Renaissance Faire

Don't let the title fool you. This is more fantasy Renaissance than true Renaissance. Anyhoo, this weekend in honor of Mother's day, my family was forced willingly attended the Renaissance Faire at The Castle in Muskogee (a town about 35 miles south of us). My mistake was my lack of foresight--I should have plied my hubster with a beer when we first walked into the Faire. Oh, well.

I should have taken pictures, too, but I didn't. People watching here is kind of like watching a train wreck--stunning you into a stupor of inaction. Some of the characters played a role--LARP's if you will (Live Action Role Players). There was a King and Queen with their entourage, jesters, executioners, knights, dudes in kilts, a few Vikings, wenches, gypsies and . . . fairies. Most of them had lousy accents, but that's part of the fun. These photos I borrowed from their official site.
--and no, they don't capture the . . . ah, unique individuals.

 The Castle (as it's called) occupied a large plot of partially wooded land with meandering walkways that lead to interesting places, food, games, or stall keepers. We saw an exhibition of falconry, but didn't see the joust this year. One of the knights who jousted pulled his horse out of the stall and let me scritch his face and play with his lips. He reminded me of Buster, but then I will always have a soft spot of dark horses.

Of the shopping stalls, I found the Aerie to be fascinating--it was a book store. Many dress shops that had stunning dresses with corsets that almost allow everything to spill out. And the armories. I love the armories. They had chain mail--very fine intertwined links that made a mesh coat. I lifted one up and that sucker had to weigh 15 lbs. Can you imagine wearing that, plus an undercoat and even armor on top?? The closest you could come to it would be a firefighter carrying 60-75 lbs of equipment for a couple of hours while fighting a fire. Those knights had to have been seriously buff!

I did make one purchase for the day--a mousepad--"too many late knights". It was way too cute.

Poor dragon has a sick tummy!

Later, Peeps!