Georgia Renaissance Fest Pics

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since we went to the Ren Fest. And now I'm back from New Orleans for Memorial Day holiday weekend...and Monday will be full moon in Sagittarius, my sign!

My last landlord is suing me/or I'm suing her/or I'm not completely sure...but she is suing the management company that she hired, (which is her sister)- who never caused me one problem...so I will be a party to that suit on the side of the management company. This is a big ole mess hanging over my head.

Things in my new place are fine, though. The owner got the power outlets and the doorbell fixed. Now I can plug things in on the counter finally. So, Ren Fest....

It was really warm this year. Not ridiculously hot like New Orleans, but it was hot. The black wings absorbed a surprising amount of heat, and transmitted to my person. So if you think I was a hot fairy...hahhahaha, you are correct. Grace looked ethereal, as expected. She positively glowed, evincing the perfect fairy mien.

There were, sadly, not many fairies in attendance. Just a trifle few, and a couple of tiny fairies in training. Here is a group shot. My dilemma as to what sort of fairy I was continues...nothing certain emerged...but based on this picture, I'd have to say "Fairy Barbie." Not what I was going for! I need to work on that. The later pictures that Guy took for me are much better. The Lord Mayor counted and tagged Grace as a woodland fairy. I noticed one of his categories was butterfly fairy. Based upon the shape of my wings, I may be a butterfly fairy and only becoming self-actualized now. Giggle

Guy's special gift for Grace was this custom made bow and arrows. Every part was hand crafted by Guy. I can't even describe the workmanship or effort, but seriously, his workmanship on the bow and on his chain maille garnered far more attention than did Grace and I!! (note to self...don't invite Guy next year) hahahha

I should have gotten some closeups of the bow, which he made of Red Oak. Several serious craftsmen stopped him to have detailed conversations about how he crafted it. It was the first one he ever made, and there was some jealously I must say, that he could make something so finely done on his first try.

You would just have to know Guy for this to make sense. There isn't a lot he cannot make.

I know where I'm going if there is an apocalypse.
Actually, between Guy and Reid (adding in his physics and quick grasp of things like mechanics and thermodynamics) they are sort of like the Professor on Gilligan's Island. I think they could make a coconut water treatment facility and pumping station....

more pictures, you say??

Ok, but now...see how it is...he gives her a beautiful bow, and what does she do with it?

Uh-oh!!!!!  I'm thinking she is going to catch him!!

I was right. I'm not sure which one is getting the better deal here. Equally matched!!

I have tried multiple ways to make this picture turn the right way, and none work. I think it is a blogger problem today. It has happened before, and later I was able to resolve.

Sadly, Barbie Butterfly fairy does not have a bow for catching the unsuspecting...but fairies have always had their ways, have they not?  

 Seriously, watch out for the fairies....

However, a more pleasant fate might be hard to find.

New Fairy Wing Design

You can see the design process here. Check out how dreadful they looked to start with.

I got them after last Halloween for five dollars. I could see why they were rejected...the paint job was really poor. And they were ugly, too!

I started by overspraying them with "oil-rubbed bronze" paint. Then layers and layers of iridescent paint, glitter paint, and glitter gels, all applied by hand. Both sides are done to the same finish. So far, I have in about 24 hours of work. The last thing remains to be finished, which is an aqua tulle glittered bow in the middle with a black feather and aurora borealis gem center.

I work slowly, waiting for things to dry, and also letting the design develop as I walk away and come back to gain new perspective. The flame inspiration on the upper wings came from Guy.

I have two different fairy dresses I have to choose from. Whichever one I don't choose will become a new mermaid costume for Dragon Con in the Fall. More pics to come from the Ren Fest!!!

Solar Eclipse

Here on the East coast, north of Atlanta, we may see a short bit of the big solar eclipse before it sinks behind the horizon. On the West coast, there are large viewing parties...in Colorado they are trying to fill a stadium to break a record. They have sole over 39k pair of viewing glasses. I read they are made of number 14 welder's glass.

This is all part and parcel with the SuperMoon of two weeks back. Now the supermoon has reached its apogee, so it is blocking the sun with its Superness!!

I'm rather excited even though I won't see much, or maybe any, of the eclipse (I'd have to find a clear view of the Western horizon.) because tomorrow we are going to the Renaissance Fest for our annual trek into the land of knights and fairies. I've been working on my new wings for over a week.

This weekend at the Renaissance Fest is Fantasy Weekend.

I am not feeling particularly eloquent today; I'm sorry.

I have been to Ren Fests in...oh...let's see...
California, Wisconsin, Kansas, Georgia and Tennesee.
Oh! And Oklahoma! The famous (infamous? lol) Castle at Muskogee.

I think Georgia has the nicest permanent set-up. Wisconsin was also an excellent Fest.

My only complaint about the one in Georgia is that
the food vendors are getting a bit "carny" in their selection and presentation.

For some reason it makes me think of the trip Guy, Reid and I took last summer to Universal Studios to visit Hogwarts. I had a blast. Just enjoyed the heck out of it. Especially the Three Broomsticks was spot on. We all thought the Butterbeer was gross. But I could drink gallons of the "pumpkin juice." (was a pumpkin/apple cider concoction).

Last year, you may recall, at the Ren fest, I was a woodland fairy. This year (I'm so excited!!) Guy's gorgeous girlfriend, Grace, is wearing my woodland wings with her take on the woodland costume (she is getting a big surprise extra from Guy for her costume...I'll post lots of pics). I'm trying to decide what to call the kind of fairy I am this year. Hmmm...maybe a water fairy? My dress is teal and my wings black, red, and teal.

We shall be the belles of the ball, I have no doubt. I've already warned Guy that he will have to be chief photographer and cannot balk no matter how many pictures I require. I'm hoping I can get a big group shot with a lot of other Fairies!! 

The weather is supposed to be perfect tomorrow, and the magical eclipse will be "on the horizon," so to speak.

Re-Queue-sition

Well, today I learned that I can't post from my Kindle Fire while staying in bed. It decided to reformat my post. Queue was supposed to be a short poem...  it even autocorrected the title!

Queue

In the box of numbers I stole
From its perch on the gas station sign,
Was the letter Q.
What else can one do,
But draw a line in the sand,
for others to stand behind.

Please get in line,
and do take a number. 

Que

In the box of numbers I stole From its perch on the gas station sign, Was a letter Q. What else can one do, But draw a line in the sand, for others to stand behind. Please get in line... And do take a number.

Lily Pad

If I am out of earshot, past what you mayhaps will call me,

between one sun and the next- arrives the Scorpio moon.

Morn finds you chasing a fairy, the last of my kind that will fall, free,

Scraping dead coals into ashes, looking for strains of my tune...

It isn't the season for dirges, the lilies aren't blooming quite right,

Did I lose all my reason to urges, was it a mistake to alight?

Tiny Cubes

Possessions forward themselves readily to a new location,
Chairs arrange themselves in proper relation to friends and tables,
Furniture does not look lost,
or forlorn; it all finds a place and nestles into the carpet,
breathing in the new air,
hoping for new acquaintances, happy to welcome...
happy to be.

You can put your heart,
all the wee droplets of what you feel,
and even more, all the dreams you crush inside into tiny cubes
to stack behind the wall of beating heart muscle...
You can bring that to your new home,
hiding it again behind the many pillows,
slicing things thinly to fit between the soft sheets,
all that will come with you,
It just takes a bit more strength and,
you can't hire handy help to move your dreams.

But you can't make anyone else
move their heart into your home.
It isn't within your power to play treasure hunt behind their pillows,
What they feel in rainbowing arcs as the droplets hit the sun,
is not printed in a graphic novel, that makes it all clear,
instead is washed across the pavement like a chalk drawing 
after a thunderstorm...in colors you're not sure you even see.
And what their dreams are you don't know,
Only yours in tiny cubes,
making a home again.