Lilies War

Olaf and I are back from war and I'm already looking forward to next year. We have so many project ideas for what we want to create, it will take years to get it all done--but it will definitely be worth it.

Some of the spoils from war include:

• twenty yards of light blue linen
• three ounces of divers wool for spinning
• two drop spindles
• thirteen veil pins, seven in blue and six in jade with brass for the metal part
• one circlet with a knotwork charm
• one bardic CD, courtesy of Gwydion
• two clay whistles we made in a pottery class
• one stargazer chair for Olaf
• one drinking horn with belt strap for Olaf (easily the best purchase we made!)
• one goblet, courtesy of Baron Jon
• three books related to music history
• one glass necklace

There's probably another thing or two I'm missing, but hey. It's early in the morning, and that's my excuse. ;)

We got to see lots of people we haven't seen in a long time--Calanais being the first as we camped with them, thanks to the generosity of James and Aesa who had a tent we could borrow. We also saw a few people from Wyvern Cliffe, and I had the unique opportunity to play bass recorder with Mistress Conna (I believe that's the correct spelling) and digitize a song that Master Andrixos wrote. Jubilation!

It was so great to contribute to the music realm. It's something I've been wanting to do for ages, but just wasn't able to do until I was a better musician and the right opportunity opened up. I sang in a choir and ended up [accidentally] taking over rehearsal for one song--"Hymn to the Soup Kitchen"--and volunteering to digitize the one handwritten copy we had into a size/format that would be easier for everyone to read. I spent the next two days coding the piece (I use Lilypond, you should try it! It's awesome!) and troubleshooting bad syntax (my fault, I was learning as I went) until I got everything lined up just the way I wanted it. Andrixos took it to town and had it printed at Kinko's, and voila. :)

I made a few new friends as well, which is always grand-- I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with all these people.

We had a few elevations in our shire as well-- James got his Boga Fyrd, Rose got nominated by the children for her Pelican, and Thomas the Butcher got his Torse. Congratulations to all! Each award is well-deserved. :)

Last, I have some odds and ends photos of Lilies--truncated because of a video I took of Ostwald's knighting (which, by the way, was very moving). You can view them here.

Enjoy!