The Reward

Estrella War has come and gone, and I had fun! There will definitely be a next time, though my garb will be black.



I have no idea why I have to keep my hands in front of me while posing, but there you go. I wore the snood and the hat, despite waffling about them since the hat was a trifle snug. But the snood kept my hair contained and the hat stayed on in rather windy conditions. I did get a bit of bodice burn in the front, but the back of my neck was quite well protected–I remembered the sunblock. The outfit itself was fairly comfortable, especially once I got my cloak clasp. (Pictures of goodies obtained at War will be posted later. They're in the back and I'm lazy.) It's a fabulous bit of engraved bronze and I just love it!





This is Judy. She's wearing a wool LOTR cloak and it was apparently quite light and comfortable and breathed well. The walking stick laying next to her on the left side of the picture is pretty cool–it has a leather grip and is gnarly and varnished and fascinating.



This is Ruth. She and Judy are sisters and they allowed me to drag them to War, much to their delight and mine. We're planning next year's trip already–we've been planning it since the trip home yesterday. Ruth is wearing a cotton chemise that I made last year and wasn't completely satisfied with, as well as a brown cotton/rayon/poly mix skirt that I made moons and moons ago that I also wasn't satisfied with. Yes, perfectionism does run along my neural pathways. They look great on her, especially when accompanied by the lovely blue and black Celtic scarf she picked up while we were there.



This is my lunch napkin/bag. It works better as a food containment system within another bag–the bulk definitely did not work in its favor. But I'm still fond of it, like an ugly but friendly puppy. I am NOT taking the bowl with me anymore, however, unless I have a place to leave it. It gets heavy after a couple of hours, and I ended up eating my own food and not obtaining anything I'd need a bowl for. So there you go.



This is our first view of the campsite coming from the parking "lot". There were tents as far as the eye could see. It rained a couple of times this last week, so I'm sure the tents came in handy. I also can't imagine actually doing the kind of rough, period camping that these dedicated folks do. I like to at least have a cabin between me and the elements, be it ever so basic, and an indoor potty. (BTW, I doctored the picture to make the tents more visible. If the light looks funny, that's why.)



We shopped for a bit, then got bored and decided to watch the "hound" coursing. The prey were a series of plastic grocery bags tied to a steel cable. The cable wound through posts strategically placed in a course and was powered by a small motor. The bags zigged and zagged and the dogs were pretty interested in chasing them, except for one fluffy puppy who just didn't see the point, even when one of the puppy's humans demonstrated the concept by chasing the bags himself. That is one smart puppy.

It was fun to see the dogs run full out, pushing their speeds to catch the bags. The most hilarious dog tried to herd the bags instead of chase them–he anticipated their moves and barked at them to move, but they just went under his feet. Poor thing looked very frustrated.



Here is part of the melee we watched as we ate our lunch from the safety and relative comfort of some haybales placed far, far beyond the line of combat. See the sticks in a line? Those are "pikes"–the safer, less lethal variety thereof–indicating where the fighting was. I was more interested in another part of the battle, however.



The lady knight and the parasols in the foreground are all very interesting to look at, but the device just behind them is what truly had my attention. It's a trebuchet, a sling catapult. On the ground in front of it you can see the large yellow "arrows" that were flung in the trebuchet's direction. The trebuchet's operators launched large yellow balls across the field at the arrow guys. Now that I think about it, I really wish that I had gone up to the viewing area to get, well, a better view. But I was tired and I didn't even want to *think* about encountering royalty and attempting not to block their view.



On the way out, we saw this playpen. Oh yes, I said playpen. Out of respect for my husband, I will not be obtaining one for our future small children–the current small children are far too large for something like that–but it would be tempting!

I had a wonderful time. We all did. I really wish my friend Emily could have been there, so that we would have known better what to participate in and what to watch, but it was a highly satisfying five hours as it was. I'm excited for next year!