Week 32 of 2026
Greetings all!
I was having a wonderful time at Pennsic before my world got turned upside down. The TL:DR version, just to be clear, is that things are going fine now, but for a while, it was pretty grim.
But first, a reminder of the cute things in life!
Meet my mom’s new kitty, Lambda. I say new, but she’s been around for about a year or so. This is just the first time I took a picture of her. I got to spend more time with her this week, which was fun, but the cause wasn’t.
I was at Pennsic on Tuesday of War Week (the second week of the event) when I got a phone call from Larksfield Place, where my mom lives. This was a scary phone number to see because the only reason they would call is that something happened to mom.
And something had.
I won’t get into the pertinent details, but things got grim a couple of times. The good news is that mom is recovering and she’s going along about as well as someone who’s as 29-plus as she is can expect. However, no one is going to have an easy time when there’s a bacterial infection on top of cancer treatments on top of a couple of other factors.
As I say, she’s back at Larksfield Place now recovering from the infection more than anything. It looks like she’ll be bossing everyone around there again soon enough. Status quo ante is definitely possible.
Anyway, I left Pennsic that night driving home. It’s 17 hours, but I did it in 23 because I wasn’t stupid enough not to stop and rest from time to time. I’ve gotten good at the whole power nap on the road thing.
That meant I left my shop and nearly all of my stuff at Pennsic. I have it all (well, almost), and I owe a huge amount of thanks to a bunch of people for covering for me.
I’ve hired Matthias and Lugaid the past couple of years to help set up and take down. I can do it all, but I won’t like it, and I want to keep my bardic circle going. In any case, they packed everything on Friday night and being able to rely on them meant all the money I’ve spent on helpers was worth it.
Gwen has been my partner in the shop for a number of years. She was amazing this year, and also very patient in a situation where she undoubtedly lost money.
Antonia ensured that we didn’t lose as much money as we might have since she took over the running of the shop for the last few days, including Midnight Madness.
Genevieve and Lawrence helped make sure my canvas got home and got dry without molding. If you’ve never dealt with large pieces of canvas before, you may not realize just how important this is.
Donngal and Catalina brought my trailer home. I was lucky in circumstances but luckier in their friendship.
Morgan came and got their woodburned stuff out of the shop quickly on Tuesday. I did keep the store open, but I was worried about it walking away without me staying there. It’s pricey but beautiful and I suspect it’ll do well once people start remembering it’s there. Anyway, thanks to them for reacting so quickly and being patient with me.
Speaking of patient, thanks to Berakha. She rode out with me and expected to ride home with me. That, clearly, didn’t happen. I’m sure there were some frustrated words at the universe from that direction, but she and her husband Jon made do without me having to pay any attention to that front. Given the amount of spoons I had, that was a godsend.
Kirk took home the chair I leave under the Royal Pavilion.
Drix took home my incinetrons.
Cindy runs the merchants at Pennsic and she was very helpful and understanding. That made a big difference in giving me the flexibility to do what I needed to do.
By the way, it should be noted that this was on top of an earlier set of problems. Matthias’ car died on the way out so everyone involved had something to do with getting his stuff home too. Now, sometimes a problem solves another, like in this case that Jon and Berakha could use Matthias’ trailer to get all their stuff back, but mostly, it was the case that all sorts of people had to adjust.
I’m also glossing over a host of people who offered support, helped a little here and there, and also volunteered more help, even if it wasn’t needed.
As I mentioned, I’m lucky in my friends. Mom was amazed I could drop everything and come home and have any expectation I’d get my stuff down the road. I really couldn’t have done this without them.
Mom is fine and getting better, which is obviously what’s most important to me right now, but a close second is all the support these folk gave me.
Okay, I think I’ll switch gears to talk about Pennsic itself. I was having a great time, too!
Sales were a little down, hindered a bit by an awful weather day and a rare day that was just… slow. Also, I really didn’t have any new titles and that makes a huge difference. Next year will be ridiculous in terms of the numbers of new things, but this year, thanks to publication schedules and my timing, just wasn’t enough.
Still, I would’ve made a profit had I not had to leave. Next week, I’ll have the final tally. For me, Pennsic started as a publicity thing. Selling books was great of course, but getting my name and Amazon page. Since Armistice, it’s turned into a nice profit-making event.
And that’s on top of the fact I get to go to Pennsic!
I arranged a new layout that made a big difference too, allowing for at least 10 more linear feet of display space. We’re getting more and more cool stuff in the shop, and I love it. We may even get to expand again down the road, too.
My normal schedule there is to open by 10am, close after 6pm, and then around 8pm go out and find a bardic circle or some whimsy. Finding these is not difficult, by the way. In fact, I sometimes just run into them, as I did one night.
If I do say so myself, I’m a pretty well known bard at Pennsic in the big pond, big fish sense. My yearly bardic circles have been part of that but also I’ve been leveling up in this context. It’s not Calontir’s normal performing context, though of course there’s crossover, but it’s one I’m getting better at every year.
The big level up this year was a story I’ve done a few times that is getting darn close to being great. I made a couple of shifts to it that proved fruitful. Now, I just have to practice it and it will be something to be proud of. My friend Cerian actually filmed a version, which I look forward to watching just like I’d watch game film.
I’m also going to work on another story. I was telling the story of how Morgana gave me a moment of magic at Runestone Hill. As I was telling that story, I referred to the story she told that night and I realized, looking at the crowd, that a bunch of them haven’t heard it and will never hear it from her now that she’s passed. I received permission from her husband to bring Njord’s Gift back, which I plan to tell at my bardic circle next year at Pennsic.
Overall, I’m getting better as a storyteller. I’m much more purposeful in the pacing, movements, and structure, which is good because I’ve been working on that. I’m not Morgana’s level, probably will never be at her level, but it’s a goal worthy to strive for.
My bardic circle went really well this year despite threats of major rainfall. Part of this was again thanks to Donngal and Catalina, who graciously offered their shadefly as a place to hold it. We got about fifteen minutes of rain where we huddled under that fly, but in the end, it turned into a beautiful night with all sorts of amazing performances. In fact, there were a couple of ones done by people I’d never met before but who dazzled us. That always happens, actually, and it’s one of the reasons I love hosting it.
By the way, the weather was stupendous. Yes, I know it rained a lot after I left. Yes, I know canvas all got packed up wet. However, given how bad it was predicted to be and how nice many of the days ended up being, we certainly can’t complain. Some days were absolutely perfect, though the middle Sunday was very wet.
Into every Pennsic some rain will fall.
Of course, I’m paying for that now as I’m currently set up at the Harper County Fair… in the barn… which is not air conditioned… and every day is 105 or higher. Yes, I have plenty of water.
Back to Pennsic bardic. I love it there. I get to see people like Cerian, Lanea, Fay, Aibhilin, Hyrim, Erich, Sivrid, and a host of others do amazing stuff! It’s a great crew and that doesn’t even really count the Calontir living room singing nights.
So now I’m on my 50 51 week town run already thinking of tweaks to my tent layout.
And visiting mom. She’s got to beat me at cribbage a few more times!
This Week’s on Rob’s Ramblings
Rob’s Ramblings took a bit of a hiatus these past two weeks as I was adjusting to stuff. I’ll be back on Tuesday with Charli Cox. This was scheduled for the 4th, but we’ll get back to it now.
I also have two football previews planned, but I’m pushing those back. To be honest, I haven’t had the time to prepare for them properly, plus Charli had a recent release we need to talk about!
Note: This will be at 6pm Central! An hour earlier than normal!
We’re (finally) gonna have a great time!
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Have a great week, everyone.
Rob Howell
Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe
My Weight Today: 310.6lbs
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Oh man! Glad to hear your mom is doing better, Rob.
🙏, Rob.