I am usually in Raven's Nest all day every day that faire is open (eight weekends, plus Memorial Day and two student days), in the rock corner, sewing catnip mousies, but this season has been skewed. Until this weekend, opening weekend was the only one I'd had both days of -- I had to work at Horizon the next four Sundays. I like working there, and they've been super cooperative with my faire conflicts, and now I'll have the last three weekends all at GARF (missing opening weekend of The Clean House). The first two weekends, mrakg had to be out of town, so I was in his corner, alien territory for me except on student days. No mousies there. Then, mrakg was back and I had three Saturdays over on my own corner, and now, finally, two-thirds of the way through GARF, I had a whole weekend in my place. Such a creature of habit!

Patron of the Day. White man with long scraggly beard, wearing Confederate flag britches, a Hooters towel around his waist, and white boots that looked as if he'd snatched them from a majorette. The Anti-Matter Baton Bob.

( On to the people )

I stuffed mousies with catnip all day long today and although I was not stoned, I am certainly less tightly wound now.

Will post family news and thoughts another day.

I majored in Theatre, I've been a volunteer at many theatres for years (from high school to expensive Equity), and I work at a theatre, and none of them have as much Drahmah as industrial plumbing supply wholesalers.

Just sayin'

Friday, I volunteered at the Shakespeare Tavern and saw Midsummer Night's Dream again. It's been a lovely, fresh show, and I wish I could have been there every week -- so much fun! Carol Tulloss, who plays Snout the tinker, always took an enormous breath before each line as the Wall, and Friday the whole audience noticed and started gasping for breath along with her - absolutely hilarious, because they all fed on each other.

And to the woman who sashayed in with five teenagers at 7:20, and then, when the house manager told her they wouldn't be able to sit at the same table, ranted, "I am a teacher here with my students, and I cannot believe that after we spent this money you can't seat us together." Lady, there isn't a theatre in town who can guarantee seating six together ten minutes before curtain, unless they haven't sold any tickets anyway. Way to teach them courtesy and savoir faire, ya know?

Thanks to tempest_gypsy, Raven's Nest was serenaded by the RumRunners! lasarigue, the lead singer, has been up to the shop several times, but I'd never gotten to hear her and her crew perform. Good voices, and good arrangement. I know playing in the shop rather than a stage cramped their style, but they gave us much delight. Thanks!!!

Yesterday was supposed to be rainy with thunderstorms, and the weather radar looked threatening, but we only had mild drizzling, which was just right for Scottish Weekend, and it stayed cool enough for the cloak wearers to be happy. By closing, the sun had come out, and there was a brisk breeze, and it is lovely today. I'm working at Horizon Theatre this afternoon, so I had this morning for laundry and vacuuming and such. It's uncomfortable to be working half way at two weekend jobs, but I like them both and want to stay with them. Next week is my last Sunday at Horizon until June sometime, so I am savoring the mornings at home. I'm already signed out from choir, and am not going to church while my schedule is like this.

The second Students Day (elementary and middle school) was much better than the first week's. The high schoolers are trying to look cool, and so show little interest in anything, but these would actually slow down and ask questions -- much more fun for me. A group of four middle school boys came in, bouncing off the walls, picking up things, letting go, flurrying on to the next something. One of them picked up a buckeye out of those we had for sale, and asked about it, and when I said it was for good luck, they all started rubbing the buckeye on their arms for good luck. I laughed and they began asking questions about all sorts of things there. Nice kids, just lively. And then one of them counted out all the money in his pocket, and spent $0.30 for three sticks of incense for his mother for Mother's Day. I nearly began to sniffle right then. Oh, and did I mention they were all black? Three strikes against them, yes? Black, middle school, and male. They were delightful, and I hope they'll remember.

Rick, #3 son, worked at the Parrots of the Caribbean for Kids Day, and is in shock at that many urchins at one time.

And watching movies. I've finally seen Hugh Grant in a role I thought he suited -- Bridget Jones' Diary. Smarmy, and devious, and self-centered.

Back to mousies. Gotta go to bed early to pick up sons to work Students Day. Steve will be at Raven's Nest as always, and Rick's old boss, Steve Hoddy, the falconer, wanted Rick to come work tomorrow, so it'll be a family trip.

I'd squee, but darn, we have to leave early.

Back to mouses.

First, on the way home from GARF, after I let Steve out at the Tavern to work, I went to Borders and bought the new Bujold book!! Yay!!! And some DVDs on sale, too, so I can sew.

Lovely, lovely weather today -- most surprising since it's been Scottish weather on the high school Student Day for the past several years. Good news?! No, that's bad news, because they mostly stayed out doors in the sunshine and didn't come in and shop. Those who did come inside bought mostly dime candies and fifty-cent honey straws, and I didn't see the standard assortment of hats, dragon claw stone on a string, and furry dragon puppets. Not a lot of extra money floating around the teens this year.

1. The Rennie Grapevine

Deb, aka Delia McDougal, singer and player of Celtic harp and flutes, and all her family have been involved with faire in many different ways. Well, they grew up, which is good, and two of the boys are now married, and in the Military. The one in the Navy is stationed in Georgia, and his wife went into early labor,and had to be taken by ambulance to Savannah. He couldn't call Deb on the phone, since (1) she's performing and leaves her phone in the car, which is made easier by (2) the absolutely horrid lack of coverage we have on site.

How to tell the near grandmother what's happening? Answer: Call big brother (akajaythebarbarian), the Marine, who is stationed in North Carolina. He says, "I have friends who will be at GARF today -- they can tell her!" and so they searched her out and told her during a set.

2. The Searchers for Smoking Herbs

We sell herbs. We have a sign prominently displayed, saying, "Raven's Nest does not sell illegal substances. Please do not ask for them." Teenagers do not read, and they ask. They ask each one of us, at length, rephrasing to make sure we understand what their desire is. This becomes annoying rather quickly. My preferred method is to answer their questions in great detail, explaining the foods, and healing, and dye stuffs -- overwhelming them with information, but we don't all use that method.

Today, after I'd bored them with facts, a group of boys decided my son neff, who in his mid 20's, looked like Someone Who Knew, and this is what I overheard:

Boy: Oh, come on, you know what I mean - what can I smoke?
Son: You can smoke anything in the shop, but it'll make you cough like crazy, you'll feel horrible, and your friends will all laugh at you for being stupid.

Repeat, with variations for five minutes until boys left.

I've been busy lately, and even when I am home, I require a certain amount of reading time, even if it's catching up with my f-list and not a book. Although we get to IM pretty often, and he calls me occasionally, I still need to finish the letter I began weeks to James in Iraq, because paper mail is important when you are a long way from home. Speaking of James, he's been accepted in to Officer Candidate School, and is now waiting to be told when he will attend.

Thursday night I saw In Darfur at the Horizon -- fabulous drama! It's about the vicious genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, and even though it's about horrible things, there's humor and vivid personalities. The reviews in the various Atlanta papers have been good. It isn't a little fluff disease-of-the-week piece, and I'd gladly watch it again. The performances are uniformly good, even frightening. As with many theatres there's no proscenium arch with curtains, and scene changes must happen in full view of the audience, so I'm always curious as to how it is accomplished in each venue for the various plays. They do an excellent job staging the show and the changes with sound and lights, and you are pulled in.

( What is filling my time? )

Bah. Time to go to work. Bye!

Take a few minutes and enjoy
An Engineer's Guide to Cats. I'd never heard of cat yodeling before!

Good things:

Chilly, but not freezing, windy, blue skies in the morning with little puffy white clouds in the afternoon.
People shopping (and buying) before 11:0 on a Sunday.
The Royal Court all in the shop shopping for scents and bath salts (the Queen loves our bath salts).
Lots of people buying dime hard candies (clove, cinnamon, ginger, sarsaparilla, licorice, and horehound), and licorice roots.
Wore my fuzzy shawl/wrap/cloak garment most of the day. It leaves my arms free, but is warm in a breezy shop.
Red band and rice with sausage - hot in the afternoon chill.
Legolas was shopping in our booth. When I saw him, I thought I'd been sniffing too much catnip! He wasn't dressed as an elf though (wearing a gold brocade doublet from an antique store, that had been used in a Shakespeare play), but he had That Hair.
I have a temp parking pass and can park in back of the booth for a few days.
It was cold enough to wear my heavy maroon twill skirt, which I am inordinately fond of, and never get to wear.
Speaking of that skirt, the semi-suspenders I put inside of my bodice are working excellently to hold up heavy skirts, eliminating gaposis.

Other things:
Only having a plastic spoons to stir and serve the beans and rice. I was the last one to go to the back and get some, and the plastic spoon was melting from the heat and warping from the weight. Hee!
I still think in terms of teenage boy appetite, so I made a double batch of the beans and rice. Oops! Three adult women don't eat nearly as much! I'll be eating beans and rice all week long, I guess.
Cannot wear Baldies (Bald Mountain Moccasins boots) with support stockings. The boots fit so well that the hose drag too much when sliding into the boot. Bah.
Couldn't work on mousies at the main corner, so I made none this whole weekend. Will have to spend every night this week making another couple of dozen, and the same the week after. Yikes!

Good opening weekend, happy people.

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.

Opening weekend at the faire

I too have had sewing to do (dozens of catnip mousies), so over the past couple of weeks, I've watched the 1995 Pride and Prejudice twice through and now the Fellowship of the Ring. Pausing to type a bit, and put in the disc for The Two Towers.

Have any of you local GARFians noticed the weather report for Sunday? Starts off in the low 40's, highs in the 50's with strong winds. Sounds like last year on opening Sunday. BRRRR. As a prudent rennie, I've made a big crock pot full of red beans and rice, with smoked sausage, that can simmer all day in the back of the shop. Yay Huzzah for hot food on a cold day!

I haven't done anything to my garb, except find all the pieces and start packing up. I'm at an in-between weight, and so I'll wait until I'm down more to sew anything new.

Still glad lodger is gone, but damn! I needed that rent money.

I came home from the Tavern last night and my lodger had left a note with her key saying she'd moved out. I opened the door to her room, and sure enough -- all empty. Guess she doesn't understand giving notice. Humph.

Background available for anyone who wants to know.

I'd like to have that room be a guest bedroom, and move my sewing gear in there for when no one is visiting, but that'll have to wait until I have the money to furnish it.

With what I make at the Horizon, and with the Renaissance Festival about to start, I can manage without rent until July, at the least. This'll give me time to look around and figure what I need, or find someone to share.

For those of you who read Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion books, I think the Bastard is involving himself in my legal affairs -- in a good way.

In other news, Pure Confidence at Theatrical Outfit last night was lovely. The main access streets are closed for repairs after the tornado two weeks ago, so they published an alternate route on the top of their main webpage. I admire foresightedness. They had no damage, but buildings all around were badly beat up by the winds and flying debris. An interesting effect of all the damage and repairs and closed roads is that there are now a LOT of bicycles and Segways going down Luckie Street, since there are very few cars to threaten them at present.

Of Mice and Men at the Shakespeare Tavern is excellent, too. This is heresy, but I've seen so very much Shakespeare that it's refreshing to see something else, and to see the actors use other muscles.

GARF, the Georgia Renaissance Festival, opens two weeks from today, and I like to have 6 dozen catnips mousies ready on the first day. I have one dozen now. Oops. Must get busy!

I haven't been posting much lately because I've been busy, making for a LOT that I want to post about: CAVORT in California, work, Holy Week (I missed Palm Sunday because of CAVORTing, but have been to a choir practice, Tenebrae, and Maundy Thursday so far, with Good Friday service tonight, and singing for two services Easter).

I think today's "LJ strike" is stupid, though, so I need to post today. As I said to rebelliousrose, it's just like all those stupid emails telling people not to buy gas for their cars on one particular day. As if. They all just buy gas the day before or the day after.

Now for the fun stuff. My son posted this story in his LJ:

OK, so our platoon's FO (not the one who kept getting me in trouble- he's gone) and I had guard from 2am-5am this morning. I was on the phone with Christie from 5am until almost 6am, thinking I'd get to sleep until 10 or 11 or so. Nope! The 2 of us got woken up every hour for something stupid (medic needed to go to his guard duty, someone looking for the medic while he was on guard, and some chore that turned out wasn't going to happen until afternoon). The last wakeup was the LT saying he NEEDED us. Apparently he left his camera in the TOC debriefing room a couple of days ago (the night/morning after our QRF run for the scouts), and someone took it. The guy who took it made a bunch of threatening letters accompanied by pictures of his camera in compromising positions. He then proceeded to hide all these letters all over the patrol base, kind of like a scavenger hunt. One picture had the camera hanging by its strap off of one of the piss tubes, and someone's leg was in the frame as though they were fixing to urinate upon the camera. Some of the others had a knife or a gun pointing at the camera. Each letter told him where to go next, and we went all over the friggin place. Both the FO and I would have been laughing about it, but we were PISSED that he woke us up for this crap and he didn't even really need us at all! Bah. And of course, every camera around the perimeter followed us when it could, so we were giving the cameras the finger. Hehehe.

My friend speruoc had a workshop reading of her new play The Magic Circle with professional actors on Monday night. Wonderful! The audience caught the humor and the references, and were all wrapped up in the nine interwoven Victorian English characters with all their different sorts of loves and caring. It was a GOOD play. The actors didn't merely read lines from a script, but were in character. Delightful and so satisfying. Afterward, during the critique, there was no polite struggling-to-find-something-positive misery, but genuine enthusiasm salted with solid questions and tweakings. This was all handled by Working Title Playwrights, a group of professionals who assist new playwrights with crafting their work. A really excellent time!

There's another public reading on Monday, March 24, 7:00 p.m. at the Academy Theatre for all of you in Atlanta. I just found out that the venue is being changed, but don't know where yet. I highly recommend this to you all, where ever it is.

I'm off tomorrow for four days to CAVORT in California (I just love saying that). CAVORT is a theatre volunteers conference, and the Tavern is covering our memberships and plane tickets. Whee!!

My complaint today.
I stripped my bed and put all the towels and bathmat in the washing machine, and prepared my coffee while it filled. And then it started making a Very Bad Noise and wouldn't agitate. No brain cells were functioning pre-coffee, so while I was at work I realized (thanks to neff) that even if it wouldn't agitate, it could still drain. Encouraged it to drain, although it made very distressed noises, then loaded everything sopping wet and HEAVY! into the car in search of a laundromat.

I haven't been in a laundromat in 30 years, except for camping trips 20 years ago, and I was flabbergasted. It was large and spacious, and clean. and there were pool tables!!! I don't play pool, but it was still a way cool combination, unexpected and quite workable. I entered info into the Calendar of my Palm TX, now named K9 . . . well, I think there's a similarity with Dr. Who's Companion.

The repair service will only come out between 8:00 and 5:00, which oddly enough is exactly my work hours. I've scheduled an appointment Thursday afternoon 1:00-5:00 and have left urgent voice mail to #3 son that I don't just hope he;ll stop by for a visit when he returns from his spring break trip, but I NEED him to be there during those hours.

Cross all your fingers that the machine can be repaired.

Actually I'm feeling pretty good and hopeful (hope, however is not an emotion that relies upon what's right in front of me).

The good feelings were assisted by fabulous chicken all ready to take out of the oven when I got home with the laundry. Mmmmm!

I'm over the flu, but I'm still working two jobs and volunteering at the Tavern and other theatres, so I have just had time to skim through LJ, but not write. Since I obviously didn't have enough to do, I used my tax refund to get a Palm TX, which is very cute, and I think I'll like it, (am hoping to use it for ebooks and music, and WiFi connections on the upcoming trip to CAVORT in Pasadena) (I love that phrase).

I did get the Palm Acrobat installed, and synced the manual and a first ebook. But, I'm having issues with the set up.

You must know, oh Best Beloved, that my ultra-reliable Windows XP PC is getting elderly, for a computer, and one symptom is that the CD drive often does not realize that there is a CD in it. I was able to download the setup software from the Palm website (mostly) but I still haven't gotten it to synchronize with Outlook, especially the Calendar. The error messages in the log say that I need to run Detect and Repair, but that requires the XP CD, which the PC won't read. Argh. It wants a file named PRORET.MSI , which I've Googled for, but the sites seem sketchy. Most frustrating.

Could any of you out there email that file? I could even bring my CD to your place, and email it to myself. This is assuming, that it is the only additional file Outlook needs for Detect and Repair.

I thought this was Friday, in Atlanta, and I know it had been raining for the past couple of days, but I left Doraville at 5:00 p.m. and arrived at the North Avenue exit in 20 minutes, without stepping on the brakes even once!

Am at the Tavern tonight as volunteer captain. We were slightly short-handed, and I had a group of five incredibly clean cut high school boys (a bunch of puppies!) first time volunteers. I ought to watch this season's mounting of R&J at least once, if only to see the new Nurse, but I am so sick of this play. I know, blasphemy.

I gotta start posting more often, if only so that each post is a coherent whole. These long ones are episodic and higgledy-piggledy.

The flu is coming along: I feel much, much better, but I still have a cough that comes and goes erratically, and I gather it'll be hanging around another week or two. When you are sick, or at least when I'm sick, I not only cannot go out and about, but I cannot think clearly and make use of fallow time at home. Generally useless.

I'm finally returning to my usual level of activity, thank goodness. Friday night, I ushered for Theatrical Outfit's production of Southern Comforts, about Gus and Amanda, a retirement age couple (she's from the Tennessee mountains, and he is northern New Jersey) who meet and marry. People keep on saying "It's cute" but it isn't actually cute. It's funny, and biting, and both characters are annoying sometimes, but you still are cheering them on. I loved the major scene change between Acts I and II, the transition between his very empty house (the living room is one chair in front of the television), and the arrival of her one (or maybe two) moving vans of furniture and books. There's no act curtain, so we see the moving men (stage hands) bringing in the furniture, with Gus hunkered in front of the TV but finally helping set out books and all. Very much in character, and amusing.

Yesterday, I got to see the house Steve and his roommates have been renovating. It's in Oakhurst, a neighborhood full of Craftsman bungalow type houses, big well established trees, sidewalks, parks, and stores, all in walking distance. A lovely location. The renovations aren't finished, but what they've done looks good - good taste and well done.

After that, I worked afternoon box office at the Horizon. The phones are always crazy for the first hour -- I'm trying to check the voice mail, return calls, and answer the phone, all the while making sure all the online sales have been entered. Although we were officially sold out when I opened up, I was able to squeeze in a few more people (remember the online sales?). Members of the Horizon Theatre Company usually come and go during the afternoon, which helps when something comes up that isn't covered in the Box Office Bible and copious notes. It's a theatre, so you'll never be able to document every possibility! I like that, because once I get a feel for how things are done, I can fly.

During the afternoon, after I was almost all finished, Steve, Rick, and Isil (Rick's girlfriend) came in bearing food and gifts! A Shakespeare reference (goes with the gorgeous one volume complete Shakespeare from my brother and his wife), a recent translation of The Black Room, by the Nobel winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, and two bottles of wine from Trader Joe's (low priced tasty wines), and glorious pasta from Figo's -- crab filled ravioli with a shrimp and zucchini white wine sauce. Bliss! And then some sort of of exotic cake with chocolate mousse and I don't know what. Bliss, I tell you!

Off to work this evening's 5:00 Sunday show. I'll see Missionary Position Wednesday with friends from the Tavern.

Haven't posted one in a while -- thank you to galbinus_caeli

What's Your Political Philosophy? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Old School Democrat Old school Democrats emphasize economic justice and opportunity. The Democratic ideal is best summarized by the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Old School Democrat 90% Green 90% New Democrat 80% Libertarian 45% Foreign Policy Hawk 35% Socially Conservative Republican 15% Pro Business Republican 10%