Renaissance Festival War Stories Sept 4/5/6, 2021

I find 3 four-leafed clovers Saturday morning. One at cast call, That goes into my wallet. I then go to drop off some tickets at will call pre-cannon. I find two more.

I speak loudly, "who's feeling lucky?" A family is bold enough to make direct eye contact with me. I ask the father for a piece of paper, like a receipt. I tell him who I am: Somewhere between wisdom (my owl brooch) and dumb luck (my clover brooch) lies Tinka Boudit (my name tag). I carefully fold the two four-leafed clovers in the receipt and tell the father, Lord Whitaker, how to keep them safe until they can be properly preserved.

The family is floored by my find for them, especially since they SAW me find them.

The young lad tells me of their costumes: the knight, the jester, king and queen. I joke that they are part of a chess set. We joke about the math and fractions. I ask them to stop by the Riddle booth for more fun and enjoy the day.

I am glad I gave them some luck before cannon went off.

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I love, love, LOVE taking photos for people. It's something that I always saw my father do when I was young so the whole family could be in the picture. Now that everyone has smart phones, everyone can take selfies. But selfies don't always allow for the best angles or show off outfits or scenery.

Every time I see couples/groups taking photos, I playfully offer to take the picture. I say different things to get them to laugh. "Say 'this years Christmas card.' Say, 'Send bail money.'" Something to get a genuine smile and laugh out of them for a good picture. Sometimes, I'll suggest they move an arm or a leg or something to get a more flattering pose. But the first thing I do is flip the camera and take a selfie and bury it in the group photos for them to find later. I never think I'll see it again. A couple I did this for on Saturday posted the photo I took of them, and the selfie I took. I couldn't believe I saw it come back to me.

Last weekend and this weekend a mother with two little girls come to the riddle booth. The week before, I did my riddle where the answer was 'coin.' Among several adults and only one reading of the riddle, this little girl, MAYBE three years old, puts up her hand and answers in her sweet, little voice, "It's a coin!"

I shout, "Yes! And out of the mouths of babes!"

The look on everyone's face was priceless.

They came back this weekend and the mother asked if I would recite the riddle again and have her little girl answer it on video. Amazing. Simply amazing. I am absolutely touched they wanted to come back and record that memory of me with me.

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In riddle booth, late in the day, someone reads a riddle from 2019 I had forgotten the answer to. Three of us forgot the answer. Now to clarify: there is a band member who visits us every day, usually first thing in the morning. She has earned the reputation of killing things like flowers, bugs, and even a bird. There was also a time where she was moving from one home to another for a very long time. This whole thing has become a joke. This band now had buttons made. They have two or three songs about this joke. After several minutes and clues, I drop my head back, fall to my knees, and beat my fists on the ground, "She's a MURDER HOBO!" It's one of several riddles we have made about her.

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