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Harvest Raid XI
by Duchess Dorinda
(October 1-3, 2004)

Another October, another weather lottery. Yes, and another Harvest Raid! This year's Harvest Raid was warm and cold, rainy and sunny, fun and hard work. Thus the Shire once again contributed to the yin and yang, the black and the white, the . . . oh, never mind.

Harvest Raid started earlier than usual as Lady Marguerite, Duchess Anna, Duchess Dorinda and Quinn headed out to the camp to begin the clean up process almost a week before the event. While the ladies cleaned up a variety of trash and dust bunnies, Quinn somehow managed to clear $1.15 out of the deal. Guess he was the only smart enough to be particular about *what* he picked up.

This cleaning frenzy was continued Thursday evening when a crew (some of whom I will no doubt miss but certainly including Tronose, Antonio, Sabina, Brigitte, Ciaran and more) started in on the hall and the mood. Others worked on the kitchen. Later in the evening, Lord Ciaran even served a dinner of stew and bread to those who had helped. He provided all the feast gear and candle light giving the herons a few minutes of peace before the crowds flooded in. It was a lovely moment and perhaps the rest of us could turn it into a tradition!

Friday started the really hard work. Mood was flying about like tumbleweeds as people threw banners at poor Ciaran and ran off to do other things. The royalty cabin was decorated, changing rooms were manufactured, and paperwork multiplied like bunny rabbits left alone for too long. Before long, we were ready for our guests (although some of them started coming early whether we were ready or not.) Some of the guests wandered off to the kitchen where we assume they did something, but since most were obscured by the largest pile of purple cabbage ever constructed, it was hard to tell. (We will ask Dagonell to check the web for satellite shots that might have picked up the purple mound for those of you who missed it.)

Slowly, as the sun set, we settled into the magic that is Harvest Raid. It was a beautiful evening. THL Cigfran greeted our guests. One or two people actually claimed stuff from the lost and found. People sat near the fire. (Unfortunately the fire had been lit Thursday night and was about 4,590 deg F at that point, so they didn't stay long, but they were drawn in until their eye lids peeled and then they moved on.) Eventually, people went to bed (or didn't) and it became Saturday.

As with most Saturday's at Harvest Raid, this is when the frenzy began. Silent auction items came out. A&S entries were entered. People consumed French toast with wild abandon. Eventually the activities started.

Since I was actually at the fencing list, I can write more about that than the other activities. The day started with the Viking Holmgang tourney where opponents fought to first blood in a teeny tiny list. Heronter entrants included Ihon Edminston, Mathias (Kinslayer) Morguhn, Jacob of Heronter and Randall Hawkens. (OK, I am not sure if Randall actually lives in Heronter but he is cute so I am claiming him anyway). People had fun in some very short bouts, but eventually finals came down to Mathias Morguhn and Don Diego Miguel Munoz de Castilla. After a fierce bout, Diego proved victorious, and Mathias was finally forced to fork over some ransom. This was followed by a bear pit tourney where several of the Heronter fencers did well, but none so well as the Queen's Champion. After winning ridiculous numbers of bouts in a row, Don Quinn was named victorious. The fencers then played, and as near as I can tell, picked up after themselves.

Other activities went on despite the rain that rolled in. The heavy fighters ran an insane three and a half hour bear pit with over 900 fights. Count Maynard won so many that he destroyed his sword and had to borrow one from His Majesty. Then he won some more. After winning over 100, he was noted as the winner! The archery seemed well attended despite the rain. Lady Sabina helped with all the set up and then shot a very respectable 125 on the field. But the overall Kingdom winner was indeed Cetach Fitzgibbon as he pretty much smoked the field! THL Caleb and Master Charles of Alden set up a truly challenging, but soggy, thrown weapons range for the Royal Championship. THL Dagonell and THL Rendel marshalled it with Lady Morwenna and Lady Isabella as MoLs. We can boast a couple of herons in the finals. Bjorn and Antonio acquitted themselves particularly well, but it was Master Charles of Alden who was eventually named Kingdom Champion.

The A&S competition held a number of items this year. Our own Duchess Anna entered a wonderful hand made Viking tunic. But Lady Gianna and her lovely scroll commemorating the archery skill of Lord Alexander was the favorite of the people. We also had a bit of a lunch break where we were treated to an excellent sideboard lunch by THL Wolfker and Lady Breeyanna. If you didn't get any chicken . . . well, the rest of us ate it all! It was excellent.

Finally, people came out of the rain and sat down to the Royal Court of TRM's Rurik and Angelik. The court report has been presented elsewhere, but it was a good day for Herons. Two of the smallest were recognized as Caitlin received her Silver Buccle and "The Mighty" Quinn received his Silver Alce. Bjorn popped his head up from behind the thrones like a strange heraldic gopher long enough to receive his AoA. Our past herald Leonor was also recognized in this way. Duchess Anna was awarded a Cornelian for her courtesy. Brigitte seemed stunned to receive her Sycamore, but the rest of us weren't surprised a bit. And Herons Tronose, Antonio, Lydia, and Charles were all recognized with Keystones for the work they have done over the years. All in all a fine day for Heronter!

Also of note, our friends from Blackwater are now actually our friends from the Incipient Shire of Blackwater. Yes, they are official now! Congratulations to them on their hard work!

Finally, the evening wound down with the traditional Heronter "it aint over until you have to unbutton something but we don't want to know any details" feast. The pumpkin cookies went like hot cakes (well, small hot cakes made of pumpkin). The apple cake was delicious. There was pork. There was onion soup. There was so much food that I don't even know what some of it was. But it was amazing! The hall was beautiful. And people new to our Shire said it was a magical moment as the sun went down over the lake and we sat in the candle light to eat our feast.

Finally, the evening started to draw to a close. OK, it didn't for most people who ended up at the fire at Tyger's Guard for some additional "celebrating". But this reporter had young ones to tuck in, so you will have to ask Shanaynay what happened after dark . . . .

All in all, our guests had a wonderful time, and the tradition of the herons continued one more year.

Pennsic XXXIII by Dorinda

Wow! What a Pennsic! We had a fun encampment this year, and I wanted to publicly thank a few people for making that possible.

Thanks to Lady Maeve who handled all the land grab duties and stayed the first week by herself to hold our spot.

Huge thanks to Lord Tronose who was part of the (very small) first weekend set up crew, the second weekend set up crew, and the final weekend take down crew. He put up the shower (so nice that even the Queen came by to take one!) He lead the set up and take down crews for the gate. He brought all the shire stuff in the trailer and got the pavilions up for both us and Drachenwald. He provided light and fire, and most importantly - KUBE! All week long he was doing stuff for the encampment.

Thanks to the set up crew the second weekend. Jacob, Bjorn, Orn, Ian (who was only there for two days) all helped Tronose. I have no doubt I missed some people in this - most especially all the folks from Blackwater who lent a much needed hand with the gate.

Take down is always the most thankless job - and it is done long after everyone else has gone home. But Tronose, Bjorn, Jacob, April, Marguerite, Raadgier, Cortina, Colin, Deirdre, Melissa and Alia all stuck around to make certain it was done. It was even tougher this year as much was wet for the process. Marguerite did all the running around getting pizza and paying for the trailer. Tronose helped them *find* the trailer. Everyone pitched in with folding pavilions, lifting heavy stuff, and carrying as was needed.

A personal thanks to Duchess Anna, Lady Maeve, Lady Emma and Lady Marguerite who all made sure I had a bit of time to go out on my own a bit. Thanks to April for doing so much to keep the little ones occupied. Thanks to Jacob (and anyone else I missed) for helping fill in Colin's gate guard schedule. Thanks to Orn and Marguerite for the salad and the pizza respectively.

This was a fun year in camp. People were constantly sharing food and drink. Someone always stayed behind to guard the camp and welcome visitors. The little ones were always supervised. I continue to remain proud to be a member of such a special family. Thank you to all who reminded me of why Heronter is such a special place.

Dorinda

Heronter's Feast of Fools
by Dagonell the Jongleur
(April 3rd, 2004)

Friday had been a day I wouldn't wish on an enemy. This caused me to wake Saturday morning with a splitting tension headache. By noon, it had subsided, so we arrived rather late to the event, in the early afternoon.

The event was already well under way. Board games were being played, children were running around, small groups were conversing, and a few individuals were floating from person to person, participating in a quest by answering riddles. I quickly added to the chaos and confusion by bringing in more boxes of board games, hand puppets, silly hats, and juggling props including rubber fish and giant ice cream cones.

I have to say that Heronter children are remarkably well behaved. No child took a prop or hat or puppet without first asking permission from myself and my wife. This has not have been the case elsewhere.

As the person who was created "Lord of Misrule" at Twelfth Night, the autocrat asked me to continue my reign and hold foolish court. My wife and I were only too happy to oblige. :D The first order of business was the contest for Most Ridiculous Garb. The contestants paraded around the tables for all to see and then the feast hall chose the winner by applause. "Lady Antoinette" de Luna won by virtue of needing a shave. :) Next we called up Heronter's prestigious Order of the Tart and inducted several new members, Dorinda (strawberry tart), Ciaran (cheese tart) and Lothin (gooseberry tart). Siobhan maintains that she is a cherry tart, but we have our doubts. :D When the new companions of the order welcomed each other into the order, the moment was very... well, er, ah, very... you had to have been there, just take my word for it! :D

The finalist in the quest were called into court and presented with the last riddle. The first to blurt out the answer would win. Long moments passed and no one spoke. Finally, the questmaster threw it out to the audience and Ciaran was acknowledged as the winner of the quest and awarded his prize. There was no fencing or armored combat at this event, so it would have been very foolish of us to judge a best death competition, so naturally, we did. We invited gentles to come before us and kick off as it were. Lady Antoinette delivered "The Kiss of Death" as needed. The best demise was Ivhon Edmiston's, however Finn the Fool had arranged for mourners and so accquired enough bonus points for a tie. Our final order of business before feast was to call up Leonor Farfan and Bjorn Einarsson. We acknowledged all that they had done for the shire and inducted them into The Order of the Lima Bean -- if they couldn't be armigerous, they could at least be leguminous!

The feast was potluck, a technique that Heronter does remarkably well at because we have such excellent cooks (and smart shoppers!). Dessert included a small surprize, it was my real-life birthday and in true hobbit fashion, I had brought my own birthday cake to share. After the feast, Ciaran began the dancing. We were fortunate enough to have enough dancers to perform Heronter's signature piece, Juice of the Barley for four couples. It was decided that there would be dancing following the regular Thursday meetings whenever possible.

Heronter's Twelfth Night
by Duchess Dorinda
(January 10th 2004)

Our Shire once again gathered for a glorious celebration of the season in early January. Of course, as we are a diverse group who may or may not have a variety of religious beliefs, the "season" was that of "snow". Nature cooperated by providing a day that was both snowy and really cold.

The crowds gathered in their normal slow manner, but eventually we gathered enough people to start some activities. Fencers started . . . well, fencing. And we even had youth fencers! Then the heavy weapons fighters got together and with the help of guest marshal Baroness Liadain, started their activities. Pretty soon one of the fencers decided to give heavy weapons a try. Then one of the fighters put on his fencing gear. Soon it was complete chaos! Fighters were fencing, fencers were fighting, dogs and cats were dancing together in the street! It was madness! But everyone had fun.

Meanwhile, the more civilized crew upstairs were playing games and carrying on civilized conversation. Rick and Wendy provided stockings filled with treats to the kids. They were also part of the famed "Emerald Lake Puppet Troupe" who again presented a marvelous show. Rumor has it that it poked fun at several of the Shire peers, however, none of them could afford the steep admission fee, so no offense was noted.

Finally, it was time for the choosing of the Lord or Lady of Misrule. Finally, after discovering that squishing your cupcake between your fingers is NOT a good indicator of whether or not it holds the magic coin, THL Dagonell discovered the two dimensional token that proclaimed him the Lord of Misrule. And thus began a strange schedule of court intermixed with dinner. At some point during this time, the Lord and Lady declared that for the evening, we would suspend getting the attention of the crown using the old heraldic cry of "Oyez!" Instead, all must use animal noises. So, to the harsh sound of a cawing crow, we began court.

Their Misruleships started by recognizing the winners of the mask competition. Amanda and Crystal both went home with prices in the youth division while Ian Edminston took the prize in the adult division. They also recognize Bjorn as the fighter of the day and Ian Edminston as the fencer of the day. They each went home with useful prizes of duct tape, electrical tape, hot water bottles, and scrubby pads. The shire then began to partake of the wondrous feast that had been assembled by the hard work of the Shire cooks. (And shoppers!) During the meal, we took a brief moment to toast our King and our Crown Prince and Princess in the traditional way. But as we raised our glass to toast our Lord and Lady of Misrule, they made another decree - for the rest of the evening, we would not show our favor by shouting "Vivat!" three times. Instead, we were to shout "Yahoo, yahoo, yahooey!" And thus, as a show of respect, (or something), we yahooed our Lord and Lady.

The evening continued with entertainment as the Lord and Lady invited Lady Cecilia to sing and Lord Ian to juggle. People visited and laughed, and our Lord and Lady distributed largesse to their people in the form of scented bath salts. (Lilac seemed to be particularly popular with the gentlemen.) The evening finished up with a gift exchange that seemed to involve 25 people fighting over a bolt of fabric. It was as confusing as the fighting earlier in the day.

All in all, it was a lovely day and Lady Siobhan should be commended for providing such a lovely day.