Rowan's Journal

Let it not be said that I don't have great friends, in fact, I have the bestest friends in the whole Universe..

Sunday afternoon at GAIA, after a lovely Yule ritual, we had our usual High Holiday pot-luck. I'd fixed cheesy potatoes and ham with mushrooms and onions and it went like the proverbial hotcakes; I should have fixed more but I wasn't sure how much the potatoes would cook down.

We were all sitting around the tables and various friends were passing around boxes of goodies for Yule (and I was internally working on not feeling guilty over not having anything to pass around.) I'd sat at the table with Matt Shrivner and his cute but shy wife, Amy. (Matt is a new member and an opera singer, a geek and an absolute hoot and he and I will be starting the new Excellence In Ritual class sometime this year.) Kitty D. also came and sat with us, saying, "It's a whole table of singers!" Then David and Kimberly came and sit to my left, having joined us a bit late due to putting away the stuff used in the ritual. David, I think it was, put down an envelope next to my plate. I thanked him and continued to eat but soon he tapped it and said, "why don't you open it?"

So I did; it was a lovely Christmas card with a bunch of writing. It said this,

"Dear Susi,
The repair bill on your Bernina has been paid off by a roving gang of houligans people who love you. Just go down and pick her up from the shop! Happy Holidays from..."
And then followed a list of about 38 people, not all of whom probably want to be list publicly.

Then Neb explained that the initial intention to pay off the machine repair bill had been more than anticipated, so they turned to friends on Facebook to help make it up. But after Games Night on Friday, the amount collected had turned into more money while they were at dinner. I started leaking tears like crazy and looked over to see others wiping their eyes as well. David said, "Yep, pretty much the whole room knows about it" and I looked around to see everybody looking at me and grinning. All I could say was, "Wow!" and David said it wasn't too often that he'd seen me made speechless. That's about right. Kimberly said that the rest of the amount would be PayPal'd to me, as it was yesterday.

The remainder was $150 which is SO greatly appreciated! It may be just about enough to get an eye exam, since Costco does glasses and contact lens exams separately. I'll go right after Christmas and see if I can get an appointment. It won't be enough to get both exams and glasses but it's a start. I'm still going to have to do a GoFundMe to get it accomplished, I think. But this was SO very kind and considerate and showed me that I'm loved in a way that I can't deny.

That really made my whole day; best Yule I can remember in a long time.

There's more on my mind but I wanted to at least make a happy post for once.

This, oh my goodness this!

http://www.thegleeprojectcasting.com/Auditions/View/308838

My wonderful young friend, Morgan Hardage, made this video to audition for the Glee Project. I had no idea she was doing this. She's a kick-ass performer at Scarborough Faire. I've watched her grow up over the last 3 or 4 years and Oh My Goodness she'd be perfect for this. Please go vote for her.

I can't begin to describe how nifty she is and how much she deserves this. She has this "grasp life with both hands" sort of approach to life that gives everyone around her so much joy.

This is for a contest but also because Tessa Gratton rocks and because, as I've been telling her, I'm gonna be able to say "I knew her when..." before too much longer at all.

This is her web-site: tessagratton.com!

Awwwww, this is one of the neatest tributes I've ever seen for a deceased friend.

My old friend, Steve W. who played Thomas Aquarius at both Scarby and KCRF (old-timers will remember the delighful lunatic who would water the entire parade with a pair of silver pitchers. He would run himself ragged to keep everyone watered all the time.

He has written a definition "Pulling a Bert" for the Scarby performer who left us not long ago. And for anyone who knew Bert, this is the absolutely perfect tribute I can think of.

The reason I'm re-posting this from FaceBook, is that the more people who go and vote "thumbs up" for it, the more likely it is to get accepted into the Urban Dictionary.

Here's the listing: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pulling+a+bert

1. Pulling a Bert

buy pulling a bert mugs, tshirts and magnets
1. Innocently doing something incredibly painful in a funny way. 2. Doing something outrageously extraordinary with simple things.
Pulling a Bert is riding a bicycle down a hill thru a stack of burning hay bales for charity.

When one slips off a roof while roofing and somehow manages to stop the fall by accidentally nailing one's hand to the roof you are Pulling a Bert.

Only one who is capable of Pulling a Bert would consider Walk UPSIDE DOWN along a suspended beam by repeated sequential lacing and unlacing of combat boots that are nailed along the underside of the beam.

A friend of mine pulled a Bert, he was in a hurry while building a house and nailed his foot to the floor while installing the hardwood floor.

In an effort to surprise a recently found friend one could Pull a Bert by hiding in the overhead bin of airplane and popping out to surprise passengers.

One way to Pull a Bert is to jump of out a second story window with nothing but an umbrella.

I'm going to pull a bert and hand people a beer from INSIDE the fridge.
Our contractor pulled a bert when he cut a hole in a 2nd story floor to install a spiral staircase, while standing in the center of the circle he was cutting.

One of the few guys who could regularly make you watch something and go "OW" while laughing your arse off, and then you'd have to go and see if he was alright.


Please help make this tribute a reality!

The days come in a variety of good, not so good, cheerful, chipper and downright gloomy; today is "eh", somewhere in the middle of all those. Let me 'splain, if I can.

And let me begin by wishing us all WELL!

Today is Yule and while it's not the beginning of the year, I can see it from here. Perhaps I'm weird but I've never been able to look at the Sabbats like everyone else does. A lot of things are ending but more are beginning. I'm trying to look at it as more of the beginning than an ending or maybe the end of the ending and beginning of the beginning of a new life. That made sense in my head.

( this will get rambly, please bear with me )

Happy, blessed Yule to you all.

And yes, I made this post public on purpose; it's time the cards were all laid on the table. I'm screening comments so everyone can be as candid as they like. If you wish for me to NOT unscreen what you've said, please make that clear.

This from bessofhardwick

For those who are as of yet unaware, I will be at the Maryland Renaissance Festival on Saturday and Sunday, October 24th and 25th, for closing weekend. I will be doing a book signing of my book, Renaissance Festivals! Merrying the Past and Present. If you have MDRF people on your friends list, please let them know that this is an opportunity to get the first ever full-length scholarly book on festivals in general, but that it also focuses for several chapters on MDRF. And, I will sign all copies with a personal note. Thank you for passing along the information. Any questions, just drop me a line here!!!

(She also mentions Faire a la Carte in one of the chapters, which I found to be very cool!)

Good luck, dear, and I hope you sell LOTS of books! I want mine (soon as I can afford it!) and will get one soon as I see you again!

BTW, I've read a few bits of it, and it fabulous! Scarby-ites will enjoy it a lot!

(Huh, just looked in my pics and it seems that I don't have *anywhere* a pic of QG and Bess together...that's aweful!)

My dear friend (whom I'm not yet had the chance to meet face-to-face) Janis, aka ar_wahan is a simply marvelous woman. She's a professional free-lance writer, patient board member and kind-hearted activist for many worthy causes; generous to a fault, always.

Any time that I have put up a fund-raising effort for a friend, she has pitched in EVERY SINGLE TIME, without having known any of these people except through LiveJournal. That is the sort generosity, both of pocket and heart that makes her such an amazing woman.

She is diabetic and has overcome several other health challenges, not mine to tell about, with a courage and positive outlook that I so admire. Nothing seems to hold her down and she always finds ways to give back, that is her nature.

She is now going on the Walk for Diabetes for the American Diabetes Association and is looking for sponsors to help her raise funds during her walk.

You have all been most generous; she is the soul of generosity. I think it behooves us all to help her out in her own fund-raising drive for such a good cause. Although I have no cash at the moment, I will most definitely be donating, just as soon as I get paid for the work I did back in July.

Here's the link:

main.diabetes.org/goto/janis.gray

This is their take on TamLin....oh wow, this is sexy stuff! Found over at shadesong's place.

Gonna hafta buy this CD; can't wait until next May when we get to see Alec.

(Psssst...Eric! This is Alexander James Adams' new group, Tricky Pixie, with S.J. Tucker. Very Hot Stuff; you should see if you could get them for Barataria faire!)

For anyone wishing to attend Jim Gasser's services, many thanks to Emily for posting this information.

( re-posting what she posted in FaceBook )

*sigh* Well, poo. We can't attend, that's the first day of Norman Medieval Faire. Very disappointing but not at all surprising. I only hope that there'll be some sort of memorial at KCRF and that we can attend then.

My heart will be there, that's for certain.

EDIT: As Jen pointed out, it is not customary to send flowers. If you cannot be there and wish to do something, please contact the funeral home and see if any other memorial is being planned. Here is a list of hints on how to be respectful at a Jewish funeral. http://www.myjewishlearning.com/life/Life_Events/Death_and_Mourning/Practical_Aspects/Going_to_a_Funeral.shtml

Here's the news item on the accident, from Robert of the BlackArchers.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S856258.shtml

I spoke with Robert this evening. He said, "My boy, Hunter; the Barbarian was the only reason he wanted to come out to faire. Now I have to figure out a way to break the news to him."

The only comfort I have to offer is that at least we got to know him and experience his kindness, gentleness and sweetness; qualities that may not seem to fit a big, scary barbarian but did describe Jim to a T.