From the Editor Greetings to the populace of Dragon Spyre! Welcome to the brand new "Echoes from the Spyre" newsletter. I hope to be able to update this on a weekly or biweekly basis & would love it if any of you would contribute to it. What are we interested in? Anything. Articles, poetry, jokes, recipes, garb ideas & directions, whatever you think would be interesting. So, if you have anything you'd like posted, drop me an e-mail or give me a copy of it any time. ___________________________ Recipe for the Masses Cracked Wheat Bread Ingredients: 2 2/3 C. Water 1 1/2 C. Cracked Wheat 1/3 C. plus 1 tsp. Honey 1 tsp. Salt 2 Tbsp. Oil 2 cakes yeast 2 1/2 C. unbleached flour 3 C. Whole-Wheat Flour Preparation: Pour 2 cups boiling water over the cracked wheat. Add the honey reserving 1 teaspoon for later, salt and oil. Cool. Dissolve the yeast in 2/3 cup warm water and add the 1 teaspoon honey. Combine with the cooled cracked wheat mixture. Add the flour and mix thoroughly. Place in a buttered bowl and cover, let rise for 1 hour. Punch down and let rise for another 30 minutes. Punch down and turn out on a floured board. Knead well. Shape into 2 loaves and place in butter loaf pans. Bake at 350 until golden brown. (Sic) There is no time given, please use your best judgment.

Garb Tips Want to make something a little fancier than usual? Have you purchased a garb item & it needs "something" to make it yours? Adding a bit of trim or embroidery can make a piece of garb look completely different. Don't know how to sew trim on? Go to the store & buy a bottle of "Aleene's OK to Wash-It" fabric glue. Make you follow the directions on the bottle & allow yourself enough before wearing for it to completely dry. Don't know how to embroider? There are some really beautiful iron-on appliques out there that look exactly like embroidery. These are pretty inexpensive & very easy to apply. You pretty much just remove them from the card & iron them on. _________________________ Need a new tunic, but no one will make you one? Did you know that with about 3 yards of fabric, a t-shirt (it should be a little big on you), some thread & some time you can do it yourself? 1. Fold the fabric in half, width-wise (short ends together). 2. Lay the t-shirt on the fabric, with the top part on the fold. 3. Either with a pen or with chalk, trace the outline of the t-shirt, leaving enough space for seams & moving around. Add sleeves to the length you want & any other changes in the outline. 4. Draw a hole for your head where the head opening is on the t-shirt & you might need to make a slit too, since the fabric probably won't stretch. 5. Cut along all of your drawn lines & either use a sewing machine to sew the outside edges up or use a needle & thread. 6. Turn down the edges on the neckline, pin them & sew. Do the same at the ends of the sleeves & the bottom. If you use a non-fraying fabric this isn't necessary. There you have it, a brand-new tunic!!

Fighting? Many of us in the Barony recently attended Salt Wars 1 in Tooele, Utah. The event was held on May 16-18 in Settlement Canyon & was hosted by the fine folks of the Shire of the River's End. On Friday, the 16th, we arrived, set up camp, met folks & ate dinner. Sean Darkskul participated in the "No Champs Tourney" and had great fun. That evening all of us participated in "The Tourney of the Wave," a great and silly tournament featuring weapons such as a newbie with a stick, a teddy bear & so on. Later that night.. well, let's just say that out humble Chancellor engaged in a little "sword-play" of her own. On Saturday we had the privilege of meeting Sir Michael, Hammer of God (or as I like to refer to him "Sir Michael, Senile Old Shit"), Izzy & Powell from The Empire of Iron Mountain & we participated in the Salt War battlegame & actually won. This was amazing, considering how badly we were out-numbered, out-magiced & out-armored. The afternoon held a goblin shoot archery contest, in which Sean & Sheila both participated. That evening we were treated to a fantastic feast of roast chicken, corn on the cob, home-made bread, roasted potatoes & many, wonderful desserts. We sat around & talked for a little while that evening, but most of us were so tired that we staggered off to bed fairly early. On Sunday morning, we shared breakfast between the camps, helped people get torn down & packed, visited one last time & made our goodbyes. __________________________ New Weapon Designs HE Nicholas will be playing with new arrow designs, since we all loved those in use at Salt War. For those of you who didn't attend, these fly much more true & hit a little harder. We will be attempting to find a hybrid between the ultra-light weapons in use in River's End & those we use down here. I think we would all like to use something a bit lighter & better looking, although probably not quite as light as those. I personally tend to hit a bit too hard with the ultra-lights.

________________________________________________________________

Page Design, Graphics & Text �2003 The Barony of Dragon Spyre