Last Camping Post, I Promise! (Until the Next Event)

 

A little Cliff’s Notes so you’ll understand the following pictures a little better. . . .

The SCA is a global reenactment organization. The ‘known world’ is divided up into many different kingdoms. We live in the kingdom of An Tir, which is comprised of Washington, northern Idaho, part of Oregon, and part of Canada. Each kingdom is ruled by a king and queen. You get to be king/queen by fighting for it. Literally. The event we went to, September Crown, is where the tournament takes place that decides the king/queen for the next six months. To win the crown you need to enter the tournament, fight a whole bunch of guys and come out on top. They fight with ‘swords’ made from rattan (solid bamboo) and wear armor that ranges from plastic (pickle barrel) to boiled leather to actual steel. And they aren’t messing around. There are a bunch of rules of things you can/can’t do for safety’s sake, but these guys are out to win. There are usually a few minor injuries and a LOT of bruising! The fights aren’t scripted, the fighting style is based on actual period styles.

This is, I think, the warm up/practice for the Squires Tourney.  It’s hard to tell from the picture, but it was raining fairly hard. And they were out there fighting anyway!

  

This was a rapier duel (doesn’t that sound awful?) later in the day when the weather cleared up.

I don’t know this lady, I just thought she had cool garb. Jay informs me that she is a Baroness. (Essentially the president of her part of the kingdom.)

I think this guy is a King. Not sure. But check out his cloak. It’s freaking amazing. It’s even more amazing in person. It’s got griffins on either side that you can’t really see from this angle. Just wow.

Check out the horsehair on the helm! Cool!

This one too!

A little wandering cutie.

My little cutie!

Relaxing with Uncle Jacob. (And keeping the poor guy warm!)

Reese trying on a kind squire’s helm.

 

This is Davin. (The guy in the center with the yellow band.) Or, more accurately, his Grace, Sir Duke Davin Steingrimsson. He’s the knight that Jay is squired to. Huh, this is getting complicated. He’s the guy who is/has been teaching Jay to fight. He’s been King three times, hence the lengthy title.

Davin blocking a desperate attempt.

Davin after putting the smackdown on that knight.

Davin’s last fight of the day.

He took out the guy’s legs. (If they get hit in the leg or arm they ‘lose’ that appendage but get to keep on fighting Monty Python style until they take a ‘critical’ hit.

That’s right, Davin, hit him when he’s down! lol!

What? Davin dies anyway!

So, the way this particular tournament was played was a Sweet Sixteen. You start with 8 fighting arenas with 8-9 knights each. Those 8-9 all fight each other and the two people with the highest amount of wins in each arena move on. Then those 16 knights move to a double elimination round where they get two ‘lives’ to either lose or end up as the last two fighters. Those two then fight each other for the title of King. This video is a bit lengthy, but is the last fight and determined the winner! They are SERIOUS. Definitely worth the watch! Hail the King!

This was the last camping post, I promise! There’ll be food tomorrow! Maybe Whoopie pies. . . . . .

Another Blast from the Past

 

I didn’t mention yesterday that the event we went to was held at Willamette Mission State Park. Well, it was! What a gorgeous site! This is a picture of part of the filbert (hazelnut) grove. Jacob had taken the kids for a walk and discovered wild blackberries growing in the trees. Yes, up in the trees! I’d never seen a blackberry bush do that before, it was bizarre! So we grabbed some bowls and scored ourselves some fresh, wild, organic blackberries! 

These were about 4 feet above my head. I managed to knock most of them into my bowl, hehehe.

Jacob expertly dislodging blackberries.

Not a bad haul for half an hour’s work! Especially considering that Amelia ate about a bowlful as we were picking them!

Reese, enjoying the fruits of our labors. Literally!

I mentioned yesterday that the kids had nothing much to do or play with while we were there. They spotted these cute little yellow flowers and spent a good hour picking them! They were so cute, it was just about as good as an Easter egg hunt.

OOOOOooooh, look! MORE flowers! (Cool shield, huh?)

Could they BE any cuter?

So sweet! Love this picture!

 

Giving Daddy a flower.

         

While they were picking flowers, Jay went to the shops and found ‘boffers’ for sale. Essentially a bat made from pvc, closed cell foam, fiber tape and duct tape. There’s even a boffer tournament for kids to participate in. (Don’t worry, they have to wear armor too!) By the way, when I first saw this picture my first reaction was to freak out on Jay. Then I saw the next few pictures and realized that Reese had just ‘gotten’ Jay.

 

See? Nice work, Reese!

Jay’s a good sport.

  

And a ham. Most definitely a ham!

A couple of little boys practice fighting. Their helms are hysterical!

And, because so many of you demanded it. . . . a picture of me in my garb! Well, part of my garb. I have a really pretty burgundy overdress that goes over this, but it was hot out that afternoon, so I left it off. And I’ve got Jillian in the Moby wrap, so not precisely period. Anyway, you get the idea. (Sorry it’s blurry!)

Tasty Taco!

Have you seen Julie and Julia yet? It is such a cute movie! I loved it, well, right up until the phone call towards the end of the movie. Then I spent the rest of the time wondering, ‘why? Really? Why not?’ Anyhow, there’s a scene in the movie where Julia’s husband comes home to find her madly chopping a mountain of onions. That’s how I felt this afternoon! I wanted to get things ready for our camping trip and was chopping all the veggies for our meals.

 

*sniff, sniff* Makes my eyes water just looking at it! Is it just me or does anyone else think organic onions make you tear up more?

I got my sewing done a little earlier than scheduled so I made Reese’s Bug and Amelia’s Sweetbaby some cloaks too. The kids loooooove the cloaks for their plushies! I wish I’d had a bit of Amelia’s fleece left over, but I used every little bit of hers.

This soft taco came together out of ingredients I was trying to use up before we leave tomorrow. Yum yum!

5 Minute Soft Tacos

1 cup of cooked chicken, diced

3 scallions, sliced on the bias

2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped (I was trying to use up my parsley here, if you have cilantro I think that would be even better!)

juice of 1/2 a lime

2 cups of lettuce, shredded

1/2 cup of sour cream

6 tortillas

 

Toss the chicken, scallions, parsley and lime juice together in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Put about 1/3 cup of lettuce on each tortilla, spoon on some of the chicken mixture onto the lettuce and top with sour cream.

Done. How easy was that? Enjoy!

Goin' Campin'

My hubby and I have been married for juuust about 5 years now. In fact, it will be 5 years this Thursday! So we've decided to pack up the kids (and my brother!) and go camping. We've been wanting to go to this camping event every year since we've been together, but since it always falls on our anniversary (Labor Day weekend) so we've never gone. This year we decided to scrap the romantic anniversary plans and take the kids out for a little fun instead! (Well, the anniversary plans aren't being scrapped really, just postponed.)

Now, when I say we are going camping. . . . well, we don't camp like normal people. Oh, we have a tent and an air mattress and a cooler full of food, but. . . . well. . . . . this is the kind of thing we'll be wearing. . . . .

We camp old school. Reeeeeeeeaaaaaaallllllllllyyyyyyyy old school. Middle-Ages style old school!

 

I snagged that belt out of my 'garage sale' pile. I used to wear it all the time before I got married. It wraps around her twice, but it works for now!

  

She looks like Princess Leia with her 'piggy pom poms'. (or 'piggypumpums' in Lia-speak) She loves to have her hair like this! She's so cute!

  

Now, I'm pretty sure they didn't have light sabers in the middle ages, but Reese wanted to cover all his bases. Oh, and I've since shortened up that belt. (Also snagged from my 'garage sale' pile!) And I didn't make his pants. Don't tell anybody, but they're girls yoga pants from Wal*Mart. Shhhhh!

  

He's such a cute little monkey!

  

This dress was the first one I made myself for SCA. It's made out of that thin faux-silk stuff. I stood too close to a fire once and a spark melted a huge hole right in front. I was able to cut the dress waaaaaaay down for Amelia and I cut that hole right out. Hopefully she won't get too close to a fire either! But even if she trashes the gown it won't be a big deal, since it was recycled anyway!

  

It occurred to me the other day that it might get cold and the kids would freeze to death. So I ran to Wal*Mart and bought a ton of fleece and just sorta made up a cloak pattern. Lia's was the first one I did and though it looked okay, I wasn't really happy with it. The yoke is way too shallow. It is reversible though, and I love the colors.

I'm hoping to redo the yoke sometime after we get back.

So when I made Reese's I doubled the width of the yoke. I love his! I even made one like his for Jilly, hers is brown and soft pink.

The group we belong to (actually, we don't belong. Jay hasn't paid dues for years and I never officially got a membership!) is called the SCA, short for The Society for Creative Anachronism. (I lifted the following straight off the website.)

   The SCA is an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe. Our "Known World" consists of 19 kingdoms, with over 30,000 members residing in countries around the world. Members, dressed in clothing of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, attend events which feature tournaments, royal courts, feasts, dancing, various classes & workshops, and more.”

The event we are attending is called September Crown and is one of the biggest events of the year. There will be all sorts of fun things going on including a tournament where people wearing armor get in a ring and beat the tar out of each other with big fake swords, lances, arrows, etc. to determine who will be the next King. It is incredibly cool. (This from a girly girl!) There will be equestrian tournaments at this event too, I think my little horsey girl is going to lose her mind! I absolutely cannot wait! Reese is already excited to see the archery competitions and sword fighting. 

The SCA is different from Renaissance Faires in that it is not scripted. And a different time period. SCA period pretty much ends where Renaissance picks up. (Although you do get a lot of people doing Ren garb, it is just so gorgeous!) You create a persona and go to these events and live (as much as is realistic and do-able) as if you were in that period. Some people (I wish we were some of them!) actually have period pavillions, they are just amazing! (And really expensive!) Jay and I don't really have a ton of period stuff, we haven't been to an event in years and just haven't sunk much money into it. So we'll be going with our Coleman tent and lanterns and our lovely air mattress.

So, as much as I hate giving excuses, this is what I've been doing since I got back from my mom's. Massive amounts of sewing. Amelia didn't have a single garment to wear and Reese and Jilly only had one each. (We'll be there for 4 days.) So I had to get my butt in gear and make a bunch of stuff. It's not my best work, unfortunately I was going for quantity over quality. But now I'm in the mood for garb and have plans to make the kids some more, much nicer garb after the event when I have more time to tackle it.  

I'm going to be taking a ton of pictures at the event and will report back on Tuesday!