Forever In Search Of my Muse

~~~~ For as long as i have lived in IL. i have wanted to go to the Ren Faire and finally two years ago Roommate took me for the first time because it is not too far from where we live and he loves going there and i had been saying for the years that we have been friends that i have wanted to go.

~~~~ my first year there i found a real corset there that i wanted so badly i saved up all summer for it and bought it for $290. It is a gorgeous reversible purple green and silver with metal stays. i have also gotten a couple sets of Tarot Cards and a set of Runes from there as well as some books. Last year i bought a dress i found that i have always dreamed of having. It is similar to the dress that Vanessa Redgrave wore as Guenevere in the 1967 movie of Camelot.

~~~~ i love to be able to walk around the fair and see all the people that dress up either as Lords and Ladies of the Court or Elves, Fairies, and other forest creatures. It is a lot of fun to just walk around and watch the people. i also enjoy watching the Hawking Demonstrations and the Jousts and Battles. i have always been fascinated by the Elizabethan Era or Tudor Era as it has been called. Some of the shows there are a lot of fun to sit and watch others can be ... well ... shall we say, "Not my style of entertainment" but i like watching other people enjoy them. i really enjoy being able to walk around and call people m'Lord and m'Lady without having everyone look at me like i have lost my mind or something.

~~~~ Son greatly enjoys going there as well and always asks when we will be going back. He has some the wooden swords that they sell there as well as a really nice walking stick that he wanted. He loves to watch the blacksmith and the glassblowers ply their trade as well as the knights and falconers show their skills. The look on his face as he discovers what he thought to be a statue of a fairy to be a work of living art, that is to say a person sitting so still you think they are a statue. They are all over the place if you keep your eyes out for them. They also have rides that my son is always begging to go on that are run my human power not horses or electricity.

~~~~ Roommate has been going for many years and has bought several things there including a staff with a Kudu horn on the top of it as well as his first two Australian Slouch Hats, his leather top hat, and his cane. Son and i got him an incense burner for cone incense in the shape of a skunk with his tail raised. You put the incense cone under the skunk and the smoke comes out the back of it looking like the skunk is spraying. It is really very cute and since my roommate loves skunks it was the perfect birthday gift for him.

~~~~ We all have a great time when we go and i can not wait to go again this year it opens on July 11Th and is open every weekend through Labor Day Weekend. Hopefully this year as in the past two years i will be able to go more then just one weekend. There is so much there that i would still love to get but do not have the money for. Though this year i think i am going to get some of the hand made and hand painted journals that are sold in one of the booths. i just can not wait to see what else is there this year every year it changes a little.

~~~~ This year i am hoping to remember to bring my camera to get pictures of the living art that is walking around and posed all over the Faire Grounds. i have meant to do it the past two years but have never seemed to remember bring my camera when it comes time to go.