Great Western War 2012

Canvas pavilions, four poster beds, candle-lit evenings under a starry sky....  Yeah, we don't really "rough it."

Declan helps

Last week was our family's annual camping trip to Great Western War.*  As we had Declan to contend with leading up to the event, I was unable to get much done in the way of sewing prior to the war.  I usually like to make at least one new outfit for myself and, if possible, for the spouse.  Alas, not this time.

Our modest home-away-from-home

Despite the lack of new clothing, I still had a good time.  Declan was certainly a handful, but he had such a grand time playing with our friends' children, and generally making a mess of himself.

Playtime!

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, the same day as most of the other campers in our camping group. The afternoon was spent putting together most of our shared camp.  Raising pavilions, unpacking, setting up our kitchen.  By the time we were finishing up, night was falling so we escaped to a local (well, only a half-hour away) restaurant for dinner.

The following day was rather mellow.  I spent much of it chasing after Declan as he was still getting used to the new surroundings.  Our camping spot bordered the road, sand, and the lake--a LOT for a toddler to avoid.

Fascinating dirt

On Friday, our camp neighbors held a Pas d'Arms tournament.  In years past, my Fin has participated, but he decided to abstain this year in an effort to help keep Declan from trouble.  As much as I missed seeing him fight for the amusement of the gallery, I was very glad to have his help.  Friday is also when my daughter arrived in camp.  While it was only a day and a half that we were apart, it was great to see her again.

Procession

Fin's main goal for the war was to fight again for the Guardians, our Barony's fighting unit.  On Saturday, the Barony of Gyldenholt makes a great show of support to all its fighters, heavy and rapier, by processing onto the field.  Declan rode in a wagon to march with Dad, but lost all patience once we arrived to the fighting field.  Fair enough, I rarely spend much time on the field myself.

Couple of clowns

By Sunday it was time to pack up camp and return to the mundane world.  I did have time take a class on Tudor-era underclothing that morning.  (Thank heavens for the class being offered twice!  I missed the first offering on Saturday as I had the baby.)  The class was so inspiring!  I left with my head absolutely spinning from sewing ideas.

I returned home late Sunday afternoon/early evening exhausted, but happy.  Another great war come and gone...



*The SCA has several multi-day camping events called wars.  One of our local wars is Great Western.

an introduction

As much as I loathe the idea of having a dozen or so different blogs, I decided to finally create one to focus on my older, historical pursuits so that my other blog, The Moderne Hausfrau, can focus on the day-to-day and deco-period.  I felt that it was getting a touch "muddied" with the rare, though occasional, SCA-related post.

While the title of this blog currently is "A Tudor Lady," I should note that this--like my SCA persona--is a work in progress.  Currently, I am very interested in creating and playing a dynamic Tudor-era persona.  But it is true that when I started playing, I had a more medieval idea in my head.  I even entertained the notion of an early period persona, too.  In short--this blog my ebb and flow as my persona ebbs and flows.

In my first Tudor ensemble

The other day, just prior to our large, local war, I decided to update my page on the Caidan-wiki.*  (Note to non-SCA folk, I'll provide "footnotes" when applicable, but if I miss one--do comment with your question.)  Currently, my page is little more than a template.  Plus, it even has the older spelling of my name.**

In trying to decide what to write about my persona, I decided that perhaps a blog like this would be ideal to allow me to "brainstorm" about certain ideas and to showcase my journey in learning more about what the life of a Tudor-era lady would be.  I already have good ideas and information about questions like: what would she wear? what would she eat?  But I do, ultimately, want to figure out more.

Additionally, I am awful with dates regarding my own, mundane, life.  Even just listing dates, offices, and awards on the wiki page was daunting as I cannot easily recall exactly when any of those things happened.  

This blog will not only chronicle my exploration and research, but also my adventures in costuming, cooking, other arts & sciences, and even event recaps.  I do not claim to be an expert in any of the subjects that I'll be posting about, please DO keep that in mind.  I suspect that, eventually, this blog will contain solid evidence of mistakes in my work.  That said, I hope that if an expert ever does decide to give this little blog a read, that they will offer constructive criticism, and will help to point out my errors while celebrating my successes.

*: Caid is the name of our local SCA Kingdom.  The kingdom was its own wiki, complete with information on many individuals who play in kingdom.
**: In the SCA, one may create a name for their personae.  Certain rules do apply.  The original name that I submitted was judged to have too old of a spelling for the time frame that I want to play, so the spelling was updated.