The 35th Bridge Birthday has come and gone and it was a success. But then again, I can’t say as I know personally. I wasn’t out on the floor with the people drinking, dancing, and generally having a good time enjoying the evening. I was sequestered away in the kitchen, washing dishes and peeling fruit amongst the many other chores. And I was happy to be there.

   The Casa do Buraco was to prepare the meal for the event. These wonderful folks are great cooks and most generous with their skills and time. However, an undertaking of the magnitude of feeding 80 people requires some help, so we volunteered. Our small part initially involved the preparation of food stuffs, in advance of the date, and the washing of several hundred pounds of less than up to standard sanitary kitchen utensils and pans along with the generally large amount port consumption that goes along while doing all this. The actual day of,  I was in the kitchen for 13 hours along with two cooks, a couple of other poor serfs like myself and the iron handed Mistress Vibeke who was running the show.  The kitchen was noisy and warm, when the rear door didn’t get opened. The smells put you in a steady state ravenous mode. There was lots of movement, action and laughter, all which made the time go all too quick. It was a good time working.

      Looking back now, it seems that all I did was wash and re-wash and re-wash the same pots and pans and utensils over and over again. That along with lugging things around, peeling way too many apples and pears for large pan desserts and generally trying to stay out of the way of the knife wielding cooks. There were a couple of slack periods of about a half-hour where I was able to go to the mead contest or just get my feet up onto a desk. Somewhere in all this, Manuela did a wonderful dance number which left a major number of the viewers slack-jawed.    

 The Casa do Buraco did receive some well deserved recognition  (Hooray!!) and alot of food was sent home with the stuffed revelers.    

     The day ended up with a whole lot of packing and more massive washing of the dishes, sinks, countertops  and finally the floors. I got home at three minutes after midnight, which is to say three minutes later than my estimated time. The next day, we were rather wiped.  It was a worthwhile endeavor that I would be happy to do for these people again. I now truly understand that it takes a number of dedicated giving individuals to provide so that many others can have fun. I guess that’s how some people get their fun : )

Photos courtesy of the ingredient missing in the photos, Mistress Iron-Hand Vibeke Twigsplitter…….Thanks for the superior organization that made it all run smooth : )

     What a beautiful day it was. Summer fading with a lingering 73 degrees, a clear sky, bright sun and just a bit of breeze. Tiger Tavern is in full swing and this year something special as Baron Steffan ap Kennydd of Silverwing has graciously offered to sponsor a tournament in the style of a Pas d’armes in celebration of his 60th birthday. The big prize of the day was an impressively sized sapphire wire set in silver. He told me that this was in tradition of having a prize worth fighting for that began with a tournament some time ago where a pound of emeralds was the prize. A pound of emeralds! That makes me want to don some armor!

     So the tournament got under way and Youth fought Age. Youth had, well, youth on their side but Age had treachery, hehehe. As you may guess, treachery did prevail in the end however there was some relatively heavily breathing going on in treachery corner of the list. At one point, Baron Steffan even donned armor to participate. The prize sapphire was given to the One Who Fought Best and that turned out to be Lord Eloi. (My apologies, if I butchered the titling.) Other prizes were also handed out according to merits.

     So we watched the tourney for a while, visited friends and I got to spend some time instructing Milady Zoe in the use of the bow. There was dancing and games and some crazy game of chance going on within the tavern.  The food was absolutely divine. Lamb and rice wrapped in grape leaves washed down with pomegranate mead while watching a roaring fire………absolute perfection. This gentle day went all too swiftly and we ended spending the bulk of it in the woods amongst great company and great cheer. All in all, it was one of those days that memories are made of.

So the day was beautiful, a bright cloudless sky and lots of gentles milling about through the shaded glades. Some 80+ of the Kingdom’s finest archers had assembled to pit themselves against each other for the glory of being the ‘chosen’.

The shooting was great fun and a fairly rigorous amount of targets to skewer were provided all based on a piratical theme with liberal doses of ideas and artistry from the silly film Yellowbeard.

All told, the two prequalifying rounds took around 4 hours. The first round had eight stations through the woods with targets ranging from1 1/2 wide slats on jail cell windows, to marauding pirates to flying parrots. The second round was held in lightly wooded meadows and consisted of some timed shoots, moving targets behind castle walls and a slot shoot. At that time, those with the sixteen highest scores were chosen to move on to the field to face the final challenges.

The king and queen were set up at the treeline along with the rest of the spectators lining the edge of the sun drenched meadow. The archers were facing into the sun as an added hurdle.

Single elimination trimmed the numbers to eight then to 4 and in the end, Owen, a young archer from Smoking Rocks took the prize. It was a long day but a good one filled with surprises, good food and friendly faces.

I will allow Mistress Avelina Keyes to report on my doings by pasting her report to the Bridge chat:

Greetings!

I bring you all tidings from Kings and Queens Archery Championships
this past Saturday.

Rafael de Sardinia called the Grey shot amazing!! It was his
first K&Q Archery Champs and he made it to the finals. He went in to
the top 16 in three way tie for second with Urho of the Pines and one
other gentle. Rafael was knocked out in head to head competition in
the round of 8.

After the tournament, Rafael was recognized in Court by the King and
the Queen for his achievement of the rank of Grand Master Bowman.

Vivat!!

In service,
Mistress Avelina Keyes, OP
Baroness Lockwood
Lieutenant General at Large
Captain of Archers of Bridge

So I fared fairly well and was quite happy to play with the big boys. Later at  court, I was recognized by the king for achieving the rank of grandmaster bowman and also for doing so within less than a years time.  I received my gold badge and was presented with an absolutely beautiful scroll by Lady Khioniya Nikolaevna Ryseva. That’s a whole lot of glory for one day!

 Top portion of scroll showing detail work.

Here’s looking forward to next year!

Saturday was just a beautiful day for a couple of hour drive along the Massachusetts Pike on the way to War of the Roses. The War itself was being held on top of a low mountainous region just outside of Albany at a really large event farm. There were many different fields. One held dozens colliding warriors whilst in another shafts of wood flew through the air. Many other fields held dozens of pavilions of various shapes and sizes and of course there was the vendors run with a couple of taverns to eat at. We spent a better part of our day watching richly dressed people with long swords stab other richly dressed people. We even managed to get in on a short demonstration on the nature and practicality of dagger fighting.

 Part of the reason for visiting was also to see friends and what real camping was all about. Beds and rugs in large spacious tents were the order of the day. A far cry from our previous experiences with sleeping on the ground while wrestling with terrier-sized mosquitos.

We, of course, left more money than we really wanted to in the vendors hands for safe keeping. Some delicious Turkish coffee rounded the day off and by then it was quite time to leave. The drive back was easy as was the drive up. All in all a quite lovely time. Perhaps, one day we might be camping at the Roses, ‘roughing’ it as it were out on the fields ourselves.

This past Saturday, in an effort to support the Barony, I attended the SCA, Barony of the Bridge demo at the 10th Annual Rhode Island Scottish Highland Festival.  Our outfit had been placed at the end of the field because of our needs regarding archery. We made quite a good showing and very popular by all accounts later on. There was plenty of heavy list action all day long and under the tents, demonstrations of arcane arts went on.

In the background of all this was , of course, was the festival itself. Literally dozens and dozens of bagpipers seemed to play all day long, while crowds plied the food areas and the many vendors and exhibitions. There were many tents labelled with clan names and I believe from the roar of distant crowds some of those gut busting heavy item tossing events that those Scottish lads seem to really get into were happening. It was large festival with everything to make a crowd happy. A great time indeed! The weather had turned from storming all night and it was another charming sunny and windy day much like at Balfar’s Challenge.  However, I was not caught unawares this time! Hat and sunblock were in force.

With Mistress Avelina in charge, Aedwyn of Bridge and myself worked the archery field. This work consisted of target shooting and talking to the crowds of inquisitive and surprisingly interested people. I left the bulk of the talking to those whose can do that more judiciously than myself and busied myself by shooing people away from the business end of the archery range. We also had a novelty waterbag shoot where two bags with water were suspended from a rope. The bag that drained first from being hit by arrows would be pulled upward by the other’s weight thus signalling the winner. Crowds really liked this as did the archers. Kudos to the Ralph the Carter for his brilliant design work on the contraption that allowed it all to happen. Many wanted to try their hands at a bow and see what they could do, however we were neither authorized or equipped to let the public shoot. Perhaps next year! There  is just something about shooting sticks into the air that fills one with the happiness. I think it is just the simplicity and chaos of it all : ) 

Below, two of the Bridge’s finest go at it. In the distance you can see the archery range area. Photo courtsey of Alysander Brokentooth.

My lovely wife and I attended Balfar’s Challenge (04.19.08) up Connecticut way hosted by Duke Balfar and the Barony of Dragonship Haven. It was held in a large field at an YMCA camping area. Fencing was at one end of the field alongside a row of merchants and the archery range was stationed all the way at the other end. The central area being held for the armored types.

 Mistress Avelina Keys, Kenny Paul and I formed the 3- member archery team called the Grumpy Badgers and proceeded directly to first place with our efforts. It was grand day for shooting. Bright sunny and actually a bit windy as attested to by my arrows sailing all over the course. A wonderful dayboard under a large open walled structure took care of the hungry part and a nice place to rest out of the sun for awhile. Of course, there was lots of armored combat action and fast fencing types showing off their martial skills. By the end of the day I was pretty tired and rather red and roasted from the neck up.

By nature, I am a shade critter. Shade critters really don’t think about things like sun-block. Well by the next morning my bald pate was weeping serous fluid and really starting to aggravate me. Looks like I had gotten myself a good case of sun poisoning as my reward for my efforts in representing my Barony, lol.  It is now three days later and the top of my skull looks like an old medieval map. I got some dark red and pinks and some yellow and browns and what looks like a few craters. I am starting to peel bits of vellum too. Terrific. Well at least my scalp is period. 

Note to self. Sun-block and a bigggggggggggg hat.

     Being a freelance illustrator necessitates a degree of being alone for long hours that leads into days and months that can get downright nearing the pathological. Probably not true for everyone, but for me it looked like the trail I was riding. What little social skills I had developed were fading along with my vocabulary. I was becoming a hermit in the middle of suburbia. I suspect that is probably more common than people think.

     I had first seen SCA types in ‘77 went I went to Texas A&M for my education. There they were, a bunch of guys in makeshift ‘hockey’ armor wailing away on each other with duct taped bamboo sticks out on the soccer field.  They were friendly and open and invited me to come and join. I debated the offer but overwhelming responsibilities came first. I never forgot them and checked up on the group periodically. Fast forward twenty years. For various reasons best left unexplained, I ended up in Rhode Island far from Texas soil.  At the place I was working at the time, I met a vibrant young lady named Beth. I ran into her now and again as my wife worked on many of the same company committees with her. One day, we spotted a SCA demo in a Johnston park. We pulled in to check things out and lo and behold, there was Beth. She was Elspeth, Baroness of the Barony of the Bridge. I was invited again however responsibilities and time made it not possible. Fast forward another ten years or so when situations as well as priorities have changed. 

     So realizing a key component was missing, I joined the the Society of Creative Anachronisms. It seemed to be a group of like minded people with interests in arcane arts and strange forms of entertainment ; ). It offered a social outlet, opportunities to learn new art-forms, skills and even how to pull a bow or swing a sword. As I was already making mead as a hobby, I already had something to talk about with others.

     What I found was a great group of generous and welcoming people happy to share their hard won knowledge with others. That seems to be just their way.  Since that initial time , I also come to realize that I had not actually joined a club or a social group but a community of individuals that help each other at each turn. Looks like, I finally fell  into something good.

     I am part of the Barony of the Bridge in the East Kingdom. More information about the Bridge can be found here: http://www.baronyofthebridge.eastkingdom.org/ .

     For more information regarding the SCA: http://www.sca.org/ . They are a worldwide organization so check it out for a barony near you!!

     Ya ya, it took thirty years to make that decision but then again I like to think things through : )

Hello World!

     My name is Rick Sardinha. I am an artist living in Rhode Island and I am going to be utilizing this blog somewhat as a brain dump as I explore various artforms and creative urges. These can range from oil paint to catapult building to designing burlesque and belly dancing costumes and whatever else I can get my mitts on. 

     So what to expect: Lunacy. Puppets in control. Demented puppets in control of the controlling puppets. Art. Art. Art. The creative process in regards to multiple disciplines that I am trying to get a handle on.  Topics will range widely as I get excited about blackpowder weapons, catapults, stop motion, archery and projects I am working on. My current lust fad is for steam launches.  Do not expect too well of a structured thought continuum over a couple of paragraphs.  Do expect tangents and a degree of weirdness. I am an artist not a writer.

What you won’t get is religion, politics or which bimbo forgot her underwear today. Let’s leave that fascinating part of the world behind. Now go and kill your television and recapture your life! 

cheers

Rick