May has been a particularly busy month, what with the Ren faire and all. I had assumed that I would have more time for journaling with my hours cut back, but it turns out there are other things that need doing that still keep me away from LJ. I apologize in advance to my flist; I'm doing my best to keep up!



Anyway, the first faire weekend was a dud. It had been raining all week long, and though they were open Saturday, by Sunday (which was when we had planned to go) they were so waterlogged (and a tree fell across a stage) that they decided to close. We were disappointed, but since we had gotten a season pass this year, we knew we would be going next weekend, God willing. And I was fortunate in that I was able to keep myself off the call schedule for the month of May, whoo hoo! No crazy patients trying to call me to fix something that was broken two days ago while I'm at the faire in costume.

The Saturday of the second weekend was still pretty wet, though we had had sunny days during the week, so we were hopeful. It was Romance weekend, so Ary and I dressed up in our wedding finery to go renew our vows. This turned out to be a bit ill-judged as I came home with two inches of mud on the hem of my skirt, but at least I have found a decent dry cleaner for my Ren faire attire now. Donovan was wearing the hand-knitted kilt hose that Mom made for him, but happily they only got a couple flecks of mud on them, and of course, the hem of his skirt was fine. ;~p

There were mostly the same vendors and performers as usual. The Da Vinci Brothers' Comedy Opera was a new one, but I'm afraid I found it a bit corny, and not worth seeing more than once (unlike the pirate show). There was also a new belly dancing group, called Rashaka, formed by local talent and started by one of the New Castle Players (who form the queen's court and retinue). They were very fun to watch, with a minimum of patter and plenty of dancing.

Anyway, our first day it was still raining when we got there, and we saw Victoria of Empty Hats running for shelter with her violin cradled in a rain slicker. However, it began slacking off shortly after we got there, and by noon the sun was out. We stopped briefly at the White Pavilion booth to say hi to Christine, then were attracted to the booth across the way, where the pirate running it pointed out the "Shiny things!" to be had. I found a very nice "stolen sil.. er, sterling silver!" ring with a moonstone surrounded by the zodiac signs. I put it back, though, to check out some of the earring and necklace sets. One of the ladies in the booth was pushing a tray with an assortment of white and crystal necklaces, saying they would match my tiara very nicely. There were three different necklaces, and I tried on all three to see which one looked best. We picked the one that was most sparkly, and had flowers that pretty much matched the ones in my tiara; yes, we are suckers for the shiny. ;~)

Caught several shows, including the Empty Hats who were performing in a large booth across from their stage because it was still drippy out. Though by the end of their set the sun was out, so that was cool! Had some lunch and met up with Barry from the Smial, who went with us to see the Buckle and Swash Pirate Show. It was largely the same material, with a few changes and a few improv moments, but still absolutely hilarious and worth seeing at least once per visit. Bumped into the younger BIL and his girlfriend and they went with us to the chess match (very silly) and then the renewal of vows. The had a new preacher for that, which I was pleased about since for the past two years the preacher they had was extemporizing a bit too much for my liking. The new guy gave us an authentic Scottish wedding service, and the only thing anyone had a problem with was the bit about "honour and obey" in the vows for the lady. Afterward we had the BIL take our picture with the Queen, who was looking absolutely stunning in a new blue gown. She was so sweet, too; she said she had been looking for us during the vows and didn't see us, so she thought we hadn't made it. (We were standing toward the back) So nice to know she not only remembers us, but watches for us as well.

It was also there that we chatted with Sir Phil Inn, who is the entertainment director for Tenn Ren, and formerly Leonardo of the sword fighting duo To the Hilt. He was there with his wife and former sparring partner, Katarina. Today she was in the persona of a peasant girl named Willa. We spoke with her a little bit as well.

In no particular order we saw Celticopia, and there learned that they would be performing a set at Mulligan's Irish Pub the next two Wednesdays. Also saw Empty Hats, this time on their stage, and bought their new CD entitled Five (it's their fifth one). Saw the tail end of Paolo Garbanzo's fire-eating show, and then over to the Royal Improv, having been lured there by Willa. Not that we wouldn't have gone anyway, but she was joining the fun on stage and made a particularly amusing addition to the group. After the Improv we caught the tail end of the Pub Sing and then wandered on home.

On the Sunday we went in more casual attire, though Ary still wore his formal kilt, this time with a black shirt. I wore a peachy knee length chemise with a green plaid broomstick skirt and a green quarter bodice. We actually went to church like that, which caused a few sidelong stares, but no comments.

Met the FM at the gate and spent much of the day with her. She had not brought much money with her so she wouldn't be tempted to buy something right away and could have the leisure of shopping around. So we spent some time "window" shopping, and some time seeing shows. Caught the Rashaka belly dancers, in which they re-told the story of Sheharezade (sp?). Instead of telling stories to the Sultan to keep him from killing her, she and her sisters would dance for him, promising a new dance the next night each time. We joined them after they had started, and they had just sent a couple back into the audience. Apparently they were standing in for Sheharezade and the Sultan, and at the end of the story they were supposed to come back up. They escaped, however, and so Tavi (the founder, who apparently recognized us from yesterday) came down and grabbed Ary and me to sub for them. All we had to do was perform a little marriage proposal, easy enough. For the moment, they gave Ary a crown shaped hat and me a gold tiara. When Tavi took the props back she put a tiny little silver tiara comb in my hair as a parting gift.

I think it was just before this that we met once again Sir Phil's wife. Remember yesterday she had been peasant Willa, now she was the Countess of Shrewsbury, quite a change. We probably wouldn't have known her, but she came up to us and basically said, "Hey, don't you know me?" and we had a lovely little conversation with her and Paolo, who happened by at the time. Her personality had changed completely with her costume; she was very haughty and proud, yelling at the peasants to "Get up, and go away!" whenever she saw them bowing and scraping to her. Ary asked if he could take a picture and she answered, "Of course, I don't dress up like this for nothing, you know." Then she insisted that he be in the picture as well, and she was not the kind of person to say no to after all. Don't worry, I'll post a link to the pix as soon as they are all up. :~)

After the belly dancing we met the countess again when we went to see the 45 minute production of Romeo and Juliet. She noticed my new tiara and commented on it. I told her it had been given me by a gypsy belly dancer. "And at that angle?" she asked. (It was rather jauntily put to one side of my head) I nodded. "Best to leave it there then," she concluded. "It rather suits you and makes a statement. I think I shall try it myself." And she adjusted her hat more to the side of her head.

The story for the year seemed to be that William Shakespeare wished to present his Romeo and Juliet for the Queen's visit to Covington Glen, but the puritanical Lord Hastings disapproved of the play and had arrested all the actors. But the Queen wished to see the play, so Shakespeare handed the parts out to the residents of Covington Glen to perform. The guy who played Romeo was sitting near us, and Shakespeare pointed to him saying, "You look very dashing."

"Who, me?" the prospective Romeo asked.

"Well, not as dashing as the gentleman in the kilt," Shakespeare commented, indicating Ary, "but we can't have any kilts in this play, so you'll have to do." :~)

(Speaking of kilts, the Countess had earlier complimented Ary on his kilt, saying that she liked a man with good knees)

The performance was much abbreviated, but hit on all the important parts of the story. There was a problem with projection, esp during the party scene when there were live musicians playing, but otherwise it was quite good. Juliet, I thought, was particularly well done.

We met Craig of Farrington wandering the streets and he sang a love song to both me and the FM. While he was singing to me, Ary was fishing around in his sporran; I thought he was trying to find some tip money, but it turned out he was hunting for a ring he had bought for me earlier. He finally produced it as Craig finished his song and took me completely by surprise; it was the moonstone ring that I had been admiring yesterday, which he had apparently sneakily bought while Marie and I were admiring the necklaces in that booth. Craig encouraged us to come see his show at three, the only one he would do each day, and so we did. It was requests only, and quite fun even though I couldn't remember any song titles to request. Afterward we bought one of his new CDs to add to our collection.

Another booth I had to check out was a knitted goods booth, which had hats, fingerless mittens and various felted cozies and bags. I bought a pink and brown felted bag and a jaunty little gold and grey tam, as well as a couple skeins of wool, which was $1/oz, too good a price to pass up. When we were done there we went and saw first Celticopia and then Buckle and Swash on the same stage. I think it was about now that the FM left, since she wanted to go home and listen to a play offs game.

Ary and I continued on to the Royal Improv, which was joined by the Countess of Shrewsbury. The other participants were Sir Phil, Tavi, and Buckle and Swash. It had gotten quite cool toward the end of the day, and so the countess was quite comfortable in her gown, while poor gypsy Tavi was rather chilly. The Countess offered to let her warm up under her skirt, and she did, which we of course got a picture off. "Go ahead and take the picture," the Countess told Ary, "you know you want to."

After the Improv caught the end of the Pub Sing and then wandered toward the gate. We beat the Queen there, so we chatted a bit with the Countess. It was funny when the Queen went by, the Countess who had been so haughty was suddenly bowing and scraping just like the peasants she so disdained. The Queen just looked at her for a moment then smirked and moved on. We said goodbye to the Countess, then made our farewells to the Queen, and then we made our way home again. Thus ended our first weekend at the faire.



And there I must end it for now. Ary and I are going first to Charlotte, NC tomorrow for ConCarolina, and from there we will go to VA to visit the family. Don't know when I'll get a chance to post again.