Vakkotaur

The weather forecast, on Friday, for the Amanas in Iowa was for a nice, clear weekend. That being the case, and having some stuff to pick up on the way, jmaynard and I left our cloaks at home. Naturally, the forecast changed and Sunday was a day full of light rain, heavy rain, and thunderstorms. Note: Always take a cloak, just in case.

My big disappointment was that Jennifer and her ponies weren't there. I don't know why they weren't there, though fuel prices could well be part of it. The area she would have set up in had a glass blowing demonstration, and something else. But I missed seeing the ponies this year.

Shattock did good, even poking fun at one of the shows they used to do (and I don't blame them for trying to avoid it). This time their tips went to hurricane relief. One of the merchants (Scots Dragon) was also donating 10% of their sales to hurricane relief. Those are just the ones I know about, there might have been others.

It was good to see various folks, such as Shattock, the Scots Dragon vendors, Danza Mystique, the folks who play Robin Hood and Maid Marion, and a good many others. One strange encounter was with Josh the Juggler. It turns out he had (part of?) a tattoo business in Fairmont for a while. Even more surprising, to me, he claimed the business did rather well, which is not something I'd have guessed. He got tired of dealing with some of the clientele, or rather some of the wannabe clientele and so moved on.

We didn't see Billie or James as Orckes & Trolles was only at IRF on Monday, and that was our day to travel back home. [ADDENDUM: Okkay, we didn't see Orckes & Trolles, nor did we travel through Des Miones and stop and see irpooh and foolscap001] Stopping for lunch in Albert Lea, MN we found a place that had just opened this Spring: Taste of Texas BBQ. It was rather unexpected and was run by a couple from Texas. Overall it was good, but I think the barbecue sauce was overly mild.

Next year, IRF will be moving to early May and I'm not sure I'll care to go. It's nice to see everyone, sure, but it's not a must-do thing. I have other things already planned for May and early June and those I consider more important. There was also something mentioned of a renewed Waterloo faire, but there seems to be some confusion about just when it's supposed to take place.

The Iowa Renaissance Festival has come and gone again. I won't go into too much detail, I think. It was nice Saturday, and rained or at least drizzled for much of Sunday. Saw a few acts. Noted the absence of a few. Mainly talked with people I knew already. It seems I do less and less shopping and watching performances and more and more simple visiting.

One act I did see was the Shattock Schoole of Defence. I think I saw all three shows they did, and one was one I hadn't seen before. Based on Alice in Wonderland and it did have that quality to it though I didn't pick up on the reference(s).

Also met the ponies (Talon, Peanut Butter, Snickers, and Rowdy - who lives down to his name) and their owner. I found out why I hadn't seen them at ARA (Osceola). She'd loaned out the truck. "And it didn't come back in time?" I asked. "No, it came back. On a flatbed. Threw a rod." was the reply. Ouch. And right after other work (brakes, transmission) had been done. The ARA organizer was there and I did manage to get the folks together (or was it me?) and so things seem to be worked out for next year.

Saturday night was the usual (for smaller faires) supper gathering. Reservations had been made well in advance and having a room to ourselves worked nicely. Heard the tale of how a couple friends got a new, or at least different, vehicle. It was quite an ordeal of trying cars and finding faults for a couple weeks until they finally bought a vehicle from their mechanic rather than any of the dealers.

The big surprise, to me, was nothing to do with the faire at all, but once we got home. There was a poorly recorded message on the answering machine. Turns it out it was a reporter with the Christian Science Monitor who had come across the COLT while researching. He only wanted to confirm the sequence in Dripalong Daffy where Daffy bursts into the saloon... and gets completely ignored. He was using that to describe how Arnold is being ignored in the California recall. He had already submitted the story so it wasn't much help, but I did confirm he had it right about Daffy. I'm not so sure he's right about the rest of it. I suggested michaelmink's Warner Bros. Cartoon Companion and he said he had looked through it.