Rennfest3

Rennfest1

Rennfest2

Maryland Renaissance Festival

Today is Friday. I have been kind of lazy this week and seeing as we have plans for tomorrow I suppose I should write up something about our adventure from last weekend. Saturday we went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival (one of the largest of it's kind in the country or so the paper said). We decided to get an earlier start this year (last year we ended up sitting in a very long car line, not moving at all). We began our trip to the tune of Spider Pig from the Simpsons Movie. Traffic was much better this year, we came in a different way and despite getting a little turned around we still got there faster than last year. An interesting tidbit about the drive, at one point we were passed by a black Cadillac with tinted windows. Paulanne made the comment that it had quite a few antenna, Lisa added "and a security vehicle". Which indeed it did in the form of a black SUV also with tinted windows and several antennas. We decided it wasn't the president (not enough security vehicles :) ) and that whoever they were they would be less conspicous if they traveled in tan Toyota Corollas (everyone in this area drives those).

Now onto the festival....

I decided to try and dress up. Ever since I went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire when I was younger I have wanted an outfit I could wear to future faires. I think the outfit I came up with from my closet was semi-pirate like (it being adventure weekend and there being pirates everywhere I think it worked out ok). I had a black skirt, lace shirt, red sash, and lots of jingling jewelry.

I think my favorite costume that I saw that day was the young boy dresses as a red dragon. There are many creative artists shops throughout the grove. You can get jewelry, period style clothing, art, herbs, glassware, etc. One of the things we decided to try since we were there was meade. I thought it was pretty tasty, though I don't think I could drink a lot of it at a time. Paulanne did not care for it at all and I believe Lisa was in the middle. We saw several shows, a music group called E Muzeki, they play several styles of music that makes you want to dance. They are very entertaining. The other show we really enjoyed was a group called The London Broil and they are jugglers. With The London Broil you get not only juggling but comedy as well. We saw their "Blades of Fury" show, all I can say is HILARIOUS!!! Oh, and don't forget the jousting. Anyway, there was lots of merry making, people watching and elephants. I completely enjoyed myself. If you are interested you can read all about it at http://www.rennfest.com/.

Takoma Park Folk Festival

More weekend fun....
Yesterday was the Takoma Park Folk Festival celebrating it's 30th year. It is a wonderful family event with lots of music, crafts, dancing, and food. It is within walking walking distance and the weather was absolutely beautiful. We are finally getting into the nice cool fall weather. They had a very wide variety of entertainment and it was easy to find something to do. Some of the shows I really enjoyed were Nrityanjali (Vibrant and ancient dances from India, all age groups) and ilyAIMY (Percussive acoustic neo-folk). We also saw Soul in Motion, Triple Goddess Tribal Belly Dance, The U-Liners, Backroads Band, and Ziva Spanish Dance Ensemble. It was great fun... I think we all enjoyed ourselves. Yet another festival I highly recommend. :)

IT"S FALL!!!!!

Ummm...yeah...I think we are still here...yes we are. I know it's been awhile.

Ok, now on to the newest of news. Being fall, it is once again time for our jam-packed weekends of non-stop fun. This past weekend was the Fourth annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival. I have lived here for a year and a half and have now been to half of the festivals. I believe it will be one of the things I look forward to the most next year. I thought nothing could compare to last year and Spyro Gyra but I was wrong. This year we had Dani Cortaza, Frederic Yonnet,The Marcus Johnson Project, Ethel Ennis, and Arturo Sandoval. The music was absolutely amazing. Lisa came and kept me company this year so I got to stay longer(Paulanne does not really care for concerts). Lisa said she had fun but I have my doubts. There was very little movement on her part even when everyone else was on their feet and dancing but then everyone enjoys things in different ways. I can't blame her too much she has several papers due this week so had a lot of reading to do. I enjoyed myself immensely. I am right now inviting everyone to come next year. I already know it will be incredible based on this year and last. It'll be fun.