August Drill & Grill

All in all, I'd say that the day went very well. We pretty much did everything we could do with pikes; learning to maneuver, marching with the pikes leveled (or in "charge"), moving in awedge formation, and practicing advancing, kneeling, and having an archer shoot over the pike line, then stand, and charge into contact.

I was mounted on Normandie, my very game horse, and we accompanied the formation throughout the drill. I managed an hour in the saddle before
my ankle finally wore out; hard to believe it's taken almost 9 months to get back to where I was before my riding accident last November. It was the first time I didn't wear most of my armour,because of the gusts of wind, the horses were spooky, so I needed to have more leg contact than was possible in a modern saddle with leg armour, for control.

Drilling on dusty earth can make you thirsty, and hungry, so after an hour and half, we packed up and headed for the house for the "Grill".

The menu consisted of:

• caboches (cabbage pottage: boiled cabbage, leeks, onions, and spices in a beef broth)
• steyks of beef in a red wine marinade (Delmonico steaks)
• spiced mushrooms
• Onion, egg, and cheese tort
• Bread
  
• Grapes
• Belgian Ale

The grill was great and people stayed till past ten, and a good time was had, by all. The only thing in the least disappointing
is we only had 6 people in total in attendance, out of a membership of 14+.

Hopefully we'll have a better turn out at the next drill and grill.

Chef de Chambre
Hudson NH 2007