The January commons meeting was held January 18 at the Kings Plaza Mall Community Room in Brokenbridge. Here are the minutes as recorded by Mathghamhain Ua Rhuadháin. The officers’ reports are attached at the end.

January 2019 Minutes • Østgarðr Commons

Attendance

Present — 15

• Lada Monguligin, Vicereine
• Alienor Salton, Seneschal
• Laila al-Sanna’ al-Andalusiyya, Chatelaine
• Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Herald, Youth Marshal, Deputy Webminister
• Ervald LaCoudre, Armored Combat Marshal
• Alec MacLachlan, Fencing Marshal, Deputy Seneschal
• Rakkurai of Kamakura, Minister of Lists
• Sofya Gianetta di Trieste, Historian
• Esnede O Murrin, Northpass Seneschal
• Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi, Lions End Seneschal
• Caitlin Straquin, Brokenbridge Minister of Arts & Sciences
• Gui Avec Cheval
• Adela of Brokenbridge
• Jibril al-Ghazal
• Ajir Tsagaan

Online — 5

• Suuder Saran, Viceroy
• Francisco de Braga, Exchequer
• Anne of Østgarðr, Webminister
• Vika Grigina z Prahy, Whyt Whey Seneschal
• Richard the Poor
• Marion of York, Lions End Lieutenant of Fence
      — was unable to connect to video session due to technical problems

Absent Officers

• Donnchadh mac Eoin, Minister of Arts & Sciences
• Arnbiorg Helga Niálsdóttir, Archery Marshal
• Sarah of Whyt Whey, Chronicler
• Ian of Clan Mitchell, Chamberlain
• Brandr Aronsson, Brokenbridge Seneschal

Opening

• Meeting called to order at 8:02 pm.

• Seneschal: Thanks to Rakkurai for cultivating this new site.
  • Has potential for other uses such as indoor dance practice or A&S gatherings which would like a free site with a good-sized room with folding tables and chairs.  
  • Neither entrance is wheelchair-accessible; let’s talk to site rep about whether they have a ramp we can use, or see if we can provide one ourselves.

• Thank you to outgoing officers Beatrice della Rocca, Erich Guter Muth, Rufina Cambrensis, and Sofya Gianetta di Trieste for your service.

• Welcome to incoming officers Laila al-Sanna’ al-Andalusiyya, Donnchadh mac Eoin, Rakkurai of Kamakura, Sarah of Whyt Whey.
  • The regalia of the Chatelaine’s office was presented to Laila.

• Folks who served as deputies for the previous Chatelaine, MoAS, and Chronicler, please make yourselves known to the new office holders and discuss whether you wish to continue as deputies.

Officer Report Items For Discussion

• Provincial officers, if you are corresponding with your cantonal officer counterparts, please CC the canton seneschals to keep them in the loop.

• At upcoming events at which we expect to have a number of new or relatively-new attendees, it would be nice to add a persona consult table to the heraldic consultation table.

• Our new MoAS has announced an initiative to form the Accademia Vicereale delle Arti e delle Scienze. If you have comments or suggestions, please get in touch with him, the viceregents, or the seneschal.

• Jibril & Ervald have scouted out a site in Kew Gardens, Queens, at the Church of the Resurrection which has a large hall with a stage and tall ceilings, a kitchen, and a bit of outdoor space, and might be suitable for mid-size non-fighting events.
  • They had hoped it could be used for fighter practice, but it’s not quite right for that purpose, due to concern about damaging the new tile floor, and the proposed site fee — $350 for a weekday evening, $700 for a Saturday, both probably negotiable.
  • Ervald is continuing to look for other indoor spaces to hold fighter practices.

• Call for fighters to demo at Emblem Sports Bar, Williamsburg before a showings of Knight Fight on Wednesday the 23rd. Laila will go to chatelaine.

• The Whyt Whey solar, Manhattan’s A&S evenings, are moving to the first Thursday of each month.

• Provincial feast gear has been retrieved, will be inventoried and culled the day after the meeting.
  • Expect a procurement request for items which need to be replaced.

Committees and Projects

• Finance committee was scheduled to review the 2019 budget tonight, but a couple of people couldn’t make it to the meeting so they will have to reschedule.

• A proposal to purchase regalia for offices which do not currently have any was agreed to at the last meeting; we should implement that decision.

• Bylaws Committee: Please meet!

Upcoming Events

Within Østgarðr — Scheduled

• Bear’s Tavern (Northpass), March 2-3 — has been postponed.
  • Site was reserved by another group just before we were able to claim it.
  • Looking for other sites.

• Queer Schola, March 9: site secured.
  • Auction items needed — we hope to finance the purchase of a portable wheelchair ramp.
  • The site offered to do promotion for the event — what do we need to do to take effective advantage of that?
  • The event has a hard cap on attendees and is listed as first-come-first-served, in order to ensure that there are spaces for walk-ins, but there’s some concern that this will depress attendance from folks who might otherwise travel to the site from outside the province but are reluctant to do so without knowing they’ll be able to attend. Perhaps we can set aside a number of spaces for pre-registrations and reserve some others for walk-ins?

• Coronation, April 6: bid accepted; much excitement.
  • Let Mathghamhain know if you want to work on the event.
  • We’ll be scheduling a site visit in the next couple of weeks.

• Day of the Decameron, April 27:
  • Remember to pre-register!
  • Two more garb workshops — this Sunday & one on February 24. Another date will probably be added if Sunday is snowy.
  • Whyt Whey is scheduled to hold a Sumptuary Sunday workshop, also on Feb. 24th —perhaps it would be better to reschedule this?
  • Sofya is seeking period items of decor and will post a list of specific needs — vases, candlesticks, and other material to create a 14th C. atmosphere.

• Return of the Lions (Lions End), May 4: going on EK calendar soon.

• Siege of Granada, May 11: site check will be mailed ASAP; EK calendar event posting next.
  • This will be at Putnam County Veteran’s Memorial Park, where Blood & Axes was held, which has a nice space for fighting.

• Uji: Farmingdale asked us to demo again on June 8/9
  • They would like us to provide fighters, but it’s the same date as SRWC
  • Alienor: can we do youth combat?
    • Mathghamhain: Probably, need to check calendar.
  • Lada: Did we get any newcomers from last year.
    • Uji: no, I don’t think we got anyone new.
    • Sofya: recruitment in that area is challenging because people are looking for local events in the immediate future; if we tell them about events further away, they tend to get lost.
    • Would be helpful to include information about upcoming An Dubh events to help engage these folks.

Within Østgarðr — Proposed, Dates Uncertain

• BaconBridge: proposed for end of June, currently searching for sites.

• Fight for a Cause, schedule uncertain: needs site.

• “Workshops” Schola: was proposed by Pia, but we haven’t had any updates recently.

• Chinua has volunteered to run the An Dubh/ Østgarðr Challenge; we’d love to get an update on how the planning for that is going.

• Esnede is organizing a workshop to make favors for the queen, probably in March. May be able to make some favors for the princess on the same day. She’s able to provide a large space at the Scarsdale Joann with a handful of embroidery machines which can crank out favors in about 15 minutes each for $0.20 in materials cost plus the fabric.

• Queens college demo
  • Alec and Esnede, you had volunteered to work on this; please follow up.
  • Laila, look for some information about this in your mail archive from the previous chatelaine, and speak to the folks above.

Pennsic

• Pre-registration is open!

• Østgarðr Encampment — please join us!
  • Mathghamhain will be the camp steward. Sir Edward is our land agent.
  • Get in touch if you have suggestions for camp improvements!
    • Gui: You could bring out the green and white pavilion.

• Lada: Runnymede baronial dinner is being run by us and Settmour.
  • Lada: Theme is Persian. We’re looking for decoration ideas.
  • Will be held in a pavilion in Settmour’s camp, very close to Østgarðr’s.
    • Vika: I’ve been land agent for Settmour and am just handing that position on; I can help coordinate with them, can advise about cooking facilities, table space, and decoration possibilities. Their common pavilion is usually 20×20, this year may be 20×30.
  • Lada: Scheherazade’s husband Dave will serve as the chef.
    • Esnede: Persian feasts were known for subtleties — one in period used 20,000 pounds of sugar
  • Lada: We’ll be fundraising for this, as we can’t pay for it with provincial funds.
    • Gui: An online auction seems to be the standard solution.
  • Lada: We’re also hoping to prepare gifts for the other barons.
    • Vika: What kinds of things were you considering?
    • Lada: Pillows with branch arms?
    • Esnede: Maybe kneeling mats?
    • Gui: Can answer questions about past gifts.

[Note: Two additional Pennsic-related items were discussed following the meeting and are included below.]

• Gui: The William Marshal tournament will take place at Pennsic. Please keep your eye out for related fundraising appeals.

• Laila: Our household, the House of the Lotus, will be throwing a party at the Dark Horde camp, adjacent to Østgarðr’s, on the middle Sunday of Pennsic. Folks are invited.  We are looking for volunteers to assist.

Other events of interest to the populace:

• Birka, Jan 25-27
• Sign of the Dancing Fox, Feb 2
• Æ Swim, Feb 16-17
• K&Q Bardic Championship, Feb 23
• EK CoP Bardic Challenge, March 2
• Spring Schola, March 9
• Mudthaw (K&Q A&S), March 30
• Mangia Borgia, April 13
• Balfar’s Challenge, April 20
• Southern Region War Camp, June 7-9
• K&Q Archery, June 15
• Known World Costume and Fiber Arts Symposium, weekend of June 21–23: it’s in Georgia; a number of local folks are going to car-pool down there.
• Great Northern Thyng, July 5-8 — this is replacing this year’s Northern Region War Camp and will have a variety of activities.
• EK Novice Day, July 20
• 100 Minutes War, Nov 23

Upcoming Commons Meetings

• Seneschal: We have a site in Queens selected for February, but need to pick locations for March and April. Looking at the records of the locations of our meetings over the last eight months, we’re due to hold meetings in Northpass and Lions End. Can the seneschals of those cantons suggest sites?
  • Esnede: We may be able to use the Mount Kisco Legion Hall. (That could also serve as a site walkthrough for the Decameron event team.) Sofya will check whether it’s available on either of those dates on her next in-person visit to the site.
  • Uji: We can meet at the Greenvale Diner for the other month.

February 15

• To be held in Østgarðr proper, at Sussman Automatic (LIC).

March 15

• Site to be determined.  (Mount Kisco Legion Hall or Greenvale Diner.)

April 19

• Site to be determined.  (Mount Kisco Legion Hall or Greenvale Diner.)

Other Business

• Kingdom financing will be discussed at Birka Curia.
  • Proposal involves taxing profits at Royal Progress events.
  • Opinions about this are mixed and it has been a subject of much discussion online this week.

• Sofya: Thank you to the Seneschal for the prep work involved in making these meetings run so smoothly.

Closing

• Meeting closed at 8:50 pm.

January 2019 Reports • Østgarðr Commons

Viceregents • Suuder Saran & Lada Monguligin

1. Our Joint Bid with AnDub for coronation has been accepted! On April 6th, we will be hosting the event with our neighbors and it will be glorious.  
   
   2. At Pennsic We will also be putting on the Runnymeade dinner with Settmour Swamp.  Lada and I will need to fund-raise specifically for the dinner (anyone who wants to help out or donate to the fundraiser, let us know, we are still working out the details of how to fund-raise for the dinner, it will most likely have to be as individuals donating money to the dinner, and most likely if there is any overage it would be donated and split between Settmour and Ostgardr SCA Inc’s respectively), also will need to ask those of our province if they could help make gifts for our Cousins to take home after the dinner.  Talk to us for more information if you would like to help.
   
   3. The Viceroy has made his personal Order of the Ornery come to fruition this past Saturday at Deck the Halls of Valhalla.  Inducting our Herald (Mathghamhain Ua Ruadhain) into the first level, The Order of the Shepherd’s Stick, for forgetting Their Highnesses during our court. There will be three levels in total. If you wish to know more, ask His Excellency.

Seneschal • Alienor Salton

Curia at Birka will review a strongly debated provision of a 20% EK tax on Royal Progress events.  Kingdom has been running at a deficit, which is not sustainable.

When communicating with your cantonal counterpart, please cc: the canton seneschal.  Use reply-all as needed to keep everyone in the loop.

Our tireless Webminister has added the provincial champions to our updated officers page.  Please review!  https://ostgardr.eastkingdom.org/wordpress/principal-contacts/

Bylaws Committee • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin

I have not been successful in persuading the members of this committee to meet — in person, by video conference, or on the phone.

I have drafted a set of proposed new bylaws by for the province, which incorporate the work done by the 2016-2018 incarnation of the bylaws committee as well as the input received from other people over the six months, and I had hoped to have them ready to present for discussion this month, but that process was put on the back burner due to other commitments. My goal is to come back to this and get the remaining rough spots polished up in the next few weeks.

Exchequer • Francisco de Braga

• 2018 Q4 reporting is currently in progress (Due by end of Month). I will be working with the Awesome previous Exchequer of the province to complete the submission.
• We are in the process of completing the “Review of Books” which is required every two years and/or with the office change.
• We continue to wait for two checks to clear from the CapitolOne Savings Bank. Once these checks have clear we will transfer funds to our TD bank account.
• We have received our request for reimbursement from Northpass for the purchase of their Archery gear (Total of $693.30). This check has been deposited.
• A proposed 2019 budget has been created and will be submitted to the financial committee for review and approval this evening (01/16/19). It will be updated as the year progresses to reflect actual expenditures.
• In short we have funds at this time between both bank accounts totaling of $13,675.85.This includes money held for Brokenbridge and the incipient Shire of Nordenfjord. In future officer reports i will provide a more detailed breakdown.
  • CapitolOne: $8,720.05 as of 1/15/2019
  • TD Bank: $4,955.80 as of 12/31/2018
• A check for Paypal revenue associated with Brokenbridge – Valhalla (Total of $703.65) has been mailed to myself. Once received it will be deposited into the TD bank.

Chatelaine [outgoing] • Beatrice della Rocca

It has been a pleasure and honor to serve as Ostgardr’s Chatelaine for the past two years. In that time, we have found and addressed problem areas in our demo set up with demo kits for the event stewards. These kits were very successful at the Fort Tyron Park Medieval Festival in September.

There is a document outlining proposed newcomer’s classes that I hope will prove useful for the next Chatelaine to create a newcomer’s day or weekend.

Our Kingdom-level quarterly reports remain up to date. Gold Key is present and accounted for, held in trust for the next Chatelaine by the Southern Region Chatelaine and Ostgardr’s Seneschal. Forms and email have been sorted into the proper folders so it should be easy to transition them over to the new Chatelaine. Regalia will be handed off by the end of this week to the Seneschal.

There has been some excellent growth in the Province, and it is my sincere hope that we will choose to embrace change and grow as a community, not just in numbers, but also in spirit.

Chatelaine [incoming] • Laila al-Sanna’ al-Andalusiyya

In my new position as Chatelaine, I have a couple of small items I’d like to bring up for discussion:

1) I’d like to add a “Persona Consult” to our Herald’s Point/Heraldic Consultation table. We can work with the EKCoP to find volunteers who specialize in persona development, and make it easier for people to get started. Picking a name generally means picking a time and place also, and this could make the process a lot smoother.

2) Outreach & Diversity efforts. Can we aim some of our outreach efforts to expand the diversity of the group? How can we best do this? Discussion and suggestions welcome.

I met and connected with 4 newcomers at Deck the Halls of Valhalla. All 4 are excited to get more involved, and I am directing them towards the appropriate resources.

Diversity Deputy • Apollodora Alethes of Delphi

Everything with the Queer Schola is going great! We’ve secured the site, we have a bunch of auction items, food has been started. I’m very excited! Just a reminder, if you are not staff it is a first come first serve basis. We only can have 55 ppl max. I’ve already received several emails from ppl from out of state asking to reserve spots. It’s simply not possible for this particular event.

Arts & Sciences • Donnchadh mac Eoin

I’m excited to be here!

Even though I missed Valhalla, I’m hoping they announced the Accademia there. Here are my proposed by-laws for it. I’m not sure it necessarily needs formal approval, but I would love to have eyes on it to help me hammer out the details. Here is a link to them.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w63EZorhamT3zNZPDMIrDSIg76xhdt7XiGxAqVdZF14/

Otherwise, I’m just getting the rest of my sea-legs and going from there!

Herald • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin

Court at Valhalla was generally a success, with Ragnarr belatedly receiving an amazing artifact to record his Award of Arms, although the day was marred by one awkward moment about which it would be best to never speak.

There’s been a lot of heraldic education going on: With the assistance of Lilie Dubh, we ran a full-day heraldry schola in Lions End last month, attended by eight beginner and intermediate book heralds from both Østgarðr and An Dubhaigeainn. Later that same day I stopped by Ragnarr’s heraldry evening in Brokenbridge. We followed up with a pair of two-hour video-conference sessions last week, teaching people how to provide commentary on the kingdom’s heraldic submissions. If you’re interested in learning how to be a herald, let me know and I’ll keep you in the loop on upcoming classes.

The Northpass populace badge was registered in December, along with a badge for one of our members. A couple of sets of names and devices that were submitted right before Pennsic were discussed in this month’s decision meetings, with results to be officially announced in March.

I have a couple of open consultations, which have gotten short shift over the last few weeks — I’ll endeavor to get them taken care of by the end of this month.

Armored Combat • Ervald LaCoudre

Fighter practice has been on hiatus since the weather got cold. The summer saw a bunch of new people try out fighter practice once or a few times, but only the expected small number of them returning. Those people are showing passion, though, and I am working on keeping them in the loop.

The potential site in the church in Queens is a dilemma for me. They are asking for $350 for use of it for an evening. On Facebook, I count almost ten people who have indicated willingness to pay as much as $10 to go to a practice there (be it fighting, dance etc). That leaves a gap of over $250 for each practice.

Also, I am concerned that their new porcelain tile floor may be damaged by fighters who are not careful to not drop their helmets on the floor.

But there is a huge kitchen, high ceilings, and a stage. They have also expressed interest in us being a part of their community events, festivals, etc.

This makes me think that this would be a wonderful venue for a mid-size, non-fighting event once or three times a year, rather than a weekly practice. An event bigger than Deck the Halls, but smaller than Barleycorn. (They do have some open space outside, so we might ask if we could fight outside when renting the space for a one-day event.)

Thanks to Sir Jibril for bringing this location to our attention.

I will continue looking for an indoor site, particularly one where if we can’t reach the fee, the difference would be less than $100 (which, at my income level, I can now afford to cover if I must).

The loaner gear has proven useful, and one of those suits is currently in the possession of one of our new fighters.

The new History Channel TV show “Knight Fight” is being shown at Emblem Sports Bar at 187 Graham Ave in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Wednesday, Jan 23 (three blocks from the Montrose Ave stop on the L train, across the street from my house). They have expressed interest in having a fighting exhibition in their backyard garden before the show starts. By the time of commons, I will have posted a call to fighters on our Facebook pages.

Fencing • Alec MacLachlan

• No practice outside, it’s too cold.
• We may be able to practice at a church up on 205th Street,  but the new site found in Brooklyn sounds interesting, and might be more accessible.  I’m waiting to see if anything comes around for that.
• I spoke with the Southern Region Marshal in December at K&Q Fencing Champs.  I filled him in on things out here. I will send out a reminder to the local marshals when our reports are due.  The next one is due 2/15.
• Hopefully by next Commons I will have ordered some fencing loaner gear.

Archery • Arnbiorg Helga Niálsdóttir

Archery continues to be on hold, awaiting warmer weather.

Youth Combat • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin

The only local activity since our last commons meeting has been the Hundred Minutes War, which was blanketed with snow, keeping away some of the younger fighters who had planned to attend. We only had two youth in armor, but they were well matched and spent a good amount of time tromping around in the cold whacking at each other, earning the favor of Queen Vienna who stopped to admire their spirit.

Revised kingdom-wide rules are being finalized and should go into effect in the next few months.

There are a couple of people who started working as youth marshals in training at the end of last year who I hope to continue working with when the weather warms up a little bit.

If anyone is interested in volunteering as a youth marshal or as a youth minister, and is willing to let the kingdom run a no-cost background check to confirm you don’t pose a safety risk, it would be great to have a few additional people in the province with this paperwork done, as it allows us to offer a greater variety of youth activities.

I’ve started a discussion with the provincial fencing marshal about what we’d need to do to offer teen fencing on a trial basis this coming year, and it does sound feasible — if you know youth who would be interested in trying this, please put them (or their parents) in touch with myself or Alec.

Minister of Lists • Rakkurai of Kamakura

Nothing to report.

Webminister • Anne of Østgarðr

Office emails are being turned over for our new officers. Welcome! If you are a new officer I have sent you an email with instructions, please feel free to reach out for help 🙂

All else continues to run and I’ve submitted the quarterly webministry report to kingdom. I have been busy and not had time to write a new “upcoming” blog post but I’m hoping to do that soon.

Social Media Deputy • Apollodora Alethes of Delphi

No report submitted.

Chronicler • Sarah of Whyt Whey

Report submitted by Alienor Salton on behalf of Sarah of Whyt Whey: subscribers list has been obtained from Deputy Chronicler John Elys.  Chronicler and Webminister together have opted for an EK mailing list (aka, Google group) to manage the subscription list going forward. People will be able to subscribe & unsubscribe themselves.

Chamberlain • Ian of Clan Mitchell

Nothing to report.

Historian • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste

History is happening in Østgarðr! My apologies for not having the Annals prepared as I had planned to have them out for review by now. Illness has postponed the report however I am close to completion and will have within a few weeks.

Coronet committee • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste

Busy schedules and holidays has postponed the committee gathering to review designs. We are working on selecting a date that works for most of our committee members and hopefully those that can’t make it can login remotely.

Whyt Whey • Vika Grigina z Prahy

It’s quiet uptown.  

We’ve drafted a financial policy and a 2019 budget, per Kingdom Exchequer requirements, which were approved by the canton officers at January commons.

Solars have been continuing. Starting in Feb, they will be the first Thursday of the month rather than 2nd.

• Feb 7 Solar: discussion of, and practice using, the EK A&S Rubric.
• March 7 Solar: Ancillary 14th-century Stuff workshop to support the Day of the Decameron

We are also planning a “Sumptuary Sunday”, tentatively Feb. 24th, to help folks who haven’t been able to make it to Sofya’s workshops.

Northpass • Esnede O Murrin

We have been given a path forward to becoming a shire and will be working on meeting it for the next 18 months.

We are rescheduling Bear’s Tavern due to site trouble.

Otherwise not a lot happening.

Lions End • Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi

Lions End has recently received our stipend for a demo we did for Farmingdale in June. We are looking forward to doing the demo again this year if they are interested.

We now have the correct signatories on the Lions End checking account and all former signatories have been removed.

Lions End spring school is currently scheduled for May 4th. The name of it will be… Return of the Lions and will be at the Reform Church of Locust Valley. I have reached out to the proposed event steward and will hopefully fill out the event planning template so we can get posted on the EK event calendar.

Brokenbridge • Brandr Aronsson

As happens every year the winter brings a cold wind across the river and the echoes of Valhalla and great deeds of the past thunder across the skies. This is when we Deck the Halls of Valhalla. Once again the event was a tremendous success with fifty-eight stout Norse Folk in attendance.  The food was plenty and the merry-making continuous.

Much thanks to our Event Steward Ragnarr Blisskegg who did an amazing job in his first turn as Event Steward. Ragnarr was also presented with his long awaited AoA scroll in the form of Viking shield hand crafted by his friends. Thanks to Randve Litil Hamar for being our Class Steward and to all the good gentles who gave of their time to enlighten the masses. Last but not least our Bard extraordinaire Cedar Sans who entertained us with songs and stories to tickle Odin’s beard and make Freya weep. We will be securing the same weekend for next year in the coming weeks.

Our Common/ A&S days will be starting up again in February, with a number of fun topics including Bread Making, Sausage Making, Turning scraps into Bias tape and Blacksmithing.

We are still planning on Bacon Bridge for the end of June. Once we find a site we will have more details. Randve Litil Hamar will be the event steward for that event.

Upcoming Events

Spring Coronation • April 6 • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin

Immediately following the crown tournament victory of Ozurr, our former provincial armored champion and now our kingdom’s Crown Prince, folks in Østgarðr and An Dubhaigeainn began talking about submitting a joint bid for the coronation this spring.

This bid was submitted last month, and earlier this week we received word from her Highness, Crown Princess Fortune, that it had been accepted.

This is the first coronation hosted by the province in over a decade — put it on your calendar and plan on spending the day with us!

The event will on April 6, in the ballroom of St. Markella Greek Orthodox Church in Wantagh, in Lions End (Nassau County). The site is a five-minute walk from the LIRR, so folks can get there by public transit.

I’ll be working with Master Jean Xavier of An Dubhaigeainn to coordinate this event, but we’ll need loads of help from folks in both groups to make this a success.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be putting together the event team and recruiting volunteers — if you’re interested in helping with this, please let me know!

Day of the Decameron • April 27 • Lilie Dubh inghean ui Mordha, Artistic Director

Over the last couple of weeks we have lost 2 performers, but have replaced them easily. Although sad to lose people at this late-date, we have convinced The Wrong and Honorable Master Dahrien Cordell, of the Kingdom of Northshield, to join the retinue of performers. Master Dahrien is well-known in the bardic community, and is taking on the famous ‘Devil into Hell’ story.

We also welcome Lord Robert Tytes, of the Barony of Concordia, to the retinue. Lord Robert will be taking on one of the later stories, and is an amazing young talent in the performing community.

Rehearsals are being scheduled. The performers are getting excited for this event.

I have spoken (briefly) to Lord Brandr Aronsson at the recent Deck the Halls event about working on the set for the day. His schedule is quite full, but he assures me that there will be a set. I have given him an extra piece to build, as we will need to set off the kitchen and prep area in this site so that food can be properly brought out. I have spoken to Lord Friderich, who is handling the kitchen and he also agrees we need to do this. The cost for this extra build will be borne by ourselves, and not Ostgardr.

I would very much like to schedule a go-through of the new site with the people who need to both see it and get a sense of how this site will work. I know most of us have seen it, as it is the same site used for K&Q Bardic/A&S and for coronations in the past, but this use will be different. We are only getting the main floor, and it will not be set up for a court, it will be set as if this were a Florentine villa at the end of the 14th century.

We will need to set up changing areas for people, and to that end we will need pop-ups with walls that can be disguised.

I am working to obtain a lectern and lamp for the event so that performers can refer back to a script if needed, or work from the script. I am also working on borrowing furniture from people in Concordia that was created for a Shakespeare-era event recently. There are (I believe) 2 tables and 4 benches we can borrow. I will work on having them brought to Ostgardr before the event. Also, I will be donating the 2 large bishops’ chairs that my husband and I have so that Their Excellencies Ostgardr will have comfortable ‘thrones’ for the day.

Anyone else who has furniture or ornaments we can use, please contact myself and Mistress Sofya so we can arrange for its use.

Lord Friderich is working on the full menu for the event. We are planning a fuller meal in the midday slot, and a lighter one at dusk-ish, as this was the way that meals were handled in the period. There will also be a sotiltie (subtletie), probably during the midday repast, that Lord Friderich will be working on. The full menu will be released by the end of February. Please contact him with any and all dietary concerns and allergies.

Music is being ably handled by Mistress Margretha, and I have heard no problems in that direction. We will be able to have a short (5-10 minutes only) dance expo during the event, and are working with dancers. Mistress Margretha assures me that she has plenty of musicians as well.

I will be working hard on rehearsals, the script and getting the set-look ready over the next couple of months. I will also be starting on the event “Playbill“, and will need bits from the rest of the event staff to include as well.

Siege of Grenada • May 11 • Jibril (report submitted by Alienor Salton)

Lost my fencing marshal – he now has a conflict.  Site tokens are made (150). Prizes (embroidered badges) are underway.  Site is penciled in; check is going out after Commons. Budget is being re-visited in light of site change (different site fee, reduced kitchen facilities).  EK calendar event will be posted after the site fee check has been mailed.

Pennsic Encampment • July 27–August 10 • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin

I have been asked to help organize the province’s encampment at Pennsic this summer, working with our Land Agent, Sir Edward.

Anyone residing in the province is invited to camp with us; friends and those otherwise affiliated with Østgarðr are also welcome, with the permission of the viceregents.

As those of you who have camped there before know, our block is conveniently located — the market, the merchants, the battlefield gate, and the university are all no more than a thousand feet away.

There’s shared infrastructure, including a hot shower and an open pavilion to gather in, plenty of space for individual tents, and a comfortable scene of neighborly camaraderie.

If you haven’t camped with us before, feel free to talk with me and I’ll fill you in as best I can on what it’s like and answer any questions you have.

If you’re a returning camper, please get in touch to suggest any ideas you have for improvements we should make to this year’s encampment to make it better than ever.

Remember to list Østgarðr as your encampment when you register, and if you use Facebook join the “Ostgardr Pennsic 48 Camp” group.

I’ll try to organize a time for discussion among interested participants, either at an upcoming commons or via a Google Hangout some time closer to the spring.