I’m still here…!
I am appalled with myself that it has
been close to FOUR YEARS since I updated this poor neglected blog. But I’m back and I have lots to share. Over the next few weeks and months I will
share some of my better projects over the last couple of years and make you
believe that I have not disappeared off the side of the earth and eaten by dragons.
Before I do any of this, however, I
have earned some SCA bragging rights that I would like to share with you. Two wonderful things have happened to me over
this past year or two that I am very excited to tell you about.
The first wonderful thing that
happened was joining the Order of the Iceberg.
This is a baronial level award (Barony of Ruantallan) that recognizes
people for their services, arts and martial activities. In my case, I was given the award for
service. I’ve been pretty busy with
running events, supporting demos and just basically mucking around making
things over the past few years, so it’s nice to be recognized for this.
Here’s a photo of the scroll and
medallion that were given to me in court at the “Tir Mara A&S and Rattan
Championship” event from November 29th, 2014. My favourite part is the mermaid in
it. Very special.
Scroll by Lady Sileas ni Dhomnaill
The second wonderful thing that
happened was joining the Order of the Maunche at Pennsic War 44, 2016. This is a kingdom level award (East Kingdom) in the group of the Orders
of High Merit. The Maunche is given for
arts and sciences, either for excellence in one specific area or for surpassing
competence in several.
I’m still pretty dumbfounded as to
how I managed to deserve an invitation into this order, but I am extremely
honoured! I ended up bawling through the
majority of the presentation…it was such a special moment for so many reasons. I was at my very first Pennsic, the award was
given to me by friends (who also just happened to be Royals!), I was surrounded
by even more wonderful and supportive friends, and when the scroll was
presented it made me cry even more because it was an image of ME drawn in my
very favourite outfit as part of the Codex Manesse, which was my very first
inspiration for a major Arts and Sciences project.
Lookie at me!!
Me bawling as soon as I found out I was receiving a Maunche.
My beautiful scroll by Mistress Rhonwen glyn Conwy
In the image you can see I am holding
a needle, a spoon, and a paint brush, which represent my main areas of study in
the arts and sciences. The spoon is
actually quite significant because, although I have never cooked a feast or
anything close to it, I have shared a lot of my knowledge on gluten free
cooking in order to teach those who would like to include gluten free items in
their feasts and more importantly, to raise awareness about those of us with
celiac disease and allergy concerns so as to make us feel more welcome at a
feast table. Special mention was made of
this effort during the presentation.
And here’s my lovely medallion that I
now wear proudly:
The one thing I would like to share
about receiving these awards is joy. It’s
not about the accolades that it affords me, because although receiving awards
in the SCA raises your position in the order of precedence, I am not an
elitist. I feel that it is more of a
recognition that I try and that I share, not only to teach others that they can
do these things too, but for simply the joy of pursuing my passions and having
someone notice.
