DLand - Shooting Stars and Rotating Wheels

I am resisting the temptation to wax poetic about how magnificent Aradd's knighting was this weekend. I do, indeed, think that it was a wonderful thing but I've told him that (many times) and I've told our friends that. It also was great to see our circle of friends come together to make sure his day was special. I was so proud of everyone. But there were some other things of interest that happened at the event as well (once we made it there in Big Blue). Friday night I sat out under the stars. They were beautiful in that isolated section of Maryland. After notifying everyone that I was going wandering and that the Boogey Man was not going to get me, I headed out to find a place free of light pollution.

I was pretty proud of myself that I could recognize some of the constellations. I realized that I had not looked at the stars so intensely since Jeremy and I were first dating. We were both too poor to do much else so he would take me out in his 79 Jeep CJ7 (the one with the decaying fender wells) and we would find a deserted cow field to lie in and count stars.

I had never in my life seen a shooting star until Jeremy showed them to me. It is somewhat sad to say. I suppose I had never been patient enough to wait for one to happen. I thought they were items of mystery that people couldn't really see. But there they were. I learned where Ursa Minor and Major were and how one points to the North Star. I found Cassiopeia and Orion's Belt. And I think that out in the thistle filled cow fields I also found out how to just lie back and take in what's around you. So I took the lessons Sweetpea inadvertently taught me to heart and went out to lay in the grass and watch the stars go by. It was awesome. A fitting backdrop to the weekend's events.

Saturday I talked with some folks I hadn't seen in a long time (yah Bera) and made sure Sweetpea was watered and fed while he was smithing on the hill. He spent the better part of the day with Mistress Alisandra's daughter (can't remember her name) showing her how to make S hooks. She was a pretty talented little blacksmith's helper. A duchess once told me that the SCA is a wheel that revolves around the tourney field, for better or for worse. In many ways it is very true.

I spent the better part of the day trying not to sweat to death. Apologies to those who had to witness me traipse about in only my linen underdress but every time I put on the houpelande, about six people would ask me if I was okay and would say I looked like I was about to faint (I felt like I was about to faint). So the weather cheated me out of some fashion statements but I lived.

The evening was pleasant and overall I was well pleased with my first Crusades I've attended. Many of the details to the weekend help to renew my energy for this hobby. There was the Year of Darkness from when Sweetpea and I first moved that we rarely left the house (well, I was never home, but almost always on business trips). And we tried to tell ourselves that we were doing fine with out SCA in our lives. But honestly, I did miss it. I'm glad we're back. I'm glad that we see our friends more. And I'm glad that I got to be a part of such a great weekend.