My her-story with the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. is a long one, having joined in A.S. X(1976 A.D.) in the then Barony of Golden Rivers, Kingdom of The West. At that time, the SCA was small, by today's standards and there was only two Principalities in the West: CAID and An Tir. The SCA had only four Kingdoms when I joined. I am not quite a "Dinosaursress" ~ however, often, when stories are told, it almost seems so! However, I do admit, I know most of those wonderful SCA Dinosaurs; the Legends of The West Kingdom.

I've been a member of House Bellatrix for many years. Duke Paul was one of the first people whom I met in the SCA when our children were smalls. Now, we are both Grandparents with Adult Children! See House Bellatrix website at: http://www.bellatrix.org

I have to agree with what my dear friend Countess Bevin Fraser of Sterling once said to me, "We are not old enough to have adults for children!" (Bevin is Katherine Kurtz. Her Official Website is: http://www.deryni.com). However, she and I and many others not only have adult children, but we have grandchildren! The SCA is in a third generation of families, headed for the fourth. The organization thrives today, offering many facets of medieval life, from broadsword fighting with "rattan" swords and all the Arts and Sciences!

After my first SCA years in Golden Rivers, I moved to the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, where a group of us got together in the city of Hayward and started the Shire of Esfenn. Eventually, The Principality of The Mists was formed and the rest is history!

During my years in the West, it was a pleasure to Autocrat Twelfth Night three times and teach others how to Autocrat, effectively and without stress. After all, we were supposed to be having fun! In doing that, I wrote a manual, Effective Autocratting. At Twelfth Night A.S. xv, I was very surprised when King Radnor gave me my Pelican XV for my service to the Kingdom, as I had managed the Kingdom Calendar for two years and done a lot of other service, as well.

I have received the following Awards, Fellowships and "fun" Service Awards over the past twenty-five years in the SCA:

For most classes, I wrote an instructional manual. I have many of them available to others for a very nominal fee.

I taught my Gambazon class at Twenty Year Celebration and my friends, Jeames Blaunkheort assisted, as he had shared his research in making better arming padding wrote to me from Germany a while before Twenty Year Celebration. He then invited me to Pennsic - a great war!

Along the way, I have participated in numerous SCA Demos, including one for French Television on: "What Americans Do for Fun and Entertainment." Doing that demo was a great deal of fun.

Mundane activities are involved to prepare for an SCA event of any kind. So, my sewing skills helped me make medieval clothing in which I could camp. I have done beading projects, embroidery, open work, and making Gambazons. I have done all aspects of Autocratting, including cooking for and hosting feasts, hall set-up, decorating and clean up. While camping, there are numerous tasks that must be done so we can all play, including stacking firewood and camp detail, plus many other tasks.

I have drawn newsletter covers and some smaller artwork. See the examples of these on this site. There is at least one more, but I must have it buried in a file somewhere (and I have lots of SCA personal files).

In my early SCA days, there were Archery Lessons, Practice, Competitions, Inter-Kingdom Archery Competition. I sponsored Archery Shoots and helped with and made some targets, including making some six foot targets, using crayons or drawing imaginary dragons in lively colors with certain zones as "kill" zones. Unfortunately, I have not kept a list of the numerous Archery, Cooking, Costuming, Embroidery and other contests that I have Won over the years. Somewhere there is a list of some of them. I have virtually lost track now.

While in the Shire of Dael Beorht (Artemesia - Colorado), I sponsored my own Games Tournament every year, which was a Shire Fund-Raiser in conjunction with our local North Fork Arts and Humanities Council, of which I was a member for some time. Our Shire participated in a Youth Day and the newspaper said, "A damsel prints names on book plates for the children." Alas, to be called a "damsel!"

Just with this brief overview, one can see that there have not been any dull moments in my SCA life! I have enjoyed activities and have traveled all over the West (California, Nevada, Utah, Oregon and Washington State), to Oertha (Alaska), Far West (Hawaii), to the East for Pennsic (Pennsylvania), to the Midrealm (Michigan), to Ansteorra (Texas) for events. I have lived in the then Kingdom of Atenveldt in the Principality of Artemesia (Colorado), in Atenveldt proper (Arizona) and now live in the Midrealm (Ohio).

Everywhere I have visited and played SCA, I will always remember people's welcomes and kindness to me. Families host other SCA folks everywhere you go around the World. The SCA is a Family - no matter where you go.