[NR] WORD FAME for Chemin Noir: The Perfect Event ~ Fair of the Harvest

[Lord Pooky]

Greetings Friends,

In MY 29 years in the SCA and Knowing THE~DREAM, Chemin Noir's Fair of the 
Harvest being Anno Societatus XLI was the best Event I can remember ever 
attending. If knowing that satisfies your need to know what's in this email 
go ahead and /hit delete/, otherwise continue on with the task of reading a 
long email. };^ ))

There are a few thing that one has to do, that need to occur, and that must 
be experienced so that one may enjoy a Perfect Event such as the one I 
attended this weekend at Chemin Noir's Fair of the Harvest.

The first thing of course is you must manipulate the mundanities of one's 
existence to allow it to be permitted for you to attend. It is always nice 
to get a call from a friend, asking you to attend for a reason that'll give 
you something good to write down on your monthly officers report.

Next you'll need to actually feel confident that you've managed to pack all 
the stuff you can think would be necessary to get everything done that you'd 
want to occur and find out over the course of the weekend that nothing had 
been forgotten.

It's recommended that you arrive about 5:15 am Saturday morning. That will 
give you a good hour before anyone would see you to get cute and find all 
the stuff your sure you brought with you that you stuffed in the nooks and 
crannies of your dragon. A big lovely part of a perfect event is to arrive 
and find a hot shower is available! Can I get a vivat...?

You'll want to think of a wonderful filk. Say to Mr. Rogers that's poignant 
for the hosting branch, which you'll / I would gently sing from The Heart as 
a Morning wake up call.

It'd be great if a person such as Lady Toriea Winkle Minister of Children 
unto the Incipient Canton of Chemin Noir the woman of Ottokar Luthar von 
Holestine had pre-prepared say... children's activities. Children's 
Activities was the reason I chose to attend.
The Children and Youth attention getters/ activities, you'd be absolutely 
amazed to find included and ready to go 2 badge classes and all the 
corresponding regalia, copies of 5-6 class syllabus' so future MoC's of 
Northkeep (and as soon as I get MY hands on copies) the Kingdom will have in 
it's annuls the ability to supply future MoC's ready made folders of 
pre-prepared classes. This will give us dullard yet eager MoC's the ability 
to teach classes and know what we'll need to collect together to provide 
them.
You'd be shocked and awed as was I to learn 6 half to hour long educational 
activities replete with all the supplies, a Children's Bardic Competition, 
an Arts and Science competition with a generous supply of prizes and largess 
which also included pass-down cloaks so that such wonderfulness will become 
tradition and continue throughout time immemorial. All this and more were 
ready and waiting when I arrived
All this including what I'm forgetting, was made available to our smalls and 
ready to go. In MY case this was more then I had ever imagined possible or 
have ever seen come to fruition at an SCA event.
All I had to do was sign MY name 16 times, on EXQUISITE gold leaf trimmed 
children's scrolls.
Lady Toriea Winkle Minister of Children unto the Incipient Canton of Chemin 
Noir was so thorough in her preparation, the children even received a second 
kind of thank you scroll just for attending and in evening court the baby 
who was at her? first event in this new life got a tassel to commemorate the 
very special day. yes in unison " ...aww..."

Lady Toriea Winkle you literally have set the Gold Standard for what I hope 
to achieve at events for Our Children. Your level of effort, planning, and 
preparedness was a model for the Kingdom to replicate within the offices of 
Minister of Children. Thank you very much and Pooky loves you bunches, hope 
ya get to feeling better!

after 6 hours frolicking with the children it helps make a perfect event if 
there is a friend with two advils available.

While this was being made to occur by Lady Toriea Winkle Minister of 
Children unto the Incipient Canton of Chemin Noir the woman of Ottokar 
Luthar von Holestine and Aderyn Gunnarsdottir the woman of The Mighty Mongo 
de Marauder, I had time to write down heraldic words in the tradition and 
flair of Master Lucais. I did good too. I was asked by MY good friend Lord 
Barret Morgan the Black to herald his introduction with Baroness Kelandra 
Carmichael. I had enough time to write quite the exquisite, replete, and as 
you might suspect by the end of this email verbose script. While being ever 
mindful to add just enough " Lucais Shtick " to be entertaining. He'll be 
happy to know the Shtick included the tradition of " pay your Herald " in 
front of everyone and for a laugh.

To make it The Perfect Event some people you know should be there. I was 
happy to see a couple people from MY Wolfstar Household Baron Ainar and the 
whelp known as Cake. It is spectacular when a few of the dearest people in 
your life from your home Barony show up to the event as well. It's uber 
great when MY own Baron Donnchadh Beag mac Griogair is where I am. It's 
special in the SCA to show Honor to people and really nice when your own 
Excellency is available to receive and create those moments in time.

To make it a perfect event for ME I also find it special if say.. a good 15% 
of those attending don't know ME. It affords me that refreshing modicum of 
anonymity that has never been a part of MY Life. :^ ))

I enjoyed being at the right place and at the right time so as to have the 
opportunity to do the hands on distribution aspect of waterbearing for the 
tournament's final round. I enjoy getting the rare opportunity to witness " 
the fighting " and waterbearing is a form of participation to ME, without 
having to bruise people.

The water bearer's station had enough of an abundance of food for everyone 
that a tavern was pert' darn near superfluous.

As we all know a feast can either make or break an event. That which makes 
the deepest impression and the first thing attendees remember about an event 
is what they took home in their bellies.
I want to be very careful and clear with and about what I'll next be telling 
you. And the only way I can think of approaching it is from sharing with you 
20 years of SCA history.

It wont take that long to read and I promise to only hit the high points:
There became a Lady known as Baroness Mairin ferch Howell. She is now one of 
the Fallen Stars of Ansteorra. It was MY distinct Honor and Pleasure to have 
brought Her into the SCA and to have been Her Lord for the rest of her life 
being some 15 years. One of Our main focuses during that time was the 
preparation of food for those in the SCA. Her arts were well renown and she 
was ...ahem... discussed... amongst the Laurel Circlet. Her talents are of 
Legend and written into The Living History of the Barony of Namron. We 
cooked and prepared many things together many times for many people at many 
SCA gatherings.
So there's this man I am told who is known as {Lord Randal Lee} who was the 
Steward of the Feast at this event I've been talking about. It was 
understandably his first try at making a feast. I am also told he was really 
worried and I quote verbatim "that it would suck".
(I'll word this carefully so I wont offend my way out of future dinners 
around the Kingdom) He created a feast comparable to the best feast Mairin 
and I ever made. I hope ya'll are getting the gist as to the depth of soul 
felt praise I'm attempting to give this Man named Lord Randal Lee.
So, what makes a feast so Awe Inspiring?

Remember to hit delete on this message any time ya' wanna'.

Well first, it has to ALL be expedited into the hands of the servers and 
onto your table in 14 minutes.
Secondly, to make a feast experience of this magnitude the Feast steward 
does have to make an error. He planned to cook for 106 and by MY estimation 
the amount of food looked to be abundantly adequate for 130-135.
Next it really helps if only 65 people show up to enjoy the bounty.
So, were sitting at the table and i'm taking only two-three spoonfuls (small 
portions) of each of items that were brought to my table in record time, for 
which there isn't really room for all the different dishes to be placed upon 
the table; but we managed.
To have a sampling of each item, you have to clear your plate and reload two 
and a half times.
Oh yes the food... It was, well I'll get to that in a moment.
I had the Honor of sitting at Chemin Noir's table. I appreciated that. It 
made for very good company.
I was inspired to toast THE~DREAM at feast and in the same breath toast the 
best feast I had had in [time mentioned, omitted so as not to offend MY way 
out of future dinners around the kingdom.]
Ok the food... When I had finally relinquished MY forbiddance to allow MY 
half the tables delicacies from being cleared, I had at that moment almost 
overcome MY emotional difficulty in separating MYself from the table and go 
hence on with the rest of MY life. I did not feel as though I would have the 
need to ever eat again, it just didn't seem likely. I'm not being silly or 
over stating this, these were the feelings and thoughts I was experiencing.

As corroboration I'll quote someone else that was at the feast:
Feast was so fabulous I felt almost moved to weep for those of you
that weren't with me at the table. - Rhiannon

I experienced that level of emotion as well.

After the feast I was mindful enough to try to convey some of what I had 
experienced to Lord Randal Lee. I also asked him for the Honor of doing all 
of his dishes, but it was not to be. Thank you to the Lady that had the 
dishes already done by Herself. I do not know your name but I was jeolous.

I was charged with the task of distributing the leftovers to people off 
site. I am happy to report due to the generosity of Lord Randal Lee and 
Chevin Noir .. hang on lemmee count.. 17 SCAers which includes their 
children, in Northern Ansteorra who are appreciative and to be blunt needful 
for a dinner, have enjoyed having food; that is good.
By the end of the week more amongst us that are in need shall also be 
comforted.

When you get to go to an event it is a wonderful thing when you can find the 
time to participate in an activity. I was very happy to get to throw axe, 
knife, and spear. I did score points. There's something about the accuracy 
of ones actions fulfilling the intended intention that I've always found 
very satisfying. };^ ))

One must fulfill prophecy and continue tradition for it to be considered a 
Perfect Event.
The evening Court which was presided over by Baroness Kelandra Carmichael in 
fief unto The Barony of Northkeep. I often find MYself sitting dotingly on 
the floor next to The Throne.  I don't know how it keeps occurring, or why 
it seems natural to The Landed and everyone gathered. I guess it's just the 
place for jesters like ME to be.

It is always nice to be asked during the evening by beautiful ladies if your 
willing to rub the ache and angst out of their shoulders and backs and for 
some reason it seems as though I have the reputation of being willing to 
accommodate.

I enjoy imbuing those around ME with The~Love. I am happy to be the one 
reporting it is good to have had the opportunity to do so, and in doing so 
nullify the necessity for an event steward or officer of the hosting group 
to have to "write a report" about something.

The gods / nature were benevolent to grace the event with nice and not 
unpleasant weather. It was appreciated and though not in control of anyone, 
still an integral component of A Perfect Event.

MY white wolf dragon pulled 23 miles to a gallon of fluid to and fro the 
sight. That was impressive.

It completes the qualifications of a Perfect Event when you arrive in exact 
conjunction with the sun ascending from the night's fond memories, and just 
as a new day of hope and happiness begins. Blessed be the opportunity to 
return to the soft, gentle, warm, and comforting embrace of ones Dearly 
Beloved. (in my case that would be a CPAP machine)

So thank you for letting ME take just a moment of your time to thank Chemin 
Noir for The Best Event I can ever remember attending. " Thank You Chemin 
Noir! "

Big Heaping Pooky sized Love for Chemin Noir,

Your Beloved Pooky