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ToC weekend

Monday, Jun. 28, 2004
7:41 PM

Thanks to many people for tips on getting rid of the twitchies. Naturally, the one I was suffering from went away shortly after I posted that entry. Oh well - I'll keep the hints in mind for next time. Though I probably should get an eye exam sometime soon - I haven't had one in a long time and I doubt my eyesight is as good as it used to be. Don't expect me to be giving up diet soda any time soon, though.

ToC was a pretty good time, all told. We drove down with Theo and Roland, who are lovely traveling companions. Traffic sucked as usual, even though we had left at a pretty reasonable time. I am agreeing with Theo that it seems worse than it did just a few years ago and makes it much harder to get anywhere outside the DC metro area. At least we were not pulling in past 11:00 or midnight as sometimes happens when we get stuck. The trip was made more surreal by Wendy randomly saying things like, "I think so, Brain, but what do we do with all the field mice when we're finished?"

We crashed with Cuan and Padraigin, who are fabulous hosts. Dinner at Squire's Pub and a bedtime story read by His Maj capped off the evening.

Saturday started off rainy - it started pouring on the way to the event. I was somewhat concerned that I would end up soggy and grumpy, but I figured as long as it didn't get too cold I would be OK. The rain did let up eventually but then it got sort of sauna-like, causing me to wilt slightly about mid-afternoon. Sunniva and Turgeis kindly allowed us to park under their pavilion all day, which was really nice. We hadn't brought the dayshade and there wasn't really room for it around the field anyway. I hung out an socialized most of the day, though I did spend some time in the afternoon mentoring the youth A&S judges. I wasn't quite sure how that was going to work, but it turned out well and I was very impressed with the teenagers' ability to earnestly evaluate others' work. They tried very hard to give honest and fair scores and I think they learned a lot as well. I have a good feeling about the future of the A&S community.

After the judging/mentoring was over, I stayed in the (air conditioned) hall for a while drooling over Clare's books from France. Specifically the catalog from the textiles museum in Lyon. Lots of yummy fabrics, from all over Europe and the Middle East. I saw the coolest thing: an ecclesiastical stocking, made of silk brocade that was made in Lucca, Italy, then exported to France where the stocking was made. The pics in the book were in black and white, but Clare said she had some color digital pics from her trip and kindly agreed to email them to me. Whoohoooooo!! Fabric-geeky goodness.

Court was thankfully pretty short (as was Curia, I understand - I was a little late getting there, by the time I did, it was over). Feast was a little late but I know that it is tough to get things out on time when you don't have a lot of room. I really liked the marinated (pickled?) beef and the lamb. And the peach tarts were very yummy.

I was really beat by the time we got back to C&P's house, and I probably should have gone to bed right then, but I went with everybody over to Anton & Luned's for hanging out. I wasn't terribly social - I get even quieter when I'm tired - but I don't think anyone noticed. Back to C&P's after a while and then straight to bed.

Sunday morning was a nice, lazy time - breakfast and coffee and schmoozing. Saw some neat pics from their recent trip to England, found out that Cuan and I were born in the same town, heard a paragraph or two of modern "Victorian" soft-core porn. Very strange. Anyway, we could have stayed all day but had to hit the road to get Theo back for her concert with Kymber. Naturally we hit patches of heavy traffic on the way back, but made it home early evening. Had dinner and hangout time with the Smiths and then finally crashed for the night.

So, that was my weekend. I wish my sweetie had had a better time, but I have faith that next time he will enjoy himself more. Though I am looking forward to a laid-back, relaxed summer. Few events, no Pennsic rush, time to do some other things and gear up for the fall. I'm hoping to get to the Medici exhibit in Memphis sometime, but the thought of a drive that long is making me reluctant. Kevin mentioned going on the bike, which would be fun, but I hope my butt is up to the challenge!

Should get off my butt and do something useful, like laundry or dishes or something...

Ciao!


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