I know this is a small very unimportant thing but a couple of things I took away from the meeting last night.

a sense of caring and family.

One of the little girls there was working on an assignment and her mom was speaking to the group, so another woman went over and helped her. And encouraged her.

One of the fighters was sitting on a table with another young man and my friend's little girl backed into his arms. Without hesitation he embraced her while still paying attention to the meeting and his friend. (I know her mom and she does not trust everyone with her baby girls but she trust him)

There were hugs and smiles and laughter. It felt like I was home with my sisters and brothers and cousins; neices...being an only child this made me feel warm all over as I left the meeting.

We are lucky in this world when we find a place we feel we and our family belong...one of the girls made a point of asking me to bring Colt to the next one. I do hope when he falls for a girl he is lucky enough to find one who is a RENNIE
Cheers for now
Candee

The event yesterday was awesome.

Arriving at the school in my green dress which is to heavy and hot to wear in the summer but was perfect for yesterday's mild temps. My son in his pirate pants and tunic (Robert had to fix his belt because I do not have the nack for it). My cousin Cathy in her gypsy garb. The colors of yellow and white reminding us Easter will soon be here. And her son the Tall and lanky "Rick Sparrow" (jesse loves Jack Sparrow). From the moment we arrive we see a friendly face at Troll; Todd (who we have meet from going to fighter's practice) As soon as we sign in and I rush to the lady's bathroom..(I am a girl I always have to run to the loo ;) I am greeted by Mary and her daughter that I claim as a pretend daughter Ashton. Only this little girl is now inches taller and even more beautiful and sweet. Hugs are shared...I do love hugs.

We go in to the gym where the novice tourney is being held. I notice that the smart people not only brought their own chairs but picnic lunches..note to self bring chairs and picnic lunch next time. I check in with Ken..he was nice enough to ask me to be one of the ladies to bestow favors on the fighters for Prowess, Honor and their Kit. There is time before the fighting begins so this is the time to meet people and chat. To notice the beautiful garb making mental notes of the styles and fabrics. To enjoy the moment of being surrounded by like minded people. We ran into a lady dressed in Oriental garb and I recognize her from camping at Jubilee. I go over and we begin to chat..this is Sukimei (angie) and she is funny and very wickedly witty. New friend...then Kari turns up with a lady in the most detailed black over dress..now we discover this is Cindy and this is her first event ...also her first time making garb. Wow, she can sew like a pro. We discover she use to work at a bridal shop. Another new friend.

I take my seat at the table with sukimei and another one of the Ladies to hand out favors. This is Kay and the first thing you notice after the fact she is cute as button is the black leather corset. It turns out her Lord made this for her. Wow...a Lord with talent..a great thing. She introduced me to him, but I do not remember his name (sorry) but he is very nice and looks at his Lady with adoring eyes. Another great quality in a Lord. This is a happy couple. Huzzah!.

The novice tourney has few fighters but what it lacked in quanity it made up for with quality. My goodness did these fighter give their all on the field. It was very tough to pick who received the two favors we each had to bestow. There were to fighters of equal size, strength and talent..Billy and Lucius. So, when Billy defeated Lucius, the Prowess went to Billy but the favor for Honor went to Lucius. For upon defeat he still hugged and shook hands with Billy. Chivilary is NOT dead it lives in the men at the SCA...now proof of that came during the Grande' Pageantry- Pas' de Arms (this is in red because I did not know what this was called I was taught this) There was a little catch to losing during the fight. The fighter was locked up with a padlock and could not resume the fight without finding the lady in the gallery who poccessed the key. Guess who had a key? That's right. Guess who had the wickedly creative Sukimei giving me ideas for tasks for the fighters to perform to be released. that's right me again. So, here we sat..Cathy, Sukimei, and off from us Cindy; all in pocession of keys; that could return the fighter to the fighting. This is where the true fun and where the heart and good nature of the fighters came in to play. These gentlemen were in the heaviest of armour and looked as manly as King Arthur and his knights..doing things like..singing to us, dancing,doing push ups, proclaiming their undying love to their ladies and delivering chocolates to us..Now two of the ones that truly impressed us was Keogi who not just danced he did breakdancing in armour and the other was a man who had to lead a cheer of the gallery to spell out Middlekingdom. He was so into this that the king had to stop his match from distraction. Now there where two other gentlemen who actually touched our hearts..One was michael who sang a song of tribute to a friend who died and another gentleman I do not remember his name but he sang of a King. Wow..

Then after the match our boys returned with their friends and They had sweat dripping off of them and wearing tired smiles. They had been outside hitting each other with wooden swords and being the future fighters they will be.

I mentioned Ashton earlier, but I have to mention my other pretend daughter. Ashley. She sat with us during the tourney and she told me that she now gets to begin fighter practice. You will see her in the slide show (Oopps forgot to mention there is a slide show of the event on my site it is worth a gander) She's tall, beautiful and so feminine, but if I know her; she will give the boys a run for their money when she fights. These two young ladies gravitate to me at events and I feel so lucky because they are amazing girls and I am so thrilled to catch up on their lives..just having them as part of my pretend family makes my life richer. My friend Jamie said something at fighter's practice that I really liked. "If there are 800 men and women at an event; then the kids have 800 moms and dads. " How flippin cool is that?

So the event was wonderful..I can not wait for the next one.

Believe in miracles they are happening every day

Cheers for now

Candee