Then it was time for lunch. The person serving asked everyone if they wanted Pannkakor or Plattar, which seemed weird to me, as I would have happily have eaten pannkakor (which, as everyone in northern Sweden knows, are baked in the oven), but they had only plattar available (which, as everyone in northern Sweden knows, are fried on the stove top). So I ate plattar, with raspberry jam and whipped cream, and they were good (but not as good as pannkakor would have been, but, apparently, the war is about the correct term for plattar (which the southerners mistakenly call pannkakor), and not about which is better, pannkakor or plattar (the answer to which is, of course, pannkakor)).
Then I happily carved for another hour on my pot. Now and then as I carved people stopped by to look and say hello. One man walked past with to small children, who looked very interested, so I called them over, and let them try carving (read: let them hold the hammer and hit the chisel, which I held in the correct place, on the off chance they should hit hard enough to make a mark in the soft stone, which isn’t very hard, but they weren’t very big). Then I gave them each a small chunk of stone that had broken off from the pot earlier, and they went happily on their way. That evening their adult thanked me, and said that was the highlight of their war, and they are still talking about it.
Just when I was only a couple more spirals away from having finished this round of chiseling in the curving ridges and would have been able to start the hammaring smooth the surface again before starting the next layer down, the rain started gently falling. So I covered my work with the ground cloth and hurried to get the car, getting back in good time to get everything into the car before it seriously started raining, which is good, as I really don’t want the trough full of stone powder and rock chips (in which I cradle the pot as I carve) to fill with water and become mud. It is quite heavy enough as it is!
About then the tournament was over, so a couple of fighters tossed some of their armour in the car, and Keldor took off all of his armour so that he could drive back down the hill. (Having managed to turn the van around in that small space earlier, I didn’t want to have to do it again–I don’t care to back up a car even with good visibility, and our van lacks good visibility, and we haven’t gotten around to buying a backup camera for it–perhaps when I finish the degree and get a job).
The crash space building also contains the local swimming pool, so the event team had wisely booked the pool, saunas and showers for the event’s use from 15:00 to 17:00, so I joined the fighters in the after fighting sauna and swim before dressing in wool and walking back up the hill. Fika had been on the schedule for 16:00, and I had assumed that we would be too late for that, but it was still out when we arrived, and what a display it was–lots of fresh fruit (including strawberries), spring rolls, cheese and crackers, cookies, and more. I ate some fruit and cheese and crackers, and called it dinner.
Around this time Jacquelyna, Drachenwald’s Posthorn herald found us, and gave us her phone to fill in the special form giving consent for our modern names to appear on the new, improved, Kingdom OP, now compatible with mobile devices. The web page team has done a wonderful job ”giving it a new paint job” (their words for the changes). In the process they decided to make it possible, for those of us who wish to do so, to have both our modern names and SCA names searchable. However, to ensure that it is all GDPR compliant, the only way to do this is to fill in the google form in the presence of Posthorn or a designated deputy, usually at an event.
Then there was a bit of time to chat with people before court. Court was nice, as always, other than I had no sewing to work on, since I knew we would be either outdoors, or under the open sided roof, and it would likely be dark, so I didn’t bother to carry any up the hill (but I cuddled with Keldor instead, so that was a win). Lots of well deserved awards. After court it was time for me to report to the kitchen to serve the feast, which went smoothly.
During the banquette Fardäng announced the distribution of all of the war points (there being more southerners at the event than norrlanders, the people who think that plattar are called pannkakor seriously outnumbered us), but, once the totals were proclaimed, Princess Anna announced that it isn’t seemly to fight over food, and from here on out we would call them vafflår (waffles). There were many surprised (and indignant) noises at that, at which point Nordmark’s seneschal stood and let us know that if we weren’t satisfied with the result we should join her in Styringheim in December, when the time would be ripe to overthrow and replace the Prince and Princess. (or something to that effect, it was late and I was tired, but I think it was a call to rebellion, which would be easy to do in Styringheim–the people on the island of Visby are still miffed about that time Valdemar, king of Denmark, attacked and burned their town in the 1300’s, so they would be keen to off-set a Prince Valdemar, who originally comes from Denmark).
Being tired, I went back down the hill early on Saturday, did my yoga, and was asleep before 22:00.
Sunday morning I woke with some inspiration for how to provide that ”narrative arc” to bind my thesis together, and took notes on that before we got up. We packed up and got on the road directly, not even going up the hill for breakfast, as we had plenty of food with us for the day. I drove, as he wanted to write up the story of the War (which he participated in every possible War point), as the chronicler had asked him to provide an entertaining write up. I drove us as far at Skuleberget, where we stopped for a hike up the mountain (of course), and then he took the wheel from there. We stopped also to do some grocery shopping for the week, at the big store in Örnsköldsvik, and again in Umeå at the aquarium store for him to get a few more fish for his tank, and were home by 17:30, giving time to put away things that needed to be dealt with directly, relax a fair bit, and do yoga before bed.
Yesterday was all thesis work again, and today will be too, now that I have taken the time to type this up before I forget, but in two weeks we have Höstdansen!
PS Many thanks to Master Edricus Filius Offae for the lovely photo of me carving!