time, anniversary, SCA students

Wow. Time flies. Not always at the same speed. And when I was little, time crawled. So did I. I still can't fly. Time flies, though.

Which of these seems better for a directory photo for an unschooling conference?






Holly likes them both. The one of them up on the roof is newer, and the other was at the zoo in October, on a playset. How can my little babies be so big? I know how, and I was right here the whole time, but still...

Tomorrow is my 23rd wedding anniversary. Those people up above are two of our three offspring. Pretty good deal. Yet I'm not going out with my husband on our anniversary. Something better came along. Not better than Keith, but better than going to a restaurant and a movie. Movie theaters aren't as fun for Keith as they used to be because of eye problems, and one thing he likes more than anything is to have time to himself, so I'm taking Holly and some SCA friends and going to a nearby town for many hours where I can be with people as I love, and Keith can have a quiet day as he loves. It's a fine plan.

Keith and I met in the SCA nearly thirty years ago, and have been involved in that organization the whole time. We've separately gone through short periods of finding other things more important and desireable, and I was doing all unschooling and no SCA for a few years (though I still clothed and provisioned others in the family who were going to events, and still did some counseling and advisement of friends and that sort of base-camp help).

Lately, though, I've been back and fully active, and Saturday instead of hanging around with my longtime SCA-buddy and husband, I'm going to a tournament and feast and making a new student, Lady Kymma Godric. That's Kymma in the middle. On the right is Karl, who's been my student for seven weeks. It seems like six months because he's done and learned so much and been so helpful. Sometimes time slows down so we can really remember the good parts.

Then there's Dermod, also an important part of this group. He's Artan's squire, but secondarily to that, he's asked to be my student in the areas of virtue and philosophy and the fun stuff. (fun for me)

It's ironic, I know, to spend so much time and energy getting away from "teaching" and "teacher" modes and then to formally engage in teacher/student situations, but in the SCA, it's different. It's more an apprenticeship relationship, without the specifics of one narrow area of endeavor. It's mentoring, in a whole-SCA-life kind of way.

I've had students in the past, and never planned to have more, but these three are awesome and inspiring, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to share with them what I know and have. I didn't know my life could be bigger and better, but they've made it so.

Holly X3

To see it larger and to see the photos from which it's made, look here.

Flowers, Spring...

Third day in a row, something bloomed. I missed it myself, being out of town, but Holly posted this on my MySpace. She took it with her phone:

I just forget to post...

Sometimes I'm too busy to post, and sometimes I just plainly forget. Holly and Marty have both been taking photos of doings in which I've been involved. I like that. Here I am, speaking in Arizona, taken by Holly from way in back of the room without a flash. Not bad considering that. She's trying to be unobtrusive and all. Pretty successful.



Marty and Holly (and sometimes Brett and Sadie) have taken most of the photos of a series of SCA presentations I've organized on Thursday nights lately. It's very cool that they can be documented after the fact, for people who missed them, and maybe even more valuably for people who were there. I just love the internet; I love digital cameras; I'm glad my kids are willing and able to help.

Some of those photos can be seen here:
Ballads, Estrella War History, tales of courtesy...

I think I took these myself. All my kids show, and several others some of this blog's readers will know:
Period music session, and more from that evening (some taken by the kids) are here.

I've been doing lots of SCA the past several months, and really enjoying it. I've met some great new people and seen lots of learning, close up, which I love. I've had opportunities to hang out with people I had missed, when I wandered off in disgust a few years back, and some of those I was so irritated with have grown up and past some of the problems of before (and some of them missed me, too). Marty and Holly have both been more active too, even to the point of being interested in SCA philosophy discussions. It's been a thrill and a comfort all at the same time.