Great Western War 2011

It's true that I spend most of my free time playing in the past.  Typically, I lounge around in the Art Deco era, sipping cocktails, and oozing glamour.  (Well, at least trying to ooze glamour.)

Last week, however, I set foot even further in the past--the Middle Ages.

Our home away from home (on left)

I am a card-carrying member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a group of historical reenactors who study and seek to recreate the best parts of medieval Europe.  Throughout the year, local SCA groups put on various events, such as tournaments, arts competitions, feasts, and even wars.  Last week was one of our local wars, Great Western War.

It's a camping event that includes large-scale battles, one-on-one tourneys, archery contests, arts classes, brewer competitions, et cetera.  We pretty much treat it as our annual family camping trip.  But by no means are we roughing it.

Kitchen

Our campsite includes a medieval-style kitchen (with modern sink), and communal dining pavilion, courtesy of our camping group.  We camp in our own medieval-style tent (pictured) with a full sized four poster bed.  No ducking and stooping to dress each day for me!

This year, our camping group joined up with a couple other SCA camping groups.  One of the groups, a fourteenth century company, hosts a themed Pas d'Armes each year.  This year the theme was Memento Mori, remember death.  Perfectly ghoulish for an October war!

I was able to capture a lovely snapshot of "death" before the company processed through the war marketplace in order to drum up attendees for the Pas.

Memento Mori

Alas, I failed yet again to capture any photos of yours truly this year.  Perhaps I'll find some favorable ones on Facebook to share here in a separate post.  But before I sign off, I do have this gem captured by a friend of Declan:

The Declan Witch Project