Serendipity & Lace

Harry & I wed at 4 o'clock on a Friday afternoon on 8-28-98 in Little Falls, NY.
It was a magical date, an even hour, an even day, and even year.
And a date that even Harry could remember ;)

It was at "Overlook Mansion" and it was just us, my 2 girls and a friend for a witness. We had cake and drinks on the veranda of a beauteous Victorian mansion and then my friend took my girls home for the weekend. Then we spent the weekend at that bed & breakfast and had many magical moments.

We saw a fairy that night. For REAL. Up on the turrets of the mansion, the caretaker showed us how to climb the attic and walk out on the walk 3 stories up high.

We viewed another wedding going on below us, with the fancy limosines pulling up, the posh tuxedos and the big dresses and jazz band.

Our wedding was simple and quiet and full of love. While we were watching the grand goings on down below, we were happy that our wedding had been more simple and true and not built of flash. Just as we were both agreeing about that sentiment, and happy with our simple, true lot in life over the grand to-do.... some "thing" that had been sitting on the antennae.... flew up and around in a big loop-de-loop..... leaving a gold trail of dust. It flew past us both, surprising us as it wizzed by!

"A FAIRY!!!!" I exclaimed! "Did you see it??!!" I said jumping up and down in wonder.

"I ...saw...SOMETHING...I don't know if it was a FAIRY..." said a most hesitant Harry.

"OF COURSE it was a fairy!!! It was GOLD!!!!  It had..... BARBY LEGS!!"
I could hardly breathe for the excitement.

Later on, we read that the place that we stayed at in Little Falls, was filled with tales of the Erie Canal and "the fae" and how there were lots of stories like this from those that dug the canal. I also read that when there were 2 weddings on the same day, on a summer's day, that the fairies would choose one couple to bless.
I now felt that we were THAT couple.

A week later, we had our big party for everyone, but that day, the 28th, was OURS. At our reception, we even had a Castle CAKE. :) It was great fun and it was a bring a dish, play lots of music, everyone stay as long as you like sort of party.

After the party was done that evening, we sat on our deck and watched a storm coming in. It turned out to be the "microburst storm of 1998" that made power outages go out all over the state. We were without power for 3 days. But that night, we didn't care. We didn't know what was coming. We were in love and there were candles and flowers and each other. We mucked in that following week and rose to the occasion thru the power outages, the darkness, and ate a lot of party food quick.

13 years later it is our anniversary. So we went back to Little Falls to have dinner. The Overlook Mansion is no longer a B&B, so we went to "Beardsley Castle".

A manor of the 1800s replicated to look like an Irish Castle. It is a restaurant and bar now. They say it is HAUNTED.

I figured this would be PERFECT for a 13 wedding anniversary! And in Little Falls...too!

I had looked up what "13" years is in themes for anniversaries...and instead of getting something lame like aluminum or wood for a gift it said "Lace & Lingerie". Huzzah!

So, after procurring a room at the Hampton, complete with King-size bed and whirlpool bath in the room,

I dressed up all in white LACE and we went out to dinner at a castle.

Along the way....due to the approaching storm from Irene, we counted 13 bucket trucks heading down state to NYC. Hmmm.....well.....indeed that did remind us of the microburst storm on the heels of our wedding...13 years ago....what a coincidence, eh?

When we got to Beardsley Castle, guess what? Yup. There was a WEDDING going on.
"Kewl" we both thought! On our anniversary too!

We went up to the hostess and gave her our name for the reservation and she seated us in a far corner in an empty dining room right by a window.....

Which overlooked....

You guessed it....

the WEDDING going on outside. :)

I mean, really....

there was US.....
the window....
a bit of garden patch.....
the trellised flower arch....
and then the bridal couple taking their vows.

At that very precise moment.

With the storm coming in too.....on the heels of their wedding.

Just like ours had been.

And it occured to me, that weddings and marriages are like that.

You make a giant leap. You promise and hope for the best.

Harry and I truly remember driving to Little Falls, with marriage license in hand, flowers in the back seat and with future wedding rings in our pockets, looking at each other and jokingly saying:

"Well, I hope this works out!"

As we sat at Beardsley Castle, with its stone foundation, sitting in our catbird seat,
overlooking the new couple getting married, we wished them all the best.

If we were to give them any advise we would say:

"Yes, there are storms coming in....and the power may go out from time to time....
but with a strong foundation, hope, love and friendship anything can be overcome.

Even sometimes with a whole haunted castle of fears, unfulfilled hopes, and life's certain disappointments.

But with a little luck.....

there will be a friend to hold your hand....

and

there will be a little fairy Magic and

CAKE. to share :).

Lifestyle changes....updates....

Well, my loverlies, my life has been through a LOT of changes this past year.
I made some commitments...I broke some...I renewed some :)

After the very successful "Bodice Challenge" of June and into July, I continued on with the advance teachings of a modified Atkins diet along with a couple of colleagues. I went to Rick McIntyre in Marcellus today to his practice of Natural Solutions and had a consultation with him.

I brought my documentation of dates/blood pressure readings/weight scale readings/pulse for the last 2 months.
I have lost 16 pounds since the Bodice Challenge the beginning of June! Of late though, the weight has plateaued and he said it's because muscle weighs more densely than fat, so things are changing over.

He did a bunch of metabolic testing on me with Kinesiology as the basis.

Overall, my diet is wonderful. Health is great. Very strong. Have some issues with hormones (well, duh) and also some yeast in digestive tract as well as a small low grade problem that is all making the liver work harder to do it's job. He prescribed a few natural remedies and I have started them.

There is also an issue with some scarring. Evidently, your body's meridians act much like your house's wiring.
Say you put a nail into the wall, and it pierces a wire. Obviously this wire goes somewhere and the disruption in the wire could cause a lot of havoc either with the electrical path or burn your house down in general.
So it is with injury and scarring. Sometimes, the scars that we bear have disrupted the meridian path and can lead to toxins building up in that area. Kinda like a burr on a sink drain. At first not much happens. But after awhile, a build up of dirt and crud finds it way to clinging on the burr and over the years this accumulates and then you have a clogged drain. So it is with scarring.

Who knew?

I have been given some Wheatgrass oil (Sesame Oil also works well) to rub into a couple of substantial scars that are evidently causing some health problems with overall absorption and metabolism.

I know it must sound like mumbo jumbo to you.  So does Chiropractory to some. No he didn't use leeches. :) (altho of all the medieval treatments....leeches ARE still used in standard medicine to this day.)

Even some vaccination spots have caused problems for people.

All I know, is that he pegged a couple of my problems without me mentioning my niggling fears or doubts about them.

I am on a clearer path. My mood swings and flying off the handle in the past have pretty much dissapated. Had a bit of a misunderstanding with someone yesterday and it really didn't bother me like it would've in the past. I just chalked it up to a learning process of personality styles.

I am still off sugar, white flour, pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, cookies, candy.

Very little fruit is being eaten right now except for cantalope (which is alkaline and easy to process).

The weirdest thing is that I am (and have been since a child) lactose intolerant.
 HOWERE....without the carbs in my diet I can enjoy eating dairy. (Altho I don't drink milk and haven't had a glass of cow's milk in about 30 years) I am eating cheese, yogurt and it's all good.

Am making smoothies in the morning of the following:
1 cup almond milk/1 cup plain yogurt/1 pk. stevia/1 scoop lemon-lime Super Green food
and it is oh so YUMMY!!
Very alkalizing and GOOD for you too! (the super green food also comes in berry and chocolate!)

Aiming to try to get my body chemistry from being "acidic" to "alkaline" which is where health lies they say.
(Most folks who get cancer or have bad health issues have an acidic body chemistry....)

Read this book if you get a chance "Crazy Sexy Diet" and "Crazy Sexy cancer". (The woman who wrote those had inoperable cancer and by changing her diet to an alkaline one has gotten rid of her cancer without surgery, chemo or radiation!!)

I must tell you, upfront,  that I have no indigestion, no gas, no acid reflux, I'm sleeping better and my skin looks amazing. I'm not starving either.

Blood pressure is at a wonderful level.

So all in all....

A goodly update and I am happy with all the progress. He said to keep up the eating habits (proteins and veggies a little fruit) and once some of the detox is done and the scarring issues and yeast in intestines is gone, more weight should come off easily.

And BONUS

I can still have a few drinks a week and it's not gonna hurt anything.

HUZZAH!

Now......to get Harry on the same path. :)

Well.....Rome wasn't built in a day.....

baby steps, lovies....baby steps.

Good health to you all!
Slainte!!

Renaissance Man/Fantasy Weekend

Harry & I love to play with the themes for the faires and also with the themes for our Open Mics.
It makes it all a bit more clever, creative and fun to do so.
You can stretch your imagination that way.

One of our open mic players in the past, was Tony Famiglietti. He is a "crooner" and does a lot of Frank Sinatra type songs. Well, one Christmas we ran a theme of "Holiday Music" (obviously) but Tony didn't know many of those types of songs. So he chatted for about 5 minutes about Santa and Rudolf with it ending with a segue to what he thought Santa would tell Rudolf which was his intro for his song...
"Fly me to the Moon" :)

It was a brilliant link.

Well, I have to say that I was kind of let down that the Ren faire featured "Renaissance Man" for this last weekend.
I mean, really.....at a renaissance faire?
We have to feature "Renaissance Man?"

First... and foremost...it "disses" 1/2 the population of the sexes.

Secondly....(Aside from Henry the VIII songs)....what are you to do for that?

Well, the Wench Guild reacted in a big way to that very same lame theme and decided to retaliate as only wenches can.

With FANTASY.

(I mean, don't YOU love Fantasy Wenches? :)

They "hijacked" the Renaissance Man theme back to "Fantasy Weekend" as it was before....
and they decorated themselves for REN REVELRY of the highest form ....
as is the wont and love of pleasure seekers of BOTH sexes.

We encouraged them thusly!

Here is a TRUE Renaissance Man Fantasy!
The Queen's Knickers! :)
(a VERY RARE pic! :)
BEAUTIFUL!

And wenches showing their bloomers!
SCANDALOUS!


And let's not leave out the ROGUES!

We sang to a sheep :)
There was an Elegant Fowl....
                                                                
There was a Kitty :)
But when they were together......
Merlyn recited "The Owl & The Pussycat" for a fetching Owl and Pussycat :)

There were many fantastical creatures!
A sheephead :)

A flower fairy :)
Lenny Burrows, the Master of Revels...
proved he were a real man...a Renaissance Man for the Queen and did strut his stuff!
(pay special attention to Her Majesty and her ladies in waiting in the background :)

(and as always....a few other oddities as well.)

Good god. 3 Muskateers in WODE.
 Would that make them "The 3 Wode-ske-teers?" :)
(someone should have a chat with them about mixing metaphors..... as well as time frames and cultures....)

Robin Hood Wenches with decadent short dresses.....
(BTW~ this is considered "Ren Porn"....
Note the uncovered ankles, calves, KNEES...THIGHS....eeeekkk!!  :)
And well, Merlyn got sick on Sunday.

Mostly sick of the dense air of misogynistic thumb ruling of the silly, silly "Renaissance Man" weekend.

So....

If you can't beat 'em....

Join 'em. :)

So...........

Merlyn left.

A quickly found stand in was found as her replacement.

Her daughter, Jesse's "imitation dad" (or her "Faux PA" as it were) came to the rescue.
The child deserves a medal to have parents thus..... :)
He were quickly loved up and the fans dubbed the duo "Harry & Harry-er"

Oh, aye, "Harry-er" got his share o' jabs.
(Mostly about his beard looking "cat-like" or "lion-like")

"They were merely jealous" Harry-er thought, and he sang "When I were King o' the Forest!" to appease the crowds)

He also got his goodly share o' offers for dates :)

And he LOVED it right well.

Who wouldn't???

From females mostly....

Altho' there were a couple from curious males as well.  :)

All in all, it were a wondrous FANTASY Renaissance Man weekend in the end.

The heavens did NOT piss down on us as expected and predicted.

BONUS!!

Harry was an exceedingly good sport for performing with a fledgling sub and training a new musician as Merlyn's stand in.

Merlyn was a good sport for sharing her spotlight with someone so furry and odd....
and she even exercised HER fantasy need to strut manly wiles in her stead.....

"Harry-er" proved that he were "Renaissance Man" enuf....
and had balls enough....
to take the jabs and the ensuing come-ons and kisses.

Altho the skill and talent o' writing his name in the snow has not materialized as Merlyn had hoped  :)
 

Highland Fling Weekend Story from Sterling Renaissance Festival!

This last weekend was "Highland Fling" at the Sterling Renaissance Festival and it was indeed a Celtic joy to be had.



We got the nod to do the opening piece of music on Saturday and we performed "Mist Covered Mountains" and we both enjoyed the weekend of Celtic music, ballads, pipers!!

We walked around with a bit of fun with our Celtic weekend "Mascot"....
a stuffed sheep named "Clover"!


I protected her from Scotsmen all weekend long.

Clover was very good.

So quiet and not "b-a-a-a-a-a-d" at all.

Our "Garbaholics Anonymous Meeting and Fashion Show" at our last set of the day (4:30 Falstaff Pub) was  a lot of fun and a real "hootman!!"

We featured "Tartans" and I was even able to demonstrate (with help from Limerick and a willing Yolanda) how to do a proper "kilt check". :)

There was also a NAKED Garbaholic Phil.....

and Will the Scotsman on a savage mission against the English.....
Complete with a dangerous looking stabbing shield...

The weather turned out to be just fine and we were blessed to NOT have the storms that blew all around us. We got a few sprinkles....just enough to make it a "nice soft day" as the Highlanders say.

I just asked Harry "what was your best moment at faire this weekend?"

He replied, "Sneaking a kiss from you backstage" :)

Well, that's sweet. :)

Mine?

Hmmmmmm......that was very nice....but  I'd say that sitting on the Lemming Run playing tunes to folks that passed by was wonderful....

OR
when my daughter Jesse jumped in the parade with me (cuz she was going in the same direction :) and I told her to do her "princess wave" for everyone....

OR
having fiddlers and singers jump into a song here or there.....
OR
Having Rick Figgins "Sing" (Sign) with us to a couple of our songs....

Click this to hear/see us "Wild Mountain Thyme" with Rick signing!

OR
FREE ales and swigs of flasks as gifts  ....(hey, I'm a SCOT :)

All in all, a very fine weekend!

Here's a pic or two ye might fancy :)

Weaving the woolens....

 Beautiful lassies
 A kilted kiss :)
A pic of me w/ a Live "Heeland Coo" (Scottish for "Highland Cow" :)
Hurry! Only 2 more weekends left!

Hope to see YOU! :)

Slainte!!

Storybook Club gets in touch with their "Inner Wolf"

It was a beautiful Lughnasadh night when we let out our inner lupine.

Storybook Club members met up at fanciful Squirrel Haven just as the sun was setting, the nighttime frogs started their chirping and the bats in the woods started to fly.

Nick, Keith, Phil, Christine, Michael, Val and the Ditchwitch all gathered at Merlyn's table and all brought something wicked or wickedly delightful to share!

Nick brought a pistol, silver bullets and a silver medallion for the table to keep us protected.
Keith brought Pastabilities bread with a saucy spicy bloody sauce to dip (it was to die for :)
Phil and Christine brought "Wolf Claws" (jalapeno poppers with a "bite")
Ditchwitch brought Wolfs bane, Mistletoe and veggies to sustain us.
Michael brought "Blue Moon" ale :)
Val brought a wicked chocolate cake with a jelly oozy drizzle...
Merlyn added her Meat stir fry, cheese, Bloody Mary's and a table to put it on, filled with silver, pistols, silver swords, moons, wolves and dogs...and even a sheep (for bait :)


Did we HOWL?

You BET we did!

Such fanciful stories of legend and fantasy! Tales of fact and fiction were brought by all. Keith told us a wickedly good story being the amazing storyteller that he is! Stories from history and legend were told, as well as personal stories of coy dogs, and guardian wolves in our own lives.

Magic mushrooms aside, hallucinations were blamed on many of the fanciful stories as well as societal restrictions and repressions.

Analogies and speculations of great thoughts about Freud, sexual repression, wild abandon and getting in touch with our "wild side" were all on the table of discussion.

Domestication of the human as well as wild animal passions were all sniffed at, pissed on, and licked up with great satisfaction! Shaman guidance was also discussed as we honored the Wolf instead of despised it.

The food, as ALWAYS, was amazing, and the friendships are growing into a really magickal monthly swaree' of fantasy delight!

Nick brought the movie "The Wolfman" for us to peek at and we ended the evening with the watching of "Company of Wolves" as a group. Mystery Science Theatre would've been proud of our captions :)

Here is a story for you................

A Cherokee Legend

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.
"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,

"Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."



A wise tale, 'tis true.

But we at Storybook also will tell you, after much fun and discussion, to not be afraid of your dark or wild side. It is there for a reason. To protect us, to thrill us, to get the exhilaration of running with the pack.
Society would tell you to "always be nice", "don't rock the boat", "be sweet". Those ARE good things for society. But the wolf also tells us to be ourselves, to say no if we don't like a thing, to feed on what we need to, to enjoy the warmth of a group. Wolves are much like humans with their need for comfort and community.
There is a "pecking order" to both groups, "alpha males & females", and there have been human babes raised by wolves to prove it.

Werewolves then are the joining of these two ideas....if possible.

So get in touch with YOUR inner WOLF. :)



Where did this Storybook take us?

What shall we learn about Next Month?

FRANKENSTEIN.....of course!