s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

This past weekend marked the shortest day (well, technically it was Monday, but we figured Sunday was close enough), so we decided to have a party. It started as a SCA day-O-fun, where we get together for fighting, archery, and various craft activities. Then it was to morph into a midwinter party, with lots of non-SCAdians coming over. Oscar brought the bits of the arbalest-under-construction. I am looking forward to when Darton has its own seige engines!

The planned big bonfire, however, did not happen. I had a nice big pile of gorse ready to go, but just as we were all heading out to light the fire, it started raining. Slowly at first (“we’ll be fine… only a drizzle”). But over the following miniutes it slowly cranked up to a downpour. The fire burned for only a few seconds before being extinguished by the pounding rain. Not having 20 liters of diesel on hand to “help” get the fire really going, we headed back in. Thankfully the house was nice and toasty-warm with the inside-fire, as we were all quite moist.

In all 21 people attended (plus Tam and I). There was singing, some dancing, some music playing, and lots of good conversation. Plus plenty of food. For these parties Tam and I have learned to provide some basics (bread board, hummus, some drinks), then we see what else shows up. Some people bring nothing, others bring food-for-fifty. The end result is a mixed and tasty pile of assorted foodstuffs. It is also clear that this is more of a wine crowd than a beer crowd. We always end up with more wine at the end of the night than we started with! Who knew throwing parties was an effective way to build up your own collection!