rose_griffes: (Default)
rose_griffes ([personal profile] rose_griffes) wrote2007-05-06 05:07 pm
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"That's what we call a nuclear corset..." *

I went to a Renaissance festival Saturday...


The weather was almost perfect for spending a whole day outside. Clouds kept the temperatures low enough and I didn't get sunburned. It sprinkled but never actually poured rain. The ground was incredibly muddy from the storms earlier this week, but I knew in advance and wore old shoes.

We wandered around and tried on various weird headgear--feathered hats, etcetera. I won't post any pictures 'cause I like my RL friends to continue talking to me.

At one pm there's a parade with people working the shows marching through.

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men in kilts!
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I've always enjoyed people-watching. It's even more interesting at a Renaissance fair. Most of the people in costumes don't actually work at the fair, they just like the excuse to dress up. It's a minor quibble, but I don't think many medieval or Renaissance men pierced their nipples. Nor did many women from that time period wear chain-mail bikini tops. Heh. One woman was wearing a kimono. (Wrong continent, but hey, Europe and Asia are attached...)

We watched a show with one balding, aging male acrobat. He was very funny and self-deprecating. I have no idea how he could still talk while balancing upside-down on a small, spinning plate, but he could. This picture shows him balancing on a ladder (no supports for the ladder), spinning a plate on a stick held in his mouth and spinning various hoops on his arms.
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Somehow we missed most of the jousting show.
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Eventually the sound of bagpipes and drums lured us around a corner to hear a Celtic band. The group is called The Rogues and they were great. I wasn't prepared to like a Texas-based Celtic group, mostly because I already like one, Clandestine. Turns out that there's some band member overlap between the two groups, but I didn't know that when I bought the CD. (My camera bag hold a lot more than I thought--I brought in a contraband peanut-butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and later I put the CD in there.)

Two bagpipe players in one band--awesome!
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The percussionist was having a ton of fun dancing.
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I'm always a sucker for bringing kids onstage.
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I grew up listening to Irish and Scottish folk music (along with lots of other offbeat stuff) thanks to my father. I love hearing it live. And happy young men wearing kilts, always a plus.

We also saw lots of other stuff, including a show about falconry, but I think I'm done writing about the day.


For anyone else who might like bagpipes or Scottish music in general, The Rogues stream some of their songs on their website.


* part of a line I overheard. The ending was this: "Because there's bound to be fallout." hee!