Just a few more things about Yule... BBM has an oak tree on their arms, so the acorn is one of their special symbols. One thing they did was make marzipan acorns, with silver rings hidden in some of them (nibble carefully!). If you found a ring in your acorn it would purportedly give you good luck :) What was fun in particular about this was that the baron and baroness of BBM got two of them! Happened to them a couple of years ago also. And two or three Concentus or -related folks got rings as well. I don't remember how many they said there were. I'm not crazy about marzipan but it was actually pretty decent, and they were very nice-looking acorns too.

And another thing their excellencies BBM did was give small acorn ornaments out to any who wanted one to bring home, which I thought was a nice touch. Apparently Aelfgifa keeps an eagle eye out for acorn stuff whenever she goes shopping. TJ Maxx was one place she had some success -- I'm debating whether to maybe pick some up for Oakstone or try making some Sculpy ones... the former would be shinier but more fragile, and the latter would be sturdier but not... shiny.... ooo....

Ahem.

Various folks helped here and there with cleanup. We had lots of decoration because the person in charge of EK 12th Night at BBM this past January bought a lot of stuff, so might as well make good use of it, yes? Gold and red banners, white tablecloths, red runners with a thin gold piping, and some green garland. They look like they should be usable for many years. There were also decorations edging the stage earlier in the day and later on the tables of evergreens, with apples, lemons and oranges laid out on them. At one point during the play Arlecchino picked up an apple, wondered if it were real, and then took a big bite! Thank goodness it was real :D The character practically swooned over the apple, then tossed it to the capitain, because afterall, Arlecchino was rich now (inherited) and could buy apples.

***
A number of folks complimented me on my look yesterday. I was wearing my 14th century overdress that lady_jade01 made for me, along with the under dress that I kluged the buttons on (one could use a big better fitting, and then of course the lower sleeve needs to be rotated so the buttons are at the side, not under my arm, but I didn't have time). It was a little amusing because I hadn't even used a mirror to do my hair. Just parted it down the middle, made sure my braids started up over my ears, tucked the ends of the braids in under where they start and pinned them in place. Wore my coronet for most of the day, to complete the look. Not hard at all, really.

Anyway, it was somewhat bemusing when one friend made a point of letting me know that I had presented, to him, a perfect picture of something just right, as sometimes happens in the SCA, which I appreciated but couldn't quite figure out why I was getting similar reactions throughout the day. Now it's true that I have a rather 14th c. figure (we found that out when we were all doing the fittings for Crossroads at Canterbury), but it wasn't until we got home that I saw what I think other people were seeing. I looked in a mirror (no coronet now of course, but braids still looped) and saw that my face was the same shape as a lot of ladies' faces in 14th c. manuscripts. I never thing of myself as looking terribly European medieval, being half-Chinese, but there it was. Huh. Still not sure if I want more 14th c. clothing, but it was an interesting discovery.

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SUNDAY

Lyle didn't have to man a booth at the festival. Which was good because we left the event too late to be considering dropping off boxes at gwynt_y_storm and Jeni's place. So he loaded 60 bales of hay for his dad while I mostly emptied the minivan and grabbed a little breakfast (the rest of my dinner from the feast, which I hadn't had time to eat). Had some hot chocolate, went to the festival. He went on down the hill with the boxes and cash to S & J's, then over to help out with finishing emptying stuff from the event site, then back home to cut up pumpkins and squash.

Festival was slow at the community hall. First year, need to work on advertising and outdoor decoration. Still, had some great conversations. Jan, the lady next to me, was selling jewelry, some of it with tiny paintings of flowers. She was knitting to pass the time. We talked about plants and knitting -- she's the head gardener at Smith College for the outdoor gardens and has been at Smith for 24 years. I explained how to knit beads into her work.

Next to her was Dan of Warm Colors Apiary, who had pollen, honey and candles. I learned a few things about helping bees when I said I was more interested in supplying the bees with nice pollen than in raising them. We also talked about bears and bees and that was interesting too. Maybe another post on all that...

Also talked with Carry, the other painter, about energy, nature, and art stuff. There was also a lady selling polar fleece blankets and some pet and kid stuff, and a guy (Cricket Hill) who makes jams, relishes, and pickled stuff -- some rather unique things too, like hot pepper relish, apple butter, spicy carrot marmalade (goes with beef or game meats), etc.

I'd brought some drop spindles with me, so I got quite a few questions about winding off onto my niddy noddy, and about drop spinning.

Things were slow enough -- no doubt the cold weather didn't help -- that people started breaking down after 1pm and most were gone by 2-2:30pm. I broke my stuff down too since it wasn't realistic to stay open as the sole vendor. No phone at the place, but I got a ride home from Lester and L came back with me to load things up. That went quickly, we got a bite to eat at Country Pie, and then briefly checked out the Town Hall, which was breaking down at this point (10 of 5pm). Chatted for a bit with an interesting lady, Darcy, who makes fantastical beaded jewelry.

So, a kind of quiet festival, but some more good conversations and possible connections.