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Coronation (SCA)
I skipped Shabbat morning services so that we could be there in time for the morning court. Note to future self: not worth it unless you're particularly close to the royalty who are stepping down. The coronation ceremony itself didn't start until around 12:45, which would have been plenty of time. (They had an hour and a half or so of going-away business first.) And while the court junkies out there might disagree, even the ceremony is less important to me than the later court of the day, the first one done by the new royalty. A coronation ceremony is five or ten minutes of interesting ceremony followed by half an hour of administrivia (as the kingdom officers, barons, and peers swear fealty, or not). The part where the new royalty actually get to shine as the new royalty comes later. If it's a choice between those ten interesting minutes and being with my congregation for Shabbat services, it's not obvious that the former comes out on top for me.
There was a Laurel meeting in the afternoon and it was held in a part of the site I'd never seen before. (We've used this site many times. I've even run events at it.) I had earlier noted the sign on the first floor saying "up these stairs two flights". As the time of the meeting approached, I was near another staircase to the third floor so I took that one. I then wandered around the third floor, utterly unable to find the room. So I went back down, went to the other staircase, and it took me right there. Disconnected third floor! It brings back memories of one particular building at CMU.
The feast had a "high board" (fancier foods) and a regular option; I'd learned in advance that the difference were going to be in the meats, which I wouldn't be eating anyway, so Dani and I went for the regular feast. We didn't lose out; there was a lot of good food. And fish! Two kinds! (And one more for high board.) Fish is one of my favorite foods, and it's not nearly common enough in the SCA. Often at events I'm reduced to starches, maybe some cheese (usually that means noodles with cheese), and some veggies; when I haven't seen a menu in advance I've taken to packing a protein bar of some sort, as back-up. This feast did not have that problem.
One problem I did encounter was that, I believe due to the large number of tables being served, each course came out (mostly) on one large platter -- so you had the chicken, the rice, the veggies, etc all laid out nicely together. That meant I couldn't eat even the non-meat items from those platters because I have to assume the juices from the meats migrated. I really appreciate our table's server, who was very good about bringing me separate bowls of stuff. I wish I hadn't had to add to her workload. (I tried to just go to the kitchen myself, but there was a flurry of activity and it was pretty clear I should stay out of their way.) I do plan to talk with the cook later about this; he always makes a point of asking me if I got enough to eat, so I know he means well here, so either he didn't think about it (and we can talk about it) or it turns out we don't have enough dishes (and maybe we can buy more).
There was a lot of food at this event, and not just the bulky cheap stuff. Each table of eight got two chickens (maybe one of them was a cornish game hen?), a large chunk of roast beef, at least a pound and a half of fish (probably more), some sausage (I didn't look closely), and ample supplies of numerous side dishes. No table that I could see fully polished off every platter. I wonder what the leftovers looked like once it all got back to the kitchen. (The leftovers would have gotten sent home with people, so not wasted, but we weren't there for that. Given the mingling of meats and non-meats, we couldn't have taken any anyway.)
I had a good time at the event. I missed the ball (held in the afternoon at the same time as the meeting), and I didn't get to talk with everyone I wanted to, but I had a lot of fun and I learned some about heavy fencing (schlagers and the like) while standing next to a knowledgable person during the finals of the tourney. If I were ever to get back into martial activities in the SCA (and that's probably about number 6921 on the priority list, so unlikely), that's what I'd want to try. Real swords (not rattan) so the size/weight/movement are right, swords big enough that I can see them in motion (unlike, I expect, foils), light calibration (so less painful and less likely to get injured), and a community of people who are trying to recreate historical fighting styles. Cool!