Pictures from the fair - Sonny and Andrea are engaged!

Today we were summoned to the renaissance faire. It was a simply gorgeous day.

The immense straw man greeted us as we entered, in stark contrast to the queen growing by the side of the mansion. Heh heh... I have gardening gloves just like the queen's!
Our kids work there, and one of their best friends, Sonny, met his sweetheart there last year. Today he proposed to her on stage during the Queen's Court intro to the day. We were happy to go witness it. He did a fine job of it, too. Sonny approached the stage filled with confidence. We were all so happy when these two finally decided to stop the wild flirtation and finally date. They make a very sweet couple. They changed quickly and surely from 2 single people into a couple who are very much ready to make a life together.Andrea came forth, and Sonny gave her several dozen roses before dropping to one knee. He'd written what he wanted to say to her. I think the queen may have been in suspense, but how could any woman turn that down? Look at him! The ring was his grandmother's.And of course, she said yes. To my stunned surprise, I looked beside me to see my sister and daughter both in tears. I must be getting salty in my dodderage.

For the past 10+ years since we sold our shop at the faire, visits have been a quick walk around the grounds and out. It hasn't been fun for my sister and me. Today was different. There were some beautiful things to see, some old friends to visit - although it was crowded so there wasn't much time to visit. Below you'll see some of the things that caught my eye.
A Harvest Moon Table A Most Fine and Bountious Harvest Table
Our friend Fenris the potter is an artist in so many different mediums. These altars are his work and they are truly divine.
A corner, almost out of sight held this vision.
One of the celtic bands that took the stage today. These drummers were absolutely incredible and drove the crowd wild. The bag-piper held his own quite well too!
The kids - Rob, Sonny, and Molly. Now for some reason THIS picture might make me tear up. They are all grown now. Seeing them in our old stomping grounds, forging (heh heh - little pun, sorry) their own way is odd. They relate in completely different ways to the things that we used to tell them about. It's just ...odd.
The fountain in front of The Globe, dressed for Autumn.
Another, more primal, straw man.
Maryanne (normal) and the kids (who've been too long at the faire).
The grounds of the shire were decorated to welcome the harvest more beautifully than they ever even came close to during our days there. We were very saddened to see that the giant ginkgo tree at the top of the hill was gone. On days like this, we'd look up and see the brilliant blue autumn sky (forever named "Emil blue" for Don Juan's shirt our first year there, which matched the sky, and Don Juan was portrayed by a gorgeous young man named Emil). The clear, pure yellow of the ginkgo leaves would contrast so strikingly with the sky that it would take our breath away.
Still, it was just beautiful, clear, cool, and crisp as any Autumn day could be. Fare Thee Well...

Early Morning Aromas

This morning I woke to an odd smell. At first it smelled like burning plastic so I hurriedly threw on my robe and went to check the stove and breaker panel. Sometimes Gab will get up at night and cook something and it was possible she left a burner on. And Zack will even forget he was getting ready to cook something and leave the stove on. No fire alarms were going off, but I couldn't sleep without making sure anyway. Went downstairs, nothing. Checked every outlet and every plugged in electronic device and nothing was hot. So I went back to bed for a few more hours until the alarm would go off and wake me at 5:30. As I got back under the covers, it occurred to me that I had eaten a pasta dish heavy with garlic right before going to bed, so maybe it was just me smelling like that...but I sure hoped not.

The alarm went off and the smell was still there and I still had not placed what it could be. Got dressed, started my coffee, and opened the door to tell the dogs hello - whoa! There was the source of the smell! Badger had gotten skunked and as the odor wafted up to my bedroom it smelled less and less like skunk and more and more like burnt rubber. I remembered now that I've smelled that before, haha.