Strappy's returned from war, suitably bemedaled.  Read all about it in his LJ:
http://hey_strappy.livejournal.com/6770.html

The little guy's pretty shagged out (in more ways than one!), so we're going to take him to California tomorrow for a little R&R.  From Afghanistan to Canada to California and Mexico all within a couple of days - he's certainly a high-mileage hare!
 

This month marks 40 years since Monty Python’s Flying Circus first went on the air.  It’s hard to appreciate the impact they had on the sensibilities of my generation, and on comedy in general.  In contrast, keep in mind that Lucille Ball still had a top-ten series at the same time – as much as everybody might have loved Lucy, the change brought about by the Pythons was massive.  I was fourteen years old at the time, a crucial time, so the Pythons had a great influence on my formative years and those of my peer group.  We can all still quote great chunks of Python skits verbatim. It’s not exaggerating to say that a lot of who I am today is at least partially due to Monty Python (not sure if that’s a good thing or not ).
 

And I won’t even get into the impact of Monty Python and the Holy Grail on the SCA – the movie came out about 18 months before I joined, and in those early days it was ubiquitous at events.  You still hear a lot of it (“bring out your dead”, “it’s only a flesh wound”, “none shall pass”, etc), but nothing like before.  In fact, a few years ago we had a young newbie fighter show up at practice raving about this great old (it was from before he was born!) Arthurian comedy DVD he had discovered, and he wanted to share it with the rest of us because he thought SCA folk would appreciate the humour.  We just smiled and listened as he described how great Monty Python and the Holy Grail was…
 

Most readers of this LJ will know that our dear friend Sandra (Etaoin to all of you SCA folks) passed away this past March after a long battle against Ovarian Cancer. 

Last year, a number of friends got together under the team name “The Skoggles” (after Skog, Sandra’s last name) to participate in the Winner’s Walk of Hope, an annual event which raises funds to help fight this horrible disease.  We’re doing it again this year and we’re asking for your support.

The link to the Walk of Hope is here.  Please consider sponsoring a walker (my link is here, kes_zone’s link is here and the Skoggles' team page is here), or even enter the Walk yourself – there will be walks most cities across the country.  It’s a very worthy cause.

Thank you.

Some of the Skoggles at the 2008 Walk

I first went to Cooper’s Lake in 1977 to attend Pennsic 6. I was living in Winnipeg at the time, about 20 hours away. In the ensuing 32 years I think I’ve missed three Pennsic Wars. I even went to Pennsic when I was living in Germany – getting everything I needed (including armour!) into two suitcases for the overseas flight was a triumph of imaginative packing.

This year’s Pennsic was quite good. The weather, which is the one factor that can make or break the War, mostly cooperated. After a couple of soggy days at the start, it was dry and moderate, neither too hot nor too cold. One or two evenings were chilly, but we have an electric blanket so it wasn’t really an issue. And for fighting, the weather was just about perfect.

I had a great time fighting this year. The level of chivalry and courtesy on the field seemed higher than normal, although I was sent flying (literally) a couple of times by testosterone-fuelled goons whose idea of armoured combat is an NFL-style tackle. It seems that little 155-pound knights are an irresistible target for 300+ pound wannabe linebackers trying to accomplish with brute force what they can't with skill or finesse. Thankfully those were the exception. For the most part, everybody was playing nice.

I fought in the Allied Champions battle again, which was a blast. It’s essentially a cross between Capture-the-Flag and American football. It’s very intense – eighty-five fighters per side, all knights or high-level unbelts, one-hour-long, with unlimited resurrections. I was dragging by the end of it, but pleased that I managed to go the distance, even though several others had to drop out. The Woods Battle was also an endurance test: two hours long, again with unlimited resurrections – I went in ten times. One of my highlights was a single combat I had with an Eastern knight, Sir Richard Blackmore. We met each other in the shield wall and after a (friendly) challenge, those fighting around us on both sides gave us room for chivalric single combat. We double-killed, which I suppose was fitting. I also did a lot of lone skirmishing. I love the woods!

I was pleased to be able to be there for Kaylah’s elevation. I know there was a bit of grumbling from some quarters, but it was ever thus with lady knightings. For my part, I think Kaylah is my Peer and will be a fine addition to the Order. It’s unfortunate that she insists on wearing her belt diagonally, though. I tried to convince her that a belt worn in the conventional manner is more flattering to the female form, but she wouldn’t go for it. J

Things in the shop went very well also. We had been anticipating a bit of a reduction due to the downturn in the U.S. economy, but that didn’t materialize. Our numbers were bang-on average, and we had one of our busiest Midnight Madnesses ever. We’re still unsure of the future of our merchanting at Pennsic. Although it’s a ton of work in the months leading up to Pennsic, once we’re set up at the War we actually enjoy it a great deal. We have a prime location (with electricity – we love our microwave and electric blanket!) and we’re very comfortable there. The days are very long, though. We’re usually open about fourteen hours a day (9 am to 11 pm), and there’s always at least one of us in the shop. My Sweetie lets me sneak away for battles and meetings, so she was more chained to the shop than I (no wonder she’s been the Fettered Cock’s Employee of the Month so many times!). At the moment it looks like we will likely give War merchanting one more try, but there are lots of pros and cons to consider. This will take some pondering over the winter…

We managed to stay dry the whole time (a huge plus!) and everything went pretty much as planned. The set-up and take-down went smoothly, too - this is always a major effort, as it takes five men to get the Cock erect. Many thanks to my proto-squire nofixedlj, larmer and lanifer for their much-appreciated help.

All in all, a pretty good War.