A day well spent in good company…

Only a small amount of time was spent in the office Friday. After putting in an appearance to make sure things were moving forward with our impending software release, I went back into town to pick up Tiger. Before we headed down to the Faire site, I got a look at the finished sides of my custom codpieces, and they are absolutely fab-u-lous – the lady does beautiful work, that is a fact. Then it was off to Crownsville, site of the Maryland Renaissance Festival (aka Faire).

Tiger took great delight in the fact that she got to “pop my cherry” as it were, as Friday was the first time I got to drive into the MDRF property proper (it was also the first time I’d been on the property when the Faire wasn’t actually open). I almost forgot to take photos, but on the way back from the “flushies” (real bathrooms on site for use when the privvies are not in place), I remembered:

I’ve never, ever seen the White Hart Tavern empty before – or the main food service area. Yet there they are. The picture of my car is for proof that I actually drove onto the grounds. The weather was quite pleasant for the tasks at hand, with a cool cross-breeze coming now and again, rustling the leaves and stirring up the sawdust. Oh yes, there was sawdust… much sawdust…

The purpose of Friday’s trip was to work on Tiger’s booth as part of preparation for the 2010 season, and I did my usual job of being a second set of hands, eyes, etc. while someone who is more experienced with wood working and other activities directs or does the work. (Note: this is a Good Thing™ in general – I know enough about the mechanics of many things, but lack practical experience / skills, and ’tis better to let someone who does have said practical experience “do the driving” for projects where it counts.)  During the course of the day there we other friends of the Tiger who came by to work, so much was accomplished: curtain rods of Tiger’s devising were installed along with curtains, ribbons were prepared for ribbon-rope on Stub Toe Lane, and the pieces for the new front doors for the booth were cut, routed and sanded in preparation for assembly (Ben did an awesome job making the tenons for joining the top and bottom panels! Thanks to working with Ben, I also have much less trepidation at trying my hand at routing and use of a mitre saw on some of my own projects, so there was much win there as well. Of course, now I need to find a mire saw with laser guide – that was bloody marvelous.) But it got late, so assembly and painting will happen Saturday and Sunday, which I will miss because of other engagements.

Much fun was had, because Tiger has wonderful friends with a great sense of humor (and dirty minds), and because there is something about helping out a friend that makes the time and the work go much faster. I’m really looking forward to seeing the ribbons on Stub Toe Lane, and the new doors on the booth, and a happy Tiger in her home away from home this Fall at Faire. Oh, and to wearing my new ccodpieces and vests, and singing in the White Hart, and just being at Faire.

After several years of not feeling very connected to my fannish / rennie family, this felt like a bit of coming home.

The A day well spent in good company… by J. Gregory Wright, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.