Author: Sofya la Rus

13 December 2023, First Methodist Church, Mason City, Iowa

Attending: William, Juliana, Randall, Tatiana, Avelyn, Stasi, Sofya, Brigid, Sifrid, Gobban, Gwynhwyvar.

Chatelaine: We have someone new to the Shire, Brigid (once upon a time in Le Grande Tente)! No new demos. Not sure if there’s anything going on with Hampton school, esp. since we don’t have fighters to put on a show.

MoY: no word on her background check yet.

A&S: she delivered the largesse at Kris Kinder: 11 jewelry bag, multiple cordages, box of “thank you” cards, some of Stasi’s jewelry pieces, needle boards, 2-3 of Juliana’s snips with cases. Ideas for future meetings… ? Brigid does Viking Wire Weaving, Card Weaving, Bookbinding, Charcoal-making, Herbalism… We agree to cancels this month’s A&S meeting because of the holidays.

Chronicler: we need articles.

Webminister: we have a website. He will try to remember his password to post updates.

Exchequer: we have money. Villa Frumentaria sent us their demo money, and Crown Tourney Inn money. We need to approve their expenditures with receipts.

Herald: almost everyone has names and devices.

Archery: we have bows, arrows, axes and knives. Mohawk Archery is doing their 3D shoot again this year, but William is trying to figure out how to get a winter shoot there anyway.

Holiday Party: February 10th at about 6 pm at Sifrid and Sofya’s Dacha on State Street; potluck food, festive garb, optional ~$15 gift exchange.

Social Media Officer: Ronan le Sauvage of Villa Frumentaria volunteers to be our Social Media officer. He likes doing marketing stuff. We are agreeable.

November 8th, First Methodist Church, Mason City, IA

Attending: William, Juliana, Avelyn, Sifrid, Sofya, Brigida, Berndt.

Chateleine: no new demos, no new plans from the new Kingdom Chateleine.

MoY: they are working on her background check, but she hasn’t heard from them in the promised time interval.

Exchequer: she assures us that we still have money, even though the Kingdom is a little confused about how long she’s had her warrant.

Herald: we have names, we have devices. Gida has ideas.

Chronicler: hoping for a newsletter in January.

11 October 2023, First Methodist Church, Mason City, IA

Attending: William, Juliana, Gida, Berndt, Sifrid, Sofya, Stasi, Gwyn, Gobban.

Chateleine: no new demos, waiting to hear from the Kingdom Chateleine.

Minister of Youth: finally got the paperwork to renew her background check sent it.

Arts & Sciences: she heard back from the new royal chamberlain. They are looking for thank-you cards. So Stasi has some blank cards/envelopes and is going to print out some royal images to paste on. We vote to reimburse her for reasonable expenses. Bring papercutters, other such supplies. She says they also requested craft starter kits, trim, needle books, cording, soaps, children’s largesse (tic-tac-toe/game bags, baby dragons, coloring half-sheets, puzzles, finger/stick puppets, pony bead/cord kits), sewing weights for patterns. Gida wonders about bookmarks, blank borders. Double seal anything food or fragrant. Stasi is going to try to get to Kingdom A&S so we should get her anything we’ve already made to send with her to that.

Chronicler: if enough articles, will publish.

Herald: we have names and devices and badges. Somebody needs an heraldic title, probably a German locative.

Archery: nothing new. We apparently have a new marshal report system, which is being a challenge. His email isn’t being recognized.

Social Media Officer: someone claiming to the Kingdom Social Media Officer asked to join our FB group which was approved, but then demanded admin priviledges on Facebook. We are concerned and think the request needs to come through official channels.

September 13th, First Methodist Church, Mason City, IA

Attending: Juliana, William, Avelyn, Sifrid, Sofya, Gobban, Tatiana, Rune, Brigida, Berndt.

Seneschal: finally got his background check turned in.

MoY: getting her background check renewal going, too. Nothing new for the kids. Apparently the Kingdom officers are struggling to get their background checks done, too.

Chateleine: no new demos, our article hasn’t been published in the Globe Gazette yet. Any day now.

Web Minister: we have a webpage. We have noticed that lots of weird people “liking” our Facebook Page, but they can’t seem to do anything. We’ll double check our posting security settings.

Archery Marshal: we have bows and arrows and we love archery. About 8 archers showed up for archery at the event, about half were out of kingdom, so that was nice. Juliana reports that slings and atlatls are in the process of being added to the kingdom options. They’re still working on the plumbadas (Roman lawn darts).

Fighting: Magnus and Vim are coming up this weekend to have a fighter practice at Waverly at Gobban’s place 1308 2nd Ave SW at 2 pm. Bring meat to cook on Rune’s rocket stove.

Chronicler: sounds like there are lots of stories and officers reports to be submitted. Get them in.

Herald: we have names, devices, and some badges. We can always use more. Message me or Gida. Congratulations to Gida on being named a Herald Extraordinary. Gobban suggests a new tradition of playing kazoos for such occasions. Randall got his AoA.

Event Wrap-up: $214 went to site supplies, $633 feast and brought in $600. $1635 site fees. $273.90 event profit without the inn profit, so we vote to round it up to $275 and keep it for them, and pay off the bills. Kevin Rohan was their event steward. Todd Good is their seneschal.

Inn Wrap-up: inn spent $468.39 and brought in $595 = $126.61 profit to resupply the inn.

A&S this Month: the pouch with pockets inside. Making them for largesse for the Crown. Gida will share the directions around the time of the meeting and bring pattern pieces. Two fat quarters (or 1/4 yard) of complementary medium weight fabrics will make two good pouches. So bring fabric, drawstrings, trim ideas.

Rune is thinking of putting together a class on making brooms, maybe candlemaking.

August 9th, First Methodist Church, Mason City, Iowa

Attending: William, Juliana, Brigida, Stasi, Avelyn, Sifrid, Sofya, Gobban

Chateleine: At your next A&S meeting will be the lady from the Globe Gazette coming to interview, so wear garb, bring a good project to work on, show off, etc.

Herald: we have names and heraldry. We can now pay with PayPal to go with emailed submissions.

Chronicler: have articles, will publish.

Archery: we have bows and arrows, axes, knives and spears. Archery is great! We need to bring the safety nets for the shady spot we’ve now picked since doing it in the arena on cement meant no way to mount our targets there. Might want the caution tape/ropes.

Exchequer: we have money, the amount that we’re supposed to.

Arts & Sciences: she wants to know if we got any cording done. Apparently we ate too much cheese, pickeled vegetables, etc. to get much done. Gida taught someone HOW to make cording with inkle weaving. See Chateleine report for the August meeting plan. September meeting: Gida’s pouches? (bring ~1 ft squares of fabric).

Web Minister: not present.

Event Business: we get to use the food stands! Refrigerators! sinks? one stove? But they want to charge extra for the show arena with the big fan – extra $100. Might be C&T there, too! Other issues, is the distance from the camping to the flushies, so they will be getting a handicap-accessible port-a-pottie, $214 (they’re waiving the $50 delivery fee). We vote to approve the additional expense. Site opens for set-up at 10 am on Friday, we think. Torquil Macgruder.

12 July, First Methodist Church, Mason City, IA

Attending: William, Juliana, Randall, Avelyn, Sifrid, Sofya, Brigida, Stasi, Gobban, Jory (Zoom)

Chatelaine: Robin Calhoun MacLanland from the Globe Gazette contacted the Seneschal about coming to one of our meetings to listen and interview. We’re figuring the A&S meeting in August after our event. (Brigida will bring her new double-gloucester cheese.)

Herald: we have names and devices and badges

A&S Minister: contacted TRH Chatelaine for largesse ideas to work on during our meetings: Viking wire weaving, archer arm guards (with kingdom populace badges), cording (next meeting),

Exchequer: We have money. She is prepared to help with Troll at the Villa Frumentaria. We’re going to suggest that they have 3 people for the Saturday morning shift, 2 people for the other shifts. At last one needs to be a paid member.

Archery: Kediver contacted Gobban about getting Marshal-in-Training. He started on that at Raid or Trade. He wants to do a spear throw and the event.

Event: William and Juliana have arranged a site tour to help figure out what we can use. Their whole team there is new, so are eager to learn and make improvements for the future. They indicated there would be no problem using the show pavillion area for archery. Inn plans are well in hand with Stasi and Juliana. Gida is making cheese and pickled veggies.

28 June 2023, First Methodist Church, Mason City, IA

Attending: William, Juliana, Avelyn, Brigida, Sifrid, Sofya, Gobban, Stasi

Old Event Stuff: Juliana found the Shire’s old walkie talkies in their storage, so we vote to have Juliana make sure they’re functional and donate them to the Restore if they’ll take them.

Chateleine: hasn’t heard anything on National Night Out, and if it’s in the hockey arena again, its less-than-ideal.

A&S Minister: Stasi is taking the job back! She’d like to work on largesse projects at the meetings.

Lilies: weather was great, needing the cloaks a couple of nights! But two ice trucks died, so Paradise got some extra business.

New Event Stuff: Stasi got the feast gear loaned to Simone, including one coffee pot. We’ll need one for the inn. Juliana is working on runzas and will need extra freezer space. She also got the recipe for the pickled vegetables from Michael the Wanderer’s vigil (Gida volunteers to play with her vinegars to help). Stasi’s working on soups. Our crown is coming, and at least the Queen of Northshield is coming.

24 May, First Methodist Church, Mason City, IA

Attending: William, Juliana, Sifrid, Sofya, Gida, Stasi,

Event Business:

Villa Frumentaria has found a site for their first event: the Palo Alto County Fairgrounds in Emmetsburg. The new prices total $800 b/c their renting different parts separately. We vote to approve the price and the 50% deposit.

Avelyn to make Troll official.

Gida to help with Heralds Point and Troll (?).

Sofya helping the event steward.

Simone is doing feast, so we will offer to do Friday night stones soup and maybe also Inn (Juliana).

10 May 2023, First Methodist Church, Mason City, IA

Attending: Nohahme, Avelyn, William, Juliana, Sifrid, Sofya, Torquil (Zoom), Jory (Zoom), Gobban, Gwyn, Gida, Stasi

Chatelaine: no demos.

Chronicler: no submissions, no newsletter

Exchequer: we have money.

Archery: we have bows and arrows. We had a nice little fighter practice last weekend. There is open shooting at the Waverly Archery Club on Saturday, if not going to Deodar’s event. Lots of thrown weapons at the event, but no archery.

Herald: nothing new for our group members. Gobban wants a badge. Villa Frumentaria’s name and device passed with the comment “nice cant” (cant = heraldic pun on a coat of arms).

Deputy Webminister: William got an email about renewing our domain name, but it’s from the kingdom web host. Sofya will investigate.

August Event Sponsorship: Torquil reports that the fair board met and their contact had their list of questions to ask, but they haven’t heard yet what was decided. The weekend is presumably available, otherwise the discussion wouldn’t have gotten this far. They will check on archery in city limits and let us know as soon as contracts need to be co-signed, and deposits need to be paid (also insurance certificates, Mews flyers). Loch Meadonach had events there, but no one here apparently went.

Sewing Party on May 20th: at the Park House in Mason City, lots of space, lots of outlets, pot luck snacking (Gida’s cheese, etc.), bring-your-own-beverage, crash space/camping space available.

12 April 2023; First Methodist Church, Mason City, IA

Attending: William, Juliana, Stasi, Gida, Berndt, Sofya, Sifrid, Gobban, Gwyn

Chatelaine: no new demos.

MoY: haven’t heard from Kingdom if our background checks have expired yet.

Herald: we have some promotions from Gulf Wars, we have new combined A&S orders that will need new names and badges, so if you have ideas, please send them to the Kingdom A&S Officer.

Deputy Webminister: we have a webpage, no major changes. The Calontiri Wiki may be going official.

Archery: we have bows and arrows. Some of us have things to throw. The newly retired want archery practices. William sees that Mohawk archery range is mostly shooting on Sundays.

Chronicler: we’ll have an issue when we have enough submissions.

Sewing party:

Upcoming Events:

Sewing Party: since the Osage site is booked, we’ll have the sewing/project party at the Park House on May 20th-21st. Potluck food, garb optional, crash space available.

Deodar games event May 13th, no archery except thrown weapons. Stasi has offered to do inn, if the other option falls through.