My Happy Place
If you know me in person, or if you’re really good at reading between the lines, you may have gathered that the last several months have been very difficult ones around here. That has not changed. However yesterday was a momentary escape to my happy place. My happy place, as you all know, is the nearby Renaissance Faire which runs through March and April.
This past weekend was the fourth–the fourth!–weekend of the Faire, which means that it is now half over. Normally by this point I would have gone at least two or three times, but due to all the goings-on lately yesterday was my very first foray to the Faire this year. In fact, the reality is that we might not have gone at all this year if I hadn’t got the tickets before we got the soul-crushing tax bill. But, if I have tickets I am going to use them. The kids have already been warned that this year’s Faire excursions will be of the “bare bones” variety.
So, yesterday I had to drive over to that area to pick up Spencer anyway. Lucy and I changed into garb after church and took off on a very windy drive. We arrived at the Faire mid-afternoon and got our first look at the new gate which is still under construction (the old one blew down in a storm last fall). The weather was very windy, sunny and cold. It was wonderful cloak weather. As we walked to the gate, our cloaks flapped and billowed behind us in a most delightful way.
The Faire was serene and uncrowded, which was lovely for us but of course not so great for the Faire! To tell the truth, there wasn’t a whole lot going on–but that doesn’t bother me at all because now I go more to see people than to be entertained. And what could be better than to arrive and find that you have been missed? Everywhere we went, we were greeted with enthusiasm. “Where have you been?” “It’s about time you showed up!” “We were getting worried about you!” “We missed you!” I was equally delighted to see all of my long-time Faire friends.
One of my favorite moments came at the forge. When we arrived, Shadowhawk had stepped out for a few minutes and his fellow bladesmith Dan was manning the forge. He was also bantering with a young cast member, who chided him when we walked up and sat down. “You have patrons,” she said. He looked up at us and then back at her. “Those aren’t patrons,” he said. “They’re friends.” Yep. That felt good.
Besides visiting the forge, we browsed several of the vendors’ booths, listened to some music in the now-enclosed tavern (which also now has an actual floor!) and of course watched the joust. We missed our favorite knights from years past, but a joust is a joust, and we love it. There are new knights, including a woman who even participates in the tilt. There are new horses to admire. Lucy and I love the horses!
After finishing his part in the tilt, Sir Dustin (the Faire’s owner) rode to the rail to welcome me with his characteristic charm and enthusiasm, and to ask if I could hang around to chat later. So Lucy and I lingered till closing time, finishing out the day by watching Thom Bedlam’s magic show. Thom is a longtime favorite of ours and even if we have seen most of his tricks before, we get a kick out of watching him because he always seems to be enjoying himself so much while performing.
We did a little more window shopping until Dustin found us and then we chatted for a while about the Faire. He often asks for my input since I have been going every year for so long. This is my tenth year! I was happy to be able to tell him about a comment I had overheard earlier. A young couple had passed Lucy and me, and the man was saying to his wife (or girlfriend), “This is so cool! It was totally worth the admission price. It was money well spent!”
Eventually, we made our way back up the gate and to the van, where a thermos of glorious hot tea was waiting for us. We sat drinking our tea and watching all the performers and vendors drive their vehicles into the Faire grounds to load up and go home. It was a beautiful afternoon, followed by picking up Spencer and driving home in the moonlight.
Today, of course, was back to reality, a reality which includes my lingering sinus infection. I picked up a few things at the grocery store before trying to get my kids going on school. It is hard to motivate kids who are not motivated on their own! But, eventually we got stuff done and then it was time for my English class, the one I had to cancel last week when I was much sicker. We are still plugging away on research papers.
I had a break for supper before teaching again, this time a tutoring student. I felt we had a very productive session and am encouraged by the progress she’s making.
After she left, I finally let Jasper open the two boxes that came for him on Friday. I knew what was in them, and knew it would distract him from studying for his quiz, so he didn’t get to open them until today. You know what was in them? Vintage Lego that used to belong to my brothers and me. My parents have saved it all these years, and felt the time had come to pass it on. Jasper was in heaven! He has already made a couple of vehicles and a house.
Now, we just have one day to do a week’s worth of preparation for our co-op classes on Wednesday.
Recent Comments