[Bordermarch] Loctoberfest

[Lathrop, Dave]

My memories of Loctoberfest which took place on a beautiful Saturday on the 25th of September are slightly soiled by someone telling me a childhood story of one his very first dates with a young lady years ago. Why he wanted to share this story with anyone is beyond me.
The story in itself was a thing of beauty except for the part about the gorilla. It seems this encounter took place inside the leg of one of those gigantic inflatable purple gorillas that one sees on top of used car dealerships. Although he has since matured into a fine socially acceptable adult male, my impression of him is now permanently skewed.

The Bordermarch caravan to the event was set to begin at 6:30am on Saturday morning. We were to meet at the Exxon station on the corner of Major and Collage. The 6:30am time was set knowing that everyone would be late, including HE Elisabeth and me.
First to arrive was M'Lord Thomas, Lady Jillian and M'Lord Ethan. They were followed by the arrival of M'Lord James, M'Lord Beau, M'Lady Karen, M'Lord Grant and Lord Zane.
We were going to wait for Lady Padraigin but decided against it. When we called her she was just about to get into the shower and we knew from past experience that she would not be ready before noon.

No matter how hard I tried I could not shake the Bordermarcher's caravan on the way to the event.
HE Elisabeth was constantly complimenting me on my driving skills and especially enjoyed my sudden stops 2 inches from the car in front of us technique. She did manage to whip out 2 or 5 of those Kumihoto braided things on the way to the event. She can now braid and give out constructive criticism at the same time.

We signed in at gate and checked on Sunshine, Lady Padraigin, only to find out that she was still in the shower.
We immediately set our gear up right on top of the only ant nest around; we then moved our gear.
Everyone in the group brought stuff to eat, Lady Jillian brought enough stuff for everyone. Goodness!, what a feast we had spread out on our table.
There was Pistachio bread and raisin something bread, meat and cheeses galore, brownies, crackers, fruit, and green Kool-Aid. I even went and bought one of those famous 24"long sausages that they were selling at the event.

An unexpected surprise was the arrival of His Majesty Drachenwald. The Kingdom of Drachenwald encompasses Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
HE Elisabeth and I had the pleasure of conversing with HM Drachenwald and found HM to be an extremely polite individual. HM Drachenwald told us that He had talked with our Prince Duke Ulsted at Pennsic this year and was very impressed with Ansteorra. Since he was in town, he checked Ansteorra's calendar and found Loctoberfest to be close to where he was staying. HM told us He likes to visit different events wherever he is. Of course HE Elisabeth and I had to brag about BAM and extended an invitation to HM Drachenwald and his whole army! If he is close by HM did say He just might show up!

M'Lord Beau brought some of his illumination and calligraphy to work on during the event. He set up a table and spread things out for all to view and was prepared to answer questions from onlookers. He became sidetracked when Countess Sara Penrose asked him to join to help judge the A&S competition; of course M'Lord could not say no. Since he would be paired with a Laurel for the judging, it was a great opportunity to learn.
Our very own Lady Jillian did enter into the A&S contest one of her black-work pieces. It was a large blanket, my description does not do it justice, trimmed with intricate black-work; it looked fantastic! HE Elisabeth and I could only imagine the time and effort it took to make the piece. We were rooting for her to win but HL Timur Borte won with his display of period leather shoes and their construction methods. I was so inspired by Lady Jillian's A&S entry I decided that I would enter into the next A&S competition, the shiny thing that's still buried in the tall grass in my yard; I do have documentation.
There was a young Lady there who was preparing some baked apple fritters for her A&S entry; the wonderful smell was driving me and everyone else insane.

Later in the afternoon M'Lord Bear, Lady Kat, and Don Issac arrived at the event. They mysteriously were about 4 hours late due to getting lost on the way to the event.
We were so glad they made it to the event, but we had to leave soon after they arrived and did not get a chance to visit with them much, besides, someone forgot to bring the mead!
We checked on Sunshine again; no response.

When our group gathered at the edge of the battlefield to watch the ever popular, "Pumpkin Ball", we were totally entertained by the heavy fighters wrestling with a pumpkin as they tried to get it from one side of the field to the other without getting hammered by the other fighters. Some made it and then there were those whose efforts ended in tragedy.

HL Gerald bestowed upon us a concert of Celtic flute and vocals. When he asked if anyone would like to hear something M'Lady Karen started ripping off names of sailor chats and jigs.
HL Gerald knew some of them, but M'Lady Karen knew all of them.
HL Mea Passavanti blessed us with a beautiful song as we sat at field-side watching Pumpkin Ball.
Avatar was seen and heard walking around playing his pipes, all the children were following behind him hanging onto a string of plague-rats; it was so inspiring. Now that I think about it, Bordermarch's M'Lord Ethan had snuck up behind me earlier and nailed me in the back with one of those plague-rats. To his mom's joy he was gifted the rat and got to take it home.
Miguel Trebuchet had a ballista and trebuchet on hand for demonstrations. He showed everyone how to propel a pumpkin straight into the air from the trebuchet and have it come down to hit the trebuchet; AMAZING!

Sunshine finally arrived! She told us that her pet parrot had escape from the house just as she was fixing to leave, and she had walk up and down the neighborhood calling for it.
I think she finally got it back in its cage. The story sounds a bit dubious, but I believe her, after all, we are talking about Lady Padraigin here.

We said our farewells to the folks at the event and began our uneventful trip home. We did make a stop at Lord Adolf and Lady Colecte's home, but we are right back to uneventful again.
Lady Colecte was a wonderful hostess, as always, and Lord Adolf was there to. I did manage to get a peek into Lord Adolf's garage and can now say for certain that he is a bonified hoarder! A large person would barely manage to walk through his collection of 'Have to Have' stuff. I think Lady Colecte is going to let him move some his stuff from the garage into their son's room when he makes his big move from Houston to beautiful Nederland.
Lord Adolf let me have a drink of water, but since I was so thirsty and did not want to impose on them by asking for another small glass of water, we left.

We found out that one of our fighters, M'Lord Grant, did not make it to the house before he fell asleep. It seems that during a food stop on their way home he devoured one of the largest burritos known to man and went into a food coma! They probably had roll him out of the car and into the house.
M'Lord Beau forgot his long sword at the event and is quite distressed about it. We shall work like demons to find it!
Lady Jillian expressed concern that their car would not be able to carry all the camping gear and everything else to the next event, I think she is going to leave her husband, M'Lord Thomas, home.
Non-Don Issac finally met Don Issac and was thrilled!
Lady Kat will not let M'Lord Bear ever forget the mead again!
M'Lord James is probably regretting ever volunteering to drive the motley crew to the event. His new truck no-longer has the new-truck-smell.
HE Elisabeth is still mystified with my driving skills and has come to the realization that closing her eyes does not really make things go away.
Lord Adolf is now shamed and has admitted, (privately), that he is a hoarder and needs help.
Lord Decimus is moving to Nederland Texas, which means we'll be seeing him at fighter practice a bit more than usual. He is indeed moving, but someone will have to drive a stake to verify it.
M'Lord Ethan now possess a plague-rat!
M'Lord Thomas looks quite sexy when after a fight he places that black pin-striped dripping-wet cloth on his head.
Lord Zane is FANTASTIC!
Lady Sunshine needs to dump the parrot and get a turtle for a pet.
M'Lady Karen is now Bordermarch's official Sailor-song person. She is also the current owner of a yodeling pickle.

That purple gorilla thing still bothers me.

Another great event,
HE Santiago