Genevieve's Journeys

Pictures of the shiny:

Sorry for the fuzzies - limit of taking pictures one-handed.

View of the coverage of my thumb, and flexibility: I'm making a fist.



When I got them Robert asked if when I closed my hand my thumb could fold over my fingers, or was it stuck out straight. It sits on top of my fingers.


Making a fist around a long sword.


Only drawback I can see is the limit of the bell of the cuff: I can bend back my wrist only so far. So any moulinet is limited to a kind of cone-shaped curve (w. my wrist at the point), not a full circle with my wrist at the centre.

HOWEVER: the customer service was such that I think you could ask for extra-flared cuffs. They seem very amenable to doing custom work.



Will be able to tell you more after Double Wars in May!

In more cheery news away from health and work worries:

I've just ordered these gauntlets for cut and thrust combat.

nusbacher has a pair, and very handsome they are too.

Finding gauntlets that fit and genuinely protect my hands for C&T has held up my participation somewhat.

Robert very carefully reworked an existing pair of clamshells I had from when I fought in armour, that never fit correctly, so that I could hold a single crosshilt sword or dagger.

When I'd used them for bastard sword I'd gotten a blow on the thumb that cracked it, putting me off for a year. They really didn't fit.

But the mods were a bodge at best: once in my hand I couldn't change weapons or even change my hold on the hilt. They shifted and slid about, and I was always at risk of a blow getting through.

So when I saw these, I thought, millenium hand and shrimp, those are what I want.

I hope and have asked that they be delivered in time for Double Wars: inshallah.

While I am reluctant to book myself solid for Double Wars, I do want to run the scribes social hour again: a round table where you can share 'tips and tricks' or just ask a question.

Nordmark is overrun with scribal talent; if I can squeeze it into a room for an hour, it will yield great pearls of wisdom in a friendly setting.

Thamesreach's most recent revel was last weekend, the first to follow WorldCon where SCA had a display table.

exmoor_cat followed up the contacts made at WorldCon, and as a result, we had 6 (SIX!!) newcomers to the SCA at the revel, plus one new arrival from An Tir.

I don't think I've ever seen 6 new people at one event. I'm impressed all to heck and really hope they come back.

Dame Oriane and Lady Emoni and I had planned a heraldry and banner-making revel. As it turned out just one person had a personal banner to work on, so we charged ahead on the shire bunting instead. Earl Paul and Lady Anne brought their mate Mark along and formed a jolly group to support the day.

Newcomers willingly worked on painting and sewing and pressing new armory and the familiar Thamesreach device to add to the collection.

I'd rustled several tunics from TE Vitus and Isabel, so we had clothes all round and everyone sat for our potluck dinner.

Milord Marx's lady Victoria brought not one but two Persian dishes, in part I think to ensure she would have veg-friendly food to eat, and Robert's frumenty was also veg-friendly this time round.

Having Paul, Anne and Mark there meant the dancing was more focused than me just yelling at folks and we danced about 2x as long as usual, because the newest folks were very keen and very happy to take part.

The hardest part was getting folks to pipe down so we could explain the steps. :-)

A real joy was the setup and cleanup; with several new people looking to be helpful, both these stages flew by in a flurry and we had probably the swiftest and most efficient setup and cleanup I can remember in ages. Hurrah!

Today (Wednesday) I throw myself on the grenade of teaching rapier 'properly', like following a teaching plan and doing it systematically. I have 3 interested participants to date. The goal is to reach authorisation stage in time for Yule Ball.

I'm shamelessly using someone else's handout (on Marco Borromei's website) as a guide as to what to cover, and what order to do these things in. I'm hoping we generate just as many authorisations as there are fencers.

Periodically I get a dose of nostalgia for my first homeland. And at this point, I remember that I was not interested in local revels in Caldrithig, that I had no time to attend and support new people because I was busy going to events out of the area.

buttongirl was all over this, and I just wasn't in tune at the time; why go to a local revel when you want to attend a major event?

I also remember that I had no time for fencing. Now I'm the local marshal, and about to teach others.

Feels like I've turned around completely; it's all about local revels, and all about building a group; it's about historical rapier combat which puts me on the field again (vs armoured combat that was always an uphill struggle for me).

Part of the change is because travelling 2/4 weekends a month isn't an option anymore, not in Drachenwald.

Part of it is because I want to build the SCA I enjoy, and the stuff I enjoy is going to events, and Making Stuff (TM), and having tournaments (whether armoured or rapier).

Saturday court had been long - combining principality and kingdom business - and making up for past courts where scrolls could not be distributed in the rain. Our evening was still ahead, with our light supper and dancing; the musicians had gathered in our encampment and practiced over the afternoon. I never tire of listening to musicians warm up, because I know how hard I find playing, and am glad that there are folk who delight in making music as much as I delight in dancing.

But frankly...I was beat. I changed out of the novitiate outfit, put on a wool tunic, and went and watched dancing for awhile. And in the end, I went to be reasonably early.

Sunday was the Big Day of Fencing, with two more provost, and three prefect challenges to complete. I watched the wrap up of the individual skills challenges for the provosts in the fountain court, but it began to rain (surprise) and the fencers retreated to the undercroft, where they set up the half-hour all comers challenge area. 

It seemed heavy going - fencing as continuously as possible, for half an hour, in the semidarkness (no candles wanted in the undercroft), with rain outside and repeated shouts of 'NEXT!' and 'EDGE!' or 'CENTRE!' to get the challengers or their opponents to start in the middle of the fighting area. I got a stool for Gabriel our timekeeper, and water for everyone. 

I was impressed by both challengers - I hadn't got to fight HE Pol or HE Anna for their challenges, and was glad to contribute to this one, for Lord Duncan Chaucer, and Lady Gwenllian. There was an exellent pool of combatants to draw on - from newly-authorised, to Dragon's steel.

Seeing this challenge enacted made it, to me, much more achieveable, and I'm now thinking of aiming for a provost challenge for next year's Raglan. 

The afternoon was the prefect challenges, for Dom Duarte goncalves, Master Cernac, and Visc Eirik. I armed up for cut and thrust, so I could meet Cernac in this form as many times as possible - it meant I felt a bit clumsy fighting the others, and couldn't change weapons easily (my steel gauntlets were lovingly repurposed by my sweetie from a pair by Lord Duncan McLeod in Caldrithig - but they're not easy to take on or off) but I decided I'd not fuss about trying out different forms, just stick to sword and dagger. 

They were distributed around the fountain court, and we formed an orderly queue (of course!) to fight them. The marshals rotated them round the court, so everyone stood in sun (which had now emerged, making the whole venue steamy) or shade as was available. 

Again - it was heavy going. I felt pushed, as well as the challengers, because I rarely fight for anything like an hour at a time. I took a wicked, wickedly sturdy blow from Cernac's two-handed sword on my L leg; we both paused, and he said, ah, not wearing armour there are you? The next bout with him he made a point of taking my right leg, with a much more moderate blow.

While it no longer hurts all the time, it's made better padding/protection to my delicate thighs more of a priority, at least against two-handed weapons.

I was as relieved as any to mark the end of the challenge. I could hardly drink enough at the end.

TRM had watched this latter part of the challenge and then held court that the participants could be honoured and the new challengers announced as successful provosts and prefects.

It was a fine moment to also award arms to the youngest fencer, who had authorised at Raglan just a few days earlier - Etienne explained he'd fought long and hard that young men of great enthusiasm and violence might also join the combat on the field. :-)

He had similar welcomes for his fellow prefects, explaining he'd long fought with Cernac, til they had discovered the SCA; he'd long fought with goncalves (5 hours a day, 3 days a week, at one point), til they discovered the seneschallate, and were able to put their energies into new venues.  

Etienne had taken apart his own prefect braid, to put one strand in each new prefect's braid, thus creating a lineage to his own. A very gracious gesture.

That day's beer felt heartily well earned, for me.

In the midst of the grumpiness over this silly game, there's been some pleasant intervals.

Earlier this week I was reading Terry Prachett's The fifth elephant on the Tube. I haven't read it recently, and it felt fresh and new to me, so I was enjoying it.
I got up to change lines and a gent stopped me to say 'it's lovely to see someone reading The fifth elephant and smiling - I think it's one of his best'. Sometimes I think we could have a whole book club on the Tube, if only Londoners were brave enough to speak to each other.

I just finished Charles Stross' Halting State. It's brilliant; cyberpunk-ish, gamer-ish, even reenactor-ish. Awesome, if dense.

Monday I had an amazing fast run around my local park, having missed my lunchtime run. I think anger fuelled me in a way that my usual running distraction (science podcasts from BBC, Guardian and others) do not. I figure I can only get smarter by listening to these, if only by osmosis.

I've been visiting the West End kitties this week (for friends on holiday), who are warming to both Robert and me for cuddles, though only for short spurts of time. They're lovely and playful kitties, very kittenish, even as adults. It may be the novelty of our visit - we're only dropping in every couple of days - if we were there daily, they might ignore us in a more adult cat-like fashion.

I've indulged in some rare retail therapy around Covent Garden this week. First to the beadshop (always risky to the wallet - I felt much better paying my £11 as someone else was ringing up £50; made me feel like I was getting off lightly). Then meeting nusbacher  for coffee, a chat about our respective news, and then browsing the outfitters' shops in seach of trousers that would be work-friendly. Came away with trousers, two running shirts and fresh socks.
Comfy socks are hard to find - cheap synthetic ones don't agree with my feet when I walk briskly. I'm a delicate flower that way.

Further such therapy is still to roll in the door, as my recent book orders are expected before long.

Fencing practice went well, with six folk in masks. I think four of us are ready to authorise, maybe more, which would be brilliant. goncalves  and marshals from Flintheath are expected, and exmoor_cat  is talking about expecting 25+ bodies.

Have booked to attend Polderslot's masked ball next weekend, and am looking forward to travelling with armillary  and enjoying the company of lovely folk from that region.

In our journey, we had a lot of time to talk (or listen, as the case may be - have you ever travelled with Sir Vitus?).
( the PLN revealed )