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Daily by krmb on
18 April 2009
My birthday on a faire day! That certainly has both pros and cons, but for the most part, it’s pretty darned cool to celebrate your birthday on a festival day. On the pro side, you are surrounded by many of your favourite people, and many more that think you’re special enough to wish a happy birthday. So, hugs, kisses, happiness wishes and even cards and gifts are the order of the day. Some gifts are pre-meditated—like the wonderful goody bag Starr and Joe and Troy and Alex brought to me, filled with scented candles and a unique set of little candle holders and even some snacky foodstuffs. Or the super-smelly-in-such-a-good-way handmade soap from Mia. Or the bottled yumminess that Jorge and Tracy presented to me. Some are labours of love like the lovely necklace that Robert made for me of sterling chain maille and blue goldstones. Some are gifts of sharing—like the perfect lunch of baked brie and creme brulee that Allyson brought me from the dinner her dad cooked the night before. Or the delicious brownies baked by Stefanee. And, some are totally impromptu, spur of the moment, acts of not-so-random kindness like the cup of mocha cappucino and the glass of meade brought to me by some favourite customers. And, so special are the gifts of talent brought by my performer friends. Songs sung just for me—jokes told at my expense—entertainment at its finest. Even the King and Queen sang to me their version of “Happy Birthday!” And, the flowers! Always on a birthday at faire, there are such wonderful flowers! It really simply isn’t possible to not have fun when you celebrate your birthday at faire!
On the “con” side is the fact that at least for me, a faire day is a work day. I had cleverly arranged with my staff to take at least a small portion of the day off. With most of them so new, and only Garry able to write sales for me, I figured I wouldn’t wander farther than across the street to East Wind Games. But, as it was Blazing Sun Pirate Invasion weekend, I figured I’d play a few games, and see the Queen Anne’s Lace shows on the stage right across from our booth, and although having fun, never be out of sight of my staff if they should need me. The weather played right into my plan, because the skies were grey all day and the weatherman had forecast at least a 40 percent chance of rain. (We later learned it did rain throughout the metroplex and even to the south of us.) So, the crowd was small, and my booth staff would have been quite able to handle nearly everything. But, as the fates would have it, Garry came down with a violent stomach virus and was too sick to leave his RV, much less come to work and breathe on everybody. So, I worked all day, wrote every sale (of which there were far too few), and celebrated from within the booth.
I did have one brief foray into the lane in front of the shoppe, where as a relatively new member of the crew of the Blazing Sun, I was made to “walk the plank”—an initiation rite of sorts. Fortunately, the plank is a very wide board, and although there was plenty of mud nearby, it was placed over solid ground, with no threat of a wet mis-step! And, that brings me to one of my very best birthday presents—-gravel! Yep! It seems the festival, after many years of trying to convince grass to grow in the small shady stretch of land between the Pendragon Costumes shoppe and the lane, finally gave up. In the interest of patron safety and long-term bang for the buck, they brought in a huge load of pea gravel and spread it out in front of our shoppe! No more mud! This should translate to less damage to our rugs, less upkeep on our floors, less worry about garments falling off hangers or mannequins tipping over. I did a serious happy dance, and I jokingly am considering the gravel to be my birthday present from the faire! Thank you, thank you, thank you, to our faire owners and managers.
After the day was done, we hemmed and hawed about dinner plans. It seemed there were in fact no plans—the curse of an alpha’s birthday! Your loved ones are so used to you making the plans that if you don’t, nobody else does either! 
So, we decided to use the lack of planning and the lateness of the hour as excuses to visit the Junque rather than leave the site for food. So, off to the on-site rennie evening hang-out we went where we enjoyed very tasty food, great live music, and excellent company. Quiet hours begin at 11 p.m., so we were back at Ginger’s booth soon thereafter where we continued to enjoy our drinks and each other’s company ’til after midnight. By then, we were all dragging and it was “school night” after all, so off to bed we went. All in all, it was a very good birthday.
I was having enough fun, that I didn’t capture any of it on film! My only photos of the day were two I took of this pirate coat that Nicole made. I have a customer that wants to know if she can get this same trim in Silver.
~MB
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