A few orders of business:

Kadlin welcomed all the newcomers: Matt, Solveig, Karen, and Jocelyn and her husband Adam. There was much chatting!

Carlo announced the new Thescorre Dance website, encompassing both the Western (English Country, Italian, etc.) and Middle Eastern dance practices in the barony.

Baronial Champs report: speaking for Katrina, Katja noted that we have the site owners' permission to set up stuff on Friday night before the event on October 7. (See the announcement)
The owners will ensure that nothing is vandalized overnight. Therefore, Katrina has a general request for flies, pavilion tops, carports, etc. so that we have shelter from the sun and other weather. If you can lend shade for the day, please contact Katrina.
Katrina plans to be onsite around 8 a.m. Saturday morning; if you need to be there beforehand, please let her know.
Eldjarn is kindly taking reservations, which are $2 for the day. <smile>
Sue is organizing the potluck; please contact her at sscully229 AT aol.com to tell her what you plan to bring to share.
Katrina is working this week with the baron & baroness and the champs/marshals to determine the schedule of championships. Currently, youth fighting will be the first tourney, per the marshal's request. The plan is to have open lists all day for general participation, with specific time periods slated for each tourney.
If anyone is willing to be Katrina's deputy autocrat for the event, in case of emergencies, please let her know.Social Meeting Topic: Pennsic A&S
Kadlin opened the meeting by asking folks to talk about the classes they attended at Pennsic. Lots of gentles spoke up, some had handouts; if you are interested in getting a copy of a handout or learning more about a specific topic, ask the gentle who spoke on it:Ø Honnoria really liked a Jewelry Made without Soldering class, and enthused about all the cool stuff in the A&S display. She noted that she made eight boxes of pots for Cori's workshop, Open Fire Cooking with Reproduction Pottery.

• Orianna and Fridrikr enjoyed a Flavor Elements in Beer class, "which was two hours of drinking with Gille" Orianna quipped. It actually was very informative and they learned about all the different tastes in a glass of beer, as well as some facts on period brewing. Orianna loved a class on Viking Civil Engineering, which explained the construction of bridges, canals, and a structure close to a pier/wharf. She also attended one on Spiffy period clothing for the Vain Norsewoman, although there was no handout and she questioned the teacher's interpretation of clothing reconstruction. She agreed that there was lots of cool stuff at the A&S display. She noted that the Threadworkers got together to try the syrups from Euriol's Medieval Beverages class, shop, and talk.
• Fridrikr was only at Pennsic for a week, but got to attend an Arabic Naming Practices class and Bardic 12-Step, a roundtable on performance and how to understand your audience.
• Carlo really liked What Were They Talking About in Damascus, in which he learned that coffee was almost outlawed at one point in history. [Katja's note: For more on coffee, please see http://www.florilegium.org/files/BEVERAGES/coffee-msg.html and read Hattox' Coffee and Coffeehouses or Roden's Coffee.] In addition, Carlo attended several drumming classes, and was thrilled when one teacher kindly spent an hour after the class working with him!
• Mairghread went to a course on Basic Scribal, and loved a class on Salads and Potages. At the latter, she learned about all different kinds of greens, and got a great glossary on herbs.
• Juliana said she and Carlo took a really neat class on Persona Development. She'd never done anything with her persona in the past because she was too intimidated by the research, she said, and this class was great. She learned lots of things to help her round out things. She became extremely interested in the Japanese braiding technique, Kumihimo (which she did for most of the social meeting!). In addition, she enthused about a class on Archaeology whose teacher was so energizing, he made you want to sign up for his next dig! Further, Juliana enjoyed a class on Medieval Carts & Wagons (the evolution of wheel construction) and another on Old French (she learned how medieval French is different from the modern language).
• Alison had fun at a Fabric 101 class at Maria P's fabric shop; she got samples of different fabrics, learned how to do burn tests, etc. She enjoyed Hrefna's class on Mammen Embroidery, and wanted to attend one on mosaics, but it was full. She did not like one she attended on Insular Embroidery because she was expecting a hands-on class, and it was more of a history lecture. She praised the white wool felt hat Matilda entered in the A&S display.
• Katja got to attend a bunch of classes during the first week, but only one the second week. The latter was a workshop on the Karslima Rhythm, which she attended with Carlo and Juliana. She was really excited that she got to learn a dance choreography to a specific rhythm, with two drummers who know the rhythm and now know what kind of dance moves go with it! (no handout, she took notes) Her two favorite classes were on New World Foods in Old World Menus (excellent handout documenting beans, tomatoes, potatoes, turkey, etc. in late-period and OOP texts) and A Cure For What Ails You (Victor of Shrewsbury's phenomenal class on how medieval food preparation was strongly connected to Galen's Humoral Theory, the major practice of medicine during our period of study, accompanied by a truly spiffy feast menu of foods that treated specific ailments). Katja also enthused about a lecture on Persian Dance, which investigated period miniatures in an attempt to determine dance
  moves, and a class on Medieval Cosmology 101 a campmate taught. She was extremely disappointed by a course comparing two medieval cookbooks, The Epulario in Light of Martino, since it was a poorly written handout and the teacher did not explain her findings well. In addition, she had handouts from Euriol's classes on Medieval Beverages for A Hot Day and How to Plan A Feast.
• Sorcha didn't attend any classes, but she bought a book on needle felting and taught herself how to do it. (She proudly showed off a doll she was making using this technique.) She also hand sewed and embroidered a Viking apron dress while at Pennsic! Even more neat, eight-year-old Talia hand sewed her own dress, too.
• Solveig attended a few classes, including ones on Vietnam, Japanese Fabrics & Textiles, and the History of Ships, and the tail end of one on Taking Your Calligraphy to the Next Level. She couldn't attend many since they conflicted with all the classes she taught (12 or 13, she doesn't remember exactly how many) on Japanese culture and history. Some of the ones she taught included Signature Seals and Calligraphy.
• Katja noted that several Thescorreans were involved in the Scribal Tea and Scribal Tent, including Una, Pleasance, Roberta, and Collette; Mairghread reported that Nivah sewed favors for the Scribal Tea.Any memorable performances at Pennsic?
• Mairghread thought the Pennsic Choir was WONDERFUL. She also got to see the Fools Parade for the first time.
• Orianna loved seeing Wolgemut; there was much discussion of their performance and previous performances.
• Fridrikr praised Nigel of Southwood's remarkable period sleight-of-hand/magic demonstrations several nights in a row at his camp.
• Honnoria loved going to the Hoity Toity party at the gorgeous Casa Bardicci camp on the Lake, where she saw the Tinkerers juggling flaming balls, among other things. It was really amazing! she said. She also appreciated the Calontir Artisans Row, where she saw soapstone carving, shoemaking, and throwing on a really challenging pottery wheel.
• Katja was surprised and delighted by the music, energy, and blindingly fast drumming at the Raqui & The Cavemen show. She also was thrilled when a friend, Aria, sang in Thescorre Camp after Thescorre Court. To hear more of her a cappella songs, see http://www.saraquist.com/Neat

Pennsic Moments:

• Orianna: It's Midnight Madness, and Alison, Olivia, Matilda, and I are sitting in one of the food tents watching people go by, playing period clothing/Not period clothing. We saw a woman in a stunning pink cotehardie… then she turned around and there was a giant poodle on her skirt! We also saw a little boy and girl who were dressed so beautifully they looked like they walked right out a manuscript. A lady comes running up to us and says, "Oh, there's four of you," and runs away again, to our confusion. She comes back, tells us that the four of us looked so perfectly period she just had to tell us, and gives us four tokens of appreciation. Not two minutes later, another lady stopped by and complimented us on our period period clothing, then stayed to talk for a while.
• Carlo: I showed a lady my underwear! I was looking for just the right trim and was riding up and down the merchants row, then finally picked it at a shop. I got into a conversation with the merchant, who eventually told me that her husband complains about how his braies fit. So, I went around the back and showed her how my underwear fits and how I made it. (Yes, Carlo plans to put the pattern up on the Threadworkers' website.)
• Katja: I was watching the Rapier Town Battle with Carlo, and Baroness Elizabeth walks up to us. She was wearing Turkish for the first time, and asked for feedback on the outfit. I explained that the fabric and colors were great, as was the underdress, but that the coat's underbust neckline and the blousy harem pants were post-17th Century. After writing down some book titles and URLs that would help her adjust the patterns, I realized that I’d just told a costuming laurel what was wrong with her period clothing! Heh heh. Cool.