With St. Andrew in the Court of St. James
by Richard the Poor of Ely

The day was bright and clear, but COLD. I arrived before noon and found
many good friends already there. And there was a pot of coffee already
going.  Ostgardr and An Dubhaigeainn are the only groups that can be
counted on to have coffee available at all times.

It was too cold out to justify watching the fighting or the archery, so
I stayed indoors and kept friendships in good repair (I used to live in
A. D.). The Baron & Baroness' youngest is learning the art of Tarot
reading, so I volunteered to be a subject as a more experienced reader
helped her. Then we swapped roles and I did a reading for her.  I was
surprised to get a coherent reading on my first try ever.

I was also tagged to run the brewing competition. There were only about
a dozen entries grouped into four categories, so it wasn't too much of
a chore. One winner was an herb & spice mead by Grigori of Sicily (I
hope I got the name right).  The "experts" deliberately stayed out of
the contest to encourage new brewers; which is a good thing.

Lorenzo Quintain is doing well after his surgery and is looking forward
to his retirement as Seneschal. The new Seneschal, Wulstan of
Ravenswood, was installed amid much pride, pomp, and circumstance
during Court.

Lord Xavier's Medieval Man Caterers' food was good.  The lunch board
featured three types of soup, and dinner had enough mushrooms to sate
even the most dedicated fungiphile. The artichoke hearts elicited a
comment from Yours Truly about Aztecs getting into the vegetable garden
again.

Court started late, ran late, and dinner went long, so we didn't leave
until an hour after the scheduled closing time. I crashed with some old
friends, and we spent a lot of time swapping gossip.  I hope to get
them to come to an Ostgardr event and return the hospitality.


from the December 1996 Seahorse