Month: September 2004

We’re just about done with counting all of the books in the library. It’s a big job, but everyone worked hard to get it done. We won’t have to do it again until next year.

Here’s the flyer for our local SCA group’s upcoming event. It has the potential to be very cool.

Name of Event: Cossacks, Mongols and Huns

Date(s) of Event: November 12-14, 2004

Hosting Group: Canton of Attillium

Description: Steppe dwellers unite! Join Attillium as we raid, pillage and loot on this ultimate barbarian weekend. Test your skills with sword, rapier, bow and horse. A variety of heavy combat fighting is planned, along with raiding-style rapier melees, hound coursing (don’t have a dog, come watch anyway), archery, equestrian events and an awesome feast in true steppe nomad style. A&S competitions will include “found on the field” (no documentation required, just something that could have been picked up during or after a battle); articles relating to a nomadic lifestyle; Cossack, Mongol or Hun costume and accessories to be judged on the body; and best horse, hound and archery equippage. In the evening we will have a bardic competition celebrating the horse and nomad cultures. Bards will have five minutes (the Khan’s patience grows thin)to present their best story, poem or song featuring horses or a story from the Cossack, Mongol or Hun traditions. Dancers and drummers are invited to a special drum circle outside around the fire.

Entry into all competitions (including fighting) will require a one-time donation of a toy ($5-10 range) or a donation of pet food, cat litter, etc. The collected toys will be donated to the Falcon Children’s Home. All pet supplies will go to a local animal shelter.

Website: http://www.geocities.com/canton_of_attillium

Martial Activities: armored combat, rapier combat, archery, equestrian activities, hound coursing

Arts & Sciences Activities:
“Found on the field”: This category requires no documentation – after all you found it, right? The idea is that entries can be anything that could have been picked up during or after a battle. Some entry ideas include weapons, shields, favors, articles of clothing, shoes, severed heads, etc. This is wide open and a good chance to show that item that you have been having trouble documenting. I hope to have people available to discuss how to document your item for future competitions, if that is something that you are interested in.

Nomadic Lifestyle (I know, the Cossacks weren’t nomadic.): This category requires documentation. Entries can be anything that relate to a nomadic lifestyle. Some ideas for entries could be leather water or beverage containers, leather or wooden containers for porcelain cups); wooden bowls or other items, felt items, tools, portable looms and other textile tools, individual items of costume (hats, boots, etc.) and so on. If you would like to enter but can’t think of anything to do, contact me. I have lots of documentation and can help you find something that will fit your skills and interests.

Cossack, Mongol or Hun costume and accessories: These will be judged on the body. The plan is to have a sign up sheet and you can either come by at sometime during the day or before feast for judging, or let us know where you are and we will come looking for you (given the theme of the event, this could be a problem for you – you may be subject to looting by judges and all that). Points will be given for authenticity, completeness and detail. Documentation is required, but try to be fairly brief on this one – 1-2 pages at the most.

Best horse, hound and archery equipage: There will be a signup sheet and judges will be circulating around the field to judge this one. You can enter any period you like for this competition, but extra points will be given for entries that reflect the theme of the event.

For clarification, questions, suggestions on more competitions, or to volunteer to judge (yeah!!) contact Nü Tzê Fuil (Rebecca Wendelken) at 910-677-0495 (not after 9pm please) or email at rwendelken@methodist.edu.

Cost: Adult, Member: $5.00 Day-Trip $5.00 Feast $8.00 Camping

Adult, Non-Member: $8.00 Day-Trip $5.00 Feast $11.00 Camping

Child (6-17): $5.00 Day-Trip $5.00 Feast $8.00 Camping

Child (0-5): $0.00 Day-Trip $5.00 Feast $0.00 Camping

Cost Notes: Lunch will be offered for an additional $2.00 fee. The complete package (camping, lunch and feast)–$15.00

Site: Shady Acres Farm
Canady Pond Rd.
Hope Mills, NC 28348

Site Restrictions: This site is VERY PRIMITIVE!
Sanitary facilities consist of cold water taps and port-a-potties.
This is a working farm with animals on site.
Site is wet.
NOTE: All animals must be leashed.

Feast Information: Feast will feature foods from the middle and far east. Feast will be served “nomad style” with floor seating. Please bring pillows or rugs to sit upon as the floor is rather hard. If you are unable to sit on the floor, please contact the autocrat.

Merchanting Information: Please contact the autocrat.

Other Information: Evening activities

Bardic Competition:
Short Horse Tales for the Khan’s Pleasure.
The Khan calls upon all in the Horde possessing the way of words to prepare a short tale, poem or song featuring that most noble of animals, the horse. He would also be pleased to hear tales of the great steppe nomad peoples. But be warned! The Khan is a busy and capricious tyrant. He values tellers who have learned the lesson of swiftness the horse brings to us. Woe be unto any teller who dares tax the Khan’s patience by exceeding the generously allowed time of five minutes.

Rich will be the reward to that teller who can present the best tale (or tail) to the Khan and his warlords in the time allotted.

A selection of short tales will be available for research linked to the event website at >www.geocities.com/canton_of_attillium

Drum Circle: Drummers and dancers are encouraged to join us for an outside drum and dance circle around a roaring fire. This circle will take place during and after the bardic activities in a separate location.

Autocrats Information: James Olivier(Jay Ozmet), 7626 Decatur Fayetteville NC, 28303. Phone Number(910)868-9087, E-mail: dementoj@earthlink.net

Resevations: Xavier Sparhawke(Joseph Harris), 5875 Ridgecrest Dr., Hope Mills NC, 28348 Phone Number(910)424-4870, E-mail: guttlebup@yahoo.com

Directions: From the North

Take your best route to I95. Follow to exit 41 (South of Fayetteville). At the exit, take the left onto Chickenfoot Rd. Follow to Canady Pond Rd. Go about two blocks and at the turn, take a left into the farm.

From the South

Take your best route to I95. Follow to exit 41. At the exit, take the right onto Chickenfoot Rd. Follow to Canady Pond Rd. Go about two blocks and at the turn, take a left into the farm.

I’m not sure if this is going to happen for sure or not, but it looks like Tom’s work is going to have him come in an hour earlier and actually get out on time. This will mean that instead of working 4:00-2:00 (AM) he’ll be working 3:00-11:30 (PM) and he might actually get a reasonable amount of sleep. Of course this company does make lying a principle of business, so it may come to nothing…but we have our fingers crossed.

For some reason I always have that in my head. I don’t know why. Eddie Murphy has warped my life.

We saw “I Robot” this weekend. Pretty good SF. Great special effects. I’m intrigued to know how they did the one main robot whether he was 100% CGI, or like Gollum, a guy in a motion capture suit some of the time.

We also found a nice local resturaunt (that word again) called the Haymont. Fayetteville is a town of many national chain places and they are always packed on the weekend nights…so we decided to try a local place that was recommended by a friend. It was very nice. The prices were reasonable and they had a very tasty greek menu in addition to seafood, steak and sandwiches. It’s in a nice part of town, too. I think we’ll be going back there.

We’ve got the remnants of H. Frances moving through today. Lots of rain and t-storms with gusty winds. There were tornadoes yesterday, some came through our town, but didn’t go near our house. Actually, I haven’t been able to find any substantial damage, but boy howdy is there a lot of water around.

The amazing thing is that it will all be gone as soon as the sun comes out. The sandy soil around here is amazing.

Tom’s on the last day of his 10 in a row slog. Then he has four days off. I expect he’ll spend most of tomorrow sleeping.

I got asked to come and speak about storytelling for a children’s lit. class one of the teachers from the post is teaching at the local universities…super kewl!

Phil’s out of town again. He’ll be back next week. I wonder how everything’s going to go in his absence.

I attended the Coronation of Janos and Rachel. It was held at a boy scout camp about 45 min. from Fayetteville. The site was nice, but HUGE so there was a lot of walking to get from one activity to another. Combine that with medieval shoes and clothes and the kind of general corpulentness of some SCAdians and there were a few uncomfortable folks.
On average, things seemed to go pretty well. Brian the Templar fought armored and Gavin fenced. They didn’t do great, but they said they had fun. I did archery for the first time in a few years and did pretty lousy, but I had fun as well.
Feast was nice, but I’m discovering a certain culinary timidity among SCA cooks. Feasts tend to be meat heavy (with an emphasis on roasted meat served in slices) with one or two spectacularly time consuming dishes. In this case it was Baklava (which I love so no worries there). I expect that a certain amount of this comes from the conservativeness of the American palate combined with the meat macho fighter culture in the SCA which produces royals who make proclamations about considering vegetables to be “what food eats”. Maybe this is a medieval perception as well, but I do know that Europeans ate a lot more sauces, spices and starches than are on offer at the average SCA feast. I expect that the only way for me to work out this issue to my satisfaction is to do my own research and develop myself as a cook.

I’m working today, ho hum.
Hopefully I’m going to the Atlantian Coronation tomorrow. The site is quite close to Fayetteville, so a lot of the local people have decided to go. I hope it doesn’t rain.

The perks of this job are endless (if you like books). I’m getting ready for our local event in November and the theme is Cossacks, Mongols and Huns. Our library is a little thin on the ol’ “Horse Peoples” but through INTERLIBRARY LOAN I can get a TON of books. I got a great book about Mongol costume and I’m all keyed up to make caftans for Mr. Tom and me. We’ll be so stylish.

I swear, it’s like Christmas when the books come.