There's no place like home

Monday, Aug. 18, 2003
10:03 AM

Every year when I get back from Pennsic, I feel a profound appreciation for things like air conditioning, running water and refrigeration. I'm sure those of you who have been, even once, understand what I mean. I am extremely happy that right now, I am not sweating, not even a little.

That being said, I had a mostly fun time at Pennsic this year. I maintain that if the War were held in October, I'd have a lot more fun. I have to be very careful when out in the heat, because I can cross my limits very quickly and completely break down. That sucks, so I try not to let it happen. That usually means that I don't do a whole lot in the afternoons at Pennsic.

As has been noted, this was the year of mud, at least in the beginning of the second week. For a couple of days, Vair and Ermine was lakefront property. I probably could have dealt with the mud and rain, but once the sun came out it got hot and humid. Bleh.

I only took one class at Pennsic this year. Normally I am a class-taking fool, but I didn't see that many on the schedule that I was interested in. I thought about taking some others but never made it there, either because they were cancelled, because I was too tired to haul my butt up to the A&S tents, or because I was engaged in tagging after Her Highness. The one class I did take was much fun - it was a dance class on a 15th century Florentine dance, said to have been written by Lorenzo de' Medici, so it was right on target for my persona. I figured I ought to learn at least one dance that is persona-appropriate. I also batted my eyes at my sweetie who agreed to join me for the class. It was a lot of fun.

This year I taught classes at Pennsic for the first time. I taught Daily Life in Quattrocento Florence and Clothing in Quattrocento Florence. It was a little scary, teaching in front of (mostly) complete strangers but both classes went fine. I gave out all my handouts but wasn't short on either class, didn't lose my train of thought too much and even got applause at the end of the first class (maybe at the second one too, I can't remember). At the end of the clothing class I met a Laurel from the East who specializes in Italian clothing and we geeked for a good fifteen to twenty minutes. Much fun - I will probably teach again next year. I even got a little teacher token, a little pewter guy holding a lantern.

There was other cool stuff of course. The Oldcastle Tournament was very spiff, with the banners and list field and tokens and other neat stuff. The Fool's Parade coming through was fun. The circus and party the next night was even more fun. The evening was a much needed diversion from the heat which started getting bad on Tuesday. The fire juggling was very cool, though I gotta say the contortionist was a little freaky. Fun!

The other cool new thing this year was the fireworks. Period fireworks at the fort, how cool is that? Lots of fountains, popcorn-type fireworks, loud booms, even huge fireballs. I love fireworks and this display really lifted my spirits at the end of a long, sweaty week. I hope they do it again next year.

My attention is wandering and I need to start on the small mountain of laundry that awaits me. For the most part I enjoyed Pennsic but man I'm glad to be home. As I get older I think I enjoy my modern conveniences more and more.

Oh, my appointment with my client yesterday went really well (the one who wants a mosaic table top). I talked her down from 60" to 48" - much easier to deal with logistically and fewer issues as far as weight and support with her existing table legs and frame. Over the next few days my task is to put together an estimate and scale drawing of the design. Then if she still likes it I get a deposit and start ordering materials. Yippee!

Ciao!