Waterloo Faire: III

[vakkotaur]

And then on Sunday, not quite in order...

Sunday morning started like Saturday save for taking naproxen right off and packing up and checking out of the Grand. We also brought the wooden folding chairs out of the car right away. The ticket situation was almost the same, but overcome faster. Once inside we wandered a bit, finally sitting down by Billie & James again. I brought magnet for the fridge since there's still some space left... and Jay surprised me by buying a(n inexpensive) recorder.

And then I got a tattoo! No, not really. Firecat's Cauldron did some stencilling and painting and since there was a horse stencil... I had a horse painted onto my right hand. Duracell, er, Coppertop, er, Mallory[1] was pestering me about such things Saturday and since it cost little.. and besides, it was a horse.

Minstrosity told me that they had taken the leftover M&Ms and put them in the "green room" tent. They had also told me to go ahead and drink their pop (but NOT their water!) so they'd not have to deal with it. I knew not all the M&Ms would be eaten Saturday night, but it was interesting to see the results. Plain (pardon me, 'milk chocolate'), Crispy, and Mint still had tubs, while almond and peanut had enough left for a couple small bowls. Peanut butter, which there was probably the most of to start, was gone. I ate a few more, and drank some of Minstrosity's root beer and ginger ale. I found out Wendy had plans for the tubs. Fine with me, they were dollar store cheapies and I didn't want to deal with finding space for them. I also left the jelly beans (they were getting heavy) with the M&Ms.

The "green room" was more of just a shaded spot. There was tent-ish structure but no walls. I sort of met ginafae [2] of Renaissance Sword Theatre (Note to self: Watch RST sometime...). Also met Sparrow, who I'd heard about but not really met before. She's a mime who is very good with kids as I'd find out later when I watched her. Simply managing not to clobber one kid who I wanted to throttle would have been impressive enough, but her act (well, the one I saw) was quite good. Easily got people to interact silently or mostly so. She also had a few great bits of truly reduced Shakespeare. She summed it up well later, "One actor, one prop." Only she didn't bother with a real prop.

Heard another set of Minstrosity's, which was good. Not just that Minstrosity was good, but that it meant I could hear a couple tunes I hadn't before. It was easy to guess which one was being asked about a lot.

And there was a wedding. No act, but the real thing. Jay was there, of course, taking many pictures since he was the wedding photographer. I managed to miss it. I wasn't actively avoiding it, just not trying to see it. (My primary complaint about attending weddings is having to dress in stuffy uncomfortable clothes and then pack into a stuffy uncomfortable building and so on.. a faire wedding doesn't have those problems.) I was probably chatting with Minstrosity or Jaspar of Shattock or some such. Oh yes. Jaspar saw my folding chair/stool and was immediately interested. It looks right and folds up. So one thing I must do now is, if I see the fellow at Siouxland again, get the maker's business card and get the information relayed.

The chair became a point of interest in a couple other ways. At one point I was bent over to pick it up and I was suddenly being scratched by Nasira (this is a Good Thing) which caught me by surprise. I knew she could be intense, but I nearly melted. And I still feel like I have a bit of sunburn on my upper back. It isn't sunburn. I could still see some of the scratch marks Sunday night, many hours later. They almost looked like I'd been whipped there. (And Nasira did "whip" me in fun, with a fluffy tail so it was like being hit with a fairly firm pillow.)

Some other time, after the wedding, a couple of the Danza dancers asked to borrow my chair. Like I can say no to them? It turns out that the newlyweds would be sitting down as Danza danced around them, but Danza only had chairs with backs on them. This would not work with the bride's dress - and the wooden stool would look more appropriate. They also borrowed Jay's and he took more pictures. He'd wished he'd been told a bit earlier as he was taking a break to eat and suddenly this happened. After the dancing (the groom really got into it), we got the chair back with thanks - and a request to use them again at another wedding at a faire we'll all be at in a few weeks.

Sometime during the day I bought a few books from Pigasus Press (no, not a typo..) that I might post about sometime, once I've gotten around to reading one or another. I think that's James Sweetland - a person I've heard about but not truly met beyond buying a few books. He seems to be one of those curious folks who appears at the right time to do or say the right thing and everybody likes him, from all that I've ever heard about him.

Around 3:00 or so Jay and I went around and said our good-byes to a few folks, but we surely missed more than a couple. At least we'll see some in Sioux Falls where we can stay till closing on Sunday. And others again in Osceola, though we'll likely be leaving before closing there, too.

The drive back was uneventful, and XM again was a good thing. It was interesting to hear Bob Hope from 1952 and hear him referred to as an "old codger." Also there was a bit making fun of the idea of hotdogs made of turkey. ("Turkeyfurters"..*laugh*) What they didn't know...

We stopped for supper before we got home. No, we hadn't changed. This morning I got asked by one guy if I was in a play or something. I explained the "or something" to him. And then made arrangements to take this coming Friday off, so we can get to Sioux Falls before things get too busy, and so I can visit one shop before it closes.

There's more to the Waterloo faire, but the "Ring Conspiracy" probably needs a post of its very own. And I'm still waiting for some more information on what happened with that after we left on Sunday

[1]Mallory had a bit of a tan last year at Osceola and when I heard her name was Mallory, I teased her a bit since Duracell was once P.R. Mallory & Co. (Those above a certain age might recall Mallory batteries.) Between the two things she got dubbed Coppertop by her mother and the bit has lasted a while...

[2]Oops, no I didn't. 'twas another. Not that either was or would have been bad. Just that I don't recognize many folks right off unless I've met them for more than a few minutes, several times.