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tired Since I had to work Saturday mid-day as usual, Ms Carnival and I headed out right after. I'd packed the night before and that morning, so was ready to go. If you travel, and I bet most of you do, you know that pre-trip errands, no matter how much time you allot for them, always expand to fill that time and often boil over to boot. So we weren't quite on our way immediately, but close enough.
Another since: since it was the day before Mother's Day and since my folks live in a town not far from the festival, Ms Carnival and I stopped there en route. One of my errands the day before was to buy some flowers, so this was the delivery (they might have been better fluffed had I not left them in the car for an hour while at work, but I brought them in and gave them some fresh water once I realized they were starting to bake - sorry Mom!). We visited for about two hours plus, and Ms Carnival got the grand tour - she's a garden junkie and Mom was happy to show off the variety of gardens around and about the house).As an added bonus - it turns out I DID leave my camera there when I was last up (for Son's birthday) so we now had a camera for the festival. We headed off then to the hotel, about twenty minutes from the fair, and called it a night. We'd thought ahead enough to bring an ice chest with sandwich stuff and some fruit and easy food, and ate on the way up, so there was nothing to go out for.
Ms Carnival woke WAY before I the next morning. As in about 5:30 she told me later. She was a little excited. She had a set of fairy wings she was working on and since she was up she kept tinkering with those. I indulged in more sleep. We eventually headed down for breakfast and then got into costumes and headed off. I'd borrowed some great boots from a friend of mine. Alas- they fit poorly. I walked about thirty feet before realizing I would not be able to stand them. So I was in my usual shoes, which sort of look right for the era, and jeans (which I was prepared to explain away as tanned Persian manticore leather, but no one asked). I did have a great shirt, borrowed from the same friend who it turned out had borrowed it from Ms Carnival some years back, and a leather jerkin to go with it, also borrowed from the same friend who really owned it. I later bought a tricorner hat, which made me look slightly pirate-ish, judging by the comments from some barkers and a photographer ("Pirates and fairies ride for three dollars!")
The festival was unexpectedly easy to find, always a good start. It was set up in the woods, with excellent gravel paths going everywhere you would need to go. We watched shows, magic, comedy (the guy doing stand-up using a sort of kabuki Death puppet was alright: great gimmick, mediocre delivery. The washer wenches were a lot better and we only caught the last half of their act. Coming in second for me was the Oops Knife throwing show), Celtic music. There was a joust. There were birds of prey. There was a maze and there were games. There were lots of shops (I bought lemon garlic, looking forward to using it but at $6 a bottle it won't get used as much as I usually use garlic). My favorite thing though was the Human Chess Match.
The Fest people spraypainted a chess board on the grass and the actors that wandered the grounds in costume and in character were the playing pieces - performing before the Queen (Elizabeth the Oneth). The choreography was amazing. When one piece took another they cleared the board and had the two of them fight it out, and it was a hoot to watch those fights. While they were clearly more faked than pro wrestling, that wasn't the point. Watching them move in these fake fights was fantastic. I can't imagine how many times they must have practiced. It devolved into a free for all brawl, which the queen put a quick stop to by demanding champions - who turned out to be the only two left on the board after the others fled. It doesn't pay to put your attention on waving at the audience instead of hearing the Queen.
The Champions put on a fight routine that was dirty battle at its humorous best, And I was afraid the show would drag as the two sides actually played a chess match! Ha! I am rarely so pleased to be wrong.
Another since: since it was the day before Mother's Day and since my folks live in a town not far from the festival, Ms Carnival and I stopped there en route. One of my errands the day before was to buy some flowers, so this was the delivery (they might have been better fluffed had I not left them in the car for an hour while at work, but I brought them in and gave them some fresh water once I realized they were starting to bake - sorry Mom!). We visited for about two hours plus, and Ms Carnival got the grand tour - she's a garden junkie and Mom was happy to show off the variety of gardens around and about the house).As an added bonus - it turns out I DID leave my camera there when I was last up (for Son's birthday) so we now had a camera for the festival. We headed off then to the hotel, about twenty minutes from the fair, and called it a night. We'd thought ahead enough to bring an ice chest with sandwich stuff and some fruit and easy food, and ate on the way up, so there was nothing to go out for.
Ms Carnival woke WAY before I the next morning. As in about 5:30 she told me later. She was a little excited. She had a set of fairy wings she was working on and since she was up she kept tinkering with those. I indulged in more sleep. We eventually headed down for breakfast and then got into costumes and headed off. I'd borrowed some great boots from a friend of mine. Alas- they fit poorly. I walked about thirty feet before realizing I would not be able to stand them. So I was in my usual shoes, which sort of look right for the era, and jeans (which I was prepared to explain away as tanned Persian manticore leather, but no one asked). I did have a great shirt, borrowed from the same friend who it turned out had borrowed it from Ms Carnival some years back, and a leather jerkin to go with it, also borrowed from the same friend who really owned it. I later bought a tricorner hat, which made me look slightly pirate-ish, judging by the comments from some barkers and a photographer ("Pirates and fairies ride for three dollars!")
The festival was unexpectedly easy to find, always a good start. It was set up in the woods, with excellent gravel paths going everywhere you would need to go. We watched shows, magic, comedy (the guy doing stand-up using a sort of kabuki Death puppet was alright: great gimmick, mediocre delivery. The washer wenches were a lot better and we only caught the last half of their act. Coming in second for me was the Oops Knife throwing show), Celtic music. There was a joust. There were birds of prey. There was a maze and there were games. There were lots of shops (I bought lemon garlic, looking forward to using it but at $6 a bottle it won't get used as much as I usually use garlic). My favorite thing though was the Human Chess Match.
The Fest people spraypainted a chess board on the grass and the actors that wandered the grounds in costume and in character were the playing pieces - performing before the Queen (Elizabeth the Oneth). The choreography was amazing. When one piece took another they cleared the board and had the two of them fight it out, and it was a hoot to watch those fights. While they were clearly more faked than pro wrestling, that wasn't the point. Watching them move in these fake fights was fantastic. I can't imagine how many times they must have practiced. It devolved into a free for all brawl, which the queen put a quick stop to by demanding champions - who turned out to be the only two left on the board after the others fled. It doesn't pay to put your attention on waving at the audience instead of hearing the Queen.
The Champions put on a fight routine that was dirty battle at its humorous best, And I was afraid the show would drag as the two sides actually played a chess match! Ha! I am rarely so pleased to be wrong.
May 13 2008, 04:08:48 UTC 4 years ago