pyroguysr's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE LONG TRIP THE LONG TRIP Well, here�s the skinny on the last three weeks: I started out by heading up to York, PA to look at apartments. So far, I found one that I liked, but then the owner went and sold the place. I�m not sure that the apartment I looked at was rented already, but I�ll have to find that out next week when I go up before heading over to Covington, KY for a one-weekend Renaissance Festival there. Most of the other places I looked at were either too small, too expensive or both. Any way I look at it, I�ll probably have to get a job at a local mini-mart, grocery store or something that I can do part time. I may also follow some advice and try at one of those Temp agencies so that, when we travel down south for the winter, perhaps I can go down there as well. The main priority will be that I can NOT work weekends and may need the occasional Friday and Monday off as well. I just need to earn about $1000 take-home per month to help with bills and pay my car/insurance stuff. Anyway, we went to the Baron�s Haven Freehold fest in a little place called Roswell, OH. It rained. It rained hard. In fact, right after we arrived, they had tornado sirens going. This meant that extra money was spent for a hotel room because the display tent couldn�t be set up where I could sleep in the back. The next day was a mad rush to set up before opening. Then came the looooong waiting. We sold nothing for almost the entire weekend. And the two sales we DID get, well, let me say that neither of the charges went through so far. It�s discouraging. While the guy that runs it has a wonderful dream of creating a Ren Faire themepark somewhere in the Midwest, right now we can�t really see going back. Two years in a row it�s lost us a large amount of money. Put that on the heels of two other shows that lost us money and you have a disappointing May/June. After that, we went back to my hometown in Indiana to drop off the tent. I had a choice of staying with my Mom or with a good friend, Kathy Roe. I chose the latter for some reason� partially because I miss buddying around with Kathy. She was probably one of my best friends and vice versa. I do miss her. Had a grand time hanging out with her, even if it was only for a short while. Then it was a quick trip out to see my son (he�s doing well, got A�s and B�s in his college classes, which makes this Daddy proud! - He�s taking CAD/CAM courses and has found something that really interests him), then the next day I went up to visit my mom. She�s supportive, as usual. Then it was down to Texas to visit my brother and check out the Scarborough Faire. It was a long, tedious drive and there was a stop made just before Little Rock, AR because I couldn�t drive anymore. Another night in a cheap hotel and then on the road again. Mike has a nice house and a nice little setup. The day I arrived, I found out he�d been promoted finally. He�s the warehouse supervisor for one of the cities in the Dallas area now. I really think he wishes I�d stayed in Texas. I know that we helped him a lot when he moved out to California when I was married and lived there and feels a debt of gratitude, but I don�t want to be a burden on anyone. Anyway, he and Teresa treated Kat and I just fine. We ate well, lemme tell you! Mike made up some brisket that was mouthwatering! Took us to some nice places for pool and drinks too. All in all, we had fun. Met some net-friends as well. Lois and Eric from Literotica. We had a very tasty lunch at a Mexican Restaurant in Highland Park and then met them that Saturday at Scarborough Ren Faire in Waxahachie. We were going to take my brother, his girlfriend and her two daughters on Monday, but they decided to join us on Saturday as well. Waxahachie is huge! It�s as big or bigger than the Maryland fair and Kat was impressed enough to begin talking about us applying for this one. The crafters there were fabulous and offered some really great items. We found some �cat whiskers� and �lips� pins for the dragons. You see, when we were in Florida, one of the entertainers there had a dragon purchased for her. She was Melanie the melon girl. I think I wrote about her previously. Well, my thought for next year is to get one for the Kissing Wench. We bought a set of lips for the dragon with this in mind. When Melanie got her dragon, suddenly our sales went up� so we figure on getting a dragon to the Kissing Wench for the same purpose. Advertising! Anyhow, they had lots of wonderful entertainment. I got to see the Corsairs (they sing sea ballads and bawdy tales and are just generally funny), Terry Foy (who does �Spoonerisms� where you sometimes will switch the beginnings of words while talking� i.e., he bills himself as �Zilch, the TorySteller�) I went for food and beer before his show began, settling on a �sausage on a stick� and came walking up the aisle. Terry looked at me and said, �How can you come in here with that [food] and keep a straight face?� I simply smiled and took the sausage halfway into my mouth and bit off a big chunk. I think I embarrassed him! It got a good laugh, though. We also saw a couple women named �Iris and Rose� that sing really bawdy tunes. Blatantly bawdy tunes� downright dirty songs. In fact, they sang different versions of some old renfaire standards but, whereas most renny tunes are suggestive in a double-entendre sorta way, their versions left little to the imagination. Kat and I decided that this was due to the fact they were singing to a bunch of Texans (meaning Texan Men � the women there seem fairly intelligent). Subtle, to them, seems to mean being hit over the head with the hammer AND the anvil. Let�s just say that, for this being the heart of the bible belt (we had to get �free memberships� in the pub in order to drink), these people drink to excess and then aren�t very well behaved. We witnessed several drunks making fools of themselves as we left. One husband-wife combo were especially exemplary when we left. There are a lot of things to say about this faire and I�ll leave it for another day. After the fair, it was up to NY to drop Kat off and then head to Cape Cod for a high school graduation ceremony. I�m proud of Alisha Putnam for making it, even though she�s 8 months preggers! LOL� I�m also proud for her mom, one of my longest-running net friends. Next it was off to Saratoga Springs for Kat�s sisters wedding. It was held at a place called �Yaddo� and all I can say was that the grounds were gorgeous! It was once a mansion and grounds for wealthy New Yorkers in the turn of the century tradition. The web site doesn�t really do it justice, so I�ll have pictures up on Yahoo at some point in the future. In any event, go look the site up. It�s breathtaking. We had a wonderful meal at the Inn at Saratoga and I guess I got along with Kat�s family OK (for being one of the few conservatives there). I sat next to the groom�s sister and finally got her to talk after a bit. Also at the table were Kat�s older brother and his wife and two daughters. Raven is a cute lil redhead that will probably make the rest of daddy�s hair fall out in about 6 years. The other will be the brain of the family! *grins* Either way, both of them were entertaining. Kat and I retired to her parents house that evening. I got on the computer to check email after Kat got off. Her mom walked in and rebuked me for being on the computer �without her consent.� I explained that Kat had told me to go ahead and use it after she was done. I don�t know if it�s her mom�s medications, her age or the fact that she was tired from the drive, but I tried to take it in stride. Kat assured me that there would probably be an apology forthcoming the next day, but nonesuch happened. I didn�t ask to use anything of theirs again, even though Faith was quite polite to me after that. When Kat asked her mother about it the following morning, she replied, �It just felt like he was going through my drawers or something.� Fine. I won�t ask for anything from them in the future. I won�t stay there anymore, I won�t even bother with the family functions. Kat was also upset and surprised over her mother�s reaction. I told her I really didn�t care one way or another, but it is indicative of how much they all seem to dislike me simply because of my political beliefs. Oh well. We drove back to Raleigh the next day. I was just too tired to be on the road or guests at someone�s home for another day. We drove the 730 miles down south, got in around 1 am and pretty much crashed. I�ve spent the last two days just recouperating. Well, I�m sorry that this isn�t up to my usual standards. I�m still too tired to write anything really creative, even though I managed over 60 handwritten pages while on the road. I�m reading a lot more now, which is a good thing. I�ve a new favorite author� P.D. James. She writes mysteries in the way I like. You can�t guess who did it until the end! The only negative is that she kills off some likeable people. Tomorrow is my mom�s 83rd birthday, so I sent her a bouquet of flowers� the �Fireworks� selection, of course! I love you, mom! I�ve got to go. I just found one of the house cats sleeping in the bathroom sink and I�ve GOT to get a picture! Toodles! Ronald Reagan on Saturday and now Ray Charles passed on. Who will be #3? 4:59 p.m. - 2004-06-10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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