Artan, Charles, Martino

I got to have lunch with three fine gentlemen today, and I was very glad to be able to visit with Martino in person. This is the sort of photo that's unremarkable when it's new, but twenty years from now will be very cool to have. Weck's on Juan Tabo in Albuquerque, October 14, 2008, photo by Sandra (AElflaed of Duckford). Feel free to stash the photo in your own storage area.

Yes, I know, it's just a little snapshot of an unimportant moment. Yes, I'm sure, in a few years it will be cool.

Francois, and other obituaries

There is a new piece of writing on Count Francois Duvant, who passed away three years ago.
http://sandradodd.com/people/obituaries/sca/francois3

I have added several times to my obituary page. I welcome input or additions.
http://sandradodd.com/people/obituaries/sca
I could use information (dates and cause of death, or links to places where information is already available) for Duke Andrew of Seldomrest and Count Theo of Mightrinwood. There are many others I would like to add, but these two names have arisen of late, and they aren't on my list.

Local groups sites, and a GREAT map

Some of you probably know about this map, but it's just wonderful:
Map of the Known World. On mouseover, you see a kingdom's arms, and if you click you have information and links to the kingdom's page and to their local groups page.


I found it very indirectly, but I've linked it here on my links page so I can find it again, but it's "googleable" and now it's here, too.

Before I found that, I was looking at the website of the Baron of Skraeling Althing and then I looked at their canton of Caldrithig site, which has this line-up of links:

I wasn't doing SCA things this morning at all. I was reading the blog of a new unschooler (and some other current and related blog posts), and it led to an SCA reference, which led to a personal SCA blog... there I was. Forgot all about unschooling and was jumping magically from barony to barony all over Ealdormere until I remembered to come back home.

So, no hurry on this question, but if you're by here and know of an SCA group's site that is really spiff or has some element you think is commendable, please leave a note!

Current topics on ThinkWell list

The ThinkWellTNG discussion list has been busy lately with bio and link exchanges (which I'm collecting nearly as fast as they come in, and those on the list can get to the list), and these topics:

is the SCA's competition pulling ahead? (and what IS the SCA's competition?)
what does the SCA do best?
history of law
"mundane"
writing, teaching (what about people whose favorite activity is research?)
and a couple of split off topics:

flash, respectability and morbidity
work, laziness

That list is here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ThinkWellTNG/

Life

For what is it to die,
But to stand in the sun and melt into the wind?
~Kahlil Gibran, from "The Prophet"

I used to read a lot of Kahlil Gibran, when I was young. I don't much like my people melting into the wind, but it was happening before I ever saw the sun.

Fairly often someone will come by who hasn't been away from the SCA for a while, and they want to know whether their old friends are still around. Sometimes people write to me and ask about one old-timer or another, and sometimes I do happen to know what they're up to and that.

New Orleans and Houston have losses this week. In SCA terms, Yang the Nauseating and Janet of House Morningstar have passed from this world. I spent the day making this page:
sandradodd.com/people/obituaries/sca
I don't recommend reading it through like a book. It might be useful to know it exists, though.

I welcome information, links, devices, corrections; I apologize to anyone for whom sorrow is stirred.

Let us all spend a little time wishing we had lived differently in regards to some who are gone, and then a LOT of time mindfully living with those who are still here.

History in the Duckford News

http://clarionhall.blogspot.com/2008/01/thinkwell-is-back.html
Clarion Hall: Thinkwell is Back
That one sat in outgoing mail a while. It's not so new.

This is newer, and yet really old stuff!
http://sandradodd.com/duckford/chronicle
If I ever finish it, it will be a record of every SCA thing I've ever
done. Well... events and offices, maybe. What I've autocratted,
which board meetings I went to, which events, what I remember, what
was special... What I've put in has been fun to revisit. It's
leading to a few other pages, such as this history of the Cordon Royal:
http://sandradodd.com/duckford/chronicle/cordonroyal

I continue to work bit by bit on the Outlands History, and I invite
any and all of you, and your friends, to add to it!
http://outlandshistory.blogspot.com

History: collecting and dissemination

Rhonwen's page on Outlandish V and related bits.

I love Mistress Rhonwen's history pages, and there's a link that will get you to the rest.

Here's something I sent in an e-mail to someone who's been in the SCA longer than I have and with whom I'm still in contact.

Another part of filing and cleaning up. I keep coming to history stuff that's not Outlands history, so I'm putting it as personal history if I have a tie-in. While I was looking for some things for the Wednesday night discussion, I found a diary from 1975 to 1978 or so, and so look what's there on 1978.

and here's the page I sent her: sandradodd.com/duckford/chronicle.

There are a couple of drawings William Blackfox did of me in October 1994 (and more of the day, at the chronicle link).

So there's a new and different way for me to gather and make available (to me with a search, which is nice) where I was (and Gunwaldt, and many other people) at various times. I'll keep adding to it as I come across things, and when I'm putting things in there I can add to the Outlands History blog, too.

Remember that anyone can add comments and memories and links to other accounts or photos there! Please bookmark it and if you come across any accounts or memories, or if you want to go and put comments about awards you got or when your first event was or anything, it will be there.

Children (grown, and segregated)

http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2008/03/marty-as-bardolf-at-crown.html
Our second son was in his first Crown Tournament.

http://aelflaedofduckford.blogspot.com/2008/02/segregation-and-other-wrongs.html
Some commentary on "children's activities"

People I Miss

http://aelflaedofduckford.blogspot.com/2008/01/people-i-miss.html

There are other posts I have in the works. For many years I have withheld many personal opinions, except in conversations with friends and students. I might as well get some of them out there. (Yeah, you thought I couldn't possibly be withholding ideas, right? )

I had to make a new blog to make a new profile

And here it is: http://aelflaedofduckford.blogspot.com/2008/01/to-have-another-profile-i-needed-new.html"

I wish I had thought of this a year or two ago, but I didn't. I'm glad I thought of it today instead of a year or two from now.

The Outlands History blog has a new feature—a list of recent additions/updates. I can't be methodical about it. For on thing, I'm just not so methodical. For another, though, I don't want to bore the old timers OR the more recent folk with just the 70's, or just last year, so I want to do some and some, and eventually just fill it all in.

My helpers so far are Masters Balthazar and Gunwaldt, who are more back up and advisory at this point, as they have much less time and many fewer newsletters.

Formality of Address (new etiquette bit)

Formality of Address

This is about understanding the principle behind formal address, instead of trying to go by a rule. When Artan VI was king, I was steward of the household and his squire Dermod asked me by e-mail to clarify something. Here's our exchange from October, 2006. Dermod came up with a great phrase, as you'll see...

There are links there to other etiquette pages, too.

A repository for any little bits of Outlands history

For those outside the Outlands (those in the Inlands!?):
If you know of a history site for your kingdom that should be shared, please let me know by e-mail or in a comment below.

Outlanders, or former Outlanders, or visitors with vivid memories or diaries or something:

I'm setting up a blog for the collection of historical bits by month. At the moment it goes from 1970 to 1986.
There will be more tomorrow, and I hope to finish by the end of the weekend.

As people add their recollections, it should jog others' memories.

The only three months with entries at the moment are

http://outlandshistory.blogspot.com/2008/01/december-1970.html
http://outlandshistory.blogspot.com/2008/01/january-1971.html
http://outlandshistory.blogspot.com/2008/01/june-1986.html

Comments can be left on any of them, even if the main entry has no details yet. You can add links to comments (notes are here for those unfamiliar with this little code; it's not hard) http://sandradodd.com/hotlink
Photos can't be inserted in comments, but the other two options there will work.

If you want to send a photo, send me a link or an e-mail image if you want me to put it in the main body for that month.

Links to other history sites are there and I'm willing to add as many more as people know of.

Eventually each month should have details on who the king and queen were (and prince and princess, in the day), events, investitures, some awards, details on tournaments and wars. Feel free to add those to comments links any time, starting now (up to 1986 or wherever it is when you go there).

If you have any particular memory of the event—weather, injuries, feast dishes, interesting phenomena, weddings—those kinds of details should jog other people's memories. If you want to tell who autocratted or cooked or heralded or organized the parking lot for an event, go ahead. If you have an old newsletter scanned for that month, put the link (and if it's not online, send it to me and I'll put it where it can be linked).

This can have tons of links to (and maybe from) other resources, and it won't conflict with the wiki because that's by subject/group/person and this is by date.

We can rush to fill it in or we can meander through the years adding photos and chronicles written in those times as we come across them. I would love to have heralds' reports (or links to them, maybe) and tourney reports and lists of honors from the day. Just add them as comments or e-mail them to me (there's a link on that page).


AElflaed

Kingdom differences

Traditions of what to wear, chains on squires who move to kingdoms where it's not the practice to wear them... Ideas surrounding that are being discussed at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ThinkWellTNG/