I wish I had found the time and brain space to blog while I was actually at Pennsic, because now that I am sitting here trying to tell the stories, they are all a jumble. So this may be less a cohesive blog post and more a collection of random thoughts.
Because it wouldn’t be the SCA if people weren’t complaining, I heard several complaints about the fact that they put “50” on the hill instead of the traditional Roman numerals. Personally I think this was a better choice than a giant L. Also I liked the way it was lit up at night.
My dear friend Estgar is going to be Mayor of Pennsic 51, and I am going to be his Executive Assistant. This means I’ve gone from never being on Pennsic staff to jumping straight into the deep end. So this year I spent a huge amount of time with him – in the mayors office, in a golf cart, in his camp. I learned a ton, I felt incredibly welcomed by the family that is Pennsic staff, and I feel mostly ready for the work ahead. I also got a taste of how my Pennsic experience is going to be forever changed by taking on this job. Seeing behind the curtain is amazing, and sometimes maddening, and sometimes depressing. But I absolutely am glad I get to do this.
The weather during Peace Week was wonderful – mid to upper 70s during the day, upper 50s at night. Perfect sleeping weather. And perfect weather for actually getting to wear my persona-appropriate 14th century garb, rather than the Roman I usually end up living in at Pennsic.
While the weather itself was good we did have some bouts of fairly shitty air quality thanks to Canada continuing to be on fire. On Tuesday August 1 – the night of the full moon – both sunset and moon rise were positively apocalyptic.
Sadly I do not have a photo of the moon, but when it rose it was just as red as the sun had been when it set. Spooky and creepy and beautiful.
Outside of spending time with Estgar, Peace Week was as it always is – hanging out with friends, walking around the lake, inevitably ending up at Vlad’s….excuse me, The Pleasure Pavilions, when there are no other parties happening. I spent more time alone than I usually get to – which was lovely, to be clear. More alone time is almost always good. I also went to bed earlier than normal – no later than 1 AM for the entirety of war – due to having to be up early every morning to be at the Mayor’s office.
There are more pictures to share and stories of War Week to tell, but I’ll save those for another day.
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