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Veteran's Day and an Etiquette Question
2003-04-07 - 6:45 a.m.
Coronation Weekend!
So how was this weekend, you ask... Well sit down a minute and let me tell you....
Remember Atlantian 20 year, when the rallying cry was... "we had a plan, and then it rained"? Well, the beginning of the day was similar.
As you all know, we got a bit of a late start and got on the road at 6:30 on Friday for a 6.5 hour road trip south to Saluda, North Carolina.
There wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was beautiful to say the least. All the way there, it was a pretty nice, although tiring drive. We made it to Saluda to the Heaven's View Motel (less than 2 miles from site). To get to the motel, we turned left and then just went up... as in pretty close to straight up. The truck groaned a bit with a "you expect me to do WHAT!?" sort of sound, but it did it. We got checked in and other than a mutant outside bug taking up residence in the bathtub (it was removed with much prejudice) and the fact that if what was going on with the walls and floor in this room was indicative of the rest of the motel... well, half of the hotel was about to slide down the mountain. There was a huge crack that extended from ceiling to wall to floor to the other wall. It looked like it had been repaired many times, all unsuccessfully. Let me put it this way... If you had to use the bathroom, you had to go UP and step over what felt like a six inch wide chasm in the substructure (it was covered by carpet, so I couldn't do an in-depth analysis, sorry.
We honestly didn't care. We fell into bed and waited for the bed to stop moving (the effect of sitting in a truck for 7 hours--there was a backup in the oddest place while we were on the road... NC's version of VDOT decided to pave a stretch of I-85 in the dark)... Once the room stopped moving, I fell into a nice deep slumper (thankfully I brought my security blanket.. my fether pillow).
My back woke me up at 6:00 to the sound of a bit more than a gentle rain outside. Being in my groggy state, I decided it wasn't a problem since I was inside and it was warm and dry. I convinced myself that an hour and half more sleep was the ticket and I curled under the blankets and went out again. At 7:30 the phone rang with our wake up call. That's when it hit me... it was RAINING! We hadn't used the tarp because we checked weatherbug before we left and it said the weather would be clear... well, someone forgot to tell North Carolina what weather bug said. We had all of the Golden Dolphin library in the back of our truck, and both boxes had taken tumbles down the stairs while packing and the lids cracked (don't ask... I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.) We both figured they'd be okay for the trip, and we needed to get on the road so we made the decision not to worry about them.
We opened the door to the hotel room and it wasn't just a gentle rain.. it was a downpour!
We found breakfast at a little gas station. Not my usual good diabetic breakfast, but it would do in a pinch... anything would do.
We got to site and did the most amazing job of putting up our pavilino. From the time we rolled up to our space, in the rain with thunder echoing across the mountain no less.... and it was a very shot ten minutes flat until the pavilion was UP and our stuff was inside. We were soaked to the skin (I had the good sense to wait until we got to site and the work was done before I changed into my blue and white cotehardie.... but Gorm changed at the hotel, so he had the day in wet everything.
This amazing pavilion set up includes the ground cloth, the usual amenities and ALL 16 stakes (we use guide ropes because I'm paranoid). My love went to go put away the truck and I sat in the pavilion in my jeans and shirt in what could only be described as despair. The worst part... I had to go to the bathroom and it was at the TOP of the hill on merchants row and the "road" was muddy as hell (did I mention that were at the bottom of this mass of mud and clay?)... I finally pulled out a piece of felled wool, coverd my head and made my way to the ladies room. What I found inside just left me spechless. Yes, we were at a BOYscout camp and everything was geared for the size of your average 8 to 10 year old..... I walked in and looked to my right and saw a urinal. My first thought was "this just can't be good". I looked in the next stall and found a flushy... except there was a TINY problem.... and while guys are used to going to the bathroom "al fresco" gals well... aren't. That's right...there were no doors on the stalls. You were there for God and everyone! That's one of the first times I was glad to know that soon I'd be wearing something with a voluminous skirt. I'll spare you the rest of the details. As muh as I hate porta potties, I would have just loved to have seen one... and a handicapped one would have thrown me into a state of giddiness that most people would have thought I was insane. (bad knees, remember) I got out of there and slipped and slid my way back to the pavilion and started to change clothes into something more "respectable". Even though my underclothes were soaked through, it still felt nice to put on that dry and warm cotehardie.
The rain stopped and the sun came out (although it was a cold wind blowing around) so people who didn't have cloaks (like us) were shivering our timbers so to speak... We went to the first court to watch Cuan and Padraiga step down and the Coronation of Logan and Isobel. I laid out my A&S display once court was over. This is what it looked like:
In case you're wondering. The note card at the top explained why I couldn't be there to answer questions and the bottom cards were for people to leave comments and feedback. I found out later that some folks had used my index cards for other people's entries, but that was more than okay. I had a good idea and I shared it unbeknownst to me.
Once that was done, I headed back to our pavilion to get stuff set up for the merchant space for Finnr.
I got that all set up and set a chair outside. People came walking past but wouldn't go inside. I wasn't sure what to do, so Baroness Rachel came by and then found a herald to let people know what was going on. People then started filing through, buying things and making donations.
Since it didn't look like anyone was interested in heraldry, Gorm went to go shoot his crossbow for a bit. On his way back, he did a bit of voice heraldry and guilted the rapier folks into coming to visit and buy something from me. One person bought two yards of silk and I swear he almost skipped back to his pavilion with his treasure! Folks were extremely generous and I was just beside myself that this seemed to be working out so well.
Just before court Baroness Isobel came down to let me know that they A&S items had been judged and I was free to pick up my entry. She walked back with me to pick everything up and we had a nice talk on the way.
I went over to my entry and got a wonderful shock! I had several of my comment cards used and each one had some very helpful and nice things to say. I ended up with about four or five trinkets that people had left with the cards, along with my judging sheet. I read the comments and I swear I was floating about four feet off the ground! It was all very positive and a few good items of "you might want to consider this" on the judging sheet. I wrapped up my little "booty" in the muslin I had used to display my weaving with and practically skipped back to the pavilion. Baroness(?) Genvieve walked back with me so she could buy something from the blanket we had so thoughtfully moved outside just before the rapier people descended on us). We talked a bit about the documentation I provided and what I could have done to make it better. I was very grateful for her comments. I told her that while I'd done the research and written the paper, I'd had help from Karen Larsdatter on several points and she smiled.
I barely had time to drop my stuff off at our pavilion, sell Baroness(?) Genvieve a set of beautifully hand woven napkins (not woven by me) and off to court.
I was the second person called into court and I had my love stand up and do the thank yous for helping with the merchant space and all of the money we raised.
A short time later, the A&S competition winners were announced. There was a fiber arts category and a Temporae Atlantia competition. When I wasn't annoucned for the fiber arts competition. I was able to be gracious an give a vivat to the winner. That's when I realized that I didn't know which competition I'd been entered in (I had to leave that up to Gorm and the person handling sign in because I had to go back to get everything ready). I leaned over to my love and whispered "Umm... love.. which competition did you register me for?" That's what I heard.... "Documentation.... Lady Rhiannon of Berra!" I had won the best documentation category for the Tempora Atlantiae (or however that's spelled)... I was just beside myself with shock.... I hadn't expected to win anything (hopeful, yes, but I thought my chances were between slim and none to be painfully honest. I wasn't thrilled with my documentation and as I said before we left, I thought my weving was close to utter crap). I got to go up before their Majesties but I didn't get my prize then. I have to contact Duchess Simone to get my prize.. it's fabric... wow!!! :)
Court lasted until dark, and by the time we got the truck packed it was close to 9:00. Once we got unstuck (we were at the bottom of a rain soaked path that was at a 45 degree angle and the truck just couldn't get good purchase to get back up that hill. After slipping and sliding backwards, we finally managed to find a piece of grass that we could get a footing on and we were on our way out of there. We drove for about another two hours and found another hotel. This one wasn't sliding off a mountain or anything else weird. It was a nice room, with big fluffy pillows, clean sheets and a stellar shower. I showered and found my way to the nice bed and slipped into a coma.
I woke my love up at 9:30 (the time change had him befuddled for a bit.. he grumped that I was waking him up at 8:30). We got back on the road and was home by 2:30. Of course, once we checked out and got in the truck, I had to look at my A&S stuff all over again to make sure it wasn't some dream. It wasn't. my love saw my radiant face and told me he was proud of me. That made the whole stressful weekend just so worth it. All of the gambles I had made paid off and I've got some really good comments and I've come up with a plan for what I want to do for Sapphire's competition.
In short, it was a good time and I'm still floating!
Please don't forget to answer my survey... it's research for a small business idea... all comments appreciated, no reasonable offer refused!!! It won't take five minutes, I PROMISE!
