Weekend Plans Post: The Triumphant Return to the Renaissance Festival
When I went to the Ren Faire in 2019, that was the first time I’d gone in a *LONG* time. It was a treat, of course. The turkey legs, the pageantry, the anachronism, the dozens upon dozens of shops, and the jousting tournament.
Well, 2019 was a long, long time ago, wasn’t it? Man, we didn’t know how good we had it. After a 2020 where I was locked in the house and a 2021 where I *FINALLY* got my vaccine and went to Disney in the blissful window that started two weeks after the second shot, and a 2022 where I went to Iceland (of all places), I think that I’m finally ready to wander a little bit closer to “back to normal”.
We’ve ceased grocery delivery and have started getting all of our stuff from the store ourselves. We haven’t yet eaten in a restaurant (well, outside of Disney or Iceland) but we have done stuff like “get stuff To Go from Chipotle”. Well… it might be time to go up to Larkspur and see what it’s like in the 1400s-1700s again.
We know to keep socially distanced once there but 90% of the faire is outside in the first place and even when we went last time, we weren’t stacked up on top of each other outside of buying tickets or getting food. We’ll know to be careful (we’ll have a mask in our pocket) for buying tickets and food and the rest of the time, well, it should just be nice to all hang out together and do something vaguely normalish again. It’ll be nice to eat a turkey leg. It’ll be nice to see the joust. It’ll just be nice to walk around at an Outside Event with friends.
Of course the weekend will also hold the usual… laundry, Costco, etc. But it’ll just be nice to walk around at an Outside Event with friends.
So… what’s on your docket?
I haven’t been to the Renaissance Festival out here in years. For whatever reason whenever I go it turns into a washout, though it makes the acrobatics all the more entertaining. I also have always had a hunch that the entire enterprise serves as a not so stealthy work program for the local BDSM community (and no judgment if it does!) but that may just be my overactive imagination.
As for us we were supposed to leave for our annual beach trip tomorrow but my son picked up covid and is in pretty rough shape. As always his positive attitude is downright amazing but now we’re struggling with what to do. It is a major bummer.Report
Oh, that sucks. A co-worker caught it and got her hands on Paxlovid and said that it made recovery easy.
For what that’s worth.Report
nothing.
it’s going to be hot enough and humid enough to be approaching the point where “wet bulb” temperature is not compatible with life outside. I mowed the lawn yesterday and I’m glad I did it now.
Also I am now broke – wrote the biggest personal check of my life to pay for the roof and I’m facing a similarly eyewatering cost (the rest of my savings, probably, and maybe also a small loan from my mom) to repair some damage that was caused by an apparently wrongly-done installation of replacement windows, and residing the house.
I would love to go somewhere and do something but it’s too hot and I”m too broke so I might just lie on the floor and complain.Report
Oh, gosh. That sucks.
When I did similar, I repeated “it’s an investment” to myself. Like a mantra. It helped. A little.Report
I made the mistake of thinking of the check I wrote in comparison to what my yearly salary is 🙁
(The money was in part an inheritance, and I know the person I inherited from would highly approve of this use of it, but still)Report
I’ve been keeping this to myself for way too long: Ella Fitzgerald is hugely overrated. Honestly, “overrated” is pulling punches. I don’t like her at all. I find her voice somehow both dull and grating at the same time. The fact that so many people put her on the same level as Nina Simone or Billie Holiday is utterly mystifying to me.Report
She’s got the best “Someone to Watch Over Me” and her “Something’s Gotta Give” isn’t as good as Bing’s but there’s no shame in having the best version of a song (except for Bing).Report
Imagine thinking one of the greatest vocal improvisers of all time, with tone and phrasing that are second to no one’s, is “overrated,” or even can be “overrated.”
You gotta just not like music to think that she was anything but a pure treasure.Report
I’ll disagree with both of you (Your last statement. Ella’s scatting is 2nd to none.) Brandon is certainly an outlier, but taste in the arts is so subjective it makes me wonder why we even have critics.Report
To remind us that it doesn’t matter how many people think Adam Sandler is funny, he’s not.Report
I started cutting wood in earnest this weekend for one of the Adirondack chairs I promised a friend I’d build him for a wedding present. I decided to use white oak instead of the usual pine as a treat for both myself and him. I’m also using a new plan to see how it turns out. The classic Adirondack design is incredibly comfortable despite not being padded at all, so the new design has a high hurdle to overcome.Report
The Ren Faire was overcast and ~60 degrees and relatively uncrowded. WHICH WAS WONDERFUL.
The main thing: holy cow, everything was expensive. Like, above and beyond “I’m going to go drop a couple of bills at the ren faire” expensive. Frozen Bananas, for example, were $6.50.
THAT IS NOT A TYPOReport
Yep. Here, Saturday morning bicycle ride, 10:45, 61F. Once I turned into the wind, it had me thinking that I should have worn the heavier shirt.
Well, supposed to be back up in the 90s on Tuesday.Report
How else ya gonna keep money in the banana stand?Report