Hello Appleholmies!

We’ll be having our quarterly commons on August 31 at 7 pm on meet – apologies for missing the previous quarter.

I’ll be adding to the agenda at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MuJiVcAt6m5YwVwfAIi_5g5DtGoLElD3zxSdwd6Na1Y/edit?tab=t.0, and feel free to add anything you’d like to discuss.

The meet link is
Appleholm Commons
Monday, August 31 · 7:00 – 8:00pm
Time zone: America/New_York
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/nvz-iqnr-xvj
Or dial: ‪(US) +1 346-808-0043‬ PIN: ‪438 433 074‬#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/nvz-iqnr-xvj?pin=7161801460092

– Thorfinnr

Appleholm calls all residents and interested parties to our quarterly commons meeting.  We will plan upcoming activities in the canton, discuss the ongoing border disputes, and note our need for deputy officers.

Interested in planning an outdoor picnic this spring, an indoor event this summer, a trip to the Cloisters museum, or our ongoing A&S nights? Would you like to learn how to serve as branch officer, or help build consensus on the future of our canton? Now’s your chance to get involved!

All are welcome to join us. No Society membership or previous experience required. 

Please join our online video call at 7 PM on Monday, February 9th, via Google Meet: meet.google.com/gwk-hisz-vfw

Appleholm calls all residents and interested parties to our quarterly commons meeting to discuss what activities we should run in the canton and whether our current officer bank is sustainable. (If you would like to discuss something else, please reach out to seneschal@appleholm.eastkingdom.org to add it to the agenda.)

Please join us at 7 PM on Monday, November 17, at meet.google.com/azp-fqtb-dbn.

Our canton’s quarterly business meeting was held on Monday, January 27, 2025. The minutes are attached below. 

Attendance

• Alienor, Seneschal
• Mathghamhain, Herald and Webminister
• Angelica, Vicereine
• Ronan

Guests

• Ragnarr, Provincial Seneschal
• Jenna
• Fransiskus

Opening

• Meeting called to order at 7:05.

Continue reading Minutes from January Commons →

Please join us for the canton’s quarterly business meeting on Monday, January 27, starting at 7 PM via Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/azp-fqtb-dbn

We’ll review recent local activity and discuss possible plans for the coming months. We can also consider any other business raised by the officers or populace. As always, folks are welcome to hang out and socialize following the conclusion of the meeting.

Our gatherings are open to everyone. No Society membership or previous experience required. Modern attire; come as you are. We look forward to seeing you!

Our canton’s quarterly business meeting was held on Monday, November 18, 2024. The minutes are attached below, as recorded by Mathghamhain and reviewed by Alienor. 

Attendance

Canton Members:

• Alienor, Seneschal
• Zahra, Exchequer
• Ibrahim, Arts & Sciences
• Madwen, Chatelaine
• Mathghamhain, Herald / Webminister
• Thorfinnr

Provincial Guests:

• Ragnarr, Provincial Seneschal
• Jenna

Seneschal

• Alienor: How’s everyone been doing since our last commons meeting in July? Any news? 
• Anyone need to step back? Anyone want to volunteer to get more involved, as an officer or a deputy or just in general? Reach out to me or the other officers and we’ll help you get started!

• Our museum outings have been going well — the Cloisters in October, and Islamic Spain yesterday.
• Officers, if you’re not sure about when your reports to kingdom are due, there’s a Google Calendar for that: bit.ly/ek-reports

Arts & Sciences

• Ibrahim: I just filed my year-end report, also sent around via email.

At least two of our Canton’s members taught classes at Pennsic this year. The wonderfully generous Madwen Gam has been hosting a monthly “afternoon solar” where folks from our Canton (as well as other nearby parts) gather for handcrafts, snacks, and friendly chatter. We’ve also had intermittent group outings to local museums with exhibits of interest to the SCA’s areas of study. This fall we’ve had a trip to the world-famous Cloisters to browse their permanent collection and a trip to the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (a very small local museum affiliated with NYU) to see their exhibit “Madinat al-Zahra: The Radiant Capital of Islamic Spain” which includes art and artifacts from Cordoba in the tenth and eleventh centuries. More museum trips are expected in the coming months/years. And, of course, folks from Appleholm have attended classes and workshops throughout the Crown Province and its other Cantons.

Herald / Webminister

• Mathghamhain: I filed my webministry report in October, and my heraldic report at the start of this month.
• I’m continuing to post our local activities to the website, mailing list, and social media.
• I did some work on moving the canton’s mailing lists to our new domain name earlier this year, but I didn’t finish the process and flip the switch to take it live; I’ll try to finish that up soon.

Chatelaine

• Madwen: We’ve had a good turnout for the Solars. We’re drawing in some new folks who’re trying things for the first time. 
• Our next gathering will be this Sunday, November 24. 
• I’d love to host additional gatherings, let me know if you have ideas.

Exchequer

• Zahra: I’m coming up on two years in the exchequer’s office, and I’m ready to step down some time in the months ahead.
• Mathghamhain: Thank you for sticking at it despite your move. We’ll look for a replacement.

Upcoming Activities

• Alienor: Hundred Minutes War is this weekend, Sat. Nov. 23, Sparta NJ.
• Mathghamhain: If anyone is driving and has space for a passenger, please let me know.
• Madwen: I’ll check with Franciscus to see if they’re driving.
• Ragnarr: Folks from the province are going to set up a central location at Hundred Minutes War, come and find us.

• Alienor: The November Solar will be the next day at Madwen’s, Sun. Nov. 24, W 161st.

• Alienor: The December gallery outing will be to see paintings from 14th Century Siena, Sun. Dec. 8 at the Met.

• Mathghamhain: The normal Solar schedule runs into the middle of the December holidays. 
• Madwen: I’ll host it anyway; we can do a “New Year’s” theme, Sun. Dec. 29.

• Alienor: Deck the Halls of Valhalla is coming up, Sat Jan 11, Brooklyn.
• It’s transit accessible. Make sure to pre-reg soon because it will fill up. 
• Thorfinnr: I can teach a class, either the same one as last year or something new.
• Ragnarr: I’ll pass that along to the event steward.

• Alienor: We could do another gallery outing on Sun. Jan. 19 — please let us know if you have suggestions for a destination.

• Alienor: The January Solar will be Sun. Jan. 26, but note that this is up against Birka.
• Mathghamhain: Some folks from the province will make the trip up for that, but lots of people will still be around.

• Alienor: Our next quarterly commons meeting will be Monday, January 27.
• Zahra: I’m going to be wiped out after Birka so I might not make it to the meeting.

• Alienor: For the February gallery outing, perhaps we can schedule this for Sun. Feb. 2. 
• We could go to see “The Book of Marvels” at the Morgan. (Runs from Jan 24 – May 25.)

• Alienor: Are there any other events or ideas we should discuss?

• Mathghamhain: Ibrahim has recently talked about organizing a couple of Tuesday night fencing-themed garb/gear-crafting sessions over the winter.
• Madwen: Some of the rattan fighters have been talking about an armor-repair night, maybe we could pair those up?

• Mathghamhain: I’d like to organize another May Day picnic in the spring. 
• When going through scanned canton newsletters from thirty years ago I noticed that they also held picnic events in that same location, so we’re carrying on a tradition!

• Alienor: We should restart dance classes.
• Madwen: Yes, please — multiple people have mentioned an interest in dance classes. 
• Alienor: I can investigate studio space availability — what days or times do you think would work for people?
• Madwen: The folks who’ve talked about this have regular weekday work schedules, so weekends would be best.

Please join us for the canton’s quarterly business meeting on Monday, November 18, starting at 7 PM.

Our video conference will be held via Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/azp-fqtb-dbn

We’ll review recent local activity and discuss possible plans for the winter months. We can also consider any other business raised by the officers or populace. As always, folks are welcome to hang out and socialize following the conclusion of the meeting.

Our gatherings are open to everyone. No Society membership or previous experience required. Modern attire; come as you are. We look forward to seeing you!

Our canton’s quarterly business meeting was held on Monday, July 22, 2024. The minutes as recorded by Mathghamhain are attached below; they have been lightly edited to follow a more logical sequence for readers’ convenience. 

Attendance

• Alienor Salton, Seneschal
• Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Herald & Webminister
• Madwen Gam, Chatelaine
• Angelica di Nova Lipa

Provincial guests:

• Ragnarr Bliskegg, Provincial Seneschal
• Jenna Childslayer

Absent Officers:

• Zahra de Andaluzia, Exchequer
• Ibrahim al-Rashid, Arts and Sciences

Opening

• The call opened informally at 6:55 and the meeting began in earnest at 7:07.

Seneschal

• Alienor: My quarterly seneschal report has been filed.

• Mathghamhain: We’ve had three gatherings since our April Commons meeting.

• The May Day Festival was a rousing success, with just over 20 people. We should do this again, perhaps in the fall when the weather is cool but not cold?
• Pilgrimage to Pride was a fun outing. Had 3 local people, and met some SCA-adjacent folks on-site.
• The June Solar was convivial. Had 6 people show up. Thanks to Madwen for hosting.

Chatelaine

• Alienor: This is the first meeting since Madwen took on the role of Chatelaine — thank you!

• Madwen: I filed a quarterly report in June, with lots of information about May Day.

• Madwen: I’m hosting another Solar on Sunday at 3:00.
• We’ll be talking about garb, and giving away some donated garb and fabric.
• Would be good to get this posted on the website. 
• I’ve already invited some of the folks who came to the June event and will invite the others.

• Mathghamhain: Our thanks to Ysenda Macbeth for her recent donation, and to Madwen for receiving and sorting it and helping to get it delivered to new homes.

• Madwen: The donated items were mostly fabric. Athene (who camped with us at Pennsic) came over and helped identify fabric types. There’s a lot of silk (mostly aniline dyed), plus linen, cotton, and wool. There’s loads and loads of fabric and we’ll need to work on getting it to people who can use it.

• There are also a few pieces of garb; I’ve already identified people who could make good use of most of these pieces, and am arranging to deliver them.
• There are also some accessories, including shoes, hats, and jewelry; maybe some of this could be given away or used as largesse?
• Alienor: We could schedule a garb construction workshop for the fall, to help newcomers get started at turning some of this fabric into useful items.

Arts and Sciences

• Mathghamhain: Ibrahim is unable to attend but has sent in a report by email (attached below).
• Pennsic is packed with A&S activities: classes, war point, and populace display. If you’re teaching or displaying, please let Ibrahim (and all of us) know!
• A “what classes did you take at Pennsic / show us something you made / tell us about something you learned” would be a pleasant activity to schedule after Pennsic.
• The museum visits have been a popular activity and we should plan more of these.

• Madwen: For the August 25 solar we could combine the post-Pennsic show-and tell idea with a chat about garb construction and take home some fabric.

• Alienor: For the museum visits, I challenge everyone to come up with one idea of something to go see.
• Madwen: Whenever I talk to people about the SCA they’re always amazed by the Cloisters; we should go again!
• Mathghamhain: We went in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023, so perhaps it’s time again.
• Angelica: We could go to the Asia Society or Rubin Museum.
• Mathghamhain: The Rubin will close in early October so if we want to visit we should go soon.
• Alienor: I think there’s something coming up at the Morgan, pelase remind me to look.
• [Added post-meeting:] The Met is exhibiting 14th C paintings from Sienna this winter and just earlier this year reopened their main galleries of European painting.
• Angelica: There are some early music concerts we could attend.
• Madwen: It would be fun to visit one of the performances of the group Emma is in, the Renaissance Street Singers (Sundays, 2:30 — 4:30).

Exchequer

• Mathghamhain: I’ll ask Zahra if she has anything to report, but there hasn’t been any financial activity of note so I expect things have been quiet.
• [Added post-meeting:] Zahra reports there’s nothing else to report!

Herald

• Mathghamhain: My quarterly report was filed in May.

Webminister

• Mathghamhain: My quarterly report was filed last week.
• I updated the mail server and the website to reflect Madwen’s new role as Chatelaine, and then updated the site again when she received her AoA.
• I still need to complete the transition of our mailing lists to the new domain name.

Event Planning

• Mathghamhain: Alienor recently posted about a local paint-your-own-pottery studio (upperwestside.colormemine.com) which is holding a medieval-themed session Thursday evening; for about $50 you get snacks and drinks and a piece of raw pottery that you can paint and have glazed.

• Madwen: We should look for a place we could rent for local events. I might have leads from my work in production.
• Ragnarr: I’ve previously used VenuesNYC.com to look for space rentals, and it’s where I found the space we’ve used for Valhalla.
• Madwen: How much is our budget?
• Mathghamhain: As a ballpark, if you have two dozen people paying $15 at the door, you’re taking in about $400, which needs to cover the rental and food or other expenses. We have some money in the bank so we can front the rental fee and we have a cushion in case fewer people show up than expected, but we can’t do that indefinitely, so events should be budgeted to at least roughly break even. I’ll follow up with you to review finances.
• Angelica: You also need to allow $75 for events that require a named insurance certificate.
• Mathghamhain: I’d like to find a beautiful non-modern space, like the stone basement of the Church of the Intercession, or the chapter house of the Cathedral of St. John, and would be willing to donate some money to make the budget work out.
• Angelica: There’s a church in my area that is very oriented towards community activities that rents out space: www.osanyc.org.
• Angelica: Remember when evaluating sites to consider transit and accessibility.
• Ragnarr: We should talk to Albrecht and ask whether the guy who owns the Kingsland bar also has leads on similar spaces in Manhattan.

Closing

• The meeting was adjourned at 7:55.

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A&S Report from Ibrahim

I know that Thorfinnr and myself will both be teaching at Pennsic.  If any other Appleholmies will be teaching, let me know; I would like to include that in my next report to the Ministry to credit those in our Canton who are promoting the Arts & Sciences.  

I have also been asked to be an alternate on the East’s A&S War Point team (which will be on Thur, 8 August).  Will any Appleholmies be showing their work at the Pennsic A&S Display (Sun, 4 August)?  Unfortunately, family obligation will have me off site on 8/4, but if anyone will be going, I think we would all love to see whatever work the members of our Canton are showing.  

Following up on thoughts about Pennsic – we have occasionally in the past had gatherings post-Pennsic for folks to come together and talk about any classes we had the pleasure of attending.  Perhaps we can think about planning something like this?  

Also – our organized museum visits seem to be very popular.  I am definitely in favor of continuing to plan for more of these.  

Our canton’s quarterly business meeting was held on Monday, April 29, 2024. The minutes as recorded by Mathghamhain are attached below. 

Attendance

• Alienor Salton, Seneschal
• Angelica di Nova Lipa, Chatelaine
• Ibrahim al-Rashid, Arts and Sciences
• Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Herald & Webminister
• Thorfinn Hróðgeirsson
• Madwen Gam

Provincial guests:

• Jenna Childslayer

Absent Officers:

• Zahra de Andaluzia, Exchequer

Opening

• Informal discussion began at 7:00 and the meeting proper was called to order at 7:30.
• The Society harassment notice was acknowledged.

May Day Festival

• Mathghamhain: I’ve been remiss in not doing more organizing for this event before now, but it’s intended to be a low-key occasion and I expect it’ll work out.
• Mathghamhain: Thorfinn has offered to provide music for dancing and entertainment, and we’d welcome anyone else who might like to join in.
• Thorfinn: Please provide a set list for the dancing at least a couple days before the event so I can make sure I have sheet music for all of the songs.
• Alienor: My primary goal is to run through the bransles that we have previously rehearsed as a group.

• Madwen: We could order ribbons for a maypole from JoAnn’s.
• Angelica: I have some spare fabric that I could cut into long strips for that purpose.
• Angelica: I’ve got a few ready-made flower crowns plus wire and tape to make more.
• Madwen: I have a basic Petanque set we could use for lawn bowling.

• Mathghamhain: We’ll bring a table and chairs, as well as some snacks and drinks.
• Ibrahim: I’ll make something to eat.
• Angelica: I will bring a picnic blanket.

Officer Updates

• Mathghamhain: Not much news from the web ministry or social media.
  • I still need to move our two mailing lists to our new domain name.
• Angelica: Zahra may soon be moving outside the boundaries of our canton.
  • If she’s willing to continue in office, we might need to seek a waiver for this.
• Madwen: I would be willing to take on an office to help out.
  • Angelica: You’d make an excellent chatelaine, and I’d be happy to hand off that office.
  • Madwen: Sure!
  • Everyone Present: Enthusiastically accepted by acclamation.

Upcoming Activities

• Progress to Pride is coming up at the end of the month.
• No gallery outing in May, but looking for suggestions for something to do in June:
  • Hidden Faces / Renaissance Portraits, at the Met (through July 7).
  • Seventeenth Century New Amsterdam / 400th Anniversary of Dutch Settlement, at the New York Historical Society (through July 15).
  • Tibetan Artifacts, at the Rubin Museum (until they close in October).

Provincial and Regional Events

• May 5: A&S (Northpass)
• May 11: Viking Day Demo (Ostgardr)
• May 11: Three Skulls Anniversary (An Dubh)
  • Includes social gathering, food, archery/throwing.
  •  Jenna can transport people from the Hicksville LIRR station
• June 22: Potted Arms (An Dubh)
  • Includes fencing, merchants
  • Jenna can transport people from the LIRR station
• June 22: Novice Day (Rusted Woodlands)
  • Includes rattan, fencing, archery, A&S display.
  • May be able to arrange carpooling.

Closing

• The meeting was adjourned at 8:25.

Please join us for the canton’s quarterly business meeting on Monday, April 29, starting at 7 PM.

Our video conference will be held via Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/azp-fqtb-dbn

We’ll review plans for our May Day Festival scheduled for the following Saturday, May 4. We’ll also consider plans for the coming months and any other business raised by the officers or populace. As always, folks are welcome to hang out and socialize following the conclusion of the meeting.

Our gatherings are open to everyone. No Society membership or previous experience required. Modern attire; come as you are. We look forward to seeing you!