First of all, here is the link to my Sapphire Joust pictures.

As you may have noticed, it begins with Llwyd's White Scarf Prize playing, and then it moves to pictures that have lot of pink in it. That is because for some reason, most of the ladies at Ponte Alto showed up wearing pink. (We are now known as the Ponte Alto Pink Patrol!) This goes to show that we are a Barony with a collective mind.

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

I did get to play in the Sapphire Tournament, and I must say that my claim to fame has to be fighting through the entire thing without passing out due to heat exhaustion. (Although there were some moments where I thought I would.)

I was pretty pleased with my fighting, particularly because I did get to land some shots I have been practicing. My favorite moment was when I landed what Dante calls a "Sbasso," Kinny calls a "Weird Italian Thingy," and my Ponte Alto brothers and sisters call "Bel's Annoying Matrix Move."

I live for those moments . . .

Sadly, I did not get to play in Sunday's Art of Defence Tournament, which was one of the main reasons I wanted to fight at Sapphire. And I didn't get to play because, although I did not pass out due to heat exhaustion on Saturday, the heat triggered a mondo migraine headache which made me wake up in tears come Sunday morning.

Four Advil, two Excedrin Migraine, and two cups of coffee later, as well as a pair of sunglasses to mute down sunlight, allowed me to be able to conduct the Siege Engineers meeting, but not much else, let alone fight in a tournament. As a result, we headed back home as soon as the meeting ended.

And speaking of siege engineers, the meeting was labeled a success. We did get to meet some very nice folks, and the motivation factor went up the roof. We are aware that this is the rebuilding year, and that it may not be till next year when we fully reap the results of our work.

But we're on the right track and we will succeed.

There is a lot of enthusiasm, and we plan to get everyone on board.

And now, last but not least, my list of bests and worsts on Sapphire:

Bests:

Llwyd getting his White Scarf

Celia getting her Golden Dolphin

Iustinos getting his Pelican (in an awesome Bizantine style ceremony!)

Her Majesty's spectacular Bizantine hair

Fighting at the Sapphire Tournament

The Siege meeting

The Crusaders vs. Sarracen's Pennsic battle announcement (very tastefully done!)

Delfina becoming Greta's Protege

Lots of food!

The Ponte Alto Pink Patrol

Spending time with friends

My pink dress fitting nicely

Our Pontoons doing good at the various Sapphire tournaments

Anne la Settere doing a town run to bring me Excedrin Migraine (thanks!)

Worsts:

The heat and humidity bringing me down

Migraine!

Some ladies talking loudly in front of my tent at 5 a.m. (It's bad when you are feeling okay, worse when you are battling a migraine!)

Not being able to fight at the Art of Defence Tournament

Not being able to stay for the Yew Bow meeting

And that's it folks.

Now I need to do laundry.

I just opened our luggage, and our socks are trying to knock me out.

Phew!