Genevieve
	Waking	Sleeping	Sign	Repose	Wish
	The gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam...

Leave a Comment

I'm sailing away....
2003-08-25 - 12:15 p.m.

Extra Extra, read all about it!
All four of us, Matt, Shane, Alan and I passed our ASA 101 Basic Sailing test and got our log books so we can start keeping track of our hours on the water. Matt passed with flying colors and the rest of us passed with even decent scores considering our level of study.

Then we went on our second practice sail. We had a new skipper this time that kinda changed our normal schedule for setting up the boat so we started out a bit disorganized, but seemed to bounce back easily. We practiced Man Over Board proceedures and mooring on a bouy and stuff. As a testament that our instructor really knew his stuff, there was another boat from the school that had lost its mainsail that we ended up towing to the right dock under sail. That's right, no power but wind and some very careful maneuvering got the distressed boat into safety. It was amazing.

Afterwards we got our test results, did the happy dance, looked over the questions we missed, and had sushi for dinner, ice cream at Maggie Moo's and then went home and crashed mightily.

---

For those wondering, yes, despite our travels home, I had a great time at Pennsic. The scotch party was fun, more intimate due to the rain, but I had a great time. I tried the 12 and 17 year Deanstons, some good old Scapa, the Auchentoshan, the Glendullan 23 yo cask strength (aka Kick-Your-Booty Scotch), and an Old Pulteney. We decided that the word to test your level of inebriation was Bunnahabhain. We also got to sing Happy Birthday to Caroline!

As far as classes, I did drop by and audit a double face tablet weaving class, and the instructor said the one thing I was missing about the turning sequence and changing colors. I was so jazzed that I chatted with Thjora and Helmut about it in the rain under a failing dayshade. So I can't wait to go and try this when next I warp the loom, although I also want to try the threaded in birka strap pattern too. And then I took a History of Knitting class on Friday. I missed the knitting road show due to a splendid dinner with Freddy and Alyce and company, but oh well. I got a wonderful book on London Bodies thanks to the info from the knitting class that has some pretty neat info in it on the various digs in London.

Other fun things in no particular order were shopping in general, watching the Old Castle Silver Anniversary Tournament, the OC Party, Arianna's vigil (which was the only vigil I made it to), Marcellus and Belephoebe's Hand Fasting, and then little things like hanging around camp, doing the Hun-e-B's hair for the big day, and a couple stints of helping a Princess. While it might not have been a great Pennsic for all, I had a lovely time. I also worked the Atlantian Children's Fete and taught Interlocking. I didn't get a break from 1-4:30 because there were so many eager kids who wanted to give it a try. There were even more than a few parents enthralled by the concept as well. I didn't give out all of my handouts, but I gave out quite a few and saw many kids wearing the results around as belts and favors later on. (big grin) And Theo and I took a break for laundry and a movie one day, and an ice and ice cream run. :)

There were, as always, lessons to be learned and minor regrets. I had hoped to take more classes, but it was not meant to be. I had hoped to have Kevin and Giuliana's tent up before they got there, but the wet weather and apathy overcame me. I didn't want to have Scarlett so often in camp, but she was very useful after the town run for ferrying stuff to and from court for seating, and equipment to and from the children's fete, and stuff. It was rude of me to park her in front of Kevin and Giuli's tent too, but it was a damn convenient place since we set the tent up backwards in the dark so the fly couldn't be used. :( I also regret leaving the larger table at home, horizontal space is so darn important. I will also never set up the blue and gold tent exactly that way in the future either, but all in all it served wonderfully as an additional arming tent. With Alan's additional duties with marshalling, he never really had much time to neatly stow his gear away, so having a tent he could pile it in and not worry about it was key.

So yes, despite wet hemlines, heat and trailer woes, there were plenty of magic moments, smiles and laughter to make it a good Pennsic and well worth the while.

---

This most recent weekend was a whirlwind of activity and fun. We had the Chris and Tracie up for a visit, which entailed staying up way too late both nights chatting and having a great time, some fighting on Sat, some Animal Planet, an IKEA trip for Tracie and I, which was a hoot, tons of extremely yummy food, thanks again to Freddy and Alyce, and polished off with a decadent brunch the next morning at the Ram's Head before parting ways and sailing. I hate being so far away from my Tracie, that it is great to see them any chance I can get, and this was no exception.

<< - >>

---

www.flickr.com