OK, so the medieval feast that I talked about in last post is officially done. Was, as of 10:30 Saturday night. We had so much fun!!!!!
We'd volunteered (or been volunteered) to help set up. My family got there on the dot, 1:00, and no one else was there, so Mom turned around and went to a gas station to get a coke. Well, diet Dr. Pepper, actually, but I still haven't kicked the Texan habit of saying "y'all" and "coke" for all sodas. Digression.
So we went back to Mt Comfort Church, where we were having this. We were STILL the first ones there, but S's showed up a little later. Both of our GMCs were packed to the gills. We unloaded them, then Jacey D, Joy, and Mary P showed up to help us set up the thing. Mary and I put up the "rock" walls and made sure they'd stay up, while Liz and Joy put paper over the tables and hung the castle banners on each wall. Then we put up the "fireplace" we'd made.
Joy arranged a bunch of cool looking goblets, and a scroll of parchment, on the mantel. We hung two shields on either side of the fireplace and crossed a cardboard sword and axe over the fireplace. Then we hung some plastic weapons on one wall and put the other two shields on another wall.Then Josh, Liz, Anna, Andrew, Joy, and I rehearsed our skit, which I'll talk about in due time. We barely got dressed and everyone started showing up. I couldn't believe it took us that long to set everything up--3 hours! Bu it was pretty elaborate, too.
How many girls does it take to make one wreath for a candle? This was actually kinda fun....
This is putting up the head table's "rock wall". Some of those were a pain to keep up, and every time someone walked by them quickly Mary and I cringed. But thankfully none of them fell. Oh and that's Joy btw.
So for a while, we all mingled and talked. It was pretty sweet, everyone in their medieval outfits and all. I wore my dress with black flats, a tied leather belt, and my vambraces I made. Josh wore his monks outfit, Hannah wore her blue dress with my silver conch belt and blue socks, cause we couldn't find flats big enough for her (actually we found a pair of silver flats that would've looked reall pretty, but they were TOO BIG! for once!) :0)
Everyone had amazing costumes. Joe and Wyatt had found some leather vests and looked pretty good. Monica's dress was amazing...it had huge bell sleeves! So did Mary's. Jacey D's dress was very pretty, and she tied ribbons around her shoes to make it look like she had ballet flats. Very good idea! Galen came as a monk too so he and Josh were joking about being "brothers in the cloth" and such. :0) Kellan came as one of the younger helpers and was the official bodyguard for the head table since he had plate armor and everything. He looked pretty stiff and formal, as you can see below.
Luke wore his "Aragorn" outfit and had given himself a scruffy looking beard. He looked like a good rough-and-tumble mercenary. Sam came as an executioner with a huge axe he'd made and black clothes with a black cowl. He looked pretty intimidating for a while, until he took the cowl off. And we also had a hunchback (Mr. S) a dragon (Owen) a jailer(Arlen) and a samuri (Amos B) to name a few. The guys all had a specific person they were...the girls just dressed up as nobles. Good excuse to wear a pretty dress! :0)Then we all drew for tables. Each table was given a castle name, and we'd put the castle names in two boxes, one for guys and one for girls. Whatever castle name you drew, you had to sit at that table. Josh got to sit at the head "royal" table, and was chosen for king (only cause Justin T and Joe M refused to be king). Mary was supposed to be queen, but Josh decided that she was his sister instead so it wouldn't be awkward, and besides monks didn't marry. Anna was a princess, Abbi C was a lady in waiting, Justin was some relation to Josh and head steward, and Joe was the king's bodyguard.
In between each meal, people had to entertain. We had thirteen skits...actually, more, because some people did some impromptu stuff. It was pretty neat. Zach and Sam B did a song (it looked kinda strange to have electric bass at a medieval feast, but hey, it was a cool song!).
Then Monica, Abbi, the other Heather (Fopias), Greg, and Mr. T did a skit together that was like all these old people in a waiting room, who had all these funky things wrong wth them. "I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure." "You have amnesia and deja vu all at once!" That kind of stuff. Lots of laughs and I think it was one of the funniest skits there!
Oh, gosh, what was next...oh yeah, Rachel and Colin did something amazing! Rachel "brought" Colin as her pet bear Devin. It was hysterical! (Yes Togo, I know I use that word too much). So their skit was really going on all evening as Colin wandered around stealing people's food and stuff. Colin even stole the king's chicken! Their act was Colin doing all these funny tricks and stuff.
And here's a funny pic of Joe and Colin aka "Devin the Bear". :0) You can't tell but Joe's holding a dagger up, like, "Get away from me, bear!"
Jake B read a love poem, and did really well! Only Jake B would do something like that...
Duncan wrote a ballad about a knight named Sir Slim who had a mullet and didn't live happily ever after because "he was a fairy-tale non-conformist", and it was extremely funny!
Jake, Joe, Wyatt, and Galen were an embassy from a foreign country (Jake and Joe bodyguards, Wyatt the embassador, and Galen the officiating monk) who presented a treaty to Josh...who turned them down! I knew he would too as soon as Wyatt finished reading the treaty because Josh got this huge grin on his face.
Luke and Josiah H did a "medieval" remake of Abbot and Costello's "7x6=28" routine. It was really funny...Luke's costume and accent didn't go together at all, so that made it doubly funny! And Josiah's single act was the recitation of the "band of brothers" speech from Shakespeare's "King Henry V". He did it very well, even though he claims he skipped a line. I didn't notice! And I didn't know he could be such a good speaker! His inflections and motions were great!
Owen came as a "dragon" and did his entertainment outside. He dumped cornstarch in his mouth, lit a torch, and blew the cornstarch into the flame so it made it poof up. It was neat!
Justin, Sarah, and Jake T are in for it with me now. They got their skit ready, and then Justin came out and said, "OK, we need some volunteers." Of course he promptly starts doing eeiny-meeiny-miny-mow on people and "randomly" picks Rachel, me, Owen, and Jake B. I knew as soon as he started coming down my side of the tables, I was like, "Oh no, he's gonna pick me, he's gonna pick me, don't pick me...drat." I've teased him one too many times! So it was "Medieval medical procedures". Scary. As soon as I heard the title I hid behind Jake and Owen. Traitors when they pushed me forward. Then Justin had Rachel read the stuff. Mine was that for some illness or other, I had to close my eyes...and eat a "cockroach". So they made me close my eyes, and open my mouth, and stuffed something in it. I just held it in my teeth for the longest time, until Jake T was like, "eat it, Heather!" It was only a York Peppermint Patty, but I was about ready to shoot them! Then to cure snakebite Owen had to stand on his head, and for something else Jake had to whirl in ten circles while rubbing his stomach and patting his head. Rather comical! :0)
I missed Caleb P's, but it was a tale of him and his faithful companions Sir Ohsis-of-the-Liver, Sir Cumference of the Round Table, and one other guy trying to catch these smugglers.
James' was he played this knight who had a scroll about how to win fair maidens. Every time he tried to compliment a girl using the scroll, though, he messed up and the girl got mad at him! Joy, Liz, and Anna were very brave to do those! Then when he finally got his compliment right, on his own, it was to Rachel. "Say you will be mine!" And Colin from the audience yells, "No!" And Rachel merely holds up her hand with her ring on it! :0) Hilarious!
Mary recited a poem about this man and his wife who had a contest; whoever spoke the first word had to get up and shut the door. It was pretty cute.
Hannah, Jerusha, and Joanna sang a Latin song, Ubi Caritas, and did an excellent job!
And our play was...heeheehee! Joy, Liz, and I were three ditzy fairy godmothers from sleeping beauty. It got messed up because Sleeping Beauty's fairy godfather, Josh, gave her the gift of sensibility where men are concerned. So its about us trying to get a prince (Andrew) to rescue the princess (Anna) though various mishaps like a collapsing bridge that I made with my magic, to the prince catching an alligator, to Fauna the fairy creating rosebushes when she's under pressure. Then at the critical moment the princess rejects the prince and Josh drags him away to our protests. :0)
Joy's parents came halfway through the feast as beggars. The king decreed that they had to perform before they could be allowed to eat. Mrs. H recited a funny poem about being a queen, and Mr H did his egg-in-a-glass trick.
Oh yes, and the best one yet! Kristin read us a deal at the beginning about etiquette and such, and warned us tha there might be traitors and assassins in the feast. Well, then in the middle of the feast, Mr. Storer as a hunchback comes in and denounces Jake B, James, and Justin as assassins. Of course Justin sputtered because he was related and all. They took Justin away to be executed (by Sam, who else!) after Siah jumped on him and blindfolded him. :0) James, Jake, Joe, Luke, and Siah all had weapons drawn at one point ready to do a sword fight when Chip told them not to, and the guys took Jake and James away to be executed too. But the king pardoned them and allowed them to come back to the feast. It was really, really hysterical! We were all laughing and carrying on.
Justin went on the prowl too. Since he was steward, he'd walk behind the tables and he had this fascination with carrying Mary's dagger as he walked. Made some of us rather nervous.
The salt for the meal was put in front of the king and he had to specifically allow someone to use it before they could even touch it. Zach and Sam B ate over half of the shaker full, it was disgusting. And Zach had it once and was shaking it over everyone's food, which was a no-no cause each individual person had to ask, so Joe as the bodyguard went over and took it from him!
Here's some random pics too.
This is Jake, Joe, Wyatt, and Galen presenting the treaty to the king.
This is James eating an apple slice off a dagger, and Jake wondering "Hmm, could I do that?" in the background.
This is Kristin reading us the rules and etiquette of a medieval feast.
Gotta love the intimidation factor here. Luke's the guy with the big knife threatening Justin the guy who's nervously smiling.
:0) It was so much fun! I can't wait until next year. I'm thinking about going as a jester. Whatcha think? :0)
Oh yes, and a quick note: we played Frisbee yesterday afternoon too. The Ts got to play with us, it was so much fun! Monica's brother Rob was in Springfield so he came to play too. Unfortunately my team lost, try 16-21. I killed my hip diving for one that I ended up not catching. Siah and Monica had a nasty collision. Monica popped her neck, back, and one rib out, and Siah bruised his ribs and gave himself a nasty concussion. Ouch! If you want to read their accounts, go to Siah's blog here and Monica's blog here.
After the game, Monica, Greg, Abbi, Fopias, Rob, Owen, Justin, Jake T, Sarah, Josh, Hannah, Mom, Mr. and Mrs. T, and I went to Panera Bread for supper. And coffee. I got a caramel latte that didn't taste anything like caramel. Yucko! I hate the taste of coffee without somehting strong to cover it! Yes, I'm weird in more ways than one. But we had fun just yakking, and Jessi H and one of her friends ran into us there so they ate with us. And afterward, Mom, Josh, Hannah, Justin, Sarah, Jake, and I stood around talking for forever. Those kids are great! They're so funny! And I found out that it irritates Jake to have me yank on his hoodie strings so they're uneven. :0) When we got to Frisbee (I drove Monica's cool car there btw! It handles pretty sweetly) Jake came up to me and said, "You did something to me last night, that I don't remember, but I'm going to gt you back for it!"
"Oh, really? Let me refresh your memory," I said, and yanked on his hoodie strings! :0) Aren't I a turkey?
OK, I think that's all considering it's 11:30 and I'd like to get to bed ometime soon. G'night all!
