helwen

A good event, overall. Some glitches here and there, like leaving the house late, finally arriving and having to figure out how to fit everything into not enough space. Thankfully things were re-arranged to work, and most stuff was put out. The one thing we were way behind on was the reinforced-spine limp bindings, and as soon as the first one was completed it sold, so again we had nothing in that spot.

fitzw managed to get another one done, and then I was finally able to help with a couple of them. Many people looked but didn't buy them -- there are many attractive things at Birka. At the end of Saturday, when I finally had a brief moment free, I went over to Eadric's booth and bought a cooking pot and a money saver. Then I remembered Eadric had mentioned wanting to look at the books but hadn't had time to leave his booth, so I brought them over and he picked on out. So, two of the new books sold, yay! Sold a couple of pouches, some cards, magnets, eye charts, one beeswax thingie, and lots and lots of rats and sheep. Not a spectacular profit, but we did all right. Some others were not as fortunate - I know of at least one merchant who didn't make expenses, sadly. Others had good days, but also noted that what sold well last year didn't necessarily sell well this year -- different year, different crowd...

loosecanon and I were trying to get together at the event and it took a few tries with unexpected things happening. We did finally succeed, but I'm glad of her graciousness and patience. I'm not at my most peaceful at this event, I have to say.

I went to court because I wanted to see some of our folks getting awards, but as court started late and I wasn't able to stay for the entire thing, I only managed to see young C get her well-deserved Tyger's Cub. It was wonderful to behold from when they fetched her out the hall outside court, her purposeful but curious manner in processing down the center aisle, her pert answer to the King, her astonishment at who had crafted the scroll (including words by Mistress Mommy), and her overwhelming joy when greeting her companions. Definitely some damp eyes in the Bergental section! There were a couple of our folks getting AoAs, but I'll have to let someone who saw those happen report on that.

Many AoAs were given out during the time I was there, and others afterward of course. TRM were quite busy, and yet had a good word for each person. Also saw a Burdened Tyger for the gentle who was autocrat for Bridge Birthday, and I know an OTC was going to be happening later as well.

I didn't check the Birka web site carefully enough and assumed that it closed at 7pm on Saturday as usual -- I would have re-scheduled with

loosecanon differently if I'd known. Thanks again for your patience!
But since it was closing at 6pm, I did my best to help out with packing and finishing up bits of business that I could. Got

fitzw over to J&L for some leather -- he got a beautiful chestnut brown leather for bookbinding, and some heavier leather for vambraces and such. He'd also managed to find another knife of the type I like for our feast gear, while I was at court, clever man.

Late Saturday night we stopped in at

ladypeyton and her family and friends for a visit.

fitzw and

prince_hring found us there and stayed as well. Around midnight

fitzw and I decided it was time to hit the sack and bid everyone goodnight.

Had breakfast this morning with

kass_rants and her friend from England, Fox. They were next to us and Odbald at the marketplace, and a few chats had happened during the previous day, but with all the drumming it was hard to hear, so it was nice to have a quiet breakfast with them. A bit quieter than usual though, as

kass_rants has lost her voice temporarily. We talked a little about business as well as things in general, and I'll have to give some of what we talked about some thought. Ways to increase sales, etc.

The trip home was uneventful. We refueled the minivan back in Holyoke as we definitely needed to, and it made sense to do it on the way back to the house. 22 mpg -- not bad with a fully loaded vehicle! Still, I see more walks in our future, to continue both savings and fitness.

Oh, and we'd used the backpacks for our clothing and some other stuff on this trip, and I have to say I think I'll do it again in the future. Once you have it on, it's much easier to cart about than a regular suitcase. I think I gauged the amount of food to bring pretty well, too. We had a little bit of that leftover, plus some unplanned food we didn't touch. I'd planned for possibly having a quick breakfast and then departing early, in case it didn't work out to have breakfast with friends. And happily

kass_rants and Fox didn't mind eating at 9am, so we still hit the road by a bit after 10am.