kellan_the_tabby | SCA: al-Barran Champions

[My booth! It’s in a popup with a blue roof tucked under a big pinon pine tree, with more trees all around. There’s a table on each side, with shelves holding various products. In front on the left is a good-sized wire cat crate covered in a grey and brown patchwork wool blanket with a cat bed on top; Loiosh is curled up in the bed, and Tom is just visible in the crate. On the right is a set of shelves holding a couple of wooden boxes, and next to that is a dark blue cat stroller.]

Mom wanted pictures of the booth, so I took pictures of the booth. It looks … more or less like it usually does, which is nice; it had been so long I was worried I’d forgotten how to do the thing. But it went quick & looked just fine.

[A set of wooden shelves on a table. There are display boxes of soap in front of the shelves, and also on each shelf. Off to the right, on the white tablecloth, are a selection of pride flag pins.]

The soap! I had to mess around with the spacing on those shelves a BUNCH before I could fit the signs without blocking anything too much. Of course I’m going to be replacing them with folding shelves pretty soon, & I don’t think those are NEAR as easy to adjust as these shelves …

[A broad double set of shelves takes up the entire width of the other table. Purple display boxes hold a variety of tins, jars, and bottles. A rainbow pride flag hangs behind.]

Similar futzing here. Not sure what to do with that empty shelf, although if I’d remembered the big bottles there would have been things to go there. Next time!

I was RIGHT next to the A&S display, & that was AWESOME, I got time to actually LOOK at everything. One lady had supplies to make the easiest Turkish spindle imaginable, so now I have that, plus a tuft of wool & and a NICE little bowl for supported spinning.

[The spindle consists of a pencil-width dowel that’s been sharpened on one end, probably with a pencil sharpener, plus four colored popsicle sticks, paired off and held around the stick by tiny binder clips. Next to that sits a small white ceramic bowl holding a goodly hunk of grey wool.]

One guy had made his own composite bow, horn and wood glued together, and arrows to go with it. There was some BEAUTIFUL Turkish (I think?) garb. One lady has done a CRAPTONNE of research into Roman cosmetics AND THEN went & made a whole bunch, & was offering people makeovers. SO MUCH COOL STUFF. I wish I’d remembered to bring my phone over, but, welp.

[A flat rock, roughly a foot across, with a small pile of partly-burned twigs, matches, and pine needles. A hand holding a lit match hovers over the whole business.]

The next day was me & my accompanying band of trans kids getting bored & trying to make a tiny fire so they could smell how awesome juniper berries smell when you burn them. This would have been far more effective if anything at all had been willing to stay on fire. On the other hand, apparently there was a burn ban, so it’s probably just as well. It was, at least, hilarious.

Also due to the burn ban, I made off with all the firewood various people brought & then left. A nice little haul!

[A pile of pine firewood. It’s a couple-three armloads, if you’ve got long arms. It’s sitting on the ground next to the van.]

The fun part was fitting it into the van. Especially fitting it into the van with enough room to lay the bed flat so I had somewhere to sleep on the way home. That was pretty tricky, ngl. But I managed it!

[The view from the back of the van, looking forward. The bed is just visible at the bottom of the shot, along with part of Loiosh’s butt. Forward of that is a veritable wall of stuff — shelves, a cat crate full of stock boxes, another set of shelves with the popup precariously perched on top, a long stick, and yet another set of shelves, this on its side atop the cat crate and stuffed full of firewood.]

It didn’t all fall down, but I do not know how.

I’d planned to stay until Monday, but most everyone had left by early Sunday afternoon, so I packed up & headed north. Not the whole way home — I NEEDED a Woods Day, so aimed to stop somewhere in the Carson National Forest off of 285 on the way north. Espanola’s mall wart has a parking lot I’ve slept in before, so I slept in it again, & anything past that is a later post.

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