It’s been a little while since I’ve been able to do an SCA photodump; while I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Lady Mary Memorial Tournament, I wasn’t able to stick around long enough for Court, and I wasn’t able to attend the Fall Coronation or the Icelandic Althing, but I *was* able to get to Huntsman’s Harvest this past weekend! Granted, I wasn’t able to stick around long enough for Court there either, but Gdayboy and I had a groovy fun time despite the bitter winds and drizzly rains, so you get photos anyway! Aren’t you lucky??!!??

The day started with making English muffin egg thingies in garb. Yes, my kitchen needs an overhaul. No, I don’t have the budget for it. Just be jealous of my cool kidney pouch from Sparrowhawk. You know you want one.

One of the first people we saw once we’d trolled in was pal Meuric! Aside from his clearly channeling his inner Wise Man, I was moderately jealous that his head was warm. It was really cold and windy outside!!

The stabbery was underway while we were arrived with much ongoing stabberation.

Pal Lilyan was documenting the stabbery. Those behind the camera are often missing from photodumps, but she was wearing a pretty cloak and thought to wear gloves – I had to tip my hat 😉

Yoshi, shown here in his yellow plants that are normally much more billowy without the wind that was, frankly, brutal (as you’ll hear if you watch the upcoming video), undertook trials for advancement in the Ealdormere Academy of Defence. You’ll notice pal Merewen there in her silver/grey – she’s shown up in a number of the SCA photodumps – as has the ever-awesome Kersteken in the red.

“SIR! CAN YOU WHIFFETH OF MINE PITS??”

“NAY, SIRRAH! FOR THINE PITS LACK IN PUNGENCY! WITNESS MINE OWN MANLY FRAGRANCE!”

“… YOU SMELL OF LAVENDER AND HONEYSUCKLE! DIDST THOU DON THINE LADY’S FRAGRANCE THIS MORN??”

“(*sniff sniff*) EGAD! QUICK, LET’S STAB EACH OTHER BEFORE MEREWEN NOTICES!”

Ah, but there was more than just Stabbery going on! A short distance away, Augusta was overseeing the thrown weapons, or as it’s officially known here, the Thwockery!

Gdayboy stepped up to try his hand. I’d picked up a tunic for him at Pennsic, but of course, a linen shirt was quite insufficient for the weather, so for now it went over his hoodie. Augusta showed him the basics of how one thwocks…

… and so he tried reared back his arm, axe at the ready, and…

… cheeky blighter sunk it into the bullseye!

Disclaimer: This was actually about his fifth shot, but as far as I’m concerned that’s still pretty darn awesome.

He proceeded to sink a number of axes into the target butt…

… but it was the casual hands-in-pockets sauntering to retrieve the axes that amused me.

A little official tournamenting also happened. I, of course, scored… zero…

At first I tried channeling Gorman di Wulfe with my cloak…

… but after my first two axes bounced off the target, I thought “Maybe if I pretend I’m a giraffe…”

… but two more bounces later… Ah well, fun was had!

It’s important to shield one’s eyes from the glorious radiance of His Majesty when engaging in Thwackery, especially if your friends are doing the Jitterbug behind you. Who knew George Michael’s early musical career would have such relevance!

Sadly, parenting meant I wasn’t able to stick around for the big thwackerations, but I was able to record some of the practice bouts and biffery.

Lunch included super tasty soup, mini quiches, egg, apple, cheese, and OMG SKOR BROWNIES OMNOMNOMNOMNOM

Outside at the Twangery, these three fine fellows discussed how poorly some of the older episodes of Dr Who had aged, how British comedy from the late 70’s/early 80’s properly utilized the Tower of London, and two of the three were very classy lads indeed. I’ll leave it up to your own personal debates as to which passed wind.

Despite the rather shoddy weather conditions, the Twangery was a popular place to be throughout the day.

Archery Marshal Don “The Duckman” helps Gdayboy – now in his coat and still lacking an actual SCA name – how to determine which of his eyes is dominant.

After going over a few things, Gdayboy plants his first arrow into the box on which the target dinosaur was perched.

As the twanging continued, the wind made a mockery of our target, revealing the true villain on the other side of the box that had been supporting our triceratarget!

This would not stand! I grabbed a loaner bow, and…

… missed the triceratops entirely, but got Taz a few times. Yes…. totally intentional…

Pal Petra also turned up on the Twangery!

She also proceeded to show us why we should be nice to pal Petra… see the fletchings on her arrow there?

Now, note them in the target.

One thing, the nature of plush animals as targets – especially when they’re slightly damp – means that arrows will *bounce* off the target. I can’t tell you how many shots I had hit it square, only to end up scattered around the place… If you scroll up a few pics and see the arrows scattered on the ground before the target, you’ll get the idea.

I redeemed myself in the next round, even though you can see once more bouncer on the ground there.

Mixing up targets is all part of the fun of the day too. Tired of shooting a dinosaur?

Shoot one of its descendants instead! Alright, so I only actually connected with tailfeathers, but hey, all six of my arrows were in the target!

Archers also had the opportunity to cast their vote by shooting prospective Canadian Prime Ministers. Lady Lewke tried picking Trudeau’s nose.

Of course, *someone* had to make it an arms race… 😉

Naturally, everyone engaging in the various martial forms outside were just a tad jealous of those inside where it was nice and warm.

All in all Gdayboy and I had a wonderful time at Huntsman’s Harvest, even if we missed out on the main Thwackery and afternoon Court. I’m glad I was able to take him and have him introduced to throwing axes and the joys of shooting dinosaurs. Any minute now I expect he’ll start channeling 1990’s Turok comics…

Until next!