Not Your Boring Old Northwatch?

Eleshava Bas Riva - "Shava" is now the Kingdom Chronicler. She came into the kitchen at Lupercalia and explained to us how she wanted to change it so that people would look forward to getting it. As with bardic events and the "safe zone" they provide for anyone wishing to participate, she wants to make an Arts and Science "safe zone" in the Northwatch. She wants people to submit a short blurb - not a dissertation - on quote; "what they are doing." She thinks Rivenwood Tower does some interesting things and is hoping for contributions. chronicler@northshield.org <chronicler@northshield.org> I think this is a wonderful idea. She was fascinated by cows and cheese. Hmmm...

Lupercalia is Over!

Lupercalia is over for another year! Going by my family gatherings in which sound level is an accurate gage of "a good time" I believe it was a success. The feast was great - Thank you Linda! - and the day went amazingly to schedule. The last I had checked an unofficial number attending was right about 100, very nice considering the weather!

There were new people there and a large handful of curious investigators. One woman just found us wandering the web, and a nice group from Martin Luther College came early and stayed until the end. (I was going to say the "bitter" end but that isn't until clean-up.) I spoke to all of them during the day and found them to be more than pleased with what they saw and experienced! If we keep in contact I believe we may lure them in with no more than a few crumbs! The more the merrier!

The fighting went well. The "ransom" tournament was a fun idea - thank you Mike - and the Bushkazi was a crowd pleaser as always however, we were hoping for more actual "carrying" of the bunny. Perhaps the fighters were too gentlemanly to roughly grab a lady although I did notice "her" rudely knocked over and then kicked about.

Lunch was thoroughly consumed. Patrice and Jeff created a multitude of rabbit pie and spinach pie and beautiful bread and soup! The rabbit pie was a hit! Thank you!

The games were popular with young and old. Pirates vs. Ninjas was great! The announcement that is was for 12 and up almost created a riot and so Bart ran another game for the 12 and under crowd. He was a popular man. Thank you Bart!

Thank you Trish and Bailee for being our trolls! Thank you for helping in the kitchen and cleaning up! You are young and wonderful! Thank you Gretchen for helping in the kitchen and helping things run smooth. These jobs get no glory but they are what make an event happen. thank you.

Thank you Darin for helping in the kitchen (see above paragraph!) and for being our Auctioneer! The auction was a blast! Darin was a great auctioneer. The Shire members were not to participate and I coached my whining kids all day that they would not be able to bid. The auction excitement overpowered Matthew and he entered into a bidding war with one other gentleman for a book donated by Melanie Wing. The war was entertaining and when he finally seemed to be losing, it prompted some tender woman in the crowd to give him more money. He won. This set a precedence on the rest of the bidding which also went into wars, namely the viking treasure necklace. What fun!

Congratulations to those of our shire receiving awards! Gretchen and Darin Ingalls and Patrice Hundstad all received Awards Of Arms!

It was a very good day and I must say a special thank you to Melanie Wing who jointly stewarded the event with me. I have been trying to learn "the way of things" and she helped me to be calm - most valuable. (Even though she was experiencing some "el crappo" deals of fortunes hand!) Experience trumps all else. Thank you Mel!

Now shall pass another year in which we shall forget the anguish and do it all again.

Viking Treasure Necklace

Vikings adored treasure - gold, silver, and... beads. They traded far and wide for them and pillaged far and wide, happy to pocket any beads they might find in the process. They knew the process of making beads was a highly skilled and time consuming venture and as appreciators of skill in any vocation, whether fighting, music, shipbuilding or art, appreciated their value and desired them. This is a replica viking treasure necklace made by shire members Patrice and Jeff Hundstad and by Darin and Gretchen Ingalls. Patrice has been generously teaching bead making at her home Sunday afternoons and as is regularly the case, one thing leads to another and "another" is a viking treasure necklace.

Viking treasure necklace with glass beads and medals made by Patrice and Jeff Hundstad and Darin and Gretchen Ingalls. Darin Ingalls created the medals and method of attatching them to the necklace. Depicted are Thor's hammers, coins, and (the rectangular piece) a book clasp - no doubt obtained from an Irish monastary. The glass beads show a typical viking assortment of combed beads, "eye" beads, millifore beads - all very tempting forpillaging

fingers.

Fire and sand, very elemental!

Bead making will continue at Jeff and Patrice Hundstad's every Sunday afternoon.

Auction Items

Here is a brief and incomplete list of some of the items being donated for the Lupercalia auction.


5 period topic books - Melanie Wing


Wimple/veil sets - Melanie Wing


A men's tunic/a boy's tunic - Linda Prahl


A shield blank - Mike Prahl


Handmade soap - Anna Schuster


Medieval braes (underwear) and chausses (leggings) - Anna Schuster

A viking treasure necklace - made entirely by shire members

Patrice and Jeff Hundstad

and Darin and Gretchen Ingalls

And mentioned but not confirmed - Arrows fletched by Bill Miller

More may be intended for this list and any donation will be added. These are very generous offerings! I know people will be impressed. One of the things that impresses me the most with this shire is the amount of talent in such a small group of people and their gernerosity in sharing their knowledge and skill and the products of their labors. Thank You!

A special thank you needs to be said to Bart Saxton for helping us produce the "money" for the auction and r&d and production of the rings. He did this at a cost to precious personal time before leaving for active duty in the Minnesota National Guard. (We were planning on being kind to him by using plastic play money but he found out and was entirely crushed. To salve this vile betrayal we allowed him to assist us in making 500+ coins and 100+ rings. He encouraged the shire kids to participate, bravely letting them use his tools.) Thank you Bart.

St. Radegund's Fair - "Kingdom Style"

This seal depicts St. Radegund

She holds a staff signifying her royal status,

carries an alms purse and a book;

she required all the women in her abbey to be literate.

St. Radegund is the patroness of women with impossible husbands.

Last year we held the first St, Radegund's Faire Arts & Science event out at Jack McGowan's. It was offhandedly conceived during a conversation about cheese which evolved into a conversation about cows which devolved into the idea of holding an A&S event. We decided that the Shire should do a "practice" run in the form of a local event before jumping in to do a Kingdom level event. So, with only a three month lead, we ambitiously planned, organized, and carried out our first ever A&S and camping event.

Attendance was not high but very satisfactory for a "first" event of this type. Those that came had a blast! We have heard nothing but praise concerning the event and it seems to have gone to our heads because we have this mad plan to do it again...as a Kingdom level event!

Even though Lupercalia has not even happened yet, we are going to, as a group, need to seriously begin planning for both event logistics and finances. This event will also require a real commitment of time and effort. This doesn't mean it will have to suck up your life - whenever that happens it becomes too costly a venture and absolutely not worth it.

As a Kingdom event we will be inviting guest instructors to add to our Shire's considerable talent. That will be exciting. We were considering asking Berenice, the Western Regional Senechal who attended Radegund's last summer, if she would be willing to co-steward the event with us to help "share the load" but have learned that there are some serious medical problems in her family. So, this means we must rely on our own resources. Hmmm....Who should be event steward?

Jack McGowan's is a fabulous venue for a Kingdom Event. It has great camping, is close to a town with hotels, has huge space and few mundane reminders but has mundane amenities! There is space for archery, of course, and if appropriate marshalls are found, space for equestrian activities!

We need to settle on a weekend in August, first of all. (For further discussion go to the Rivenwood Tower Yahoo Group page - must be a member.) We have already requested the third weekend but our glass bead-making instructor will be unable to attend. We want them there so we are looking for suggestions as to weekends! Although the last weekend in August is the weekend right before many of the schools in this area begin, it may be the only option to have all shire members/instructors be here. We are waiting on input. It may turn out that this may not be advantageous either.

We will be discussing this event more exhaustively at the next business meeting, along with the Lupercalia post-mortem. The meeting will be Sunday, March 1st. at 3:00pm at Darin and Gretchen Ingalls.

Just A Word About Donations...

The pinatas need stuffings. There are three of them; a childrens, a youth(11-18), and of course the "adult" pinata. Although money is wiser kept in your pocket - personally I'd rather have toilet paper than go to a movie - but if everyone chips in a little for a "prize" to fall out of the goofy paper mache dangly thing after being whacked satisfyingly with a long stick, it won't hurt the toilet paper fund too terribly much.



Think simple! Individually wrapped candy(remember it will fall onto the floor) will never be scoffed at. Little goofy party favor toys are liked even by teenagers. As for the adult stuff.... It's like stocking your pantry, "when you buy one for yourself, buy one for the shelf" ... er pinata.

Lupercalia is February 21st !

Lupercalia is coming fast! Feast preparations are coming along well. It will be a viking style feast featuring pickled fish and things and reindeer! The site tokens - small cloth coin pouches and two "Bart coins" as seed money - and feast tokens - rings stamped with "Lupercalia" are completed. The Shire children did a lion's share in the work of creating the coins and rings.

The activities throughout the day will pay out "money", medieval coins that will be used as currency to bid on donated items in an auction before feast. The more guests participate in the day, the more "money" they acquire. We have decided that as the hosts of this festivity, we will be exempt from participating in the auction. (Sorry, if this disappoints.)

The site is at the Nicollet Legion as always. Set up will be Friday, February 20th at 6:30 pm. We need your muscles! Be there or be square!

Here Follows A Rough Schedule

Site opens at 9:00am!

-Trolls have stepped up and are ready to serve!

9:30 - Armor inspections!

11:00 - Tourney Starts

- Water bearers needed!

11:00 - 1:00 - Lunch is served!

Two hours will let fighters have enough time to

tear themselves away for a bite. Lunch is rabbit pie,

courtesy Patrice (and Jeff).
- dishwashers welcome!

1:00 - Bunny Bushkazi

3:00 - Dancing

4:00 - Auction- Darin Auctioneer

5:00 - Court - Yes, Royalty is coming.

(There was an error and the ad was not put in the

Northwatch, therefore we cannot have an "official"

court although an unofficial one will be held.)

6:00 - FEAST!

Clean Up - Be a peach and pitch in. You know you will feel guilty if you don't.