| my faire share, part II |
[11 Jul 2006|08:37pm] |
So, it's been a few days, and I said I'd update about the faire, but I have been way busy and tired from all the fun we had. Okay, that sounds lame, but it's true.. I'll go over some highlights.
First off, it was my third year at the faire, and a lot of women just go topless. No, I'm not kidding, they just wear a skirt and (sometimes) shoes. Tops are optional at the faire, for both sexes. That said, a lot of women have their breasts painted wild, amazing colors and designs, which I'd never gotten up the courage to do.. until now :)
I originally planned to wear my faerie costume, (which I did wear for the first few hours) but it was also supposed to be around 70 degrees. It turned out to be over 95 degrees, and I was dying in the leather halter top and huge black wings. Everybody loved my costume. Little kids were hugging me and waving at me all day and a lot of people asked if they could take my picture. As the day went on, though, it was just too hot, so I decided, it's 95 degrees.. topless & painted vs. hot leather halter.. hmm.. which do you think I chose? ;)
It was a little weird at first, because I've never been topless in public before, but I soon realized that, this being a regular occurrence at the faire, no one was pointing or gasping when I took off my top. In fact, once they were painted, a TON more people wanted my picture. Kind of funny. Some of the designs are amazing, dragons and celestial scenes.. last year, Andy's sister had a huge red and blue phoenix painted on her. I, of course, true to form had to have a dragonfly.. is anyone surprised? Oh, and speaking of dragonflies, there were tons of baby ones flying around at the faire, landing on people's hands and shoulders.. the ultimate compliment, if you ask me. Anyway, ( here is a picture of me after getting painted.. )
I was a bit nervous, as my husband's whole family was there, and they're big old hippies, but still, I never thought I'd be topless in front of my father-in-law. He didn't even bat an eye, and his mom thought I looked great, so no worries there! His sister said "you're becoming one of us!" *lol*
I also finally got to see the bellydancers this year.. I've been three years in a row and hadn't been able to see them until now, it's always packed. All I have to say is, who says white women can't dance? These gals were amazing.. they can dance a lot better than me, and I'm ethnically Gypsy, and had twelve years of ballet & jazz training!
Speaking of Gypsies, I actually ran into some Romani people there, contrary to the ever-popular belief that all Romanies hate Ren faires. They weren't costumed or anything, just enjoying some faire food next to one of the grub tents, and we recognized one another. Don't ask me how that is, but my mother was an emergency room nurse for twelve years in southern California, and every Gypsy that came in there recognized her, too. Anyway, it was nice to talk to some fellow Romanies who aren't what I call 'gypsy elitist' (you know, the ones who think 'everyone wants to be a Gypsy', etc).. to me, people who act like that are what I like to call 'Gypsy with a little 'g'. Some of us haven't forgotten how to have fun.
After many hours at the faire it was time to head to the campsite.. I love this campsite. Andy's family have been camping there for almost ten years, and they know how to camp. For instance, after a day at the faire, your feet will be filthy, dusty, stinky and sore. You gotta hand it to experienced faire-goers.. Andy's mom heated up some water on their camping stove, added some fancy soap and we all had a relaxing footbath, right by the campfire! How awesome is that? No hot dogs for these campers.. they even make spaghetti when they're camping! I eat better on these trips then I do everyday at home ;) Needless to say, his mom broke out the plastic containers and the hot water, and there was much rejoicing!
I could probably go on and on about the campsite and the faire, but I'll let the pictures tell the story.. I did have the comfiest camping chair, however. We took my Dad's work van, because we couldn't fit all our camping stuff and our extra passengers in the Jeep, and for us to sleep in. When we ran out of chairs around the campfire, I decided to just yank one of the seats out of the van. That ugly chair was the envy of all my fellow campers. ;)
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