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House Corvus members at Hawkwood's Baronial Investiture.

House Corvus members at Hawkwood’s Baronial Investiture on 19 June 2004. Back row, from left to right: Oshi, Sine, Helfdane, Signy, Siobhan, Ealdthryth, Eldred, Peter, Bran, Isolde, Rhiannon, Guillaume, Gryffyth, Thorgrimr, Adeliza, Chloe (in arms), Alys, William. Front row kneeling, from left to right: Una, Anne-Marie, Victoria, Alessandra. Not pictured: Dagr and Alriker, who had to leave early.

First Word

Of course, we all knew that we were getting together for something special. So many of us have had June 19th marked on our calendars for months. A large number of House Corvus members live in the SCA branch of Hawkwood and its elevation from Canton to Barony status was something they’d all been working towards for the past year.

Indeed, even after the approval of Hawkwood’s petition for their change in branch status, there was little rest to be had as many of those same household members had crucial tasks directly related to the actual event. An elevation in status as well as the investiture of Hawkwood’s first baron and baroness would take a lot of effort indeed. True to form, House Corvus members were right there, in the thick of it all.

And where else would they be? I’ve never understood an all too common SCA-household philosophy which seems to separate individual members from their SCA branch. As if, joining a household abrogated some of the responsibility all members share regarding their home branch. It simply isn’t so. Joining a household isn’t a promotion. It’s not like you’ve been lifted out of the hoi polloi of your local branch and now serve some greater SCA purpose. Indeed, I’d be hard-pressed to think of a better purpose in the SCA than serving your local branch! It’s something that House Corvus members know and understand well.

But there was another elevation in the works for that grand weekend in Hawkwood. Our own Baron Peter Hawkyns, at long last, was inducted in to the Order of the Pelican!

Despite all of our efforts to make it a surprise, it’s just too hard to get all of the things done for an elevation and keep it mum. There are always telltale signs that something is afoot. That, and Peter’s no fool. Still, that in no way diminished our elation at Peter’s recognition and his own receipt of it. Thank you so much to everyone who participated in still another fabulous House Corvus elevation! From the vigil tent, to the hospitality, to the scroll, to his awesome medallion -- so many Corvites contributed to Peter’s special day. It’s a wonderful reminder of just how we always try to be there for one another.

So many other members of House Corvus were recognized in both the Baronial and Kingdom Courts that day. Congratulations to all of you on your awards! I know that’s not why we do it -- still, it’s nice to see your hard work appreciated and recognized that way. Thank you again for working so hard to create an event to be forever remembered in the annals of Hawkwood’s history. Vivat! --BRAN

Isabella in Hawkwood

Rouland and I drove down on Friday, leaving from my mom's at 9:15 am (we dropped off our mail key so my brother who works 5 minutes from mom and lives 7 minutes from us could pick up the mail on Friday - VERY small mailbox at our apartment). We went onto I-70 in MD and took the US 340 exit through West VA and Winchester, VA. Then we picked up I-81. Rouland drove and let me sleep. We had gotten up rather early and did breakfast at our favorite local diner, so I was bushed.

We stopped for lunch at a rest stop on the way. We then pressed on, staying on I-81 until Tennessee where we picked up the new Interstate 26. We stayed on 26 until Asheville. We hit the city limits at 6 pm - total drive time minus lunch, bathroom break, and "scenic overlook" stop - 8 hours.

We stayed at the Days Inn in Candler. Decent place - they were having a serious water issue and there was absolutely no water by 9:30 am on Sunday. They were rather apologetic and had workmen in on the 4th trying to fix the problem (which probably cost them a lot considering). Depressing hotel rooms - hardly any light. But for $180 for 3 nights including tax, what do you expect? (Well I expected a functional shower...but it was okay by Monday morning). We ate at Fatz. It was a rather good place - I was stuffed.

We met Rhiannon at 9:30ish at her place Saturday morning. We did breakfast at Cracker Barrel, which was good since Rouland was grumpy without food and didn't say ANYTHING until after having eaten. Rhiannon had to ask him if he was going to speak to her. Then we walked around downtown Asheville. And I mean WALKED. I forgot my camera in the hotel room and was rather upset as I wanted to take so many pictures. The Basilica of St. Lawrence was gorgeous and the pink city hall was neat. Of course my favorite place was the Globe and Map Store - Rhiannon you can expect an occasional check and a wish list from me now that I know it's there! I bought an awesome wall map of Monsters of the World - you know Dracula in Transylvania, Quetzalcoatl in Mexico, and Big Foot in the US... It will look so cool on my classroom wall. I was more restrained than Rouland thought I'd be since I only bought 2 maps and 4 postcards (the postcards are for the scrapbook).

We went into several shops looking for a salt rock - I want one for my classroom. I teach the Spice Wars and thought a rock of salt would certainly be a good thing to have. The shops didn't have that but they had several other interesting things. I got a statue of dancing Shiva for World History at a very reasonable price and Rouland got a toy that he certainly played with quite a lot the remainder of the weekend (it's gone into work with him today to show off).

We then did dinner at a Mexican restaurant that had good food. Then we went to the baseball game - the Tourists won. It was a great game and I enjoyed getting to talk to Rhiannon during the low points. The plate umpire got beaned by a pitch - and he went down hard. I didn't see where it hit - Rouland thinks it was the throat. He was bent double for quite some time. Then he got up, put back on his mask, and got through two more pitches before he got hit in the shoulder. About the end of the 4th inning, they stopped the game to have the plate umpire leave. The line ump took over as the plate ump and they brought in an umpire from one of the amateur leagues to be the line ump. He then stood every where BUT the line - in one instance it looked like he was trying to take the place of the short stop. Rouland had a great time pointing out to us when the guy didn't make the call or didn't do what he was supposed to do - fortunately he never blew a call, but the plate ump pretty much did the game himself. The fireworks were awesome.

Sunday Rouland and I did a quick breakfast. He then went to Winston-Salem for an afternoon game. His plan was to do Winston-Salem's game and then drive to Charlotte to see their night game. I was spending the day with Rhiannon during this time. However Rouland got to Winston-Salem and found out that the game had been rescheduled for the night - so that they could do fireworks. He hung around Winston-Salem (and said there was nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon) and then paid for the game, got a hot dog, found his seat, and promptly got rained on. They called the game as a rain delay. He then went back to the hotel room and waited for me to get back.

Rhiannon and I spent the day together. We ate lunch with her mom and Isolde at Fatz. Then on our way to her house Rhiannon stopped to get some gas and the car wouldn't start again. We had to call AAA and then we waited. Isolde came to get us and as soon as she showed up, the car started again. We used Isolde's car the rest of the day. Rhiannon felt that her car wouldn't act up again but rather safe than sorry. We drove back to the Basilica to take some outdoor shots - I only had my digital with me so couldn't do interior shots since it would have had the flash. Then we did some more salt rock searching. We finally went back to her place and hung out for about an hour.

Then we went to Asian Buffet and met Peter and Anne. The buffet was closed. We waited and Siobhan and Ben showed up. We waited until about 6:25 to see if anyone else was going to show and then went to the China Garden Buffet by the K-Mart for dinner. After dinner the 6 of us went back to Rhiannon's and watched Johnny Quest episodes until it got dark. Then we did sparklers and the fireworks.

One of the fireworks was called Precious Stones which of course we dedicated to a certain Southern baron with adamantium balls. In fact Ben called him to let him know it was being dedicated to him and I got a picture of Siobhan holding the firework before hand and how it looked when we set it off. There was also one known as Zombies and we dedicated that to our household founder and got pictures of that one as well. After the fireworks, we hung out some more and then everyone headed out.

Rouland and I drove home yesterday during which I had a rather bad allergy attack (which is still going on - breathing is what I want to do now). But we took it easy and stopped by my mom's to pick up the mail.

All in all we had a good time - Rouland says we'll do the trip again. I am looking forward to it = this time my camera won't be in the hotel room when we do the downtown area. Thanks for such a great time. --ISABELLA

Breaking the Dam

It’s been exactly one year since I moved to Houston. In that year, I’ve managed to attend almost a half a dozen SCA events in Atlantia (which still makes me a more active Peer in Atlantian than many I know!). I’ve been to a few inter-Kingdom events, and event in Trimaris, and even one in An Tir! Yet, I haven’t managed a single event right here in Ansteorra. Until now, that is.

I live in the Barony of Stargate. It’s made up of the greater Houston area and even has Cantons here within the city. How crazy is that? It’s just that large and diverse.

This past weekend, the Canton of Westgate hosted a biannual kingdom event, Laurel’s Prize Tourney. While I hadn’t planned on going - I’m usually out of town for local events - I saw an announcement on the Stargate list about site set-up for an event. Curious, I read the e-mail and thought, “Hmmm, looks like there’s an event in town this weekend.” Since I was not, in fact, going anywhere (it being one of my rare two weekends home in a row!), I looked up the event to check out the details. Sure enough, it was about 20-30 minutes away in North Houston. Better still, it was only a day event.

The event alternates with the sort of Kingdom A&S event with which we’re all quite familiar. Every other year, however, Ansteorra holds Laurel Prize Tourney. It’s very similar to Sacred Stone’s In a Phoenix’ Eye. Instead of any sort of competition, however, artisans set-up their wares for the sole purpose of having the Kingdom’s Laurels look over their work and give them positive feedback.

The event was held in the gymnasium of a local church and I was really very impressed! For one thing, virtually every one of the sixty-eight participating artisans received their own table. Every range of SCA art was demonstrated with varying degrees of skill, including a few I’d never seen before. And there were two, count ‘em two, stone carvers!

I’d arrived around 9am so that I could attend the Laurel’s meeting that immediately preceded the main activities of the event. What fun! The one, truly grand thing about moving to another SCA branch is that whatever politics may exist, it’s not your politics. Admittedly, though, I was overwhelmed at how very well-behaved everyone was and how committed they were to the artisans attending.

There was a designated “Laurel’s Room” with poster board stretch around the room listing ever single artisan and the art forms in which they had exhibits. Then, they gave every Laurel post-it notes to write their names down and boxes next to the names in which to paste your name. Obviously, every single person was encouraged to visit as many artisans as they could. but, the event organizers wanted to guarantee that every single entrant had at least two Laurels committed to sitting down with them and discussing their work one-on-one. It was a cooperative event of the highest sort and about 30-40 Laurels participated.

I put my name down next to half a dozen poets as well as a beginning fiber arts person (by request). I then spent the better part of the next eight hours reading poetry and talking to their various authors about the nature of period poetry, writing, and ways they could improve their work. In all honesty, I’d be hard-pressed to think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

They actually don’t distinguish much between poetry writing and other bardic arts here (which is bizarre and may be something I need to address), so I also was asked to sit in on several bardic performance workshops. Fortunately, I have an extensive background in theatre arts, so I wasn’t really out of my depth at all.

A delightful lunch was included, so I didn’t have to stop reading even while I supped on chicken and dumplings. Commenting Laurels left their e-mails and I’ve already been writing several of the people whose work I critiqued.

All in all, it was about the best introduction I could have had for an Ansteorran event. A nice, local A&S event where I was busy all the time and got to meet fellow poets is about as ideal a first event as possible for me!

Corvus Calendar

JULY 2004
3rd - West: An Tir/West War in CA.
8th - Sine’s birthday.
10th - Atlantia: Colossus of Rhodes in Crois Brigte (Winston-Salem, NC).
10th - Ansteorra: Coronation & Ansteorran 25th Year Celebration in Canton, TX.
15th - Umberto’s birthday.
17th - Atlantia: Southern War Practice/A&S Symposium in Misty Marsh by the Sea (Florence, SC).
17th - Trimaris: Res Textilia in Shire Storm (Clearwater, FL).
21st - Una’s birthday.
23rd - Chloe’s birthday.

AUGUST 2004
2nd - Medb Renata’s birthday.
6th - 22nd - Middle: Pennsic War XXXIII in Slippery Rock, PA.
14th - Trimaris: Squire’s Revolt in Wyvernwoode (Brandon , FL).
14th - 21st - Bran at Pennsic.
19th - Miguel’s birthday.
19th - Michael Brangwyn’s birthday.
21st - Atlantia: War Orphan’s Pity Party in St. Georges (Pickens, SC).
21st - Middle: B.Y.O.M. in Vilku Urvas (Deer River, MN).
24th - Dagr’s birthday.
31st - Sarah’s birthday.


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