A Day at the Faire

We had a fun day up at the New York Renaissance Festival. It was nice to return after not being there all season. I got to see many people that I really enjoyed spending time with over the last twenty years. And Luis went with me, which was really nice. We also brought alone John and Alayna Bowman, her son Bowman (don't ask), and their daughter Ava 9 (definitely don't ask! No one gets it anyway...). They hadn't been and really enjoyed it.

I always love the social aspect of the Faire. There are people that are still there from the first Faire I ever came to, in 1986. I'm still good friends with all of them, those that remain. David has been there most of the 20 years that I've been; we've been really good friends for a very long time. Peter, too.

The weather, unlike the day prior, was gorgeous. Blue, sunny skies, nice temperature, a breeze - it was perfect. Quite a lovely day. We got there around 1100, and John couldn't find their tickets and realised that he'd left them home. They bought tickets and we went in (I had gotten tickets from David). Right at the front, we met a guy in a stunning outfit. I had my picture taken with him - what a cool outfit! We got in maybe as far as the first five booths and I ran out of space in my camera. I looked in and sure enough - I'd forgotten to take the memory card out of my laptop and put it back into the camera. AAAAAAAAAAAAA!

I was devastated. The last day of the faire, beautiful weather and so many people and I had to delete a bunch of images (all 6) and then spent an hour trying to find someone - anyone - with a memory card! No luck - those who did had the wrong size card (the same as my old camera used but not the current one). I really love taking many photos and I could not take more than a tiny handful... until Luis suggested I lower the resolution. I did - down from 7.1 megapixels to around 1... really low. I usually get 900+ images onto one card at the highest resolution. But I went from six images to 33. OK... I can work with that, even if it means being very careful. I was - I deleted a bunch of things that I discovered were bad images right after I took them.

Now, I was at least a little happier. I had something to work with. So we did different things, although I did not always stay with Luis and the Bowmans. Still, I had a pretty good day. Bowman (the son, whose last name is NOT Bowman) seemed to have a good time. We saw the Birds of Prey show, and we tried to see the Living Chess game, but apparently that show has changed dramatically. It used to be at 1330 and one hour long. Now it's at 1300 and a half hour long... amazing. I can't imagine what they did to it.

The birds of prey show is one of the best that they have, and I'm glad to see it is still there. It is a much more recent addition to the list of shows there; maybe four or five years old, I think. I'd seen it the first year it was there. I loved it - and now he has enough birds there that he doesn't show them all in one show. We saw the vulture, the peregrine falcon (gorgeous), and a tercel (sp?). Very cool. The peregrine falcon flies at over 50 miles an hour. Incredible. I tried really hard to get photos of the falcon in motion but by the time I got the camera to take the photo, the falcon was many feet away! Practically an impossible shot.

The snake, however, was really gorgeous and I couldn't wait to meet him. Snakes are amazing creatures and I love them. They have the most amazing feel. Here I am holding the really friendly snake!

I did some shopping. I paid off the balance on my leather skirt; got not one but two beautiful flourite balls; some shirts; a glass Moon to hang in a window again. I had a good time. It was a fun day. I got to see Peter again; see David and Rook, Nightbringer, Tom Blackman, George Chris, tons of people. People that I miss and only get to see during the Faire. Worth it - sooooo worth it!