The Renaissance Festival Starts

The Maryland Renaissance Festival opened its season on Saturday, and the weather was beautiful--lots of sun but not too hot and not yet too dusty.  I find that it's a great place to go and people-watch.  There are some very entertaining performances, lots of old favorites and some new ones.  The food is different--fast food but with a twist.  You can munch on a turkey leg, have steak-on-a-stake, enjoy meat pies and spinach pies, and all manner of other goodies.  I draw the line at fried pickles and fried macaroni and cheese. 

There is usually a sort of acrobatic act with a young lady doing things using two very long lengths of cloth, wrapping herself in them, twisting and turning and stretching.  In previous years the act was in an area where photography was a pain!  Too much background noise and poor light whatever the time of day.  This year they moved her near the entrance and the setting is much better.

Among the acts we enjoy (I often go with Dave and John) are Pyrates Royale and the O'Danny Girls. Both are singing groups, and both can come up with some rather bawdy numbers (bawdy by innuendo more than words).  Both are very funny.  Here's one of the pirates.

The O'Danny Girls have one member who is perhaps not as pretty as the other two, but it doesn't matter.  She has other features that the men in the audience find very attractive.  (She's the one in the middle.)  I suspect you can tell what they are.

There is a glass blower who makes beautiful things.  I stopped by to watch him at work.

To my great amusement, O (a mime who has his own shows throughout the day), was there in the booth visiting.  While he was there, he took advantage of the glass blower's furnace to toast marshmallows!  He did this with the air of a connoisseur, carefully turning his marshmallow this way and that until it was just so.  With a "ta-da" kind of motion, he quickly and carefully made a smore and gave it to an eager youngster in the audience.  I don't know whether the glass blower minded being upstaged, but he was laughing along with the rest of us.

One can get one's face painted or hair braided, and many children (and some adults) chose to do one of them.  Here are a couple examples:

There are a number of artisans at work including the woman who creates chain mail items.  Note that she wears her own work.  The second picture is of some of the wares for sale at the booth.  I will tell you that even if I were bold enough to wear that uplift bra, I would not do it on a day when the temperature was due to be close to 90 degrees!

For other photos of the event, you may check out my Picasa album http://picasaweb.google.com/ejoyce2/RenaissanceFestivalAugust28#

A Birthday Celebration

I'm in NC to help my mother celebrate her 91st birthday.  She had a cake and opened gifts and seemed to enjoy the celebration.  We are so fortunate to still have her with us and to have her still able to take pleasure in occasions like this one.

A Weekend with the Clan

It isn't often that my sister Pat and her husband Bob can get their entire family together in one place. This past weekend was one of those times. The contingent from Maine came down for a long weekend, and I was privileged to be able to join all of them for part of it.  When we can get the whole crew together, we try to catch everyone reasonably still for a family picture.  Inevitably someone has closed eyes or is in full squirm (kids), but we do try.  Here's the whole crew.  Left to right: Todd holding Jack, Jody with Kaylan in front of her, Jen holding Jake, Len with Ava and Elizabeth, Bob and Pat, Robin, and Ben with Emily.  Click on the photo for an enlarged view.

We also try to capture the smaller family units.  Here are Todd and Jody with Jack and Kaylan.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jen and Len with their three:  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robin and Ben with Emily:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And Pat and Bob:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
There were all kinds of activities going on.  The children had a splashing good time in the pool.  At one point Elizabeth and Kaylan decided to hold hands and jump in the pool together.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jack had a neat version of  "swimmy arms", a flotation device that supported both his middle and his arms in one unit.  He was absolutely at ease in the water.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
On a rainy afternoon when the pool was off-limits, the older girls put on a play. Elizabeth was in her glory as director of the scarf-draped princesses. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Family folks interested in more of this kind of thing may check out the album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ejoyce2