Renaissance Festival War Stories Aug 28/29, 2021

Weekend 2 Aug 28/29, 2021

At the end of the day Saturday, I found the young gentleman artist who drew the riddlers last week. Turns out, he's apprenticing with another artist at fest. He says she captures the soul like no one else and he's hoping to learn how to do what she does as well. I tell him that what he did and showed us last week was so special and touching to me and gave him a four-leafed clover. It was an honor to be his subject. He said we are a great group to use to learn from because we are both animated on stage, and we don't move from our spots much, so we work well as drawing subjects. Kicking myself for not getting his name. Now that I know where to find him, I certainly will next week.

Follow up: I did find the artist Joseph, and commissioned a piece of art of myself and Mr. Noah Boudit together as an anniversary present. I enjoyed his talents that much.

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Saturday at booth, a group of four young gentleman came and went from the riddle booth a couple of different times during the day. Over their time at the booth, they all answered riddles. Two of them have open shirts; I did the chest hair riddle. My 'scale' riddle is fairly challenging, and with one reading and no clues, one of them gets it right. At this point, I am impressed with their riddling skills, and gift the four of them with four-leafed clovers.

I thoroughly enjoy it wen young men are intelligent, costumed, and therefore, attractive. I don't loose my composure, but they're more like less than refined art: pretty, but I am not going to loose any sleep over them. They're more like fun bobble-head dolls: cute, collectible, not very valuable to me, and if I never see them again, I will be fine with it.

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Two young ladies came up to the booth, one of them asked for the hardest riddle we had, right off the bat. We told her she was not ready for it yet. "You don't go right from Kindergarten to Harvard, do you?" (Next time, I'll say Oxford) They each understood more and more about solving the riddles. The epiphany-look on their faces when they understand how a riddle makes sense, was golden. They came back twice more that day. They loved joining in the reciting of the riddles when the last word of the riddle was 'ass.'

Note: These same ladies came back later in the season and riddled more. It's wonderful seeing people become regulars. I didn't remember regulars in 2019, it's nice for this to become a happening this season.

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Sunday is 'Unofficial Game of Thrones Day' I set up a group photo for 11AM at the Throne of Swords Pub. no one shows, but I make great friends with the two ladies working there. I give them each a piece of snap jewelry as favors from last season I still have. I take lots of pictures for other people. I act as a footstool or dead body to rest their feet on for their photos. I encourage the groups to come to the riddle booth. Their reactions are joyful: 'this is amazing,' 'what is happening?' It's almost as if they forget that I can say ALMOST whatever I want back to what they say. We are not Disney, far from it. We do not have scripted responses.

While these tales may seem less exciting than previous 'war stories,' they are still special, singular, and dear to me.

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