Monday was a relatively quiet day, but L was up for some yard work. He did some more mowing (there is always more mowing), and got the grass in the grove to a manageable height. By which I mean that barring enduring rains it can be kept up with the reel mower if we do it weekly.

And, he put a lot of stones on the altar. We started stacking stones last year, then it sat over the winter. This was actually a good thing, as this gave the stones time to settle or heave if we'd chosen badly. We've been adding a few over the past few months -- the goal was to have it done by Solstice but of course with L getting ill I didn't think that would happen. It needs a thin stone under one corner of one of the top stones but otherwise it's pretty nice. We'll let it sit for a bit and see if it needs more than that. I think it looks pretty good -- I mean, it's essentially just a big cube-like stack of stone, but still.

We kept things super simple for the day, otherwise.

I did some work on making sun catchers -- good time for making them :)

The fireflies treated us to a lovely show at night, and we were fortunate that clear weather held for moon viewing. Apparently the rain we were going to get decided to pass us by -- my BIL R, who has been bringing in hay, is fine with that.

Oakstone celebrated Solstice yesterday morning. Cold but sunny, so not too long outside but I still enjoyed it. Followed with good companionship for a few hours with fellow grove members.

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[EDIT: went to Amherst kung fu school and picked up the extender pole we'd lent to Sifu for painting the new school in Springfield. [/EDIT]

Then off to a friend's 40th birthday party -- a surprise successfully pulled off by his wife. His b-day's on Dec. 24, so he'd given up on ever having a party of any sort, given many of his friends and family would be busy with Christmas eve. activities -- so a doubly pleasing party :)

Interestingly, I'd say all the presents will get fair use - an ornament (dragon resting on a wreath, that he'd been admiring), a soft puppet in his heraldic colors (which undoubtedly will get used to entertainment their child), a superheroes t-shirt featuring Captain America prominently, maple brick pops in a leather pouch and also a bottle of mead (from me and L), and rather a lot of books. Some of the books may come in handy at work, it turns out... he's gotten permission to teach an additional class, and hopes to make it one on some the history of medieval tech - how and why things developed, etc.

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There was a chance to go to another solstice celebration in Buckland, but we passed on that for the chance to go back to S and J's to hang out for a bit more, before heading home.

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Part 2 Solstice will likely by Ashfield's on Thursday evening, unless I'm inspired to stay up Wednesday until 12:38 a.m. for the astronomical time...

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Time to go wash eggs. Delivery to make, and more flyers to put up for the Ashfield celebration.

Good if busy weekend. Family Christmas gathering was on Saturday and this time Ma was able to be there, and for quite a few hours too! Good times, and a few good gifts in there too ;)

My lucky find for L was a Bert and I record -- he tells a few stories in the Yankee style, and now he'll have more of them -- well, once we re-locate the record player :D

And I am now the fond owner of a very lovely otter pendant, made from mammoth tusk and resting in silver waves.

Sunday morning was running around the farm first thing (mostly chickens), delivering syrup to Elmer's for their kitchen, then down to the Sunwheel for Winter Solstice with the grove. Good ritual, as per usual. I was noticing things a bit more than usual, which was a pleasant surprise. We had a friend from Central MA there, who is now in AODA (candidate) and OBOD (I don't know their system).

A few weeks ago I'd found a song I started writing last year at one of the Ashfield Solstice meetings, and on the way to the Sunwheel I finished writing, and got feedback from L on ordering the melody. Good reviews from friends, so looks like we'll be singing it on Tuesday night.

A pleasant repast and various conversations after, then off to the mall at Ingleside for a few things -- the mall at Christmastime is not terribly stressful if you aren't shopping for presents.

Bought a few books: martial arts, nutrition, mysteries, and compendium of The Walking Dead.

Went to Y and M's for choir practice. M's not doing well, but he could hear us at least, so we sang him a year's worth of music. He even got to hear my new song.

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Tuesday is Solstice, and Ashfield will have their annual celebration on the green that night. Half of Concentus will be attending and singing. There will be music, stories, and dance, for anyone interested in coming up our way. South Ashfield carollers will be singing 6:30-7:00-ish, with the event officially starting at 7:00 p.m. and going to 8:30 p.m.

Happy Solstice to all who celebrate it! Midsummer it is, although it may not feel like it with all the damp we're having.... Just sort of overcast up here today, thank goodness. Grove celebration ended up being astral because of all the wet -- the Sunwheel is surrounded by water, so it could have been not just awkward for us walking about, but also damaging to the grounds :( But an interesting morning nonetheless.

Happy Father's Day to fitzw, daurdabla, bkdelong, hugh_mannity, and any other fathers reading this who I missed!

Choir practice tonight -- gotta wash and cut up a bunch of strawberries for the potluck!

But first, lunch (yeah, we're running a little late on some things....)

Midsummer is here! Happy Solstice!

Not sure if we'll go to the sunwheel today or tomorrow. We do have strawberry-picking on the agenda, as I'd like to try my hand at making strawberry jam. Also a trip to one of the garden places, to see if we can find vervain. If not, I may use lavendar. I know, not traditional, but I have it, and it's a worthy herb in its own right.

Likely will spend a good part of the day in the garden, today and tomorrow. Peas, beans, and tomatoes are all getting a little frisky, and need their string supports. The first potatoes are getting tall and need soil added on top of them. I was borrowing some from one of the spots where nothing had come up, and discovered another potato stem... covered it up promptly, of course!

Lettuce is completely out of control, so more salad today :) I took some up to the farm this weekend, for the in-laws to enjoy.

The blueberries and black currants are starting to color. It won't be a lot, but we'll enjoy them next month, nonetheless. Might be enough for some tarts, perhaps.

Next month is the start of blueberry and raspberry season! Mmm...

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I'm hoping to get to Webs again soon. We have a project in the planning stages, for weaving a bunch of napkins. One person noted that probably we can't afford linen and will have to use cotton instead. He's probably right, and I did get a huge cone of cotton for $10 the last time we were there. But I'm hoping they might still have a cone or two of linen there.... huge cones, and not as fine quality as the Irish stuff, but infinitely less expensive. Still, the cotton may be the best we can do... the project involves making around 30 napkins, and I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on the good stuff.

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Some folks have been talking this spring/summer about how SCA events aren't as medieval and/or fun as they used to be, people aren't as helpful, and of course there's the email lists where some people feel quite free to be rude and/or downright nasty. I'm not on very many email lists myself, but I do know what they're talking about.

I had a few random thoughts on it, that I started writing about in reply to one of zaduzbina's posts:

"The gatherings and workshops are probably my favorite parts of SCA right now. Events are the parties we throw when a bunch of us get together... what I think would be good is if people wore their medieval clothing more often though, and used hand tools more, and maybe had meetings by candlelight sometimes... so that when we get together at an event, we would all be more comfortable and not feel like it's 'dress-up'. Hm. I might post this to my LJ..."

When I first joined the SCA, we sometimes dressed in medieval clothing for the business meetings. From what I've heard, some groups still do that. For some folks that seems to be a terrible bother for them, but really, the more often you wear them, the more they become _clothing_, not _costume_. If your medieval clothing isn't comfortable enough to wear whenever you feel like it, then it isn't real clothing. I expect all of my clothing to hold up for at least 6-8 hours (work clothing standard), and preferably all day. Anything I don't want to wear for more than 4 hours is "Go-to-church clothing" -- the stuff you wear at weddings, funerals, etc. And for me, even that stuff is starting to move over to the higher standard. I don't like most synthetics anyway...

We also use candle light or an oil lamp around the house on a semi-regular basis. Saves electricity, and is just more pleasant in general. Quieter, too.

The local cooking guild is looking into maybe a field trip or two this summer/fall, to learn more about older ways of cooking; Plymouth and Sturbridge are the possibilities. I'm hoping to go, because I'd like to get a little more comfortable with the idea of cooking over flame or in wood-fired ovens. Of course, I also want to try a solar cooker and maybe a haybox too.

We need to find some less expensive places to rent for events, so that we can hold small events. Bergental's core personality was founded on small events; it's part of how we got to really know each other and enjoy spending time together, pursuing simple medieval pleasures. We held tournaments that yes, had a winner or winners, but the primary interest was in the joy of the tournament, not the need to win. At Love Tourney, for instance, there were many contests for fighters and non-fighters alike, but the true victor of the day was Love.