With gratitude to Baroness Alanna, we are at the Goldfish Swim School in Brookline. The gavel sounds very loud and authoritative in this space. And, apropos of nothing, we are joined by two adorable dogs!
Baronial Elections
- The Seneschal made an error with the initial round of voting. Technically the bylaws list that this first round should be one person, one vote; therefore it wasn’t appropriate for people to be solicited for their opinions, as many officers did. If the results of this round would kick anyone off the ballot, we would postpone until March, but as that isn’t the case, Council feels it’s fine to continue as expected tonight.
- The candidates stand and introduce themselves, using something that appears to be the plush cow version of a speaking stick. Your candidates are:
*Lady Kassandra Aiantide and Lord Zohane Faber called Eletarius
*Master Thomas of Effingham and Lady Raziya bent Rusa (edited to add: now Mistress Raziya–vivat!)
*Lady Isabelle de Montreal sur Mer and Baroness Alanna of Skye
- The Seneschal notes that while it is necessary for a kingdom officer to officially tally the votes, the officer in question is home with a sick child. The vote tally will be sent to her before it is finalized, and we wish her child a speedy recovery. The initial count is being done by Mistress Katrin and Master Kobayashi.
- The Seneschal is also interested as to who among the large crowd gathered is a non-paid member. The answer is no one; everyone there is a paid member. Likewise, the Seneschal inquires as to who among us lives outside the Barony. We are currently joined by 2 Scadians who live outside Carolingia.
- Ballots are passed out and voting commences. It should be noted that stickers are available, but the seneschal will not let us have them!
UPDATE AT 7:55 PM: The election is closed! Here are the super unofficial results: Master Thomas and Mistress Raziya will be first on the ballot, Lady Isabelle and Baroness Alanna will be second, and Lord Zohane and Lady Kassandra will be third. These results will remain unofficial until they are verified by the kingdom officer. The Seneschal will notify the barony when that is the case. Vivat to all of the candidates!
Officers
- Order of the Moon: A new mailing list has been put together. Members will shortly receive an email sent to both lists. If you only get the email via the old mailing list, please contact Lord Gundormr.
- Chatelaine: Lady Aaradyn is pleased to note that there has been good interest lately.
- Knight Marshal: The old yahoo group will be transferring to a new mailing list imminently, and the marshal is working on how to transfer the one to the other smoothly. If you are subscribed to the old list and would like to be moved to the new list, please contact Baron Valerian directly.
- Herald: We are informed that there are two seasons for Heraldry: Pennsic and not Pennsic. The Herald announces that all Pennsic heraldry is officially done; if you want your heraldry drawn now, the process will be much faster.
- Exchequer: If you need money, please find him after the meeting.
Activities/Guilds
- Scribal: We now have a permanent ongoing location at the Presentation School in Boston (this is the same location as dance practice). Meetings will be held on the first Wednesday of every month, starting this Wednesday, February 7, with Lord Gundormr presenting on the topic of scribal abbreviations. There is a parking lot (but note that it isn’t where Google thinks is it—directions will be included in upcoming emails) and access to public transportation; they also have AV equipment and are free. The Presentation School has been very good to us, and if you find yourself in a situation where you can talk them up, Council encourages you to do so.
- Low Company: The next Low Company meeting will likely be in late March/early April on a Friday evening. Opinions on which Friday can go to Master Justin or Lord Symon. There is also a possibility of resurrecting the mailing list; if that is something you would like, please let them know.
- Waytes and Quire: The schedules for the Waytes and the Quire are located on the Barony website. The Waytes are currently preparing for the Black Rose Ball on March 10 and then will be looking into English concert music. The Quire will be working on Spanish music.
- Dance: Countess Mara informs us that dance practice will be starting up again at the Presentation School on the first Thursday in March. If that isn’t soon enough for folks, Quintavia dance practice remains the first Tuesday of every month.
Events
- Carolingia Castellum Est: Her Excellency Baroness Nicolette reminds us that we have an event next month–Carolingia is a village (more information on that below). At this event, there will be a baronial bardic championship.Their excellencies request that competition pieces be based on actual historical pieces, as these bring their excellencies joy. Mistress Dreda, who is running the event, has lots of useful insights about performing that inspire thought in their excellencies.
- More Carolingia Castellum Est: Mistress Dreda is running this event but registration forms can be obtained from Lady Eadygth. Here are a few new things to know about the event: There will be historical Baronial photos there that will need to be IDed. Please let Mistress Dreda know if you don’t want your picture to be used. If you have pewter site-tokens that you no longer wish to keep, please bring them to the event. Mistress Rosa will collect them and melt them into a large recycled block of pewter for future use. There will definitely be a children’s garb swap and possibly an adult one. In regards to the performing, you can in fact perform without competing. Either way let Dreda know so she can get a sense of numbers (groups are fine), and inform the performance coordinator, Master Lucian.
- Even More Carolingia Castellum Est: It is located at Vesey Memorial Park in Groveland on March 10. There will be a fire in the (very large) fireplace. The site fee is $15 with a $5 discount for members and a family cap. There will be supper but not a feast. And the answer to the question of whether we can we have archery and thrown weapons is yes, so long as folks bring their own stuff and are okay with being outside in March.
- EK 50 Year: It’s coming up, and you should go! The history coordinator wants to know if groups would like to do things, and we have put this question to our historian, Mistress Eowyn. It is certainly possible that multiple people could work on that and, at the same time, learn about the history of the Barony. A question is posed: will we put together a display at the event or a page for the site book? The answer to the former is maybe, the answer to the latter is yes. But the deadline is coming up shortly: all pages for the site book are due by March 30.
- It is also noted that their Highnesses are asking for bids for kingdom level championships. While equestrian championships will be held at East Kingdom 50 year in June, a suggestion has been made that kingdom thrown weapons championship could be held at Falling Leaves. Council approves of this suggestion. A question is asked and answered regarding kingdom level events: half of the money earned goes to the kingdom and half is kept by the hosting barony.
- The Knight Marshal brings good tidings that the German Club in Walpole may be available for events again soon. Apparently the head bartender there is fond of us and our general inclination to imbibe alcoholic beverages.
Announcements
- A royal court was held at the recent Dancing Fox event and some Carolingia adjacent folk received awards and honors! Lady Aesa Feilinn received both a Silver Crescent and a Silver Brooch. Duchess Thyra became a member of the Order of the Laurel, and Sir Matthias became a member of the Order of the Golden Rapier.
- At the royal court of the Market Day at Birka Catherine of the Beladies received her Award of Arms, and Countess Marguerite become a member of the Order of the Golden Rapier.
- Lord Martin, Mayor of Helpful Town, has graciously posted to the unofficial EK Facebook page a magnificent map of Massachusetts, divided into zip codes and thus into baronies and shires. It is most useful and should be posted on various websites soon.
- Mistress Eowyn informs us that she has brought cookies with her this evening and a hearty vivat to that news!
- Baroness Alanna pronounces the next newcomer night to be February 19th. In practice for the upcoming Bardic competition, the topic will be stories of a vaguely SCA nature.
- Master Kobayashi gifts us with the information that during the weekend of February 24, I Sebastiani–the Greatest Commedia Del’Arte Troop in the Entire World–will be putting on a show at the the Somerville Armory for International Commedia Del’Arte Day.
- Newcomer Timothy, whose title the secretary did not catch and for which she most deeply apologizes, gave an archery talk recently and interested 4 new people in the SCA. He will be giving more talks in the not too distant future; if you are interested, you can reach out on the Carolingian Facebook page.
Council next month will be at the Watertown Public Library on Monday, March 5. April Council location remains up in the air. The location must be accessible by public transit, have some kind of parking, be reasonably priced, physically accessible, and relatively central to all members of the Barony. All those criteria were met by the Goldfish Swim School in Brookline this month. If we could give them a few 5 star reviews on Facebook without mentioning precisely why, it would be the least we could do.
The Senschal lowers her gavel once more and commands us to eat cookies. Vivat to the cookies!
YiS,
Agnes