tales from Loch Ness Begone
the best parts of faire included... the weather!!!
Saturday was positively beauteriffic and though Sunday was chilly, and even rained a little, it WAS NOT the freezing cold washout that we had been promised. SO THANK YOU for that. i had plenty of layers, gloves (only one pair which never got wet, thankfully--did not plan ahead well for that part), hot hands which i never even had to use, an insulated waterproof cloak, my AWESOMESAUCE waterproof boots, and i stayed warm and dry.
in fact, i got TOO warm a couple of times. chicken dance is a very high-heat-inducing dance! i recommend it if you are ever feeling chilled.
every time i heard music i would skip or dance and then say, "is this proper behaviour for a court lady?" Queen Margaret would say, "no, i think not." and i would be sad and hang my head and say, "oh." then she would say something like, "but don't let that stop you." and join me in skipping or whatever dance step i was doing. we kept very warm that way. we even chicken danced for the polka lady up by the front gate. i found out when she was playing at the White Hart and we met some other court ladies for a 2 p.m. polka session. (no chicken dance at that time though.)
however, the afternoon, 5:30 Oom-Pah Chicken Dance Extravaganza was EPICALLY spectacular. a few of us were already polka-ing and dancing out in the streets outside the White Hart while the band was playing. then when the started the chicken dance, we RANNNNN over to just outside the pub and started chicken dancing. we were soon joined by ladies from the nearby jewelry booth, and soon other cast members, and a few patrons too i think. suddenly, 3-4 ladies turned into 15 or so chicken dancers chicken dancing faster and faster and faster and i was laughing SO HARD by the end of it. we were running into each other and trying to twirl arms together and chicken dancing like crazed chickens.
after it was over we shouted HUZZAH!!! and the band nodded to us, thanked us with a special wave our direction and i practically collapsed doubled over with laughter. a patron came up to me and asked with a questioning, informative tone, "umm... do you know how ridiculous you all looked?" i felt like saying, DUH!!! but instead i said, "of course!!! it's the chicken dance! we are DANCING like CHICKENS! what did you expect it to look like?" he thought a moment, laughed and said, "you have a point." i should have followed up with, "i think you for the concern, but if i am having that good a time, i really don't care what i look like." ;D
we also played HENRY! ... TUDOR!!! with nearly the entire court Sunday morning after morning Audience with the King. it's like Marco Polo or Blind Man's bluff where one person is blindfolded and they have to find the others by calling "HENRY!" and the others shout out "TUDOR!" the players sneak up behind and past the person blindfolded trying not to get tagged or that person is the next It. of course hilarity ensued when Hans the guard stood behind one of the court ladies who was trying to back up, who suddenly COULD NOT back up and got tagged. or when Charles Brandon was It and Princess Mary was the only one within close range. the Countess motioned for everyone else to back away so he would tag her. hahaha. oooOOOOooo. omg. so much fun. we seriously played that for half an hour i think.
we did "the wave" in the court procession line. (seriously, there weren't many people Sunday. they were all scared off by the weather.) we are having a lot of fun during processions lately.
on Saturday's morning village procession (on the way to Audience with the King), we were the court of complainers. "are we there, yet?" "my feet hurt!" "we've been walking for HOURS." when the Countess asked "did we want to turn the procession around and go BACK TO ICKFORD??" we all hung our heads. "noooooo!" "we HAAAATED Ickford." the Queen says sweetly, "ohh, it's alright. it will give us practice for when we become parents!" ... so we doubled our complaints. lol "I'M TIRED." "HE PUSHED ME!" "SHE STARTED IT!" "OOOH LOOK! COOKIES! CAN WE HAVE COOKIES? CAN WE STOP FOR COOKIES? CAN WE CAN WE CAN WE??" and we awwww'd when we were told we were moving on and we kept whining about things. "but i'm hungry!" "i have to priiiiivvy!"
at that point, the Countess shouts, "ENOUGH! listen up!" we all stopped and looked. now. if you are all VERY GOOD, you may have a cookie!" AND SHE REVEALS SHE IS HOLDING A PLATE FULL OF FRESH CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. omg. she actually went and bought us cookies! (she is seriously so very sweet and good to us.)
we all went to grab for one and thank her and she said, "ONLY IF you are good for FIVE MINUTES until we get to the Market Stage. can you do that?" of course we all smiled and agreed to be good perfect little courtiers. we straightened our lines, stopped our complaining, stood up straight and prepared to go. THEN the king said, "i'll even sweeten the deal. an extra five minutes of shopping? THEN we go to the Boar's Head. no one gets in trouble, you may all have your cookies." so we cheered, split up, looked around for a few before getting in our lines again.
and yes, we got our cookies. (it's the little things.) we got a lot of amused and bemused looks from people. it's so much fun. lol
we (the Queen and i) got our shopping done. the merchants were happy to see us as were the people in the shops. seems like a lot of patrons were shopping Sunday as opposed to being outside in the mist, so it was nice to bump into people in shops and interact with them there. it's different than being out in the streets and is a totally different experience.
saw lots and lots of friends, too. BOTH days, miraculously. the crowds were SO HUGE on Saturday, we actually sold out of tickets. but i managed to wave and say hi to people i know as well as greet people i don't know. we spent some time outside the gates saying hello to the people standing in line waiting to come in. it's actually fun to hand out programs and talk to people there since you know they are even MORE impatient standing in THAT line than any other line in the festival (save the privvy). the lines do move pretty quickly, but if i can make time seem to go faster, i'm happy to help. we also did top-of-gate hellos which was fun to greet people coming in. (i can see
tchwrtr from up there!!!)
amid the flurry of activity, i managed to make time for some shows, too. i saw Camelot Children's Theatre which is Little Red Riding Hood, but not necessarily the EXACT way i remembered it. it's so cute. i loved it!! the kids in the audience are hilarious, too, as it's interactive and they shout things to Red and The Wolf and Mr. Chopper (the Woodsman), etc. i had to hold my hand over my mouth to keep from squeeing out loud or risk dying of cute.
WOLF: "now don't you go telling on me, but i'm going to try to steal Red's basket of goodies!"
KIDS: "RED!!! WAKE UP!!! THE WOLF!!!! HE'S BEHIND YOUR! WAKE UUUUUUP!!!!"
oh my god. lol
also watched the Saturdays-only Fight Club/Duelling Fools mash-up. those guys are getting paid way too much to have THAT much fun. it's even funny when they make a mistake! their "fight speed" fight got off and they were laughing so hard and then whole audience was almost screaming with uncontrollable laughter. truly, if you like either group, the show is worth it.
finally, i keep "managing" to walk by during Cu Dubh sets which are the newest bagpipe group to hit the village of Revel Grove. wow, are they awesome or what?? it means "black dog" so when they say their band name, the audience is supposed to howl. catchy, no? anyway, they are great musicians and i love love love hearing them play. driving beats and great tunes.
it WAS Octoberfest weekend, and there were plenty of drunks. for the most part they were NOT the absolute chaotically rude, belligerent and scary drunks that can sometimes appear when that much drinking occurs.
the only sucky part that i know happened is Cu Dubh is scheduled ahead of another act which is THE OPPOSITE of Cu Dubh. not meaning "not talented", but who is a completely different style. it seems like the Cu Dubh fans hang around the bar after Cu Dubh's heavy style has finished and when the a capella fun singalong guys' group gets on... they are getting majorly rude hecklers. how fucking rude IS that anyway? if you want Cu Dubh, fine. if you don't want the group that's on, fine. go somewhere else. but don't sit there and be assholes to the people who are scheduled and take up SPACE IN THE PUB where people who DO want to see the group might like to sit.
not my problem as i am not in the group, but it dragged down the spirits of at least one member of the group who mentioned it to me. why do people have to be such jerks??
the only other drunken weirdness is Captain America and Spiderman apparently got into a fight. ... again. seriously, i believe these people have issues and i think they are doing it for attention. our faire is developing a reputation for "superheroes" getting in fights and i'm wondering if it's the same two people every year. :P
so that's my rant for the day. honestly overall, i really can't complain too much. most people were wonderful to play against and happy to be there. even on the rainy day and maybe ESPECIALLY on the rainy day. i felt happy and energetic and when i got cold, i just started dancing. hee.
OOH. so the hats we are wearing are called "Gables" which look like birdhouses. the 'tinker' from Midsummer Night's Dream is also a village character. he has in his bag a bunch of wooden 'tinker toys' that he used to build ... a Gable structure. he wore it and showed the whole court after Courtly Revels. it has an extra piece across the neck at the back to keep it "stable" across the neck so that the weight of the back of the hat doesn't pull it off your head. i suggested calling it, "The Stable Gable" and i think he's going to get a patent for it now. ;) Princess Mary put her scarf over it like a veil and i hope to god someone got a picture of it because it was THE MOST HILARIOUS THING EVER. it was decreed that he looked more fetching in his tinker's Stable Gable than any of us could ever dream. gawd i love the creativity of people.
we continued a bit we started last week where we berated Princess Mary for kissing Charles Brandon in public and how she professed to have "tripped and fell." ... "into his lips..."
i also learned that Hans' chain-mail can be used at the bubble stand to make MILLIONS OF TINY BUBBLES and it was very very awesome. Queen, Queen, and i were much much amused and ridiculously happy to pop as many as we could. the fairy then blew us the big bubbles again--we said we should follow it and it led us right to the pub! (yayyy) and right to the feet of a little girl with a group of adults who were practically ignoring her. (boooo.) she was shy at first, but she warmed to us and we got her talking. we told her the magic bubble led us directly to her! she liked that idea. we talked to the adults too. unfortunately we had reminded the little girl "oh! bubbles!" and she wanted to go back to play with them. the mom had to follow. (um oops. lol) but seriously, what little child wants to hang out in a pub all day while everyone's drinking?!? that makes me so sad--you either bring your kid or you sit in one place and drink with your friends all day. don't have it both ways.
another highlight was walking with Hans of the Landsknecht and Queen Margaret. he was off on an errand while QK and KH were on-stage. he agreed to guard us as our destinations were the same!! i was so happy to be briefly Landsknechted. i have felt Queen Margaret has been DIS-knechted and needed a proper guard. ;)
so ... lots of good stuff. there's millions of millions of more things to write. i just haven't got the time or headspace for it all right now. here's some stuff i don't want to forget though...
shepherd's pie
funnel cake vs. peasant bread
deliveries from TWD
leaf for the queen. and a rock.
jousting cheers
Duc d'Longville! oooo
Crosspost from http://dawntreader.dreamwidth.org/2023308.html. There are
comments.
Saturday was positively beauteriffic and though Sunday was chilly, and even rained a little, it WAS NOT the freezing cold washout that we had been promised. SO THANK YOU for that. i had plenty of layers, gloves (only one pair which never got wet, thankfully--did not plan ahead well for that part), hot hands which i never even had to use, an insulated waterproof cloak, my AWESOMESAUCE waterproof boots, and i stayed warm and dry.
in fact, i got TOO warm a couple of times. chicken dance is a very high-heat-inducing dance! i recommend it if you are ever feeling chilled.
every time i heard music i would skip or dance and then say, "is this proper behaviour for a court lady?" Queen Margaret would say, "no, i think not." and i would be sad and hang my head and say, "oh." then she would say something like, "but don't let that stop you." and join me in skipping or whatever dance step i was doing. we kept very warm that way. we even chicken danced for the polka lady up by the front gate. i found out when she was playing at the White Hart and we met some other court ladies for a 2 p.m. polka session. (no chicken dance at that time though.)
however, the afternoon, 5:30 Oom-Pah Chicken Dance Extravaganza was EPICALLY spectacular. a few of us were already polka-ing and dancing out in the streets outside the White Hart while the band was playing. then when the started the chicken dance, we RANNNNN over to just outside the pub and started chicken dancing. we were soon joined by ladies from the nearby jewelry booth, and soon other cast members, and a few patrons too i think. suddenly, 3-4 ladies turned into 15 or so chicken dancers chicken dancing faster and faster and faster and i was laughing SO HARD by the end of it. we were running into each other and trying to twirl arms together and chicken dancing like crazed chickens.
after it was over we shouted HUZZAH!!! and the band nodded to us, thanked us with a special wave our direction and i practically collapsed doubled over with laughter. a patron came up to me and asked with a questioning, informative tone, "umm... do you know how ridiculous you all looked?" i felt like saying, DUH!!! but instead i said, "of course!!! it's the chicken dance! we are DANCING like CHICKENS! what did you expect it to look like?" he thought a moment, laughed and said, "you have a point." i should have followed up with, "i think you for the concern, but if i am having that good a time, i really don't care what i look like." ;D
we also played HENRY! ... TUDOR!!! with nearly the entire court Sunday morning after morning Audience with the King. it's like Marco Polo or Blind Man's bluff where one person is blindfolded and they have to find the others by calling "HENRY!" and the others shout out "TUDOR!" the players sneak up behind and past the person blindfolded trying not to get tagged or that person is the next It. of course hilarity ensued when Hans the guard stood behind one of the court ladies who was trying to back up, who suddenly COULD NOT back up and got tagged. or when Charles Brandon was It and Princess Mary was the only one within close range. the Countess motioned for everyone else to back away so he would tag her. hahaha. oooOOOOooo. omg. so much fun. we seriously played that for half an hour i think.
we did "the wave" in the court procession line. (seriously, there weren't many people Sunday. they were all scared off by the weather.) we are having a lot of fun during processions lately.
on Saturday's morning village procession (on the way to Audience with the King), we were the court of complainers. "are we there, yet?" "my feet hurt!" "we've been walking for HOURS." when the Countess asked "did we want to turn the procession around and go BACK TO ICKFORD??" we all hung our heads. "noooooo!" "we HAAAATED Ickford." the Queen says sweetly, "ohh, it's alright. it will give us practice for when we become parents!" ... so we doubled our complaints. lol "I'M TIRED." "HE PUSHED ME!" "SHE STARTED IT!" "OOOH LOOK! COOKIES! CAN WE HAVE COOKIES? CAN WE STOP FOR COOKIES? CAN WE CAN WE CAN WE??" and we awwww'd when we were told we were moving on and we kept whining about things. "but i'm hungry!" "i have to priiiiivvy!"
at that point, the Countess shouts, "ENOUGH! listen up!" we all stopped and looked. now. if you are all VERY GOOD, you may have a cookie!" AND SHE REVEALS SHE IS HOLDING A PLATE FULL OF FRESH CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. omg. she actually went and bought us cookies! (she is seriously so very sweet and good to us.)
we all went to grab for one and thank her and she said, "ONLY IF you are good for FIVE MINUTES until we get to the Market Stage. can you do that?" of course we all smiled and agreed to be good perfect little courtiers. we straightened our lines, stopped our complaining, stood up straight and prepared to go. THEN the king said, "i'll even sweeten the deal. an extra five minutes of shopping? THEN we go to the Boar's Head. no one gets in trouble, you may all have your cookies." so we cheered, split up, looked around for a few before getting in our lines again.
and yes, we got our cookies. (it's the little things.) we got a lot of amused and bemused looks from people. it's so much fun. lol
we (the Queen and i) got our shopping done. the merchants were happy to see us as were the people in the shops. seems like a lot of patrons were shopping Sunday as opposed to being outside in the mist, so it was nice to bump into people in shops and interact with them there. it's different than being out in the streets and is a totally different experience.
saw lots and lots of friends, too. BOTH days, miraculously. the crowds were SO HUGE on Saturday, we actually sold out of tickets. but i managed to wave and say hi to people i know as well as greet people i don't know. we spent some time outside the gates saying hello to the people standing in line waiting to come in. it's actually fun to hand out programs and talk to people there since you know they are even MORE impatient standing in THAT line than any other line in the festival (save the privvy). the lines do move pretty quickly, but if i can make time seem to go faster, i'm happy to help. we also did top-of-gate hellos which was fun to greet people coming in. (i can see
tchwrtr from up there!!!)
amid the flurry of activity, i managed to make time for some shows, too. i saw Camelot Children's Theatre which is Little Red Riding Hood, but not necessarily the EXACT way i remembered it. it's so cute. i loved it!! the kids in the audience are hilarious, too, as it's interactive and they shout things to Red and The Wolf and Mr. Chopper (the Woodsman), etc. i had to hold my hand over my mouth to keep from squeeing out loud or risk dying of cute.
WOLF: "now don't you go telling on me, but i'm going to try to steal Red's basket of goodies!"
KIDS: "RED!!! WAKE UP!!! THE WOLF!!!! HE'S BEHIND YOUR! WAKE UUUUUUP!!!!"
oh my god. lol
also watched the Saturdays-only Fight Club/Duelling Fools mash-up. those guys are getting paid way too much to have THAT much fun. it's even funny when they make a mistake! their "fight speed" fight got off and they were laughing so hard and then whole audience was almost screaming with uncontrollable laughter. truly, if you like either group, the show is worth it.
finally, i keep "managing" to walk by during Cu Dubh sets which are the newest bagpipe group to hit the village of Revel Grove. wow, are they awesome or what?? it means "black dog" so when they say their band name, the audience is supposed to howl. catchy, no? anyway, they are great musicians and i love love love hearing them play. driving beats and great tunes.
it WAS Octoberfest weekend, and there were plenty of drunks. for the most part they were NOT the absolute chaotically rude, belligerent and scary drunks that can sometimes appear when that much drinking occurs.
the only sucky part that i know happened is Cu Dubh is scheduled ahead of another act which is THE OPPOSITE of Cu Dubh. not meaning "not talented", but who is a completely different style. it seems like the Cu Dubh fans hang around the bar after Cu Dubh's heavy style has finished and when the a capella fun singalong guys' group gets on... they are getting majorly rude hecklers. how fucking rude IS that anyway? if you want Cu Dubh, fine. if you don't want the group that's on, fine. go somewhere else. but don't sit there and be assholes to the people who are scheduled and take up SPACE IN THE PUB where people who DO want to see the group might like to sit.
not my problem as i am not in the group, but it dragged down the spirits of at least one member of the group who mentioned it to me. why do people have to be such jerks??
the only other drunken weirdness is Captain America and Spiderman apparently got into a fight. ... again. seriously, i believe these people have issues and i think they are doing it for attention. our faire is developing a reputation for "superheroes" getting in fights and i'm wondering if it's the same two people every year. :P
so that's my rant for the day. honestly overall, i really can't complain too much. most people were wonderful to play against and happy to be there. even on the rainy day and maybe ESPECIALLY on the rainy day. i felt happy and energetic and when i got cold, i just started dancing. hee.
OOH. so the hats we are wearing are called "Gables" which look like birdhouses. the 'tinker' from Midsummer Night's Dream is also a village character. he has in his bag a bunch of wooden 'tinker toys' that he used to build ... a Gable structure. he wore it and showed the whole court after Courtly Revels. it has an extra piece across the neck at the back to keep it "stable" across the neck so that the weight of the back of the hat doesn't pull it off your head. i suggested calling it, "The Stable Gable" and i think he's going to get a patent for it now. ;) Princess Mary put her scarf over it like a veil and i hope to god someone got a picture of it because it was THE MOST HILARIOUS THING EVER. it was decreed that he looked more fetching in his tinker's Stable Gable than any of us could ever dream. gawd i love the creativity of people.
we continued a bit we started last week where we berated Princess Mary for kissing Charles Brandon in public and how she professed to have "tripped and fell." ... "into his lips..."
i also learned that Hans' chain-mail can be used at the bubble stand to make MILLIONS OF TINY BUBBLES and it was very very awesome. Queen, Queen, and i were much much amused and ridiculously happy to pop as many as we could. the fairy then blew us the big bubbles again--we said we should follow it and it led us right to the pub! (yayyy) and right to the feet of a little girl with a group of adults who were practically ignoring her. (boooo.) she was shy at first, but she warmed to us and we got her talking. we told her the magic bubble led us directly to her! she liked that idea. we talked to the adults too. unfortunately we had reminded the little girl "oh! bubbles!" and she wanted to go back to play with them. the mom had to follow. (um oops. lol) but seriously, what little child wants to hang out in a pub all day while everyone's drinking?!? that makes me so sad--you either bring your kid or you sit in one place and drink with your friends all day. don't have it both ways.
another highlight was walking with Hans of the Landsknecht and Queen Margaret. he was off on an errand while QK and KH were on-stage. he agreed to guard us as our destinations were the same!! i was so happy to be briefly Landsknechted. i have felt Queen Margaret has been DIS-knechted and needed a proper guard. ;)
so ... lots of good stuff. there's millions of millions of more things to write. i just haven't got the time or headspace for it all right now. here's some stuff i don't want to forget though...
Crosspost from http://dawntreader.dreamwidth.org/2023308.html. There are
comments.