one of the highlights of the event for me. I made a bowl on the pole lathe. And I got so incredibly hooked on working the pole lathe that I am looking at ways to modify Ed's designs to create a more portable version that will fit on my balcony and then I can turn bowls plates and goblets to my hearts content. I know the woodchip covered beard I dawned for pretty much the entire day on Saturday was the source of amusement for many who felt I might have been a little too enthusiastic on the lathe, but none the less I enjoyed myself, even if it took the rest of the day to finally rid myself of the sawdust and woodchips.

Unfortunately Lilley, my lovely daughter, had her weekend cut short. She decided (despite numerous warnings) that it would be fun to play in the woods behind the tents and ended up with a bad case of poison ivy. But she spent Sunday and part of Monday with her Grandmother getting fawned over, so I think she's ok with it.

The other big news is Margarite DeChamps (MKA Faye) was given an Award of Orion for her Arts and Sciences Prowess. I am proud beyond words of her, even if she still kind of feels that she didn't really earn it. I will have to find a suitable frame for the lovely scroll she received so we can place it in a prominent place. Perhaps we will have to create scroll wall so Lilley can put up her Boffer Tourney Winner Scroll as well.

I managed to fight at FOOL, which I know will shock some of my fellow Triovantians since, apparently, I am known as "The Fighter Who Doesn't". But my fighting foray was plagued with disaster and in the end I had to withdraw from the torchlight tourney after only three bouts with everything but my shame in tact. It began with a cut to the nose while putting on my helm, then His Majesty saw that the padding in my loaner helm has broken down to the point it no longer passes inspection. I then received the honour of His Majesty King Quilliam, long may he live, granted me the supreme honour of loaning me his personal helm. Despite the massive honour of wearing the Kings own helm, I must say that things went downhill from there. While I lost the first round 2-1, the next round against Rocriptus was going well as after an intense bout I managed to get a clean body shot in taking him down. Unfortunately a hold was called as it was discovered that a most vital part of my armour underwent catastrophic existence failure and I was left without my "gentlemans protection" which oddly jumped three feet to my right without any reasonable explanation. I was forced at this point to withdraw from the field and felt that there was no reasonable way of remaining in the tourney without significantly delaying the combat. As such I withdrew and heartily thanked His Majesty for the great honour he bestowed upon me by lending me his helm. I however did amuse His Excellency Percival quite a bit, as well as everyone else watching from the sidelines, so in some regards I call it a victory (only because I have to look at the bright side lest I turn an even darker shade of crimson then I did at the time).

Interestingly enough I gained a number of nicknames at FOOL, Koo Koo was one of the most common, but I was dubbed Coolaid by his majesty King Quilliam, Koo Koo Ca choo by various people watching the torchlight tourney, and interestingly enough, apparently Koo Koo CaChewbaca by someone(s) from Septemptria. At least Coolaid was relatively close to my actual SCAdian name.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Officer Position Part Duh

Archery practice was this weekend, and I had a bast as usual. Raithe was kind enough to lend me his atlatl and darts to try, and boy was that fun. Nothing quite like hurling six foot long spears. Sure my aim sucked, but it improved the more I used them and in fact managed to not only hit the target boards a few times but actually score even.

Elzbeth, who had indicated she might be willing to take the position of Seneschal cornered me at archery and told me she'd be more comfortable if I took the role, so I have been cajoled and press ganged into service and am submitting my letter to Lord Petrov at our next encounter, I believe he will be at FOOL.

Now I have a ton of paperwork to read through. Have to study the Marshal handbooks more still and have to read though the Seneschal's Handbook now as well.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Officer Position

I have officially applied to be the Webminister for Trinovantia Nova, which means that, should the populous agree to give me the position, I will be responsible for the Trino Website. I have also told Krow (our current Herald) that I will act as his deputy with the possibility of becoming Trino's Herald.

When I began my journey with the SCA I didn't think I'd really want to hold an officer's position, however now that I have been a member for some time, I find myself wanting to do more to make Trino as successful a group as possible. There were some pushing for me to put in for the Seneschal instead of the Webminister, however I don't think I can do it justice, even with the assistance of the ever capable Wulfgang, so I think, for now, I'll stick to areas I am comfortable with.

Technically the position of Webminister is held by Dante de Valencia, however he hasn't been to a meeting since taking the position, and the site is sorely out of date. I don't want to usurp anyone's position, however I believe its time we started keeping things as up to date as possible.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Back Again

Ok, so keeping this blog up to date took a turn for the worst. But I beg your patience, I have an excuse. Sure I know April 1st was my last post, however I claim clemency from the wrath of my readers, for over a month now I have been off for medical reasons.

I have gout. I know, the irony is not lost upon my, a medieval re-enactor succumbing to the Rich Man's Disease. Go ahead mock away, but I'll have you know I am in good company, Henry VIII, Nostradamus, Isaac Newton, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Karl Marx, the T-Rex known as "Sue", and many more, were all sufferers of gout.

Gout is a joint inflammation disease in the arthritis family. It is a build up of uric acid crystals in a given joint. No one is quite sure why some people get gout and others don't, but suffice it to say if you don't have it thank your lucky stars. To say it is painful is an understatement.

Now enough with this whining, and on with the blog:

I finally got back to fighting last wednesday, off hand and with my right hand behind be since my right arm is still weak from the separated AC joint, but I fought. It was glorious. Managed a kill or two, but I suspect my victims took the kill out of mercy and not out of the hits actually having enough weight behind them to count in normal circumstances, but it was fun.

Did some more defense work with Lilley. Had planned to go to Lady Mary so she could fight in the Tourney there, but unfortunately a snag with the insurance company meant that I didn't get my short term disability check yet and couldn't afford it. No worries though, FOOL is having a Boffer Tourney, and there are lots more events coming up.

Haven't gotten any new signatures on my marshal training forms, but as I said FOOL is approaching, and hopefully I can get at least one ASAP.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

SCA Chirurgeon hot under the collar

At the organization's capital in Milpitas, California (USA), several corporate-level officers of the Society for Creative Anachronism and members of its the Board of Directors are in a heated debate about healthcare reform, and tempers are flaring on all sides.

It started with a simple premise from the leaders of the Chirurgeons' Guild: "We can ask the SCA Inc. to pay for bandages for event attendees who cannot afford them." That question, and the proposed change to Corpora to implement it, has led to a major outcry of support from some officers and opposition from others. With the Board, officers, and kingdom Royalty deeply divided on the issue, some are wondering if the organization can survive.

For years, merchant cartels at events have controlled the sale of bandages and other first aid supplies, charging high prices. In the words of one merchant, "You are all, as you put it, 'noble lords and ladies of these Current Middle Ages.' Well, then, if you are nobles, you can afford a few gold coins. Or, you are welcome to continue pouring your noble blood on the dust of the road. The choice is yours." Yet some SCA members cannot pay these steep prices, and with the winter interruption of caravans the price has skyrocketed in recent weeks.

Frustrated with the situation, the newly-elected Society Chirurgeon, Laird Barrick O'Bimma, proposed that a portion of membership dues should fund a Society-wide bandage supply. But this did not sit well with conservative officers such as the Society Exchequer, Master John of Bay Knorr, who say that the SCA simply cannot afford luxuries like this. In a recent interview with a reporter for the Wily Fox, a widely-distributed conservative handbill press, Master John said, "We can't go about giving free handouts to everyone! That is utterly alien to the ideals of monarchy for which our Founding Members sacrificed! Besides, there is a war on. In fact, several of them, every single year. We need to spend our money on armor and swords and horses, not bandages for peasantry!"

Even merchants are divided on this issue, with the well-funded Bandage Cartel opposing the Corpora change that they fear would undermine their profits. Opposing them are members of the Barbers' Cartel, who say that millions of SCA members who could not afford dentistry will now be able to experience fully-authentic tooth pulling (without anesthesia, of course). The Barbers, of course, expect to collect millions of florens in extra profits from these new patients.

Things turned ugly last week when a sharply-divided Board of Directors published for comment a 3700-page hand-calligraphed manuscript outlining what the Chairman describes as, quote, "A very simple, reasonable, understandable, and affordable plan to bring Chirurgeonate care to every SCA member." The populace reacted strongly on both sides, with some claiming that the Board would be appointing panels of Marshals to decide who lives and who dies among those who lose their limbs in battles at Pennsic War. Others claim the Corpora change does not go far enough, and leaves several dozen members without access to bandages. A Laurel, Master Beck of Gleann Ora, has loudly decried the lack of authenticity in the manuscript itself, claiming that it represents Greek-style "Democracyism" and not the Monarchism that has always been the SCA's form of government.
The Society Exchequer has pointed out that the free bandages will require a large increase in membership dues, and that although the dues increase is immediate, the free bandages won't be offered until A.S. LIV. Said Master John, "The bloody lot of peasants will have bloody well snuffed it by then, now won't they?"

As members of the Board entered the castle for their historic vote, opponents of the proposal showered them with loose tea leaves (which are period) and insults (which are also period), shouting, "You [are] heedless joltheads and unmannered slaves!" and referring to one distinguished Board member as "a bankrupt, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto."

Kingdoms, also, are divided over this contentious issue. SCA members in Lochac, Ealdormere, and Drachenwald pointed out that they have had Kingdom-funded Chirurgeonate care for years, paid for with higher Royal levies and, in the case of Drachenwald, by tourism revenue from their real castles, of which the rest of the Known World is justifiably jealous and will someday invade and take by force. SCA members in other kingdoms insist, however, that they do not want to do anything like those people do because, well, well, well....just because, dammit!

No one knows whether the populace will approve the proposed Corpora change, but it is certain to be controversial from now until the next Board meeting.
________________________________

This article is a work of parody and is not intended to represnt actual policies of the SCA Inc., its Board of Directors, or its officers. Happy April Fools!

As posted to the Ealdormere List, thanks Duncan for the chuckle

Monday, March 29, 2010

Catching up to date

I just realized that in my haste to update this blog I overlooked something fairly critical. I am now a  heavy Marshal in training, in addition to my Minor Boffer Constible in Training. This means that once I have both I will be a Heavy and Minor Boffer Marshal and not a constible at all.

The difference between Constible and Marshal is that a Constible has all the authority of a Marshal save that only a Marshal is permitted to run authorizations. I need three signatures stating I assisted at events on each and then two additional on my Heavy stating that I am a capable Marshal. Looking at upcomming events I should be able to get the signatures fairly quickly, provided I do alot of reading of the rules and study up real good. The plan is to contact the marshals (both boffer and heavy) at any event I am going to this year and offer my assistance. The plan is to attend Trillium War for sure, and probably Lady Mary, Murder Melee, and Pensic. Now I am not sure if Pensic would count or if I could even get any signatures there since it is out of kingdom and all that, but betwwen the other events I should get a good jump start on my signatures fairly quickly.

Regular Blogging

I have been terrible at keeping this blog up to date, however I am going to attempt to improve the frequency of posts, especially now that there are a couple of regular readers. I will continue making more mead making posts and gathering more and more tried and yummy recipes for you you all.

As my last post mentioned I had a blast at FITP (Forward Into The Past) and Ragnar, who was one of the main organizer, provided me with a nice supply of honey that will keep me in the mazing business for some time. Next batch to commence ASAP :D.

Forward Into the Past

So Forward Into The Past was this weekend, and I think it is perhaps my favourite event I have gone to todate, even with the fact that I taught, for the first time, Intro to Mead Making. I think the class went well, and the students seemed interested, especially when I informed them they'd have a bottle of Mead to bring home to finish fermenting.

Other than teaching I learned some bone carving, a little more on Ogham and Runic texts, some shoe making, and much more. If you are reading this and have never heard of or been to Forward Into the Past I highly recommend going to it next year.

For those of you from FITP who attended my class, as promised I am posting the class notes here in PDF format. The notes can be downloaded from google documents here. If you did not attend the class feel free to download the notes anyways.