Sooooo sleepy! I worked bar at the Shakespeare Tavern last night for opening night of Midsummer Night's Dream, at which I laughed so hard my stomach and sides hurt, and had tears in my eyes. There's a lot of new people in it, and former cast members in other parts (Oberon/Theseus is now Bottom for instance), and those who are in roles they've done for thousands of performances (that's you, gypsyariana) were fresh and new. And it was only opening night, so it'll morph and improve over the next few weeks. I highly recommend this romp.

Anyway, I didn't get home and into bed until 11:30 and had to get up at 5:00 to leave for GARF. It was rainy and breezy -- lovely sleeping weather, and I really wanted another hour or two of sleep, but I arrived just after 9:00 and started bagging incense. It's a very routine task, put on a label and price, count to 20, put 'em in and seal. Repeat. I like it though; it's sort of a liturgical repetition to get the faire day started. And my hands smell wonderful after!

mrakg has to be out of town for his day job the first two weeks of faire, so I was in his usual corner, and our new person, Paige, was in my spot with the stones. I felt so off balance!! But it was a very good opening day, despite the mud and early morning rain.

I won't name all the participants, just friends and relations (like Rabbit's in Winnie-the-Pooh).

crazyauntjaynie was there in civvies to greet everybody before going to her day job (weekends required during tax season).
dwivian and elfgirl were there, stunning as always, and as nice as always too.
madladyred with her husband and friend (her husband has a delectable bass voice --MMmmm).
tempest_gypsy was there showing off her fabulous pirate coat, fully lined, in colors that set off her coloring to perfection. Beautifully done. She is soo talented! And she can sew at night, which I cannot do past 10:00.

I think that's all the LJ people and I am sooo sleepy still. Here a bit longer, to move laundry around.

I spent all Saturday yesterday working, it seemed to me. In the morning, I spent hours making sandwiches and worrying about whether they'd be acceptable, interspersed with vacuuming, scooping the litter box, fixing breakfast, cleaning the kitchen, and having an intense phone conversation with my brother (not bad, merely intense). That afternoon was the garden party: I took a wrong turn, and was cranky and irritable when I arrived, not because of the wrong turn (I always find a different way to understand directions), but because I felt as if my food, and clothes, and whole being were inadequate to the lovely house and what I thought the party would be like. I didn't have time to get broody, however, because we only had two hours to get set up in an unfamiliar kitchen for a type of party (a British Garden party!?) only one of us had ever been to, and then it started and we stayed busy, and replenished the food, and kept on fixing, and drafted Tony Brown and Doug Kaye (Hi, Bruce!) to whip cream and frost cakes, and we washed glasses and dishes.

And I remembered reading the ( Collect for SaturdaysCollapse )

( Cynicism in action.Collapse )

I've had all sorts of contemplative, witty entries written in my head while I was at work this past few weeks, but as you can see, none have made it to LJ, but today is a lovely day, with a slow, steady, soaking rain, just right for savoring life, and maybe even writing a little.

( That four letter D wordCollapse )

I had a lovely meal at Sarah's, and brought home the left over desserts, since I have 2 sons who visit and my housemate and her husband to feed them to. A mincemeat pie, and a pumpkin pie, a coconut cake ( all untouched), and eight cannolis (one of the guests works at Fresh Market and brought unsold desserts) (yes, Randy, for y'all who know him).

After I sleep off the feast, I'll go help decorate the Tavern tomorrow, and volunteer tomorrow night. The guys come cook Thanksgiving on Saturday.

And, the picspam. My back is to an uninsulated window, and it gets cold! I need to leave my arms free, so I found some wonderful prequilted fabric on sale at Fabric.Com, and a great quick sew pattern with several options. I made the hip length version. ( Read more...Collapse )