It's a lovely day for a battle.

We went to Berrima today and completely failed to go to any of the fabulous antique shops, or historic buildings and little museums, or the cafes, or even the pub. Instead we spent the whole day at the village green for a combined groups training session organised by the Ancient Arts Fellowship.

It was a beautiful day, perfect weather for not wearing a long-sleeved Viking dress. So I wussed out and didn't get dressed up :P We took Clara with us and for a little while, just after we got in the car this morning, we thought she was going to make excited puppy squeaks for the whole 1hr 20min trip. But she settled down and contented herself with trying to fit on the one seat with Caitlin so she could see out the window properly.

Just after everyone arrived at the park someone discovered a baby magpie on the ground - it had fallen out of the nest. WIRES was called and the kids got to look after "Fluffy" until the WIRES person arrived to collect the little ball of fuzz.

Fluffy the baby magpie

Clara was in seventh heaven, there were new people to say hello to and other dogs walking by and new smells to smell and new trees to investigate and people giving her massages and and and...

Clara happily ensconced on her picnic rug

Having a combined training session meant that there was a fairly large contingent of fighters on the field, something most groups can't manage on their own. I've uploaded a whole bunch of photos and videos to flickr so you can head over there if you want to see them all, I'll just pop a couple up here as a teaser.

The battle lines approach each other with caution

Action shot

Spears, swords, javelins - it's carnage I tell you

Click here if you can't see the embedded video

While Adam collected a nice assortment of bruises I alternated between a bit of tablet-weaving and a lot of trying to find the right angle to take photos from - bit of a challenge that, on account of the fighters wanting to stay in the shade and it being somewhat dangerous to stand too close to them. Right at the end of the day I got a quick lesson in nålebinding which, if I can remember how it goes, adds another Viking craft to my repertoire.

Then I retrieved Caitlin from the tree she'd spent most of the day in

and we headed home. Clara flopped on the floor of the car and was sprawled out fast asleep before we'd gone more than a few hundred meters.