Ren Faire Dates - 2008

[Sir Edward]

I added some pics here:  http://ed.toton.org/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?year=2008&gallery=faire  (you'll have to scroll past the North Caroline shots, of course).

The day worked out very well, excluding the huge traffic delay in the morning (an 18-wheeler burnt to the ground). It was great to get a chance to take the new sword out for a spin, not to mention the new crest + torse + mantle, that I managed to finish up to the point of being functional in a fit of creativity last night.

I hope everyone had a great time!

[Das Bill]

Yeah, it was fun. Its been a while since I've been to a faire, so it was nice to go to a small one, and on such a nice day.

Sir Brian, it was a pleasure to finally meet you and your lady.

Today was the first time I'd worn my harness for an extended period of time... I have to say, the Revival Clothing arming cotte and hosen breathed far better than I'd realized. Despite being in the sun all day, I didn't so much as sweat underneath it all. (except underneath the wool hat... but better sweat than sunburnt!) It just goes to show you how important it is to wear the appropriate clothing underneath. I was very impressed with how comfortable I remained all day. Well, until it was time to use the porta-john, that is! At that point it was near the end of the day, so I just went back to the car and took the armour off, threw on my regular silk cotte (also Revival Clothing), and wore that for the last part of the day. Strangley, the armour didn't feel significantly warmer than the cotte did.

I'm a dummy, and didn't bring my camera, so I'll rely on Ed and Pamela to post pictures.

[Sir Brian]

Yes! Rosemary and I had a great time and it was great putting faces to names
(so to speak) 

Sorry we couldn't have met you and your family Sir Wolf but hopefully in the near
future.

Here are some of our pictures...
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd251/Tah908/VARF/

By the way SwordChick, Rosemary and I both agree that your husband
has an uncanny resemblance to Steven Spielberg!
 

It was really great time and I'm deeply honored and greatly privileged to call
you all friends! Can't wait to do it again! - MDRF perhaps? 

[Sir Edward]

I too was a dummy with regards to the camera. I kept forgetting to pull it out and take pictures, so most of the shots I have are from handing it off to someone else. So I'm sorry to say I really only had shots of myself and my lovely Lady Katherine.

Great pictures, Sir Brian! Mind if I steal one or two to add to my kit-photo page?

I love this profile shot: http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd251/Tah908/VARF/?action=view&current=08VARF_032.jpg

And this is a good photo of Bill, I think: http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd251/Tah908/VARF/?action=view&current=08VARF_029.jpg

I think part of why we didn't feel we were sweating very much was that the air was dry and it evaporated quickly. I should have drank more water. I'm only now getting over the headache I started getting on the drive home from the faire. Still, I've done worse.

Definitely looking forward to MDRF this year, as always!

[Sir Wolf]

wow, great great pictures.  i'll look so lame next to u guys at the MDRF hehehe

[Sir Brian]

Not so Sir Wolf! Your harness is very authentic to period and so I think is awsome!
What is going to be really fantastic when we all get together is the different
time periods that all of our kits will represent...that and the mass consumption of beer!
 

Feel free everyone to snag copies. It is why they are there!

Bill hope we get to meet your lady on the next get together! 

[Sword Chick]

The Muir family (or at least 3 out of 4) had a marvelous time!  I'm so glad that I was able to meet Sir Brian and his exquisite lady!  The Steven Spielberg comment is hysterical.     I never thought about it before.  (The beard itself is less than a year old.)

Here's the public link to our photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121220&l=83535&id=561845509

[Sword Chick]

Is it too early to suggest Labor Day weekend for the Maryland Renn Faire?  VAF is closed.  Our reluctant family member will be away at college.

[Sir Edward]

Sounds good to me so far. Pager duty notwithstanding.

[Sir Griff]

Sadly, there are little to no Renaissance Faires in my country, and no Western Martial Arts whatsoever. There is some Olympic sport fencing going on but I'm not interested in that since it's not what swordsmanship is really about. Besides, I find those obscenely thin and flimsy blades to be unmanly.

Between a bastard-sword and a rapier, I'd choose the bastard any day.

[Sir Edward]

Hello, welcome to the forum! What country are you in? You might be surprised. Sometimes there are swordsmanship groups to be found, or you can always try to start one. Here in the US the renfaires are all over the place. They've sprouted up all over the place over the last 30 years.

[Sir Griff]

I would hardly think so, but for what it's worth, I live in Romania. I suppose you know where it is since the NATO summit was recently there, and you Americans can't really be defined by videos where they ask people on the street about random stuff (despite the fact that it makes you all look extremely bad as a whole).

Videos like that can be made to cater to every nation, and the guys making the video always leave out smart answers and only include the really, really, really stupid ones.

[Sir Edward]

Well, that's true.. shows like that are always edited to provide the intended effect.

However, it's also fair to say that most Americans aren't as well traveled, in terms of Europe and the Middle East, as Europeans are. As a friend of ours pointed out, it's easy for Europeans to forget that for most Americans, it's possible to drive for over 10 hours in any direction and still be surrounded by people who speak the same language. I think its fair to assume that most people will have the greatest familiarity with their own continent.

[Sir Wolf]

as a born European I know ehhehe and you can travel 6 hours and still just be in my 1 state

[Sir Griff]

And I don't think I could try to start a swordsmanship group since I'm only 15 years old and don't really know where to learn about WMA in the first place. I'm guessing that I could try teaching myself, but that would be pretty precarious. In the future, though, who knows? I might just try doing something like this in my spare time, since I know of some people that could be interested.

But for what it's worth, I am going to Switzerland for the UEFA 2008 European tournament, and I'm staying in a German town called Freiburg. Would there be any WMA action to be found there?