[Loch-Ruadh] long answers to the replies....

Jane Sitton lymadelina at yahoo.com
Mon Dec 16 23:38:25 PST 2002


Fortunately, the placemats we were graciously allowed
the use of had no wax spilled on them -- the beeswax
candles burned very slowly, and the hurricane lamps
prevented any wax that did drip from escaping the
candle holders.

Thank you; I was feeling better yesterday, but I had a
low grade fever today (Going back to work must have
made me relapse!), and Brighid developed a deep,
hoarse cough, with a whooping sound, so I'm crossing
my fingers that I can avoid yet another round of this
plague that just won't quite go away.


I think I have been misunderstood.  I did appreciate
the effort and hard work you voluteered to take upon
yourself in arranging the seating.  I really do
understand that it is a difficult task, as there will
always be someone unhappy with the results when there
are that many people to please.  Yes, I would have
been happier sitting with my children because I would
have been able to help them with their meal, and it
would have been easier to share the food we brought
with us.  And I honestly do know the answer -- get on
site earlier and find my own spot.  Despite all my
efforts, I never seem to make it on site early.  It's
like trying to herd cats around here sometimes.  If
the truck or the car had been running, I could have
left earlier on my own steam, and avoided sitting
apart from my children.


I never once chided House Mac for the announcement
someone else made.  Of course it was not the fault of
the household.  I had only wished that one of the
Household's principles would have made the correction
is all.  My plates may not have been as pretty as some
of the others, but I did try my best.  I made an
effort to bring nice candles and crystal hurricane
lamps.  I polished the silver platters and brought
them.  I had handmade crystal goblets for our wine and
water.  Logan whacked a bunch of mistletoe out of our
trees to grace the tables.  (That may sound like no
big deal to you, but he has very limited range of his
arms, and overhead movement is very draining for him.)
 We had planned on bringing holly, but the few berries
have not turned red yet, so I thought that perhaps the
holly Padraig said he would bring would be better.  Of
course I didn't expect to be singled out individually.
 I just hoped Loch Ruadh would get the word fame, is
all.


Yes, I do get the Scarlet Letter, and I do consult the
calendar.  But impromptu decisions get made frequently
on the list, and the list is the Canton's public
forum.   Also, Padraig has enough work just keeping up
with official announcements.  He shouldn't be expected
to monitor coffee klatches and last minute sale fabric
shopping as well.  I thought I made my request in a
polite manner.  I just felt strongly that private
matters should be discussed elsewhere.  I never
imagined anyone would disagree with me on this.  I
guess we'll all just have to agree to disagree on this
issue.


I'm sorry your feelings were hurt as well.  Because of
all the discussion of what the Canton was going to do
for Yule Revel, I guess I expected the entire Canton
to be seated in such a manner as to ignore Household
affiliations.

You say I "always" paint House Mac as being one and
the same as the Canton.  I can remember only one other
time even bringing up the topic on the list, and that
was when I was curious to know how many officers of
the Canton were members of House Mac.  I do not recall
making any derogatory remarks about the outcome of
that discussion.  I confess, House Mac en masse can be
a daunting sight.  But I don't remember ever saying I
wanted House Mac to change.... (and who would care if
I did???!!!)

I have nothing but respect for House Mac, and was in
such awe of House Mac that it took me ten years to
even broach the topic of joining.  All those years, I
had been under the false impression that it was sort
of like being pinned.  I thought you had to be asked
to join.  It was a great sadness to me to learn that I
would be welcome if only I wasn't Logan's lady.  The
only negative feelings I have ever had was jealousy
over new people being asked to join when I had wanted
for so long what they were being offered so seemingly
quickly, in my eyes.

Yes, House Mac forms the backbone of the Canton.  And
being as cohesive a group as House Mac is, to
outsiders, it can sometimes seem like an intrusion to
try to get in the middle of what is going on,
especially in a room where you are the only person not
affiliated.

I have always participated as much as my checkbook,
health, and physical co-ordination have allowed me.  I
have always regretted not being able to do more.  I
also thought that if, perhaps, I was a member of a
household, I would have a bit more support to do
things I wanted to do.  Just this year, Lady Asa
convinced me to enter my spelt bread in the A&S at
Lughnasad.  She even went so far as to provide me with
a platter and some lovely cloths to present it upon.
I was amazed to hear later from both Domhnall and Medb
that I would have won, had my documentation been
better.


Again, all I can say is I thought we would be sitting
together as a Canton, intermixed.  My mistake.  I
thoroughly understand that Households usually do hang
together.  I just didn't understand you were going to
do that this time.  I probably wouldn't have felt so
isolated if I had been sitting with Brighid and
Weyland.  You might not have noticed, but Logan had no
problem with it at all.  In fact, he was hardly in his
seat the entire evening.  But he has been around a lot
longer than I have, and knows far more people.  He
makes it to a lot more out of town events than I do.
I did get out of my seat some.  I wasn't a stick in
the mud the whole time.  I visited outside, set up a
craft and snack area for the kids, and served three
removes.


Well, I'm giving myself a headache over this; I can
only imagine the torture this is for the rest of you.
So I'll shut the h*ll up.

Madelina

--- Donna Wallis <mama_mac at airmail.net> wrote:
<<snip>>
> You are welcome, we tried very hard to get everyone
> seated. You can
> bring the placemats to Bardic unwashed as I have a
> bunch of them to
> launder and it will take me at least that long to
> get the wax off of
> them :) . I sure hope you are well on the mend.
>
> No, the Canton was not mentioned, for that I
> apologize. I was so taken
> aback by the announcement that it went right over my
> head. My feeling
> going into this Table Decorating Contest was that we
> didn't stand a
> chance of winning......because we were leaving out
> the greenery and
> centerpieces, that we had last year, to leave more
> room for good things
> to eat. You see, my mind was on food and holiday
> goodies, for it's the
> one time of year I can indulge and don't let myself
> feel guilty!!
<<snip>>
> Every once in while mundane things DO get posted to
> the list. The only
> thing I can suggest is look at your newsletter, if
> it isn't on the
> calendar and Padraig has not sent out an
> announcement it is not a Loch
> Ruadh thing.
<<snip>>
> I guess I did take it the wrong way, sorry!! And,
> yes, I will be the
> first to admit that, I am very sensitive when you
> imply that Loch Ruadh
> and House Mac are one and the same. Loch Ruadh is
> very proud to claim
> Clan MacFergus, House Brokenaxe and Falconrose as
> well as a number of
> people who have no household affiliations as members
> of this group.
>
> It really hurts my feelings that you "always" point
> out House Mac as
> being the bad guy. We are proud to be a household
> and are not
> apologizing for acting like one. We strive to make
> the Canton "House
> Mac calls home" the best in the Kingdom, by holding
> offices,
> autocratting, running to buy tables, storage bins
> and pavilions and
> providing the workforce that puts up the pavilion.
> We also encourage our
> members to travel and compete in competitions as
> Loch Ruadh (not House
> Mac) to show the Kingdom what "Loch Ruadh" people
> can do.
<<snip>>
> Yes, House Mac members do get along well together,
> thank you for
> noticing. Most Households sit together at indoor
> events just like they
> camp together at outdoor sites. I'm really sorry
> this offends you, but
> this is what households do.
<<snip>>
> I spent very little time in my seat, so I guess
> where I sat was not as
> important to me as it was to you. I spent the day
> socializing with
> friends I don't get to see as often. In fact I spent
> very little time
>
=== message truncated ===

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