Twisted Oz

[fbhjr]

Today was day 1 of the Mystic Realms Faire at Wheaton Village.

It’s a nice place. All the vendor booths were down near the main entrance.


We were at the far end.


But, it still worked out as we were the anchor of the far end. And, the whole tournament field was next to us, so the plot drove people our way.

My wife likes the place for one reason:


She loves glass. This is a glass center. It’s like saying to a kid, we have to put on a play in a toy store, OK?
And, it is very close to the hotel. You walk out of the parking lot into the village.


And, it is a very nice setting.


The faire is put on by our friend Anton, who has done many shows down south with us. To make up for his lost shoe, I gave him a hat from the place it was lost.


This was the first test of the new tent blue_micha found for us this week. So there was some experimentation putting it up. Especially for the wind baffles in the top.


It did work very well, had a lot of room and was tall enough for those of us over 6’ tall.


(On an unrelated note, the grounds have markings for the trees so you can identify them. I don’t understand who really thought farm animals grew out of trees. This must have been one disappointed tree farmer.)


Anyhow, it’s a nice faire that seems to get folks more interested in the history then at many of our shows.
I’m not sure if this bubble engine is historical, but it’s cool.


Their wandering minstrels are dressed as a scotsman, a Buddhist monk and a Christian monk. Jose tells me he’s sure a joke is in there somewhere, but has yet to find it.


Our shows went well even if Tom had to bless the crowd.


(Actually, I don’t think that’s what he’s doing, but that’s what it looks like to me.)

He and I played guards and had to wear the tabard of our lords. Tom had to wear the traditional tomato.


I got to wear a skull.


We were the guards of the north and the south and were evil. The east and the west were good.
I pointed out that was like OZ, but rotated on it's side. I guess it was not a twisted Oz on purpose, but I told Anton to tell folks it was.

The shows all went well. We had a good time. But, I was sad at one point. My wife loves glass paperweights. They have a gift shop dedicated to them here.


But, without a job, I can’t afford to get her one. That is very sad for me because she seems so happy when she gets one and I am sad I can’t do that for her.
Sad.

But, it is still a good time with good friends.


And, we went out and had a nice dinner at a local diner.


blue_micha and my wife got what was billed as their smaller meals.


Personally, I think that’s pretty big, especially as it came with 2 vegetable dishes, soup or salad and desert.
But the other meals were huge.

After dinner Anton came by with his wife and we had a nice visit. It’s good to see him again. Hopefully we can talk him into southern jobs again.