Gentle Readers,

I've been home from vacation for 3 days. I'm kinda back into the real world but not quite as it's Cortejo and Lydia's birthdays and my parents are visiting too so things are not quite back to normal. I am back at work though so that's about as normal as it gets until I start back at the sword hall next week.

Pennsic was pretty awesome. I got a bit of fencing in. I got to help put together an Italian Villa. I got to cook for an appreciative audience. I fought in 2 war points. I lost in the Champions battle but it was an excellent boute. We lost in the flag battle but mostly because we were outnumbered (by 20%) and they had better tactics.

The weather was mostly hot with a bit of rain. Our pavillion survived and we were fairly comfortable in it but some kind of ceiling fan would be a great addition.

We managed to pack up mostly dry and were in the car before the hail started just as we were leaving for the Recreational Violence weekend.

I think the best part was that I got to see so many old and good friends, even if we only got a few short moments together.

The RV weekend was great. There were only 8 of us there so it was basically an instructors retreat but not having to worry about skillsets as we were teaching was pretty good. My class on messer went well. I'll have to write up an report overall.

We just finished a teleconference baronial meeting. Tired now.

Gentle Readers,

This year we went back to Pennsic for the first time in, I think, 7 years. It's changed a bit since we were there, but not much. The biggest change that I noticed was the replacement of Tiki torches with those solar powered night lights. That is a very welcome change. It meant that I was not blowing black snot out of my nose for 3 days after leaving.

The weather started off a little wet but the last week was lovely and I have a pealing nose to prove it.

The first few days were pretty rough mostly because I was recovering from incautious consumption of overly sweetened american road food. More and more we discover that it's just not worth trying to eat at a restaurant and instead should try and find a grocery store. Thankfully the pennsic food was actually pretty healthy for me.

Thanks to the rain, I had no dry footwear for a few days so I took the day long (it actually took about 3 days worth of work) shoe making class at Chez D'Argent. They are a very friendly bunch and we ended up falling in with them and spending a fair amount of time at their camp.

While I did do about 12 hours of Fiore classes with Scott from Darkwood, I only did pick-up fencing against 2 people. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but the classes were awesome. I'm sad I missed the Classes with Tom Leoni but he seems keen to be back next year. Apparently the parties are better than at ISMAC.

I fought in the Rapier war points. The first one was a cakewalk. I don't think I even crossed blade in the first fight, our opponents offering so little resistence. They tried a little harder in the second field battle, but to no avail. They elected not to try a third time.

The woods battle was great and I experienced very little ass-hattery. However, I finally have my very own blow calling story: I struck some gentleman in the waist and he called "Belt" and kept fighting. It was all the funnier due to the fact that I did not see a belt on his person, though it may have been under his tabbard.

Lydia had a great time and decided she likes belly dancing (but only if she jingles) and fishing (but needs a longer pole). She was pretty good but it was harder to keep on top of her eating than it is at home.

The courts were all efficient and fun and lots of people we knew got awards that they deserved. Our court especially.

Next year we'll need some camp borders as well as a firepit. We'll also need weather good enough to sit around the fire, but we won't be bringing that from here.