It is an absolutely beautiful day here in the Houston area. A day like this always makes me think of the my days working at the the Tx Ren Fest. I did that for a looooong time. I can’t even tell you how many years in total. I did it before I knew Doug. I met Richard and taught him to face paint so he could work with me out there. He wasn’t very good at it; but if he needed a dragon or a unicorn painted he’d send his people to me since I was nearby. He had a regular travel camper with a shower. (What a luxury!). That’s back when all the face painters at TRF were hired by the Esoteric Philosophy Center. To this day, I have no idea what that name meant. Before we went work every morning we had to get in a circle, hold hands, sway back and forth and go “Ummmmmmmmmmm”. (I guess we were tapping into some cosmic energy or some such). I didn’t know or care, I just wanted to work there and if that’s what it took to do it then so be it. I hummed. I swayed.
Then I was away from TRF for about 4 years, getting married, having kids, etc.. When I decided to go back Amanda was almost a year old. Doug thought it’d be a good idea to camp. I was against that, having by now become a princess camper with Richard and his travel trailer. However, Doug was insistent and back then I gave in a lot easier and more quickly. So, he bought a gigantic tent, so we could have “alone time” (He had high hopes.) and we set out for the festival late Friday. He was unconcerned that we’d never set this up before and it was dark. (He should’ve been). Back then, where the participants camped was in the “inner circle”ie- a large grassy area behind all the shops. This is the part of the fair that the visitors never see. It’s a good thing too- it would destroy all the magic. You see the fairies smoking, the king walking around in his underwear, etc. Anyway, everything in the inner circle happened by lantern light. Have you ever tried to set up a brand new tent with light from just 1 lantern on the ground? It’s a bad thing. Doug had gone really far in Boy Scouts so I was depending on him to pull this off for us. Perhaps some extreme outdoorsy types could have. Us, not so much.
After all the sweating and swearing was done, our weekend home for the next 7 weeks was finally up and ready for occupancy sometime after midnight. We were exhausted and mosquito bitten. Amanda and I were both cranky. Brett was asleep already. Of course Doug fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. (I hated him for that). I laid down and could feel the sweat trickling down the sides of my body. There was no moving air in there, unless you counted Doug’s farts. It was a miserable situation. Then, before I was asleep, Amanda sat up abruptly and barfed everywhere, repeatedly. Doug slept right through it. How can men do that? The smell of vomit mixed with old formula filled the tent. It was lovely. She was covered with vomit, as was her sleeping bag. I gave Doug a good poke to wake him up. He was a good husband and took Amanda and her sleeping bag to the showers while I finally went to sleep. In total I got about 5 hours of good sleep. you know that old expression- “She looks like she’d been rode hard and put up wet?” Well that was me the next morning. My face that morning looked about the age I am now.
The only thing that got me through the next morning was putting on my costume. If you’ve never done it ladies you should. The wenches, or peasants outfits flatter every sort of female figure. If you’ve got no boobs, you put on a bodice and all of a sudden you’ve got cleavage. If you’re zaftig, you put on the waist cincher and voila! you have a knockout hourglass figure with a small waist and perky boobs. Of course, when you take off your finery at the end of the day and everything goes back to the way it was the change can be dramatic and shocking. There’s a lot more from TRF. However, that’s for another day.
I’ve just realized it’s getting late and I’ve got to get to the mall. Doug leaves for Dallas tomorrow and I still have to get something for my reunion which is next Friday night. Blondie and my mom are both better today. I’m back from Crazyland. Thanks for taking the trip with me. Today’s trivia answer- 25 miles per year.
