I HATE hot weather

Upper 90s and maybe over 100. Not my idea of a good time. Really- I'd rather be cold than hot- after all, you can always put more clothes _on_, but when you have all of your clothes _off_, there's nothing left to strip! Bah to hot weather! I was hoping to get more stuff unloaded from the car, and maybe some sewing done, but if it gets as warm as the NWS says, I may just lay on the floor panting like the cats. Poor kitties can't take their clothes off!

Not much happening this week- I went to water aerobics, came home and slept (not feeling so hot), did some sewing, did some laundry, unloaded part of the gear from Zippy. Not all of it- we have guests in the basement, and there isn't room at the moment to put things away. So I sort of have an excuse to leave it out there...

Working on a dress for myself (another Frankish- hopefully I will start dropping some weight soon and can make new cotehardies), brown 'linen-look' (probably a cotton-rayon blend), but I had a length of sari fabric that I found at Goodwill ($3!) and I bordered the hem with the heavy gold parts. There's bits left over to play with too. So far it's looking pretty nice. I just hope it doesn't look like 'I took apart a sari and made this dress'... y'all know what I mean :-/)

Arlys says I am an agitator. Lets hop she doesn't mean a washing machine. :-D

...And I'm very religious.

I made it to my water aerobics class today, got through class, came home and went back to bed. When did I wake up? A little after 5...

The dinner for Their Highnesses went very well. We had Chyckens in Hocchee, Beeff Y-Stewed, Pommes Endored, Tart of Greens (from Menagier de Paris), Losyns, Salad, Funges (with green onions instead of leeks, and it actually worked), ummm... Cheesecake with strawberries, some fruit, Gyngerebrede, and Wine with Ypocras. I carved because I sort of know how. I did mention that a knight would have carved for a Prince, at which Rustam admitted that he didn't know the business end of a carving knife. I also told them a little about period service, how feast were ordered and served, details like the knight kneeling to carve the dead object, no candles on the table, and a little of the hierarchy of serving. They were like 'Wow, that's cool'. AND Sofia's kids liked the food! YAY!!! And we had enough food, even though I forgot the Erbowle in the freezer here, and didn't remember the carrots until I went to put away the leftovers. Also forgot the wafers completely. Oh- and leftover chicken chomped down with Gyngerbrede is actually pretty good!

Gemma and I didn't get cranky at each other, which I pretty much anticipated- neither one of us is that hard to get along with, I think. She crashed early Saturday night and I trundled over to hang with Amalric and Caia and the rest of the rabble over there. That was a lot of fun, and not just because I was drinking. They are such fun people! The boyz really like the puppet theatre and the candy, and I really like seeing the big grins. I like being an Auntie. Phoenix was running around asking if he looked like a vampire (was eating one of the Blood Pops) which was really funny because he's got teeth missing . :-) And the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans are always a hit.

The slats for the bed soft of worked and sort of didn't. Conceptually they were great, and yes we slept on them. But the board down the middle of the frame isn't wide enough to support the ends of both board sections, so we had to overlap them. So I'm thinking about some sort of velcro assembly to hold the ends together. But I don't have to do it right away because I likely won't be doing another camping event until September Coronet. Between now and then are mostly wars, and since James won't be there, there's kind of no point in my going- there's nothing for me to do! So I think I will stay home and try to catch up financially. Maybe I can get James up here or go down and visit him.

Probably be moving cars around sometime tonight or tomorrow, so I can unload by littles. I simply do not have the energy to do any unloading tonight, though I do need to go dig out the laundry bag and throw it downstairs. Other than that, the rest can wait a bit. I think I'll run my dishes through the dishwasher though- there's chicken grease on everything and we tried to get it off but there's only so much you can do in camp.

And I got a teeny bit of sunburn, on the back of my neck. I usually have veils on and they cover that, but as I was working in the kitchen all day I didn't have them on. Ouch.

I swore fealty to Gustav and Sofia, which raised a couple of eyebrows. Nyah. I lived there for 7 years, still play there as much or more than I do locally, and my heart lives in Glyn Dwfn. So why wouldn't I? And once James is done with school and finds a teaching job, chances are pretty good that I'll be back down there. And there's a lot of work to do there. There's not nearly enough gothic-era folks there, or Franks for that matter. :-) (Bwahahahaha!!!)

Just a little bit...

Time stress and money stress. I just got back from the grocery, having spent closer to $30 more than I usually do, and not because I bought a bunch of junk. Y'all know what I eat at tourneys, yes? Oy oy oy. I was going to make leeks and funges (mushrooms) but leeks were @#$%^& $$4 a bunch! $4! So I did not buy leeks. I bought some green onions instead and I'll have to fake it. Meat is way out of line too. I remember when you could get a chicken for just a couple of bucks. $8, baby. I got the wine for Ypocras at Trader Joe's, but I didn't get any beer. Simply not in the budget right now.

So I think that this may be the last feast I throw for awhile. Of course, I won't be eventing again for a bit- July I'm going to Omaha (Yay. Omaha in July. Joy.) for the fambily thing. I don't think I'm going to Tryggvy's War. Dunno about the rest of the season.

Yet on my to-do list for today-make brownies and gyngerbrede, fix the hinge thing on the bedframe, clean out the car, and get with the packing thing. But I made it to the copy shop, TJ's, the Post Awful and the cleaners, and the grocery. So I'm doing good. Just not done yet...

Well, no rest for the wicked- back to work!

Never shop for jeans when you're depressed.

Well, that's how I feel at least...

Needed another couple pair of jeans because the ones I have have been mended to the point where I'm mending the mending. That is to say, they are worn out. But I hate clothes shopping right now and I am so unhappily conscious of my size, finding jeans is even harder than usual. But we went to Goodwill and I found 2 pairs that will do. I'll set the other one aside for wearing when I'm doing something messy.

I also found a surprise for a couple of small boys I know- it's a little stage curtain thing for hand puppets. I know my kids would have loved it, and I think the Blackhart boyz will too. And I have candy for them. Heh. Just like a grandma- give 'em candy and send them home! :-D

Well, the backlash has begun on teh survey thing. I was expecting it- just wasn't expecting a couple of sources of it. It appears that nothing I say will budge the opinions (even if I point out I "But you read the question wrong- that's not what I said") so I don't think I'll try. Can't please everyone. I've gotten enough positive response from folks I respect, I'm ok with not having everyone in my corner.

At any rate, not much is happening this week, though I think that I'll put together copies of everything for the royals, so they can get it from the horse's mouth (Neigh!), and after I have a chance to basically write a white paper, I'll send one on to the board chairman and our ombudsman. Phew- this is beginning to look like work...

Went to 3M Champions yesterday, and it was a nice little event. Wish I'd been feeling better but it wasn't too bad. They gave me another Golden Torc- I'll have to dig up my baldric and put it on.

This week I'm finishing up Sofia's kids' clothes, and packing for Investiture. Not much left on the clothes but her chemise. I need to look at the brocaded stuff I would a couple weeks ago and see if there's enough for a Frankish coat.

In the meantime, me and my wide butt are going to take a nap.

I gots my 'fwimmin' suit...

When I was a wee little girl, I liked to get my fwimmin suit on and go fwimmin. Dunno what the deal was about s'es, but that's what I'm told...

I still like to go fwimmin, but haven't in years. But Dr Becher leaned on me really hard last month, so I've joined a water aerobics class. Turns out that the local Salvation Army community center has a pool and some low-key classes, and at a really reasonable price, too. So I dug out my orange fwimmin suit and went.

The class was mostly little old ladies in silly caps, and I imagined that I would fit right in. WRONG! I really had to work just to keep up- it was rather embarrassing, really. Mostly isometric and resistance stuff, but enough that I was getting winded. So this may be just the thing.

In other news, my plot to take over the kingdom proceeds apace. Seems to be gaining traction, so we may be on the way. I'm hosting a dessert social/chat at Investiture, and I'll see where folks are then. Kind of exciting!

And now I will go to bed, for I am tired and sore.

And the survey says...

With 120 responses in, this is what I've got:

1) In general, how do you feel about the size of An Tir?

* 89% * say TOO BIG. 7.5% say ok as is, 2.5% are unsure, and .08% blathered on but did not answer the question.

2) Would you support (at least in theory) the formation of a new
Kingdom from lands now part of An Tir?

* 89.6% * say yes, .08% says no, 9% say not sure.

3) What do you feel is the idea size of a Kingdom event?

avg. 1021 persons

4) How far are you willing to travel to Kingdom events?

Those who answered in hours- 5.78. Who answered in miles, 219. (The discrepancy seems to be due to urban traffic and ferry times.

5) How far do you travel to large events (June Faire, Autumn War,
Sport of Kings, etc.) and how often do you do so?

246 miles/ 5.42 hours; 2.23 times per year.

6) How far do you travel to regional events?

Miles 137.7, hours 4.05.

7) How often do you attend local events (your home branch and
immediate neighbors)?

1.16 per month.

8) Would you be willing to take a Kingdom office or autocrat a
Kingdom event in a smaller Kingdom?

66% yes, 17% no, 15.8% maybe.

9) How would you feel about beginning a dialog about forming a
Kingdom from southern portions of An Tir?

65% positive, 11% negative, 23% unsure.

10) Where do you currently live and play?

Answers from all over.

I'm going to try to pull together some analysis on the comments, but them's the raw numbers. The disparity between #2 and #9 seems to be the Canadian issue.

Pictures of Gunthar's Elevation! Woo hoo!

And here we go, folks!













Ahh... isn't he purty?

Ok, so I'm not so good at math...

But suddenly I'm finding that I * almost * wish I'd taken sadisti-, er, uh, _statistics_ in college. (Would have been a GPA killer though, and I know it...)

So as of tonight, I have 98 responses to the survey I've been flogging, and it's beginning to gel a bit. A handful negative responses- up to 4 now, I think, and that includes the person who thinks I'm traitorous to talk about splitting An Tir. (Bite Me, sez I!)

I think what I'm going to end up doing is charting the quantifiable ('How many hours will you drive to a Crown event?', etc) so it falls into some sort of bell curve, and then some way to collate and compare the 'squishyer' questions. Like I told Bera, I left them rather vague on purpose- because I'm as interested in what people think that questions are as what they answer them with.

In the world beyond my campaign for world domination (BWAHAHAHAHA!!!), I have the gown done for Sofia's daughter, and have started the tunic for her son. Larry was over this evening, and Gemma and Mike came over. Gemma and I went through her stash and measured stuff, marked some of it for specific projects, then cut out some stuff for her and made a veil. Mike chatted with Larry while Larry looked at picture books. And I periodically popped in to check on the news online. I really don't understand what sort of game Hillary Clinton is playing at this point- makes no sense to me. Obama has secured the nomination- he has the delegates- that's how it works. Is she trying to dismantle the party? Very confusing.

I'm off to bed now- the guys will be over in the morning to redo the bathtub and I should really be awake to let them in. Bleh. Why does the day always have to start out with morning? Why can't we start with a nice leisurely afternoon?...

Tired tired tired...

Well, a week has gone by and I just haven't bounced back from Egils. This does not bode well for the rest of the season. I slept all day Tuesday, and large chunks of Weds, Thurs, Friday... Saturday I went to Larry's birthday party and left early because I felt so crummy. Too bad for that- I missed the BBQ. (May have not been to bad though- I ate too much already without it.)

I sent out the informal survey again and have gotten some replies from Madrone. Turns out even they think the kingdom is too big. So far I have 55 responses, with little variance.

All but one think the kingdom is too big and needs to spawn. 'Ideal' kingdom event size seems to be running 1000-1200. A couple think big is good, and I had two who though 200 was fine. (snarf!) Most people are comfortable with traveling 3-4 hours on a fairly regular regional basis. It seems that the farthest that people generally are willing to travel for a Crown event is 5-7 hours. Quite a few people said they'd be willing to take a kingdom office or event in a smaller (I presuming 5-hour radius) kingdom, and cited travel and sheer work volume as barrier to office now, and problems with handling the sheer numbers for kingdom events.

Of the people from Summits and Rivers who replied, the travel range was about as I suspected. Summits folks will travel the length of Summits plus to to 3M environs, a wee farther north for Crown events. Rivers people will go south to Adiantum (farther south for Coronet events) and north to Rivers Bend, and a wee bit farther north to Crown events. The travel pattern fits what I'd suspected. There is quite a bit of overlap, especially now with some of the major players traveling more- Sir Roland has been going up and down I-5 to get a major fighter practice going, and has also been driving to Stromgard for practice. And apparently there were quite a few people who hit both Egils and Grand Thing last weekend, which I thought was an interesting turn of events.

I'm hoping that more will come in- I'd like to get closer to 100 if I can. And then find out what the kingdom officers think... life could become very interesting...