Talk:Alexis Myrrdin of Braemist

=Award of Arms:=

Kingdom of An Tir Crown Tournament, 31 August 1985. The Shire of Myrtle Holt was the host of Crown. (Autocrat= Alexis Myrrdin of Braemist)

Other Activities

Kingdom of Caid - Lady Alexis Myrrdin of Braemist moved to the Barony of Califia, in the Kingdom of Caid in 1988. She attended several Great Western Wars, many Potrero Wars, and even an Estrella War, held in Arizona. She tried her hand at many things while in Caid - archery, water-bearing, war arrow gathering, marshaling, making chain mail bracelets by hand, candle making, painting award scrolls, pottery making, embroidery, hand sewing, cooking, and has attended many of the Barony's feasts, practices, one day events, and informal classes. She has stood gate in the wee hours of the morning, and at other times has howled at the moon with the best Caid has to offer. She has also worked on improving her research skills on both the Internet and at the University of California's 8 story tall Library. She enjoys listening to late night drumming, warm fires, and appreciates the skill it takes to make a really impressive subtlety - peacocks please her best in this form. She has also had the pleasure of seeing her children grow to maturity knowing the grace, virtue and chivalric values that the SCA can give when it is done right.

Submission to the SCA College of Arms - In 2002, through the Kingdom of Caid, she submitted a device she had drawn up just after receiving her Award of Arms. The name she documented for it was Johne de Oakford. Her name and device were approved by the SCA College of Arms in April 2002, on its first submission.

Return to the Kingdom of An Tir - Lady Johne de Oakford moved to the state of Washington, and thus back to the Kingdom of An Tir during the summer of 2014 and in early 2015 she made contact with the Canton of Lyonsmarche. She is currently in the process of constructing a new personae to go with her new address.

Personas-

(F) Alexis Myrddin of BraeEnmyst (sometimes spelled Braemist)

(F) Johne de Oakford

(F) Soon to come!

Brilliant Moments

A wedding I attended that took place in the Barony of Adiantum, somewhere between 1984 and 88. The couple was being married for real, and their priest came dressed as a monk, complete with brown robes and rope cord around his waist. The event was held in a large park with lots if trees, and in one area a whole complete, full grown pig, complete with head, was being roasted on a spit over a very large outdoor fire ring. People took turns turning the spit. Later when it was served at the table, there was an apple in it's mouth!

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Meeting Her Serene Highness Dowager Princess Janeltis Karaine, Starfollower, at an event in An Tir between 1984 and 1986. She arrived in a wheelchair, and seemed very quiet... until a flock of knights and other warriors gave up their battlefield and asked her to honor them with a story from the very first days of An Tir. What I remember most is the way more and more and more people gathered around, (a couple hundred at least), sitting on the ground, perched on the tables, all perfectly silent, to listen to her tales. The SCA is not normally known for its silence - but for an hour and more she held us all enthralled.

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In Caid, at an indoor feast, there was a contest in subtleties. Someone had gone to a great deal of trouble to procure a huge metal covering dish. The delight was paraded out by 4 men carrying an enormous platter, and on it, this huge silver covering dish, and presented it to Baron Guillaume de la Belgique and Baroness Felinah. When the Baron picked up the large cover, a small boy was there, crouched upon a bed of lettuce leaves and sliced apples! He jumped up, then off the plate and ran for the kitchen, leaving us all to laugh and applaud. I remember the Baron remarking that this was certainly the 'liveliest' subtlety he'd ever seen!

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Driving through the night from San Diego to Goodyear Arizona to attend Estrella War, all three kids packed into the pack seat, wedged amongst the gear and food and garb..... and the utter blackness of the night. We pulled over at one point just to marvel at the huge and unbroken canopy of stars above us, even letting the kids out. It was truly an amazing sight to see the stars stretch from horizon to horizon, in numbers I never imagined there could be. It made me realize how much we have lost in our fondness for electric lights.

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In a visit to An Tir in July of 2007 - seeing my eldest son and his fiancé married at an SCA event held in the Principality of the Summits, and our other family members attending as well. It was a beautiful ceremony, and court afterwards held a nice surprise as the Princess of the Summits called me up to thank me for all I had done in the past to enrich the Kingdom, and presented me with a small wooden box and inside it a beaded bracelet. Later that night I watched and listened as my son joined the campfire drummers, and I discovered that he and his new wife truly had made their own home in the SCA.

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The First Days of the Shire of Myrtle Holt

Alexis encountered the SCA in Riverfront Park, in the mundane town of Grants Pass, Oregon. Within a few weeks she found herself neatly stuffed into the back seat of a Volkswagon Bug (that needed to be pushed to get it to start), in the middle of the night, driving with 2 others, to her first event. The Dun Cow Inn was also at this event, and what with their middle of the night arrival, made quite an impression on her... but then, when were they not impressive?

During her few weeks, or perhaps a month with the SCA group in Grants Pass, much to Alexis' surprise (and because of her number of years past the age of 18) she found she had become the Seneschal of the then incipient 'Shire of Myrtle Holt'! The year was 1983 - or was it 1984? Meanwhile, back at her first event - luckily the Crown approved of the gifts the 3 of them presented, and with the properly filled out paperwork submitted, the SCA became a curious aspect of life occasionally encountered by the people of Grants Pass. "Are you in a play?" was a question actually asked at more than one location.... and more than one time in the years ahead.

Over the next two years the shire grew person by person. A few Demo's at elementary schools and in various parks, a one day tournament now and again with a few decent prizes, winter indoor events held in the meeting rooms of various public buildings that did not charge much for their use, and so what started as 3 people soon had grown into a dozen and more!

Several of us held more than one office at a time, depending on who else could afford the registration and membership fees the BOD asked. For the first year Alexis wrote, assembled, had copied and mailed out the monthly shire newsletter, 'The Leaflet'. Soon we had enough people to even try and occasional dance and fighter practices - and fighter practice, especially if done in a public park, always drew curious onlookers who wanted to know what we were doing and why. It was the shire's main way of recruiting new members at the time! As she didn't have the urge to do the bashing aspects of the SCA, Alexis learned enough to be able to serve as a marshal for those who did indulge.

During the second year, Alexis created and designed a 'Pages Program' for the children of the shire. (At the time there were 3 such children - all under the age of 10 - and all of them hers.) The kids loved the unusual way of spending an afternoon at the park, learned a little about playing a recorder, how to address and respect the nobility, how to serve at the table, a bit of calligraphy and illumination, dance, and practiced at the then accepted form of 'youth combat'. But the Treasure hunts that happened during the shire's events were the most favored events for them. For each 'Chapter Leaf' the children completed of their 'Pages' Program', a symbol was embroidered onto their green pages belt favor and they were given a little bag of candy as reward for their achievement.

This same year Alexis was the Mistress of Arts and Sciences and was autocrat for a few minor one evening or one day events. The XX anniversary of the SCA was coming up, and the populace decided that we should create a 'map' on fabric that would be Myrtle Holt's entry page in it. Several people helped draw the figures on the cloth and the overall planning was a group effort, and then Alexis was designated to paint it. It was a humble entry, but we had all enjoyed the process of creating it. It was decided that we would like to host an Ithra College session, for those in our shire and any others nearby to attend. It was held at Alexis's House, which had plenty of parking, even for RV's, and we all learned much from those who came to teach.

After managing to host a few local camping style events over the past year or two, and with the success of the Ithra, the shire as a group decided that with the growth of Myrtle Holt's populace, and with the help of people in the near by SCA group in Ashland, Oregon, that we should apply to host and autocrat Crown Tournament! The submission was duly submitted, and to our surprise, accepted!

The Crown Tournament was coming to the Shire of Myrtle Holt - and Alexis had been chosen by the group to be the official autocrat!