Subject: KCRF, Act II
Well, it looks like I'm beyond saving now. At the end of Sunday at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival I went and bought a season pass. The plot has begun to thicken in Act II, and it looks like this play is going to have several more acts.
The weather this time was more like England, the temperature was still in the 60's at opening cannon, and it climbed only into the 70's as the day progressed. This was due to a cold front that had come thru Friday night, and produced some of what the weather radio calls "severe thunderstorms" in a few spots, including Lawrence, where I live 20 miles away. Furious winds that separated a few tree branches. The ground was still quite muddy, copious straw had been strewn, and there were brown bottoms to many of the skirts that went by.
I forgot about the separate waistband and the rose knot, and put the underskirt on the outside, tucking it up into its elastic waistband, showing the chemise beneath. It not only looked more logical (the chemise has gathered tiers more appropriate to an undergarment), but it stayed up much better. The waist of the skirt has to be about 5 inches above my bellybutton to be covered by the bottom of the bodice. I think next time I will find some less prominent and more period looking equivalent of safety pins to secure the sides of the skirt to the bodice, and hopefully that will keep it together even after I have joined the Gypsies in their dancing.
Josephine commented that I should get colors that more match my skin color, which at summer's end is a deep orange tan. I agree that peach or ocher might go a little better, but dammit, this is fantasyland, and I like purple. Maybe for at least a day I can imagine that I have pale white skin like an Englishwoman who lives under clouds most of her life.
I got to use the story about being an actor at the Globe Theatre once, when a woman asked me if I was the royal crossdresser.
I found Arachne, talked with her for a while, signed her list, and got an AFR tag, which I began to wear on my purse. There I got to watch Brother William perform his whittling art, making a flower out of a twig for a little girl. He's a regular Danny Kaye as Hans Christian Anderson in his presentation.
I beheld some more excellent music acts and added some more CD's to my increasing renfair pile. I got Goat's Ear and Matty Striker, bagpipes and Irish fiddling (so much better that the Classic Rock that was imposed on me at the construction site for so many years).
Anybody know who is in charge of cleaning the Royal Privies? The Boy Scouts were doing an excellent job of keeping the litter picked up, but it looked like nobody at all was maintaining the flush toilet bathrooms. There was a stopped up throne remaining from last week, and at 10:30 in the morning it looked like nobody had cleaned it since yesterday. I started preferring the peasant privies -Johnny On The Spot was doing its scheduled maintenance promptly.
The most amusing part of the day was at the performance of a juggler of fire wands. There was a part in his act where he balanced on a rope, one end of which was tied around the trunk a tree, while the other end was held by six men from the audience, in tug of war fashion. I was up there in the middle of the line of men in mundanes, me in my pink, blue, and lavender garb. The juggler had asked for "some strong men", and since I am one from working construction for many years, I volunteered. Before we held the rope, he asked us all, one at a time, to give a display of our manly vigor - flexing our arm muscles, then getting into a football crouch and giving a "loud grunt". Some of the others were a little shy, but I gave them a Tarzan special. The guy before me lost it and cracked up in laughter before he was to do it, he shook his head while looking at me, and said this was too much.
The second time I was starting to get the Court Dance steps right. I'm dyslexic when it comes to getting left from right, I always have to stop for a little instance and think. Mayhap I will be fluent after some more rehearsals.
I'll be going back for more next weekend, stay tuned for the next exciting episode
-Butterfly Bill
homepage:
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/247/butterfly_bill.html