Left pagan camp, one more side trip before home.
We left MD around 5:30 and had dinner with some friends at the Charcoal Pit somewhere in DE along US-40. Air conditioning, conversation and good food were the order of the evening. citabria and I are camped out in a hotel now--we both napped early and I'm beginning to fade again now after email checking. We go to NJ tomorrow for a photo session.A brief digression about US-40. As we drove along we passed "T&A Paving". This was followed, a block or so later, by "S&M Paving". I wonder who gets more business.
Looking back, Saturday was getting hotter and eventually a thunderstorm hit around dinner time that was locally severe enough to cause a tree to fall and take a power line down with it. (It also hit three cars in the lot. There were lots of donations for the unfortunate victims to cover some of their expenses.) Fortunately, dinner had been cooked and I was able to get some hot food after doing some minor work after the storm cleared. (One was standing in for madamruppy who getting dry clothes after having been drenched at "parking point"--the far end of the parking lot checking cars coming in--in the open gazebo with only a small parasol. 8-0) There were a few tents and pop-ups that didn't make it because of the storm but it wasn't too bad, considering.
Another storm was threatening but it never arrived. And, frankly, if it hadn't been for the tree coming down, things would have gotten quickly back to normal. Sans lights but with water working again and the haze of the moisture, Ramblewood was a different place. There wasn't a lot of spare light because, well, normally its lit well-enough that you can wander most parts of it without a flashlight. Evening events were delayed a little bit but eventually got going after a bit.
Power came back on sometime around 5 the next morning. I got woken up by the fan suddenly blowing in my face and a few overnight security running around to check for any problems with the power-on. Dozed for a few hours then got up to a day that started cooler and pretty. Then it was off to the races collecting programming stuff and doing my part to help tear things down and packing things to go and lots of goodbyes. It got warmer but not too bad at all. citabria and I were one of the last ones off the site, after a brief trip around to the remoter areas to say goodbye.
Other things.
- Got to shop a little before the storm and bought some wedding things from Needle Play Design.
- Also, just before the storm, I got attacked with a water assault weapon. I don't think that was specifically in retaliation for a somewhat surprisingly bumpy cart ride. ("Do you drive monster trucks for a living?") But you never know. And, ultimately, it didn't matter because I got more damp soon, anyway.
- And I actually didn't lose any passengers. Just scurrilous rumors.
- In the post-storm darkness, citabria reminded me that I had hung lanterns in some of the outdoor pavilions for nighttime workshops. So, a day after I had hung them, I got to cut them down and bring light to other dark places.
- I found out that people were amused at my clip-on sunglasses. What? They still make them. And they work. Maybe it didn't fit with the tie-dye I was wearing most of the time.
- I went Saturday night to a sumbel* run by mohnkern Saturday evening but only stayed three rounds. I found out later that it went for over seventeen rounds until all the mead was gone. Damn Responsibility Bit--I should have come up with more toasts. [* Wikipedia link for background.]
- I was able to catch up with auror briefly to follow-up on a talk we had last year. I want to dwell on that more because it's hard--for me--to take a moment to look back and see the good things.
- It was great to connect with several other people, too, particularly ravenrose and, um, another person whose LJ name I can't remember right now. Oh, and hir, too. Bah. I need to remember to take more time to do so and ignore the Bit. Or take better notes. Or something. Maybe sleep more.
- There was a surprisingly large haul of random bits of clothing, shoes and underwear from fire circle.
- As we were making our last rounds, a butterfly fluttered about and landed on citabria as we were standing quietly in the woods. She saw a bunny later, which made her happy.
- There was also a lonely golf cart that was down an odd path on the site. We're pretty sure it wasn't one of the ones that was rented for FSG. Probably ran out of gas from someone else's previous event.
- I have more notes but I can't read my scribbling. On the other hand, I was more careful with notes for event stuff that hopefully will be useful at coming events. (Actually writing them down was the step I remembered.)
- I've gotten better and bringing what I need and not much more. We did bring too much water but we gave what we didn't want to bring back to the trees around the White House.
Looking back, Saturday was getting hotter and eventually a thunderstorm hit around dinner time that was locally severe enough to cause a tree to fall and take a power line down with it. (It also hit three cars in the lot. There were lots of donations for the unfortunate victims to cover some of their expenses.) Fortunately, dinner had been cooked and I was able to get some hot food after doing some minor work after the storm cleared. (One was standing in for madamruppy who getting dry clothes after having been drenched at "parking point"--the far end of the parking lot checking cars coming in--in the open gazebo with only a small parasol. 8-0) There were a few tents and pop-ups that didn't make it because of the storm but it wasn't too bad, considering.
Another storm was threatening but it never arrived. And, frankly, if it hadn't been for the tree coming down, things would have gotten quickly back to normal. Sans lights but with water working again and the haze of the moisture, Ramblewood was a different place. There wasn't a lot of spare light because, well, normally its lit well-enough that you can wander most parts of it without a flashlight. Evening events were delayed a little bit but eventually got going after a bit.
Power came back on sometime around 5 the next morning. I got woken up by the fan suddenly blowing in my face and a few overnight security running around to check for any problems with the power-on. Dozed for a few hours then got up to a day that started cooler and pretty. Then it was off to the races collecting programming stuff and doing my part to help tear things down and packing things to go and lots of goodbyes. It got warmer but not too bad at all. citabria and I were one of the last ones off the site, after a brief trip around to the remoter areas to say goodbye.
Other things.
- Got to shop a little before the storm and bought some wedding things from Needle Play Design.
- Also, just before the storm, I got attacked with a water assault weapon. I don't think that was specifically in retaliation for a somewhat surprisingly bumpy cart ride. ("Do you drive monster trucks for a living?") But you never know. And, ultimately, it didn't matter because I got more damp soon, anyway.
- And I actually didn't lose any passengers. Just scurrilous rumors.
- In the post-storm darkness, citabria reminded me that I had hung lanterns in some of the outdoor pavilions for nighttime workshops. So, a day after I had hung them, I got to cut them down and bring light to other dark places.
- I found out that people were amused at my clip-on sunglasses. What? They still make them. And they work. Maybe it didn't fit with the tie-dye I was wearing most of the time.
- I went Saturday night to a sumbel* run by mohnkern Saturday evening but only stayed three rounds. I found out later that it went for over seventeen rounds until all the mead was gone. Damn Responsibility Bit--I should have come up with more toasts. [* Wikipedia link for background.]
- I was able to catch up with auror briefly to follow-up on a talk we had last year. I want to dwell on that more because it's hard--for me--to take a moment to look back and see the good things.
- It was great to connect with several other people, too, particularly ravenrose and, um, another person whose LJ name I can't remember right now. Oh, and hir, too. Bah. I need to remember to take more time to do so and ignore the Bit. Or take better notes. Or something. Maybe sleep more.
- There was a surprisingly large haul of random bits of clothing, shoes and underwear from fire circle.
- As we were making our last rounds, a butterfly fluttered about and landed on citabria as we were standing quietly in the woods. She saw a bunny later, which made her happy.
- There was also a lonely golf cart that was down an odd path on the site. We're pretty sure it wasn't one of the ones that was rented for FSG. Probably ran out of gas from someone else's previous event.
- I have more notes but I can't read my scribbling. On the other hand, I was more careful with notes for event stuff that hopefully will be useful at coming events. (Actually writing them down was the step I remembered.)
- I've gotten better and bringing what I need and not much more. We did bring too much water but we gave what we didn't want to bring back to the trees around the White House.