Genevieve's Journeys

 Last weekend at Tretower court, camping with his Majesty and his family, served as an excellent shakedown trip, to remind us both of how we assemble camping kit, what bits we're likely to forget, and how thankful we are that our stakes are made of foot-long lengths of steel rebar, rather than authentic wooden pegs. Pegs lovely, yes, but not nearly as secure as rebar.

The high winds on the weekend still knocked down the awning on Sir Vitus' tent, but the rest remained secure (with some remedial pounding-in after 2am), and only a single candlestick suffered from the collapse. AND, fortunately, no pavilion came down completely.

Thanks to the weather, it wasn't as restful an event as it could have been, but it was still excellent. Some highlights:

- taking part in the court to elevate goncalves  to the Order of the Dragon's Steel, before a home crowd of friends

- witnessing nusbacher  being made a Herald Extraordinary by Schwazdrachen's hand, with the title Sans Merci. She had the steel, while offering her homage to the king, to ask for a wage for this honour(!), putting His Majesty somewhat on the spot, but agreed to a settlement to be hammered out in due course.

- trying out Cut and Thrust with his highness Cernac - it was a great learning weekend for me, for maredudd1066  and also for Don Domin, one of the recent arrivals in the kingdom. Maredudd was dancing up and down - C&T is the Goldilocks combat for him, just right for his frame, and fits well with previous combat training.
Domin's former homeland in Outlands holds no great fondness for C&T, and had resisted it for a long time, so this was his first time to try it out in earnest with Cernac and Duarte, which was a delight to watch. 

It was really brilliant to see experienced fencers working through their familiar carefully-learned moves with the added bonus of percussive cuts - they all looked right, like something out of a cross-period 15th-16th century manual, and were clearly like pigs in the mire, enjoying themselves enormously. 

On Sunday morning, we practiced in one of the upstairs chambers at Tretower, which was a long gallery lit by windows set deep in the walls - it was like a beautiful fencing salon. Fabulous.  Hopefully some of Domin's pics to follow.

- And of course, the centrepiece was the feast, served by jpgsawyer  and edith_hedingham  - 15th c feast, in a 15th c furnished hall. Everyone had clearly read the etiquette book and made an all-out effort to meet the standard - napkin on one shoulder, serving by order of precedence, taking food with the left hand, eating with the right hand. It was very cool and there was not one single bottle or can on a single table - everything looked right.

In the crash space hall, sharikkamur  did extraordinary service in providing breakfast for the masses, including cooked breakfast and waffles (NOM NOM NOM). Knowing that it was essentially only a tea-kitchen, I think she was mad to offer, and I think by the end of the weekend, she knew she was mad too, but the atmosphere in the hall was very cheery and convivial, which was wonderful.

There are two more revels planned at Tretower for this year, and they can only get better.