I’ve been published!

No, no, not in a professional journal or anything.

But, my blog post was picked up on The Independent Geek.  See here.

Awesome.

Renaissance Fair

We went to the Michigan Renaissance Fair this Sunday.  I wanted to see the musical acts (I love all manner of folk and world music) as well as pick up some CDs to some of my favorite musicians.  This I did, in full force.

First, we stopped at a setup in front of some of the food vendors and listened to the group Wine and Alchemy.  They play a selection of world music.  I would classify it as “Gypsy” and it’s wonderful to listen to.  Takes you to another place and time, filled with spices, mysterious women and men, and camels.  It has a very Middle-Eastern flair.  I picked up their “Turning of the Seasons” CD.

Next, we hit up the Guinness Pub to take in Equinox.  I’d seen Equinox before at the White Crow.  They are awesome, with a great mix of Celtic music.  I love bagpipes, so listening to a piper is something I enjoy.  The music was lively, with great pipes, fiddle, flutes/whistle, drums and even some dancing!  We ate lunch at the pub and had some beers whilst the music played.  I picked up “Lothain Sky”, which I love.

We wandered around some more and headed toward the “World Market” area of the Fair.  They had a huge stage set up (and hay bales for people to sit on) to watch various shows.  We ended up seeing a Czech dance group perform traditional dance.  It was very interesting.  I was captivated by the music.

Next (after wandering around in the shops and seeing our favorite Crystal/Scrimshaw vendor), my brother had us watch a Birds of Prey show at the joust field.  All I can say is “WOW”.  That was awesome.  The birds flew all around (falcons and hawks) going after decoys he’d set up and swing.  I guess he uses the birds not only for demos like at Fairs, but also for hunting.  That’s what the birds were used for.  He explained the equipment (hoods, bells, jesses [like short leashes], bait, etc) and how one hunts with falcons.  It was really neat how he explained it all, and very interesting.  I don’t hunt, but I wouldn’t mind going out on a hunt and watching this done.

We ended up being late for the New World Renaissance Band performance.  Wow.  Owain Phyfe is an awesome singer.  I love the stories he tells with the songs.  I’ve seen him a couple of times at the Jewel Stage (which is ALWAYS packed; arriving late, we were lucky to get benches in the back) and vowed that this year I was going to get a CD.  I did.  I ended up with “Live the Legend: The New World Renaissance Band, Love Songs of the Renaissance”.  All I can say is wow.  He truly is a master of music.

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High School Meme

Stolen from jkhuggins over at livejournal.

1. Did you date someone from your school? No.

Christmas Bazaar

The 4-Star Bazaar will be at the Masonic Temple on Center Road in Saginaw, MI on Friday, Nov. 3rd from 2-8 PM. Food will be served from 4:30 to close (or until we run out of food). Dinner will be chicken and dumplings or beef stew. Everything is included in the price of $6.

Come out for food, baked goods and cool crafts!

Baking

We’ve been baking all day today for the bazaar. We made toffee bars, jumble cookies (these have chocolate chips, raisins, almonds AND pecans in them!) and cookie press cookies (the colored ones using jello). The jumble cookies made *counts* six dozen, the toffee bars made one pan (24 bars, I think) and the cookie press cookies made a couple dozen.

The house smells soooooo good. Cookies make the house smell warm and inviting. And all the baking makes the house warm and inviting.