Before and after

    
     

James and I met some time not long after I joined the SCA back in New Jersey. I don't think it could have been earlier than 1996 or so.  When he squired to Gaius in 1999, we became even better friends.  Despite the move cross-country and the long and tortuous saga of his health, we have remained so.
Up until now I have had only two crappy, lousy photos of us together. (Top left, Abbey Battle at Pennsic 28. Right, Boar Hunt 2002 or 2003?) 
Now I have a bunch of him looking healthy and very, very happy, with the gorgeous and wonderful Sylvia beside him. (And there are even a couple with me in 'em.)

Game on!

He: "The teeth now blackened
soft faces powdered whitely
to go moon viewing
Cherry blossoms all but gone
yet lingering for the moon"

Me: "She needs no powder
To dazzle a watcher's eye,
Nor garish garments.
The moon reduces her to
A wan child playing dress-up."

He: "Bright moon gazing, full,
resplendent in its glory,
can but turn away-
squinting at the lovely one
who sits on that porch, watching"

Me: "Once more, misty clouds
Conceal moon and stars alike
From her searching gaze.
With no earthly suitor
There's no point in sitting up".

I've missed this. I've missed HIM. That Guy.The one I've never actually met in person, but who has, upon occasion, collaborated on an in-persona poetic courtship that has been a great deal of fun. Suffice to say, he's been off in the Provinces battling attacks of Real Life instead of brushing poems to a certain lady who doesn't duck behind the blinds with quite as much alacrity as is seemly.

If nothing else, his timing provides me with some excellent practice before my class at A&S.

(Do keep him and his family in your prayers. His mother is very ill.)