Our first gathering of the year began late Friday afternoon when Stig arrived from Montana. After catching up, Bodvarr & Stig went to the Ve' to hang a small pair of antlers to give my bodhran drum a place to hang during ritual. Once that was done, Bodvarr went to finish plowing the driveway while Stig and Egil took turns shoveling a path to the Ve' to make it easier for the procession walk the next day. After many snowballs were thrown and a few wrestling matches won between both dogs and kin, they took a short break on their ice thrones to contemplate life.
Once the meaning of that became clearer, or their butts just got to cold & wet, they got back to work and finished the path.
After the work for the day was complete, we all retired into the house to visit until the rest of our kinsmen showed up. Sindri was the first to arrive with Anthony close behind, followed by Leif & Aurie. A small feast of Philly cheesesteak sloppy Joe's, tater tots and chips & salsa, filled our bellies and the kinship filled our hearts.
As soon as dinner was over and we got the kitchen cleaned up, We got down to the business of brewing a new batch of mead and bottling the previous one. You've got to wonder...how many times did Anthony fill up Stig's kindred mug during the bottling process?
Once the mead was bottled, labeled and named "simply hopped" it was added to our horde of mead and we started the brewing process for the next batch. This next mead was being brewed with honey from the Bitterroot mountains of Montana and a few pounds of homegrown apricots from Stig's backyard. Both the honey & the apricots were donated by Stig the "honey snatcher".
Immediately after this batch was brewed and while we were waiting for it to cool so it could be blessed in service to the gods, Bodvarr cracked open a fresh bottle of simply hopped and passed it around to celebrate a job well done.
While we were all savoring the nectar of the gods it was casually mentioned that we should play euchre. Now mind you Bodvarr and I have never found anyone in the last 30 years that knew what euchre was, so imagine our surprise when Sindri got all excited. Apparently he's had just as tough a time finding people that knew the game also. After a brief instruction on the rules and how to play to Stig we teamed up and began playing. Around 3 we picked our heads up and realized that everyone else had called in a night hours ago. We of course had to finish the final game but then quickly got our butts in bed before the cock started crowing.
Gathering morning began with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage, cooked by Leif & Stig and gallons of fresh squeezed orange juice by Leif & Aurie
After breakfast, Anthony started making his chocolate chip pinwheel cookies and I threw together a venison chili that would simmer all day. Once Anthony's cookie dough was made and placed in the freezer to chill for a bit he joined up with Sindri & Stig whom were chopping & stacking wood in the Ve' to be used for blot later. As soon as the wood was stacked and ready Anthony, Leif and Bodvarr started breaking it into kindling, and got a fire going in preparation for blot.
After a brief instruction from our Gothi Bodvarr we all set off on the procession walk to the Ve'. About a quarter of the way there, we stopped and sent Sindri back to get the camera and thankfully he continued recording and even raised it up high to catch some of the procession. After another short walk, which brought us halfway to our destination we stopped again and had Sindri pass the camera up the line to where Leif and I were waiting. Leif & I then broke away from the group and went into the Ve' to setup this camera and hit record on another one so we could film the kindreds walk into our beloved Ve'. This gathering was the beginning of our vlogging/recording of our kindred for YouTube and other social media platforms. It was an interesting experience having to stop for cameras but everyone took it in good spirits and it became a small matter.
Once blot was opened on all four corners by Bodvarr and assisted by Sasha sounding the horn. Forsetti was invited to join us in blot and to help us settle a conflict that had popped up. This conflict seemed to be a direct result of what the runes warned us about only weeks before at our Yule gathering. After offerings of mead was received by Forsetti, Bodvarr asked for Forsetti to bless the additional mead so that he may share those blessing with the folks.
Bodvarr and I then went around the folk and shared Forsetti's blessings with them. We did this by Bodvarr sprinkling the external blessing on them and I poured in their horns the blessing that they would take internally. After much gratitude and heartfelt words were spoken by all the folk to Forsetti, it was time to conduct some special business before the closing of blot. Bodvarr then asked Leif, Anthony & Sindri to grab their newly acquired ritual gear so that it could be blessed in service to the gods.
Once the blessing of tools was completed and an invitation to stay for feast & kinship to Forsetti was extended, Bodvarr closed the blot and we finished off the ritual with a big kindred hug. Afterward we all grabbed our gear and made sure the fire was out and began the long trek back to the house.
Once inside we all went to work preparing our feast dishes and getting them in the final stages before feast later. In the meantime Stig whom is becoming famous for his charcurtie boards, did not disappoint. The board was piled high with summer sausage, dry coppa, pisutto, mozzarella cheese, bacon cheddar cheese and a jalapeno/habanero cheese that had a wonderful burn that would sneak up on you. In addition to that there was also a cajun crab dip, smoked salmon dip, stuffed green olives, assorted crackers and chips & salsa. While Stig was preparing the board, the rest of us would occasionally brave losing a finger to get a small sample of the goodies he was cutting up. After the board was finished and we all got ready to dig in, Stig placed it in the fridge to wait for our last kinsmen David to arrive so that he may enjoy it also. A short time later David drove up and we all rushed out to the driveway to attack him with hugs and help bring in his gear. After David got settled in and had a beer in hand like the rest of us, Stig pulled out his charcutie board with a flourish and we all attacked it like a pack of wolves.
Now that our appetites were satisfied for the moment, the deck of cards were brought back out and a few hands of euchre were played.
A few games later and the cards were put up and our first "official" kindred meeting was underway. Anthony was tasked with the job kindred scribe and he did a fantastic job of keeping our records. Stig was also tasked with a new job and title that of the kindreds law speaker, a law speakers duties are to make sure frith is kept and rules are followed. After we all swore on the kindred oath ring we opened up the meeting and got down to business.
After a very successful meeting of our oathed members of Northwoods, we were all ravenous again and started laying out the feast. Bodvarr once again picked up his Thors Hammer this weekend and blessed our feast. Stig loaded up the god plate with a steaming bowl of venison chili topped with green onions, cheddar cheese, avocados, sour cream and Fritos, with a side of baked sweet potato & yams chips, potato salad, macaroni salad and a giant chocolate chip pinwheel cookie.
Now that the feast was over, Bodvarr began preparing the living room for Sumble while the rest of us put the food away and got the kitchen put back to order.
After a heartfelt and much needed Sumble, we finished up the evening with a few games of euchre, some singing and much laughter.
Sunday morning dawned much to soon and put an end to our merrymaking with the responsibilities of the coming work week, even so everyone went home feeling relaxed and fulfilled and with the certainty that we would all do it again the following month.
In frith
Skogul Allensdatter
Gydia of Northwoods Kindred
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