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Winter Thyng was held in a lodge in Dorset, VT and it was huge!A massive stone fireplace and high ceilings made the whole space seem like a cathedral.One end of the room had a raised alcove perfect for a small ensemble to perform.The (huge) kitchen was downstairs, and when we arrived in the early afternoon Ogier was downstairs cleaning and getting things squared away for the feast.It was great to see everyone again, and we were warmly welcomed.
After we had gotten our table set up with celtic designed woven rugs, and wall hangings and set out the games and the bauble boxes and such I was called to play a game of Kubb (pronounced KOOB), a Nordic wood throwing game which is sort of a cross between horseshoes and Fitchneal (Tafl or 'table' to the Vikings).It was about this time that Gobae showed up!I picked up two beautiful knives from him (I had commissioned him for a reproduction of an archaeological knife find and he was kind enough to run it up to the event for me, though he couldn't hang for too long). Turns out Gobae is not only a master smith (who has great word fame in Norseland as I gathered from all the talk about him later on), but a musician as well and read a piece out of the book of song on my guitar lute quite competently! The Kubb game continued, and my team-mate Hobbe and I managed to win one round, but lost to Grey and Tomas. After warming my hands up inside for a bit, I decided that I had wood chucked all I would be chucking and Tanner took my place for a final round where they finished 2nd place.I'm told Tanner didn't need the 2nd place prize, which just happened to be an awesome scabbard made by Raffen (who has some word fame of his own in leather-craft), which I was not too proud to accept even though the win was really Hobbe and Tanners'.
We left as the assembly started, and had dinner with my parents who live very close to Dorset, and returned just as feast was ending sans kids (thanks, Grandma!).We brought a couple bottles of Atholl Brose to share, and soon had many friends gathered around!Tomas and I had a great game of Fitchneal with the rules as I only recently learned them (mentioned in previous post) and heard some great stories by Jan (pronounced Yahn).Lief, Tanner, Yurik, Sionnan, Katrina, Thorstein, Raffen, Ogier, and many others were all kind enough to spend some time with us, joking and gaming.We were both particularly impressed by Zack's Vanilla Mead (he's been studying under an SCA brewer from our area by the persona Sean Delondres).Turns out Sabha knows his wife mundanely and hopes to begin studying under him as well some day. Sabha had stitched a nice Shut the Box cloth we used for a little while, but no serious gaming went on.
Rog and several other Norselanders took their places on the raised dias and mystical beats and grooves filled the room as we played games and talked.This magical percussion made for a killer party, strange instruments shaken and tapped, guitars and mandolins creating a musical soundscape with a very ethereal quality.
Eventually later in the night, Thyng quieted down and Comyn, several Atholl Brose horns too many began to regale with his art, such as it is.He was heartened to glance up and see about 20 Norselanders at one point singing along or at least enjoying themselves.Momus was invoked through his songs and Comyn attempted to relate some of the story behind several of them.

Overall, despite the massive hangover I could easily have avoided which has plagued me all day today, I can say that we all had a wonderful time and I can't wait to do it all over again soon!

It sounds like such a good time. Wish we could have made it.