Ren Fest

It's not what it used to be before the amusement park people bought it up. It is so crassly commercial now it bears little resemblance to the festival I went to for the first time 21 years ago while hugely pregnant with the prodigal son.

It was hot and humid, but I still enjoyed myself. There were people to stare at - whom I would dearly have liked to take snaps of as an object lesson of what not to wear in public - and lemonade and pretzels and having friends pop over for a surprise visit to help me celebrate my birthday. There was wine with the King's feast which I really shouldn't have drunk - especially not three glasses of - since I was driving home. There was a very lovely breeze through the pines and oaks every once in a while that cooled us down and made the air echo with the sound of leaves laughing at the wind.

The drive up was leisurely and relaxed. We joined a caravan of weekend warriors from several area motorcycle clubs out for a jaunt. I would guess there were 100 or more riders cruising along in their various club colors. The ride back was also leisurely but nothing as interesting as the bikers offered up any distraction.

And now, the pictures . . .

What I unaffectionately call the Roman Coliseum that now encompasses the jousting field . . .



The living statue . . .



The ATM huts that the best friend and I took to calling the Mexican outhouses . . .



The wedding chapel and the rose garden . . .



The children's carousel (and a pretzel vendor) . . .



The chain mail shop hawking its wares . . .



I have not a clue who these people were supposed to be, but the masks were beautiful . . .



Some jousting . . .



And lastly but very definitely not leastly, the friends who arranged for us all to attend the King's feast and who popped over to pay a surprise visit for my birthday, I present the best friend's brother and the best friend's brother's wife (and a guest appearance by the shade of birthday present in the first photo.)