Turkey Legs
This year, I finally got my mom to come with me to the Renaissance Faire. After all this time, and after all these years of having my mom sew my costumes, she finally decided to see what a Ren Faire was like. Not that she's never been to a Ren Faire before; but that was almost 30 years ago she said. Things have definitely changed. And the Northern California Ren Faire is one of the biggest in the state and by far my favorite venue.
Of course we threw her into costume of nice orange autumn colors. I've collected quite the wardrobe of clothes over the years. This was also a special faire for me since I just spent the past 2 months making my very first custom corset ^_^ And my mom and I both collaborated in making Lance a nice new dublet. Which I know won't entertain anyone for the knowing, but dude - I just learned how to sew!! 26 years down the hatch and my mom, a master seamstress, finally decides to teach me how to sew and work a sewing machine. (talk about "better late than never" huh?) Fucking awesome! I can sew my own shit now!
I wish Tonia had come with us but she got sick at the very last minute. Or so she says... Honestly, I think she was just faking it because she didn't have a costume to wear. But whatever.
So Lance, my mum, and I got all dolled up and off we went. The weather was perfect this time around. To me, the faire looked just like it did last year with about 90% of the same vendors as before. But my mom was totally enthralled with all the costumes and the performances. She was surprised to see people in costumes other than ren faire attire like fairies, pirates, and s/m executioners. It was like she was a kid again which was such a great sight to see in a daughter-mom moment. This year I also got to sport my chinese dao over my skirts - thanks to my ever so amazing buddy Don who made the over-the-shoulder sword holster for me. And that was making all the little kids scream in excitement, "Dad look! A girl is wearing a sword!" Hehe.
I don't think my mom expected the jousting to be as real as it was in regards to the fighting. She was like "Wow, they're really hitting each other!" and "Are they using real lances?" She was also very impressed with the Ren Faire crew for staying in character so well. I even got to introduce her to the Queen. The food has always been the best part, and I made sure my mom got her faire share of turkey legs, meat pies, mead, and shave fruit ice. And lets not forget the bonus of getting to go to Casa de Fruta afterwards to load up on the wine!
It was fun being with my mom at Ren Faire. It was like showing her another part of my life, my world. I'm glad that she had fun. I loved that we ran into some of my fencing buddies and I was able to introduce my mom to yet more of my life. I liked shopping for flower lays and hair spirals while drinking booze from our tankards. I loved eating turkey legs while watching a really bad parrot show. My mom really enjoyed the shop with all the leather masks and we both had lots of fun trying them on and taking pictures. And I loved having my mom look over all the costumes they were selling and telling me "Oh that is so easy to make! Why are they charging $110 for that?!" Oh man, I think my ren faire costume next year is going to be sweet indeed.
I really wish I could have had this experience when I was a kid. But I understand now that in truth, my mom didn't even know that Ren Faires were like this now. The faires she went to back in the day were a step above a flee market. But dude, I do wish I could've shared my first ren faire experience with my mom together when I was little. Oh well. This experience definitely engrained in me the desire to take my kids to ren faire, if I ever have kids.
Of course we threw her into costume of nice orange autumn colors. I've collected quite the wardrobe of clothes over the years. This was also a special faire for me since I just spent the past 2 months making my very first custom corset ^_^ And my mom and I both collaborated in making Lance a nice new dublet. Which I know won't entertain anyone for the knowing, but dude - I just learned how to sew!! 26 years down the hatch and my mom, a master seamstress, finally decides to teach me how to sew and work a sewing machine. (talk about "better late than never" huh?) Fucking awesome! I can sew my own shit now!
I wish Tonia had come with us but she got sick at the very last minute. Or so she says... Honestly, I think she was just faking it because she didn't have a costume to wear. But whatever.
So Lance, my mum, and I got all dolled up and off we went. The weather was perfect this time around. To me, the faire looked just like it did last year with about 90% of the same vendors as before. But my mom was totally enthralled with all the costumes and the performances. She was surprised to see people in costumes other than ren faire attire like fairies, pirates, and s/m executioners. It was like she was a kid again which was such a great sight to see in a daughter-mom moment. This year I also got to sport my chinese dao over my skirts - thanks to my ever so amazing buddy Don who made the over-the-shoulder sword holster for me. And that was making all the little kids scream in excitement, "Dad look! A girl is wearing a sword!" Hehe.
I don't think my mom expected the jousting to be as real as it was in regards to the fighting. She was like "Wow, they're really hitting each other!" and "Are they using real lances?" She was also very impressed with the Ren Faire crew for staying in character so well. I even got to introduce her to the Queen. The food has always been the best part, and I made sure my mom got her faire share of turkey legs, meat pies, mead, and shave fruit ice. And lets not forget the bonus of getting to go to Casa de Fruta afterwards to load up on the wine!
It was fun being with my mom at Ren Faire. It was like showing her another part of my life, my world. I'm glad that she had fun. I loved that we ran into some of my fencing buddies and I was able to introduce my mom to yet more of my life. I liked shopping for flower lays and hair spirals while drinking booze from our tankards. I loved eating turkey legs while watching a really bad parrot show. My mom really enjoyed the shop with all the leather masks and we both had lots of fun trying them on and taking pictures. And I loved having my mom look over all the costumes they were selling and telling me "Oh that is so easy to make! Why are they charging $110 for that?!" Oh man, I think my ren faire costume next year is going to be sweet indeed.
I really wish I could have had this experience when I was a kid. But I understand now that in truth, my mom didn't even know that Ren Faires were like this now. The faires she went to back in the day were a step above a flee market. But dude, I do wish I could've shared my first ren faire experience with my mom together when I was little. Oh well. This experience definitely engrained in me the desire to take my kids to ren faire, if I ever have kids.