Colorado Renaissance Festival!

That's right... this weekend is the opening weekend for the Colorado Renaissance Festival. (Does anyone else stumble over renaissance when trying to spell it?! I always want to put two N's in as well as two S's.... haha) My family (and extended family) attend almost every year, rain or shine (and thankfully this weekend looks like it's going to be rainy. Yay!) and this year is no different. Of course, the birth of my cousin's first born makes this year a little different, because we finally get to meet her and her mommy, but for the most part it's still the same. The same shops that have been there since I attended the first time (that I remember) at age 11, some of the same shows even!

But we don't just go for the Steak on a Steak, and the entertainment. We also go for IDEAS. Not that we'll be stealing anyone's jewelry ideas, especially since we tend to avoid those shops due to their overpriced manners... but everything around you can give you an idea. The ribbons, and flowers, and colors, and designs. Leather, bone, fur and silver studs for the biker gangs barely disguised as Vikings. Satin, Canvas and Tapestry for the nobility, floating around like Galleons awash in a sea of tourists; A red rose with a black lace ribbon upon their breast to show that they are staff and not to be approached by the scummy underlings like us, who can't tell the different between a Gunne Sax hippie wedding dress, and a full Tudor period dress complete with all 7-15 layers of costuming designed in as accurate of a manner as possible to the real thing. A smattering of black, red, and gold.. and some rotted bone thrown in for Pirates and their wenches. Bells and coins and the sheerest of silk for the scantily clad, and oft overweight, "Gypsies" (who are really nothing more than over glorified East Indian belly dancers). Glitter, gauze and shimmering wings, and not to forget the flowers, for the little fairies who act touched in the head in order to attract a larger crowd to their odd behaviors and tricks. The shiniest of metals, and colored coat of arms for the brave knights who bash each other theatrically for the joust (3 times a day!). The rainbows caused by misters constantly spraying water under decorative lattices woven with silk flowers to cool off weary travelers who have started to feel the particular exhaustion caused by heat and nothing but beer to sup on, since water costs $5 for a 10 oz bottle.

You'd think, to hear me talk about it, that I wouldn't bother going anymore, since I obviously don't enjoy it. But really, that's not true. While my appreciation of the entire thing has definitely morphed into a more cynical eyed view, I still enjoy dressing up in my (as accurate as possible, and just as painful to wear) Tudor period gown that I bought for my wedding day (and never got around to wearing in that capacity, since we never had an official wedding ceremony) and carting my husband and son around to see all of the acts, and ye olde shops. I go to pick up hints of glitter and subtle design, and let my brain work them all into a whole that I can later turn into a piece of jewelry, or a bookthong, or a short story in the back of my head. I go to see family, those who I only get to see once or twice a year. And I go to escape the often times over whelmingly mundane lifestyle I lead. When I have money I do some light shopping, and when I don't I window shop and plan for the next year that I do. I put on all of my jewelry, no matter how gaudy, and I flaunt the wares that I've made and am proud of.

But really? I go for the Steak on a Steak.

My Goofball family in 2006.

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"..About that time two young and lovely girls just happened by
And one says to the other with a twinkle in her eye
See yon sleeping Scotsman so strong and handsome built
I wonder if it's true what they don't wear beneath the kilt.."