Outlandish White Scarf Recipe

Take one pound of a$$-kicking, and mix in five pounds of humility. Add a cup of leadership, and a pinch of sass. Slowly add a bit of decorum to taste. Bake as long as necessary to rise to the occasion.

During the baking process, dress the White Scarf with lace, ribbons and all manner of finery, just to prove you can. But we all know it’s what’s on the inside that counts, so make sure that it does not become “overdone’’.

The best icing in the world doesn’t help a tasteless cake.

Poke with an epee several thousand times in the midsection to determine if it is cooked thoroughly before serving up to the public.

Remember, a little blood adds flavor, and is good for keeping the bitter taste of pride down.

Les Tres Belles Heures de Baron de Caer Galen

I wanted to post about this event coming up, but I was pretty nervous about it. You see, I was TOLD to be there. Then I thought: Oh, no. The only time one is TOLD to attend is when you've done something very wrong, or very right. Either way, you are called into court.

Silly me thinking that this was all about me! Turns out that my fencer friend Cecily was elevated into the order of the White Scarf. Huzzah for the newest lady Donya of the Outlands!

And I even wore a nice dress just in case. My Don, Talan, just wanted to make sure I was there to see it. There has been only two women in the Outlands made White Scarves since I started fencing, and I didn't get to see the other ceremony. It was fabulous, and of course many people cried. I even got a little misty.

Even though court was long, it was punctuated with much humor, and Kamadevi's harp playing during the slow parts. We were well entertained. Caer Galen has found their successors to the Baronial thrones, war plans are being made and there is much to do for this Reign.

Speaking of the King, do you know how funny it is to get caught by His Royal Majesty sneaking out of the Royal Room, following closely behind Don Dio? Kind of makes you guilty no matter WHAT anyone thinks we were doing in there. Trust me, it was very serious business indeed. Even though His Maj gave me THAT look. But if you ARE reading this, I did eat three dates off your food table. In that I am guilty. But look on the bright side: I can honestly say that your food had not been poisoned.

Ah, but I just love the Crowns. It's hard NOT to want to do great things for them. And, as it seems I'll be experiencing a great deal of free time in the next two months, I'll be able to work hard on an updated version of the Outlands Map, which will be ready for Estrella War.

This is the 20th anniversary of the Outlands. I had shown up on the doorstep of the Barony of Dragonsspine in 1993, when she was only 8 years old. Hard to imagine the last twelve years have made me what I am now in the SCA.

Heh. And I'm STILL nervous about the possibility of being called into court.

Especially now.

Outlands Coronation report

It seemed we got off to a fitful start, as many roadtrips do. More like herding cats, really. But, finally, off we sped, southward into the raging storm. Myself, Dons Dio and Talan, and Talans' lady Kamadevi.

Don Dio (my grandfather Don, if you feel like drawing a flow chart) had been talking about winning the Protector of the Queens Heart tournament since the very moment King Hrorek won Crown Tourney. Actually, since long before that. He vowed years ago that he would win it if Hrorek was ever King.

So I had to go along and witness that he would indeed win. I really never had any doubt, because I knew Don Dio in the old days, when his powers were at their peak. So he stopped playing for what, five years? The Force is still strong in him.

Oh, yes. A side note. Spending six hours in a vehicle with Don Dio can feel like six minutes or six weeks. And no, you can't sleep through it.

After arriving at our stopping place for the night, we settled down to a get some sleep in the house of another Don, who shall for now remain nameless. His collection of sharp and deadly weapons rivals that of most museums I've seen, and I wouldn't want anyone to get any ideas. Not that you'd EVER find his house anyway, with an 11 mile driveway. It's not often that I've been able to step out of a house and not see ANY signs of civilization. Anywhere. It occurred to me that if I lived there, I'd save a ton of money on not doing laundry.

Anyway, morning arrives bright and sunny, and I recall why I don't like the southern Outlands. They've got their dayball set on kill. And if that don't kill you, the wind will. I started squinting immediately. Then came the telltale grit in my teeth. Mmmm. Dusty.

We get there in time for court, to see the the two other things I did not want to miss: Elijah Tynker's Knighting ceremony and the investiture of King Hrorek and his Queen (yeah, I'm skipping her name because it's one of those celtic ones with about sixteen extra letters).

I had heard that the fencing scenario was supposed to be a dance card draw, but it got changed to a one hour epee only speed tourney. Ouch. I'm suddenly very glad I'm not fighting in it. So Don Talan, Kamadevi and I settle in the watch the fights. Don Dio told me two months ago he was going to win it. I never really had any doubts, but it was glorious to watch....even with the wardrobe malfunctions...

We stayed for Court, but since we didn't have feast reservations, we decided to go to an Indian restaurant instead. I somehow succeeded in finding this place I've been to ONCE, two years ago, without the aid of a map or an address. In Santa Fe. Which is more confusing to me than Boston. All that adobe just looks the same to me. And I found our way back to the site, where we picked up a map to the post revel...

...and my GOD, Santiago's house is awesome. He wins the 'best bathroom of the year' award. You could fit five people in that shower. And hanging around the fire pit and smelling that wonderful pinon smoke that I miss so much, reminded me that I haven't traveled to the desert since Outlandish 2 years ago. Remember when all of our garb had "Eau de Outlandish"? There were times when I hated washing my garb because then that smoky musk would vanish.

At the post revel I drank something called a "Citrovia" which is Nostrovia using citrus rum instead of brandy. Call me a heathen, but it wasn't bad. And Cailean's Mead was good too.

The next morning we went back to the event briefly to let the Dons attend a White Scarf meeting, while us ladies got to watch a little War Practice. That stuff really gets your blood moving.

I thought about the last 12 years of my SCA life and how it seems to be coming full circle. People who played 10 years ago are re-appearing. A new map or two is on the horizon... and I have an opportunity to see the SCA through a fresh pair of newbie eyes.

It's three months to War. Time to get busy old school.

It's going to be a Great Reign.

When I got my scarf

Originally uploaded by anachronista.

For those of you who missed it, here's a photo of me receiving my Red Scarf at Northern Colorado Fencers from Don Talan last year. Really, this is just a convenient way for me to test out the new photo uploading tool from Flickr.

I bet if you click the thumbnail, you can see the image bigger.

Hopefully.

Benefit Dinner Results

Keeping up with the Talan Andolini stuff? Here's the scoop: I've been working my butt off for over a week getting this dinner/silent auction set up. It happened on February 28th, and the grand total that we raised for Talan is $4444. Yeah. Weird number. Any numerology people out there that can tell me if this is good or bad?

During the dinner, I kept checking with the ladies working the door, and the Café Gondolier nearly reached their capacity of 140 guests! I have to stop and thank everyone at Café Gondolier for donating their time, closing the restaurant down for us and keeping everyone full of that awesome pizza and pasta. No one went home hungry!

As for the auction, there were only a few items that did not receive any bids, and those were given back to the people who donated them. Some of the items sold for higher that their actual value, and some lower. I know a few people who made awesome deals on things like lift tickets and such, so we all have benefited from this! I know that I really love the Afghani bracelet that I managed to acquire for only $10!

Anyway, because some of you have asked, I'm listing the final bid prices (but no winning names) on the auction items. If you do not see an item here, it is because it was either not bid on, or the bid sheet did not get back to me during the chaos of the auction. I'm pretty sure I'm missing a few, actually, so if any of you went home with one, please email me and let me know.

Coupon for 1 pair of Crocs $30
Coupon for 1 pair of Crocs $30
Hat and Shirt $30
Syrian Dumbek Drum $90
OVO Helmet $20
Copper Mountain 4-pack $75
Copper Mountain 4-pack $65
1999 Marlstone Wine $25
Denver Botanical Gardens Gift Cert $10
Mongolian Perfume Bottle $47
Rossignol/Bandit Skis $100
One Month Guitar Lessons by Rick Pruitt $45
One Month Guitar Lessons by Rick Pruitt $40
Superfeet Footbeds $40
African Tapestry $10
Tandem Sky Diving Jump $125
Case of Beer $27
Gold Hill Inn Gift Cert $40
Book: Welcome to the Mountains $5
Book: Looking for Little Egypt $5
Book: Harem, The World Behind the Veil $10
Galena Cellars Wine $17
Jade Horse sculpture $5
Iraqi Dinar paper currency $35
Framed Still life Watercolor (Cat) $100
Framed Still life Watercolor (Flowers) $150
Matter Still life Watercolor (Flowers $150
$150 of Jeet Kune Do Lessons $50
B/W print female nude $15
Japanese cork scene carving $5
Afghani embroidered bag $10
Afghani earrings $9
Afghani cuff bracelet $10
Pewter Goblet $2
Big Candle $10
Handmade Scarf $10
Swany Gloves $22
Swany Gloves $25
$319 05-06 Eldora Season Pass $150
Hotronic Bootwarmer $60
Hotronic Bootdryer $37.50
Auclair Gloves $20
One day of yard work $30
Amber Necklace $20
$100 Renaissance Adventures Gift Cert $30
True Beauty Gift Cert $40
Samsonite Bag $10
1 Hour Massage from BCMT in Gunbarrel $40
1 Hour Massage from BCMT in Gunbarrel $41
Dr. Pepper Lip smackers $3

A huge thank you to all of the people and businesses that donated items and their time! Here is a probably incomplete list:

Café Gondolier - Eldora Mountain Resort - Gloria Tinkley - Paula Shapiro - Jenna Woods - Rick Pruitt - Alicia Biando - Boulder College of Massage Therapy - Chris Hay - Julie Watts - True Beauty - Marc Hoge - Renaissance Adventures - Ken Ray - Girlz on Edge - Larry's Boot Fitting - Forever Lit Illuminations - Charleigh Loder - Josh Hill - Sean Lawlor - Once Again Books - The Drop Zone - Ron Bright - Best Dam Liquor -Julie Finn - Gold Hill Inn - William Nassmacher - Divas - Marc Fernandes - Copper Mountain - Steve Gambiesca - James Messerich - Julie Ray - and of course the few Anonymous donors!

Wow. $4444.00! This money will certainly help Talan keep his head above water for a little while. Since he will not be able to work for quite some time, this will serve to keep him from getting deeper into debt. After all, he still needs food and insulin! I know he was VERY happy to be able to get out of bed for a while and come and visit with all of you who attended. The X-rays he brought were really amazing!

Thanks again to all of you, and have a happier day knowing that we've helped out a friend in need!

Auction results!

A little background story: I don't get up early in the morning unless the house is on fire. However, I was out the door and on the way to Winter Oasis at 9am last Saturday. Pretty impressive for a lazy bed warmer like me.

Anyway, upon arrival and check in at the troll, I discovered that there were a couple of tables set up for me and a few items for the auction had already been dropped off. So I got changed into the quick garb, and went out to the tables to start processing the donations. More tables had to be found. More bid sheets had to be copied. I'm just glad I remembered to bring pencils...

The bidding started out a little slow, but I knew that we had all day to work it. There were items coming in all day, even as late as 4pm, for a total of 75 donations. I had the herald announce during court that the auction would end 15 minutes after court was over, and then the mad rush started. I'm super glad I had a couple of friends to help, because the tables were mobbed with late bidders trying to win their favorite item.

It was fun to watch the bidding wars, and know that every time someone put down an additional dollar or two, someone else would come along and bid up again. Knowing that it all went to a worthy cause, I didn't feel guilty at all!

Though I did not get to attend any of the classes, or see much of the performances, I could hear the music and I got to speak with pretty much everyone there. A small trade of my time to help a friend.

In the end, we raised $1978.50 for Don Talan Andolini! I was able to deliver the donations, cards and gifts to him yesterday and he was very, very grateful that we all love him so much.

Although I did not win any of the items I bid on, I came home richer in heart.

Auctions, Benefits and Tourneys for Talan Andolini

Now, I try not to name names on this blog (to protect the innocent as well as the guilty) but this is a special case. My *Don, Talan Andolini, has injured himself in a pretty severe skiing accident.

You see, when he's not swiftly stabbing people with epees, he likes to swiftly ride down a mountain with two flat sticks attached to his feet. He also teaches people to do this crazy sport at Eldora Resort. Well, snow being kind of persnickety on the edges of the trail, he caught an icy patch and ended up getting really intimate with a tree. So intimate, in fact, that he was admitted to a private room at Denver Health on the 18th of January and might not be out until the 31st.

Fortunately, only his right leg was injured. If he had not avoided the first tree, he might have been another name in the paper alongside the several other people who have died on the white slopes of death this year. Can you tell I'm not a big fan of skiing? Thought so.

Anyway, you can imagine how much such a luxurious stay will cost him. With the two helicopter rides he had to take, plus the surgeries, he's looking at a medical bill with LOTS of zeros at the end.

Remember that last entry where I mentioned you should come to Winter Oasis? Well, we are having a silent auction there to help him out with his medical bills. If you are coming to the event and have any items you would like to donate, please see me. Also, bring money to buy something - there's going to be all manner of nifty-giftys that are super affordable. If you have nothing to give or spend, please bring cards or letters, and I will make sure he gets them.

As for the "Six Million Dollar Don", he's doing better, and was able to stand up briefly today. The doctors feel confident that he will not only ski again, but he will also fence again as well. There will probably be a long period of rehabilitation, and it could be a long time before he's 100%, but at least he isn't going to get amputated, like I believed last friday.

Watch this space for more information about the upcoming "Lives Fencing Tourney" at Northern Colorado Fencers where the prize will be a blade made by none other than Don Ian of Nightsgate!! Trust me, I've been fighting with a borrowed schlaegger that he made, and I swear it's at LEAST +2 to hit. It doesn't glow around Orcs, though.

Also there will be a benefit concert/dinner which I'm helping to plan with Eldora Resort and The Gondolier. Two GREAT Boulder bands, Blue Sky Invention and Analog Quartet, have tentatively agreed to play FREE to help him out. We're still working on the place, but I'll let you know.

Both of these events should take place around the end of February to early March, the concert being on a Monday and the tourney being on a Sunday. They may be a day apart or a week apart, I have yet to get it confirmed.

If you cannot make it to Winter Oasis, the benefit concert or Lives Tourney, but feel like donating any spare change, please email me through my profile to the left, and I'll get back to you with his real name and address to send stuff to.

FYI(*Don/Donya is the title that a fencer may bear when he/she receives the Order of the White Scarf award from their Kingdom)

Kingdom of Northshield adopts White Scarf treaty

I've just read on my kingdom yahoo group that the newest Kingdom of Northshield, whose coronation was on Oct 16th, 2004, has adopted the White Scarf Treaty. Huzzah!

Just so all you heavy fighters know: it sure looks like the fencers are taking over the Known World, hmmm? So, Calontir - when are YOU going to catch up and let your populous fence?

Fencing is growing at an amazing rate all over the Known World. Those of us who were 'early adopters' were ridiculed and abused by heavy fighters. They called us 'swishy-pokes' and 'too weak to fight for REAL'. There are now places in the SCA that fencers OUTNUMBER the heavies.

Well, now. When the time comes that crown tournaments are won by fencing and not heavy fighting, don't say I didn't warn you.