Washington Renaissance Fantasy Faire 2009

Earlier this month, my boyfriend, Nathan, and I went to the 2009 Washington Renaissance Fantasy Faire. It was the first time I'd been to a Renaissance Fair, and I had a very good time there. This year, the fair was held at Maris Farms in Buckley, WA. Here are some of the photos from that day.

Sign for the farm with the faire's tents in the background.

The castle gates.



Some fair-goers in front of the food stands where we ate sausages, fries, and Hawaiian ices.

There were many performers. We watched a joust and heard some of the music. There was also an opportunity for those wanting to learn a little about the fine art of fencing. I snapped a photo of a couple of the fencers above.

Then, I snapped a photo of my own knight, Sir Nathan.
The Blue Fairy was one of the many wandering performers at the fair. I saw her several times.
There were a lot of people in costumes and even some of the pets. I wonder if this doggy breathes fire?

There were many things to see and to buy. A couple of those things were ribbon and flower wreaths and flower wands.

Nathan took this picture of me with my new wand and my purple flower wreath.

More wonderful things to buy or just to look at: fans, lamps, belts, peacock feathers, a quiver of arrows, beautiful dresses, suits of armor, shields and weapons, just to name a few.

It was a wonderful day, but, alas, all too soon it was time to go.

Until I type again,
Kami

Computer Woes & Airplanes At The Mall

It's been while since I've had a chance to post. I still plan to post some pictures here that I took earlier this month at the Washington Renaissance and Fantasy Faire, but my slow internet connection, combined with being sick a lot the last week, has postponed my plans. I'll being giving it a try this evening, and I'll get them on here asap. Last night, I spent most of the evening just trying to get my virus protection software to download & update. I kept losing the connection on my wireless, and I finally got it to update this just this morning. Grrrr! Better, more reliable internet it looking more and more necessary to my peace of mind.

Have you heard about the small airplane that made an emergency landing at a shopping mall in New Jersey. Can you imagine it? You're in the JC Penny's store trying to decide if you prefer the Hello Kitty or the Garfield pajamas when suddenly, there's a roaring sound in outside. You peak out the glass door and WHOA! What in the world? An airplane landed in the parking lot! Gee, someone must have been in a big hurry to get to the mall. Hey, wait! Is there a big sale that no one told you about? Of course, there can't really be an airplane landing at the mall. You're blood sugar must be really low if you're seeing unbelievable things like that. You'd better go to the food court to buy a cookie or some ice cream to stop the hallucinations. . .

No, wait it's a real news story, not some hallucination, although maybe there really was a big sale at the mall. I don't know. It would be a faster way to get there than driving. He's a link for the full news story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32554194/ns/us_news-life/

Photos courtesy of http://www.pdphoto.org/

Until I type again,
Kami

Castles

"Fitou Castle" France

I've been frustrated with a poor internet connection lately. I'm getting closer to giving in and forking out more money each month just to have reliable service. I haven't been able to get any images to post unless I use the computer at work and, for security reasons, I'm not able to download pictures off my camera at work. Frustrating, frustrating. Fortunately, I have found some pictures on-line that I wanted to share today. I love castles, and I found a website with many castles that I had never seen before. I love their variety.

This castle shown above is called "Kuressaare Castle" and is located in Estonia.

This second castle is "Bratislava Castle" in Slovakia.

Third, we have "Castle Zuylen" in the Netherlands.

This castle pictured above is the "Castle of Bourglinster" in Luxembourg.

The fifth lovely castle I wanted to share with you is the "Royal Castle of Warsaw" in Poland.

This last castle is "Gresmold Schloss Castle" in Germany.

These photos are all courtesy of http://www.castles.info/.


Until I type again,
Kami

A New Day - A Poem

Photo "Dawn" courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

***Here is an original, previously unpublished poem that I wrote.***

"A New Day"

I say,

Arise bright sun.

Clear away.

Those last bits

Of darkness.

Morning brings us.

Its freshness.

A promise.

A new day.

A clean start.

Loosen those ties

Which bind us.

What we no longer

Want to hold

Can be released.

What is to us

Most precious.

Hold lightly, softly

As one ought hold

A small bird.

Photo courtesy of http://www.pdphoto.org/

Too tight a grasp

Could injure.

While a gentle touch,

When the time comes,

Gives freedom for flight.

Until I type again,
Kami

Dealing With Stress

After having a summer of extreme heat, the weather in Western Washington already has the damp feel of Fall. It reminds me how quickly the seasons change. Work lately has been very hectic, and I've been struggling each day to relax. Time flies, but I often need to remind myself to slow down and enjoy my life in the here and now. Stress is a normal part of life, but how I choose to deal with it is up to me. Humor is one effective way.

FAMILY STRESS TEST

How to score: 0 if the statement is never true, 1 if it is rarely true, 2 if it is sometimes true, and 3 if it is always true.

1. ___ Conversations often begin with "Put the gun down, and then "we can talk."
2. ___ The school principal has your number on speed-dial.
3. ___ The cat is on Valium.
4. ___ People have trouble understanding your kids, because they learned to speak through clenched teeth.
5. ___ You are trying to get your four-year-old to switch to decaf.
6. ___ The number of jobs held down by family members exceeds the number of people in the family.
7. ___ No one has time to wait for microwave TV dinners.
8. ___ "Family meetings" are often mediated by law enforcement officials.
9. ___ You have to check your kid's day-planner to see if he can take out the trash.
10.___ No-Doze gives you bulk rates.

How you rate:

30 - A perfect score. Welcome to the neighborhood!

20-29 - You are doing reasonably well, but still have too little going on in your life. Crank it up.

10-19 - You have mastered some of the aspects of the stress-filled life, but still have a long way to go. Have you considered a parallel career path?

0- 9 - Enjoying all that extra time? What do you do anyway?

"FROM SEATTLE WITH LOVE"

A curious fellow died one day and found himself waiting in a long, long line for judgment. As he stood there he noticed that some souls were allowed to march right through the gates of heaven - others, though, were led over to Satan, who threw them into a burning pit of fire.
Every so often, instead of hurling a poor soul into the fire, Satan would toss him (or her) to one side. After watching Satan do this several times, the fellow's curiosity got the better of him and he strolled over and tapped Satan on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, there, Prince of Darkness," he said. "I'm waiting in line for judgment, but I couldn't help wondering why you are tossing those people aside instead of flinging them into the fires of hell with the others?"
"Ah", Satan said with a grin. "They are people from Seattle; they're still too wet to burn!"

MENTAL HEALTH HOTLINE

If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.

If you are co-dependant, ask someone to press 2 for you.

If you have multiple personalities, press 3,4,5 & 6.

If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want.
Stay on the line so we can trace your call.

If you are delusional, press 7, and your call will be transferred to the mother ship.

If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a small voice will tell you which number to press.

If you are manic-depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press, no one will answer.

If you are dyslexic, press 96969696969696969696.

If you have a nervous disorder, please fidget with the hash key until a representative comes on the line.

If you have amnesia, press 8 and state you name, address, phone number, date of birth, social security number and your mother's and grandmother's maiden names.

If you have post-traumatic stress disorder, slowly and carefully press 000.

If you have bi-polar disorder, please leave a message after the beep or before the beep or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.

If you have short term memory loss, please try your call again later.

If you have low self-esteem, please hang up. All of our operators are far too busy to talk to you.

Lastly, here's some relaxing music which I find is also is a great way to unwind.

The source of the "Family Stress Test", "From Seattle With Love", and "Mental Health Hotline", as well as more on relaxation, can be found at http://www.relaxation.com/.

Until I type again,
Kami

Choosing Your Own Adventure

When I was a child, I used to write all the time. Mostly, I’d create characters and little stories. I had a complete, certain vision of myself as a writer. As I grew older, my world became more complex, less narrow and less certain. My vision of myself became a shifting thing, rather than something concrete. By the time I reached college, I didn’t have the time or energy to write anything except what was school related. After college, writing slipped out of my life almost completely.

Since I started this blog, three months ago, this has been the longest consistent period of writing that I’ve had in years. I’m really enjoying it.

Every time I publish a post, I feel a lot of satisfaction. It’s a sense of having accomplished something, but it’s also a feeling of reclaiming a part of myself, the writer within me, that I’d almost given up as lost. (I can’t resist inserting a pun: "She found the writer inside her." - -- Ugh! Please feel free to groan here.)

The most common piece of advice that I’ve heard given to writers has been “Write what you know”. I used to puzzle over this when I was a child. I’d think “Hey, I’m just a kid. What do I know?” Then, being a know-it-all sort of child, I’d proceed to act like I knew a lot more than I really did. Usually, I’d exercise my imagination. What I didn’t know, I would make up. Don’t get me wrong. I still have an active imagination, but I’ve also gained some life experience. This is something that I’ve seen reflected in my recent writing. Although, it still catches me a bit off guard whenever I recognize these parts of myself in what I create, I feel it’s a good thing that I am able to do this.

I used to love to read a series of books, when I was a kid, called “Choose Your Own

Adventure”. At the end of each page, there were choices to make, and each choice jumped you forward or backward to a different page, depending on what you decided to do. Eventually, sometimes sooner than later, one of the pages would bring you to one of the many possible endings to the story. I remember reading each book over and over many times, making different choices, and journeying to a different ending each time.

In a recent prior post, I spoke of control as an illusion. I think my favorite thing about the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books were that they gave me a feeling of some control over the story. Of course, despite the many choices we make each day, life is not like one of these or any other book. First of all, in life there are many, many more paths and possible ends than could ever be contained in one book. Secondly, we can’t go back and redo the story of our lives as I could when reading a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book over and over again and making different choices each time. Lastly, we can’t peek ahead in our lives to see the outcome of our choices should we feel so inclined.

In my own life, I find that the more I try to control the outcome of anything, the more

frustrated I end up feeling. Life is easier for me when I try to make what choices seem best at the time and then detach from the results. This doesn’t mean I don’t care what the consequences of my choices might be, but rather that I try step back a bit and see what happens if I don’t try to hold the world in a death grip. If I’ve done my best, what more could I fairly expect from myself? If the results don’t turn out as I hope, I can accept that and go from there. I still feel like a novice when it comes to practicing this type of detachment, making my choices and learning to let go of the results, but it is a challenge that I believe to be wholly worthwhile.

For more on the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books which is having its 30th anniversary this year, here is a link to their web page: http://www.cyoa.com/

Until I type again,

Kami

Likes & Dislikes

Hey, we all have things we either do or do not like. This blog entry will give some of my own likes and dislikes. Of course, if I tried to list everything, this blog entry would never end, so I'm just giving a few that I wanted to share today.

First, some of my dislikes:

I hate slugs. They are slimy, little creatures, and I've seen plenty of them living in Western Washington. I once got a slug in my hair, and that, by no means, changed my dislike of them. I find it interesting that I don't mind snails, though. It must be the shell that makes all the difference. Maybe, I should try to imagine that those slugs are just wanna be snails.

Speaking of both shells and gross, slimy things. I like some seafood, but I've never liked clams. Even their shell, doesn't make me want to eat them. I've honestly tried them more than once, and I still highly dislike them. I tend to prefer milder tasting seafood that doesn't actually taste all that fishy.

Violence, wars, bombs, weapons. I wish that people would find a better way to resolve their issues than these means. Diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy. It's not "us vs. them". It's just "us". We are all the people of the earth. Living otherwise will get us nowhere, fast.

Aagggggh! Snakes terrify me. The big, fat ones are the worst, but I'm not too fond of any of them. Although, even I will admit that the colors of this particular one above make it look kind of pretty. I still think I wouldn't want to encounter it in real life. I recently saw a guy with a big boa constrictor or python (I didn't dare linger around to be sure which) wrapped around his shoulders when my boyfriend and I were walking around at the Whaling Days street festival in Silverdale, WA. When we went past the snake, I was holding my boyfriends hand. I didn't realize that I was squeezing his hand very hard until he pointed out that he'd still like to keep it in the future. Hey, he has another one on the other arm! I guess he just prefers to have two. I was a little nervous and paranoid for awhile after I saw the snake. I glanced around periodically looking around for the guy and his slithering pet in the crowd. It was a relief not to encounter them again.

Now, some of the things that I like:

It's clear from my blog that I like dragonflies, but I'm also a big fan of butterflies as well. They are so pretty! I like that they come in such a great variety of colors and patterns, and they are an ancient symbol of the soul and of transformation. In the photo above, the blue of the flowers is also very lovely.

Yum! Pizza is one of my favorite foods. I like all kinds of toppings on it. I even had pizza for dinner just last night.

I have had visions of the Eiffel Tower in my head since I was six years old and first began to dream of going to Paris one day. I've travelled, but I've not had the opportunity to visit France yet. Someday, I'll go there and see this view of the Eiffel Tower for myself.

Last of all, I love flowers of all varieties and colors.

All photos in this post are courtesy of http://www.public-domain-photos.com/

Until I type again,
Kami

Finding A Healthy Way To Fix

Photo courtesy http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

It's been hard for me to understand that much of what I think of as "control" is an illusion, albeit, a very powerful one. Life is full of things that I have no control over. This doesn't mean that I haven't spent plenty of painful time, bashing my head against the wall, and trying to take control of many situations that weren't actually my responsibility. I have spent most of my life trying to fix things and people over which I have no real control. It has taken me a lot of time to recognize that I only have the ability to make decisions for myself and my own life, not for other people and their lives. That doesn't mean I don't still try sometimes to fix things and people that I have no real power over. Yet, these days, I'm more easily aware of when I'm trying to do this, and I don't try do it as often as I used to. That, my friends, is what I call progress.

The first time I heard the song "Fix You" by Coldplay, I loved it immediately. It has both a haunting and an uplifting quality at the same time. Although, in trying to free myself from the compulsion to always fix other people, I have to admit that the lyrics of the song used to bother me. My brain keeps screaming - I DON'T WANT TO TRY TO FIX YOU! THAT'S NOT MY JOB!

Tonight, I've been doing some thinking about this. I believe that I've been looking at the idea of "fixing" too narrowly. Perhaps, there is a more balanced path where exists a different, healthier way of fixing; fixing that isn't trying to change someone else, but involves just being there for them, offering them love and support, as they heal and grow. Instead of trying to solve someone else's problems for them, by being present, a person can offer them the strength and, thus, help "fix" them in this way.

I was curious what was intended by the lyrics when the song was written, so I did a little research. I found that most people agree that Chris Martin wrote the song for his wife, actress Gwyneth Paltrow. The commonly given reason is best summed up by a respondent on Yahoo Answers:

"Chris wrote this song for Gwyneth Paltrow after her father died. She came home from the hospital covered and drenched in tears, and he started crying and asked her, `what can I do for you? tell me how I can do it' and she looked up at him, and said `just hold me... cause you're the only thing that can fix me right now'

And that was that - he wrote the song the next day."

Whatever the true meaning behind the words, I've grown to have a new perspective on the lyrics. Now, I believe the song speaks of the comfort and peace that can be found in the presence of those who love you, especially during those difficult times when love is most needed. With this new understanding, I can better explain why I always feel such strong emotions when I hear the song. Whether you are or are not familiar with it, here are the lyrics:

Lyrics to "Fix You" By Coldplay

"When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse?

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I...

Tears stream down on your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I...

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you."

Now, please use this link to enjoy the official version of video on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI-o25K6B-E

Until I type again,
Kami

Princess Silly Putty Pants

As a kid, I remember playing with Silly Putty. Usually, I'd first get the Sunday newspaper. The Sunday comics were the only day the local newspaper printed them in color. The other six days of the week, the comics (and in that particular newspaper this is still true) are a single page and in black-and-white. Sunday, on the other hand, brought several pages of colorful comics which I'd look forward to getting my hands on each week.

I'd read every comic, eating my breakfast of pancakes or cereal, or something like that. Then, I'd open up the Silly Putty in its plastic egg shaped container and wonder "Why does this container look like an Easter egg?" I'm sure I asked the question out loud, but I don't think anyone in my family knew why it comes in a plastic egg that looks like the kind you'd fill with candy at Easter time. After opening the egg, I'd pull out the glob of putty and stretch it, bounce it on the table (makes sense because Silly Putty used to be known as "Bouncing Putty"). Finally, I'd start pressing it onto the comics, pealing it off, and marvelling at each picture as it was replicated onto the putty. I'd stretch the faces of the comic characters, smash and fold them, and then do it all again, over and over.

Oddly enough, I've been planning a blog about silly putty for awhile. It's become something of a joke between my boyfriend and I. One day, I thought of Silly Putty, out of the blue while we were out having breakfast. He looked it up on-line, and told me somethings about it. At the time, I didn't even think to ask him about the egg-shaped Silly Putty container. I took some notes from what he read, and then I finally said "Hey, wait! If you read all this yourself, then it might spoil what you'll read later, in my blog." He laughed and stopped reading and has since then decided to call me a ridiculous nickname "Princess Silly Putty Pants". We agreed that it would take a lot of Silly Putty to make me a pair of pants, and it would be quite the strange pair. Of course, if I had a pair, I'd have to sit on some colorful comics and walk around with Garfield or Snoopy on my rear. Can you imagine how big their poor heads would be stretched each time I bent over? I'm sure that would be one use for which Silly Putty was never intended. That's saying a lot for a product that's been around since the 1940s and has been many places including an exposition at The Smithsonian and even to the Moon!

Not surprisingly, Silly Putty has a official website which they call "Silly Putty University Camp". Yes, if you're so inclined they have a test and a degree that you can earn. On the site, there's a must read timeline of the history of Silly Putty under "History 101" which includes some short original T.V. commercials. The "Silly Science" section tells us more about how its made and some experiments that can be done with it. Also, don't skip the section from a contest that they had where they list the "Silliest Use Winners". Be sure to note, that none of them are wearing Silly Putty pants. Maybe, they can only be worn by a true princess.

Here's the link to the Official Silly Putty website: http://www.sillyputty.com/ There's also a lot of neat info. and some other links about Silly Putty to be found in Wikipedia, so here's the link to that as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_Putty

Until I type again,
Kami