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Desert Mongol
Aug. 27th, 2007 12:33 amLord, was it hot. Every once in a while, I'd look up at the sky and think "It is no wonder the Mongols prayed to the Great Blue Sky." Hot. Burning oven, so hot the baked-clay ground wouldn't let Arni pound tent stakes in (we ruined no less than 3 "tempered iron' stakes - they look like S-hooks right now), hot. Gise said she was told that a bank sign in town was flashing 102 degrees. But as soon as the sun set, as the humidity went up(!) so did the strength of the slight breeze and the temperature dropped. Which meant, of course, that we stayed up far into the night talking under that clear white moon and were less rested on Sunday morning than we were on Saturday. But that is our own fault. :)
My cot, which I was so very smug about, collapsed before sparrowsfart (nice medieval word) Saturday morning when I got up for that "I hydrated" potty run. I couldn't get back to sleep after that so spent the day tired and grumpy - sleeping on the ground that night meant that once I got the worst of the exhaustion slept out I woke up in pain. I decided to just start gathering up everything for pack-out. Moving helped work out some of the stiffness and it was sort of domestic-happy-making to spend each morning clearing the 'medieval' stuff off of the table and setting up the coffee-making stuff for Arni. Both mornings I grinned to myself to be the Little Wifey and have that waiting for him as he stumbled out, caffeine-withdrawn, from his air mattress. On Sunday I wanted him to get as much rest as he could so I snuck around the pavilion packing everything into containers so there'd not be much to do when he woke up but drop the tent and load the containers in the truck.
Being a guard for the Khan was fun. I never did wear my Del - I'd dressed as a Tartar for the beginning of the day (when Ro, Frosti, and Donal were going to arrrive and I thought I was going to be useful in helping them set up) and it was so hot and horrid that the thought of trying to change clothes later on was daunting. Ro kindly wore it for me during feast.
She brought her 10' Ger (Digresion: a "yurt" is the area of ground that defines 'where we set up our Gers, hobble our horses, and let our animals pasture near us" - NOT the structure we live in!). Anyway, Ro set up her solitary Ger and we put the new Irgun banner with its horsetails in front of it on its new banner-pole. I admired the banner the whole weekend. It's very shiny-pretty.
So anyway, it was hot. So hot that twice I watched Ro drop and crawl onto the floor of our pavilion from heat-pain. Thank the Gods we'd packed our battery-powered fan and had washcloths soaking in the cooler-water. (No, not the drinking water, the melted ice water that gathers in the bottom of a cooler). Even Frosti collapsed with a heat headache and dizziness. Oddly, I didn't - but then, I didn't do much of anything but sit in a chair and briefly, act as guard when Her Radiance attended the Tea. That was FUN! I'd forgotten how much fun that is! And it was very enjoyable to smile at my Protogee, who was being a retainer for the Queen, across the seated heads while I was being a guard for the Khan.
While she was at the Tea, the Queen was presented with some of the most amazing glass rings I'd ever seen. The quality of the work stunned me. I can only remember clearly one of the rings - it looked like it was made from cast metal with a cabochon stone until you touched it and found that it was completely glass and all one piece. The quality was professional. Amazing. I wish I could remember the name of the artist.
This weekend was a very good one. Even with the heat. Or maybe possibly because of the heat - while people were melting down (I honestly though if I'd had a wick coming out of my head, I could have been a candle), I saw some great acts of kindness and caring all around me. Things like a parade of pop-ups bobbing their way down the field so everyone attending court could be shaded, or a first-time event-goer (Dougal) standing out in the full sun with a horde of children around him, keeping them away from the Court area so his lady and the other parents could attend Court without interruption. Later, we joined him and his family at a very yummy feast and learned he'd brought a full keg of beer to share with everyone as an acto of hospitality... and there were the folks who called strangers over to their tents to give them iced water, or pickles, or cut melon - or who swarmed out into the sun to help set up tents/pavilions as fast as could be done so the new arrivals would quickly be in the shade.
And Achbar let me tease him about long-ago actions until his dimples were in full show. Then he and Arni drummed and I watched the Khan dance in her chair with the moonlight shining past the gently-swaying Horde Banner and on to her gracefully dancing hands. Folks stopped by and we had those sort of conversations that wander from serious and enlightening to humorous and amusing and back again. Lots of shared memories, lots of background stories about friends from our SCA-pasts who the others had never met.
Gise and her crew put on a great event. I regret that I wasn't able to do more to help with the Mongol-aspect of her Silk Road theme but was personally grateful that I wasn't so debilitated that I was completely useless and force Arn to carry my load of the work. Although I'm posting this after midnight because after the six-hour drive, I just slogged to my bed and became unconcious for hours. We'll unpack the truck tomorrow.
Quote to remember: Arni said, during a conversation about Households, Nations, and friends, "The behaviours you tolerate become your standard." I want to remember that.
My cot, which I was so very smug about, collapsed before sparrowsfart (nice medieval word) Saturday morning when I got up for that "I hydrated" potty run. I couldn't get back to sleep after that so spent the day tired and grumpy - sleeping on the ground that night meant that once I got the worst of the exhaustion slept out I woke up in pain. I decided to just start gathering up everything for pack-out. Moving helped work out some of the stiffness and it was sort of domestic-happy-making to spend each morning clearing the 'medieval' stuff off of the table and setting up the coffee-making stuff for Arni. Both mornings I grinned to myself to be the Little Wifey and have that waiting for him as he stumbled out, caffeine-withdrawn, from his air mattress. On Sunday I wanted him to get as much rest as he could so I snuck around the pavilion packing everything into containers so there'd not be much to do when he woke up but drop the tent and load the containers in the truck.
Being a guard for the Khan was fun. I never did wear my Del - I'd dressed as a Tartar for the beginning of the day (when Ro, Frosti, and Donal were going to arrrive and I thought I was going to be useful in helping them set up) and it was so hot and horrid that the thought of trying to change clothes later on was daunting. Ro kindly wore it for me during feast.
She brought her 10' Ger (Digresion: a "yurt" is the area of ground that defines 'where we set up our Gers, hobble our horses, and let our animals pasture near us" - NOT the structure we live in!). Anyway, Ro set up her solitary Ger and we put the new Irgun banner with its horsetails in front of it on its new banner-pole. I admired the banner the whole weekend. It's very shiny-pretty.
So anyway, it was hot. So hot that twice I watched Ro drop and crawl onto the floor of our pavilion from heat-pain. Thank the Gods we'd packed our battery-powered fan and had washcloths soaking in the cooler-water. (No, not the drinking water, the melted ice water that gathers in the bottom of a cooler). Even Frosti collapsed with a heat headache and dizziness. Oddly, I didn't - but then, I didn't do much of anything but sit in a chair and briefly, act as guard when Her Radiance attended the Tea. That was FUN! I'd forgotten how much fun that is! And it was very enjoyable to smile at my Protogee, who was being a retainer for the Queen, across the seated heads while I was being a guard for the Khan.
While she was at the Tea, the Queen was presented with some of the most amazing glass rings I'd ever seen. The quality of the work stunned me. I can only remember clearly one of the rings - it looked like it was made from cast metal with a cabochon stone until you touched it and found that it was completely glass and all one piece. The quality was professional. Amazing. I wish I could remember the name of the artist.
This weekend was a very good one. Even with the heat. Or maybe possibly because of the heat - while people were melting down (I honestly though if I'd had a wick coming out of my head, I could have been a candle), I saw some great acts of kindness and caring all around me. Things like a parade of pop-ups bobbing their way down the field so everyone attending court could be shaded, or a first-time event-goer (Dougal) standing out in the full sun with a horde of children around him, keeping them away from the Court area so his lady and the other parents could attend Court without interruption. Later, we joined him and his family at a very yummy feast and learned he'd brought a full keg of beer to share with everyone as an acto of hospitality... and there were the folks who called strangers over to their tents to give them iced water, or pickles, or cut melon - or who swarmed out into the sun to help set up tents/pavilions as fast as could be done so the new arrivals would quickly be in the shade.
And Achbar let me tease him about long-ago actions until his dimples were in full show. Then he and Arni drummed and I watched the Khan dance in her chair with the moonlight shining past the gently-swaying Horde Banner and on to her gracefully dancing hands. Folks stopped by and we had those sort of conversations that wander from serious and enlightening to humorous and amusing and back again. Lots of shared memories, lots of background stories about friends from our SCA-pasts who the others had never met.
Gise and her crew put on a great event. I regret that I wasn't able to do more to help with the Mongol-aspect of her Silk Road theme but was personally grateful that I wasn't so debilitated that I was completely useless and force Arn to carry my load of the work. Although I'm posting this after midnight because after the six-hour drive, I just slogged to my bed and became unconcious for hours. We'll unpack the truck tomorrow.
Quote to remember: Arni said, during a conversation about Households, Nations, and friends, "The behaviours you tolerate become your standard." I want to remember that.
