Ette Tu - Tennessee Renaissance Festival

As promised, I will be blogging here about my recent travels to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival over Memorial Weekend. So Friday we (meaning myself, Deadbishop and Capt. Bacardi) flew from Minneapolis to Memphis, then to Nashville. Yeah, the taxi ride to the airport from DB's office was mildly terrifying. Then we flew to Memphis - pretty uneventful flight. Then from Memphis to Nashville...yes, a 36 minute flight, thank you very much. So lame, but we were not going to pay twice what we paid for our flight for a non-stop flight. We got a rental car, which funnily enough had Texas plates! And then we headed for Nickie's house. Sadly for me, the only thing of interest that I saw on the interstate was the Gibson World Headquarters. Otherwise, it was your pretty standard stuff - businesses I mean. But once we exited for Nickie's, things looked up. First of all, we stopped at a liquor store. Bacardi got some Malibu, and I picked up a giant bottle of hooch - I mean, Arbor Mist Pinot Gricio Or however that's spelled... It's tasty stuff. I don't care if it's cheap. We drive through Nickie's neighborhood. OMG - there were some really awesome houses - mansions to be exact. They looked like they could have been from the plantation era. They were building some new ones too, but it was still kind of the same style. Nickie's house, while not a mansion, was lovely. She's got a wonderfully roomy home. The rooms are all very spacious, and she has wonderful decor. Honestly, when she decides it is time for her to move out, she could literally leave everything there, and DB and I could move in and be just about at home! But I get ahead of myself. We knock on the door, and who greets us? FairyFly! She hugged each of us, and then began her blessing of DB. She promised she would do it, because none of us wanted to have DB hurt himself while on vacation. Then she shows us into the house. Nickie's already got quite the group gathered by the time we arrived. Before too long, however, while I was milling around, seeing who was all present, a little dark haired gypsy comes running up and puts her arms around me. Athena! Another hug I've waited 2 years to get. We met so many wonderful people that night. Scotsman and Lady Guinness, Wenchie, FestMum, Kirk, Alphonse, Zenok, Jason, Escarlata and Leinad, Caria, and I'm sure I am missing some. Sleepy Archer - another from Minnesota, was there too, his flight came in earlier than ours. And of course, our wonderful hostess, Lady Nicolette. My first hug with her too was a memory that I cherish. Nickie has become my new Ren Mom. She was so generous allowing the 5 of us to stay with her, invading her home, so to speak. We had beverages aplenty. And Nickie had piles of food, appetizers coming out our ears. Yum! Then we had pizza delivered. There were piles of pizzas too! Wow - more pizza than I've ever seen in one place before. At some point during the evening, Scotsman brought out the cigars and Scotch. Several people joined him on the patio. Then FairyFly got her whip out, and she and DB worked on getting the whip to be broken in. Later that evening, the majority of the group headed out to Bluesboro for a night of fun. There were to be several Teers initiated into the group, and things just got crazy. Of course, there were many more people that we met at the bar too. Sean Daniels, Demetrius, Grov, Luciana, and again, more that I just cannot recall. But I cannot leave out TJ - Laird Guard'n'M'Crack. That guy is one of a kind, that's for sure! I have to admit, the initiations were not what I expected. I think several people had that thought. I did not participate. I will in fact admit to getting a bit upset when DB was participating in the Ette initiation. I'm not proud of that, but it happened. And apparently, a few people noticed - FairyFly told me that she had a surprise for me. And Leinad apologized very intensely the next day at faire if he cause me to be offended. I wasn't offended, I was just a little sad and miffed. I don't know - it's just me. Anyway, we didn't get back to Nickie's till 3 am. Friday was a very long day. VERY long day. And we had to get up at 7:45 am to get ready for faire on Saturday. We didn't make it for the opening show, but as we drove up to the faire, I did see SyRilla, who portrays the Queen, in a brilliant white gown, shining bright as the sun, finishing up with the gate act. I wish we could have seen the show, but alas, we never did get to see it. There were many more new faces that we saw during the first day of faire. I have to say that it was very warm. But once we entered the faire, it was at least 10 degrees cooler under the trees. That was one of the best things about faire - the trees. Granted, I think it hampered any breeze that came along, but shade is a good thing. I also got to meet Tremayne, Clover Pogue, and so many more wonderful people that I've waited long to meet. Saturday was a day of getting to know the faire. We wandered through the faire and shopped and saw some shows. We met one of Nickie's favorites - Craig of Farrington, who also performs at Bristol. Craig swiftly became one of our favorites too. He serenaded me every day, sometimes more than once, and sometimes it was more than just me. Sean Daniels was in fine form that day - he was wooing all of the ladies from the forum, and it was a pleasant experience. *grin* Sean is a very suave gentleman, that is certain. Leinad and Escarlata were Handfasted that afternoon. I understand that she was surprised by Leinad in this. It was a very touching event. Followed by the Ette and Teer auction, which was held to benefit RESCU. We raised over $600 for the group. Pretty great for such a motly crew as we. *grin* Saturday night, dinner was at a place called Toot's. I had a very tasty Cajun Chicken salad, and a wonderfully refreshing non-alcoholic strawberry banana slushie. I really didn't want any booze, especially since it would again be a late night. But the slushie really hit the spot - tasty and refreshing. Then we all went to Pirates of the Caribbean 3. I really enjoyed our time at the movie. The movie was good, and bad, and again we didn't get home till 3 am. Sunday morning we were up again at 7:45 am. Sunday was full of shows for DB and me. We saw lots of shows. Empty Hats, The Roses, and Craig of Farrington were our favorites. We also saw the Buccaneer Blades and the Royal Comedy Improv. After faire, we gathered at the Motel 6 - Ette Central. We cleaned up, changed clothes, and went to Chef Wang's Chinese Buffet. We definitely weirded out the folks in that restaurant, several of the guys were in kilts, and when Laird Guard'n'M'Crack came in, wearing his "Got Shit?" t shirt, he asked us all, in a very loud voice, "GOT SHIT?" I thought I'd fall out of my chair laughing. We finally got to see Kim out of her queenly attire. We didn't recognize her, to be honest! The housemates had decided that DB and I needed some time to ourselves, so they all got up the next morning, and let us sleep in. We took a nice hot bath in Nickie's giant tub. It was really nice to be able to stretch out and relax. My feet felt so much better after the bath. Plus a little extra sleep was welcome. So yes, we got to faire later than normal that day. We saw Death Stands Up that day. Funny show! We also went to the castle. I enjoyed the tour, but I have to admit to being underwhelmed. Oh well. One thing I will say - I realized that when you drive up to the faire, you don't see the faire. All you see is trees. It's so beautiful. We finished up some shopping, wandered around quite a long time with Sleepy Archer - it was good to get to talk to him for a bit. Later in the afternoon, we took some of our purchases out to the car, and we sat in the a/c for a while, and the 3 of us fell asleep for a bit. That also was nice - I don't like lack of sleep. *grin* We had finished each day with a pub sing. I guess that there was a group of Ettes who decided to have fun with some frozen chocolate covered bananas - again I didn't participate as I was unaware this was going on. I understand that there were some cast members who were bothered by this. Oh well. People can be uptight if they wish. Some of our group started the Hat Game while the Pub Sing was going on. This was funny - and all got their hats back in the end. I will admit to having tears in my eyes during the final "Beggars to God" - it was sad knowing that I won't be seeing my new/old friends again for a long time. I felt like I was missing them already. Nickie hosted dinner for her houseguests that night. This was really pleasant - I was glad of the opportunity to sit and relax with a glass of wine (or 3), with my friends, and have a wonderful meal prepared by Nickie. We had to get up fairly early the next morning for our home flight. This flight was non-stop, but it kind of sucked. DB and I had a family behind us with 2 toddlers who didn't stop fussing the entire time. OMG! I wanted to toss them out of the plane. As we began our descent into Minneapolis, I began to cry. It finally really hit me that I missed our friends. We knew these people were our friends before, but meeting them in person seemed to really make the friendship more solid. It makes me sad not being able to see them. Till next time - I will hold these memories close to my heart. Thank you to everyone who did planning, and who made this trip worth every penny.

I had a great time yesterday at the Scottish Festival. The weather forecast was WRONG by the way. Overcast and isolated showers, my foot! It cleared off nicely by 10 am, and not a rain shower to be seen all day. My poor arms -- they hurt so much from the horrid burn I got. Ah well...

I purchased Alice the Cook's yummy ren cookbook from the one and only Groomporter. Tasty looking morsels in there. I picked up some shortbread from the wonderful woman who makes it -- surprised to hear that she now has hired a company to make it for her. Go her! And I also picked up a wonderful set of Lemon Topaz jewelry from a maker who had all of her stuff highly marked down to make room for new designs. I got that beautiful stuff for a song! OK, more like 15 bucks for the necklace and earrings, but who can pass that up! I am a faery after all! Lily and Muffin - also faeries - couldn't pass up the sparklies either. Muffin won a set of bagpipes in the raffle, lucky girl, and a whole slew of us couldn't figure out how to put them together or make the darn thing play right. Lily got the drones working but the melody portion just wouldn't go -- I think maybe it's the reed.

DB spent the whole day taking pics, looking sexy in his Stillwater Kilt, and looking for a clan badge -- there were so many folks from Clan MacLeod there yesterday that I'm guessing they snapped them up rather swifly. We spent way too much money on food and beverages, but we had such a great day. And yum - Babies Heads! Tasty morsels, those are.

The Baron and Baroness hosted a great party with a fantastic "recreational fire" at their home after. It was good to get to just sit down with wonderful friends and talk. Games were played, bagpipes were mutilated, Otis and RenRen were cuddled, food was inhaled, Baron made way too many burgers, Strip'n'Go's were consumed, and fun was had.

DB has made it clear that he must have a Loud MacLeod tartan. I made it clear that if he must wear one of those hideous things -- my sincerest apologies to anyone in Clan MacLeod, but I think it's icky -- he WILL go the whole 9 yards with it! If he wants to be garish, let it be in full form. It will take time of course to work up the saving the money for getting a great or ancient kilt. But I'm sure someday, you'll all be graced by DB in bright yellow and black plaid.

Terry Smith is one amazing guy -- he's the man who won the Games. I am not sure, but I think he might have won all the events. I know he won the Caber Toss and the ... hmm... one of the weight tosses. He's really freakin' awesome at these events. The other 2 men who placed in the Games - they are pretty amazing too. The man who won second place, his name is Tony - sorry can't remember the last name -- one crazy f'n Scot - he had double hernia surgery 2 months ago! And the man who placed third -- can't remember his name at all, sorry -- but he was the good looking one that Carrie pointed out liking his tartan so much -- he's only 205 pounds and -- I think the MC said he's 42! Now THAT's some awesome-ness going on there!

DB will probably have pics up soon on his rensites page. I know he's not gotten all the other pics from stuff up yet either, I'll bug him again. I'm so tired after yesterday, that I don't see us doing a whole lot of anything today. My arms got badly sunburnt, and this morning, while the sunburn still hurts quite a bit, my arms feel more like I lifted far too many weights yesterday. They hurt. Physically hurt - not just from the burn. Muscle pain and weakness. It sucks. Oh well.

But yes -- the Festival yesterday was awesome. I had a great day. And I wanted to share that.

Martin Luther College 2007 Renaissance Faire, New Ulm, MN

 

 

Unfortunately we had some rain this day, so that really seemed to dampen the festivities a bit (pun intended!), but it was still a fun day.  Carrie, Lily and Bacardi had decided to camp at Flandreau State Park on Friday night, and they said that they had some beautiful weather for camping, until the rain came at about 8:30 Saturday morning.  We noticed the skies darkening too, as we drove down to New Ulm.  The others who came were Lord and Lady Fig, Angel FTB, Storm, Lady Serena, RenRen, Majikboxman, Pork Chop and Lady Rae.  I think that I got everyone. 

 

Of course, being in a city park, things were pretty small, but we expected that from last year.  However, with the rain, there seemed to be even less than last year going on.  For one thing, there was no music.  When we first arrived, there was an older gentleman with his guitar singing in the pavilion.  I had hoped to go listen to him, once we finished taking the group photo.  But by the time we had finished with that, he had gotten up and left.  I was a little sad – I had really wanted to go listen to him.

 

Another thing I noticed was that the cast themselves seemed to be less.  I’m not sure why.  I don’t know if the rain was keeping them all hidden away someplace, but I really only noticed the Queen, Lord Dudley, Lord Austen (that would be Lord Paulet, from the forum), the Herald, and Parnell and Will – the rest were around, but not as noticeable or as frequently seen.  Perhaps that was just my own little thing – perhaps they were actually around, but I just didn’t notice them.

 

During the early part of the day, Carrie, Lily, Bacardi and I decided to storm the castle – meaning that the little play area that was in the shape of a castle became our playground.  It was fun, but I think I broke the gate…  We also spent a great deal of time in the gazebo, seeing as it was raining for a lot of the morning.  The Queen decided to hold court there.  She requested that Lord Austen do his fashion presentation.  It was a bit long, but he does know his stuff.  Except for Scottish fashion apparently.  He asked Bacardi to share a bit of his knowledge of what he was wearing.  I think that took the good Captain by surprise!

 

Also there were a couple of skits done by the kids at MLC.  They were cute, but I thought perhaps could have used a bit more work.  Maybe they were thrown by the rain as well,  as they had to perform in the gazebo, instead of on the stage.

 

New Ulm has a cultural Mai Fest, which the Faire is part of, and the rain apparently got the best of the Mexican dancers as well.  We had a gaggle of adorable little Mexican girls in their dance attire who joined in the fun – doing their dances that they had prepared.  I did enjoy this, but I always thought that you were supposed to put the dancers who were best prepared in the front or the middle, but it seemed that in this case, they were on the end!  Anyway, the court then decided to share some of the dances that they knew with the kids.  That was fun to watch too, but I don’t think it went over as well as hoped.  Oh well, it was still fun.  They got into a big circle, pulling in the kids, and some of us as well – Carrie and Lily joined in the fun.

 

After the dances, the sun came out.  But it seemed that several of the vendors decided to call it a day.  I guess I don’t blame them.  Everybody was pretty much huddled around in the gazebo.  There was one jewelry stand I didn’t even get to look at.

 

Of course, New Ulm’s prom was going on this weekend too, so we had a number of couples who came to the park for pictures.  However, with the rain, the girls were much too concerned with holding their gowns off of the damp ground to care that they were showing us their undies!  DB missed out on that photo op, I guess…  I had wished that the Queen would have given the girls some lessons in poise and grace.  Two things that seem to be lost on the younger generations, in general.

 

Once the sun was out for sure, the fun continued.  The cast moved to the stage, and proceeded to do another skit.  However, I was bushed and ended up snoozing on a picnic table.  I missed this skit.  But the next two events were fun!  The Prince contest – which both DB and Bacardi participated in.  Bacardi won the golden goblet.  Lily participated in the Princess contest, and came in a very close second.  We were well represented.  DB was sad because there was no archery contest, because of the rain.  Oh well, that just means that he holds on to his title for another year!

 

Off to the Lamplighter Lounge, for some much needed food.  There was a bit of food at the Faire – the students had their soup in a bread bowl, pretzels, and 1919 root beer again, but the lady who brought tea and scones last year wasn’t there, and neither was the kettle corn.  A few of us had eaten some soup, but it wasn’t enough to last the day.  So we wandered up to the Lamplighter.  I guess we got some funny looks.  It amazes me that in a town that small, the people don’t even know the events that are going on just a block away!  Oh well…

 

We decided to head back to the park.  Carrie and Lily wanted to roll down the hill.  Which they did, to great amusement.  We then tried to take some pictures, but it was SO windy!  We took a few, but we are all very wind-blown.

 

We left New Ulm before 5:00.  It was an early day, but I think – at least in me and DB’s case, we had gotten up so early, and because it was so windy, the two of us were bushed!  In fact, DB had me drive from St. Peter on, because he was so tired he was barely able to keep his eyes open – thanks to the HP who was kind enough to not pull us over, just made the signal to slow down, seeing as DB was half asleep.  Glad he didn’t know that, or he would have pulled us over!  So I drove home…not that I was much more awake, but at least on 169, there are stoplights to keep your attention.

 

All in all, a fun day, but not as eventful as last year.  Which was too bad, since we ended up having more people show up from the forum.  Oh well…maybe next year we’ll have better weather.  But I do think that Will remembered DB, Carrie and myself from last year – at least that was my impression, when he and Hortense said farewell to us all.  That makes me feel good – knowing that some of the students remembered us.  Quite a feat considering that it was a year ago…  Yes, we’ll be there again next year.  First fest event of 2007 – over!

So that burgundy skirt that I have had in the works as my very first sewing project, which I started - oh...say 2 years ago - is finally done!  I took it to my sister's this past weekend, and had my mother finish it.  I know, I know - I am a wuss.  For some reason, I had this major mental block on it.  But truth be told, it was probably a good thing that she did it.  Mom's a long-time seamstress - has been sewing her entire life, and she had issues with the skirt.  Mostly because of a) my choice of fabric, and b) for some reason the sewing machine had issues.

OK - so I'm saying hello to Renspace.  I hope that anyone who I know and missed on my initial speed through of familiar faces will forgive me, and send me a friend request.  Sometimes, I just go too fast.  :)