s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

Because Tamara could not make it to Pennsic this year, Stephen and Judith pictures present- The Virtual Pennsic. Come shopping! Slog through the mud! Sit hot and tired in the shade! Its everything Pennsic could bring you, now in electroic form!

This year the temperatures have been moderate, in the 80′s mainly. But every afternoon has brought rain showers, heavy at times. This is starting to oversaturate the ground in places. Everyone still says they prefer a cooler wet Pennsic to blazing heat. If the rains continue for a few more days they may change their tune.

So, I was also here to pick up bows from Yumi. The first picture shows the new design for his horse bows. Fascinating how the design has evolved in 10 years from when I bought mine. The second picture shows some of the many other varieties of bows he has available. The most dangerous were the super-pretty horn and sinew bows. If not for the rather steep price tag I doubt I could have resisted. I will be going back today to get fitted for a tumb ring. Woo!

Part of virtual pennsic involves allowing Tamara to shop remotely. Here is a sample of some of the shopping images she is getting. The one merchant I have found so far with a nice selection of central asian jewlery.

And finally a bit of rest time back in the Locleven camp. The first shows Anne and little baby Marion. The other shows the tired but otherwise happy Stepehen.

More to come tomorrow!

So, here I am in lovely New Castle Pennsylvania, getting ready for my third day at Pennsic. It is interesting to note some of the changes in the 9 years since I was here last. Much larger, of course, with people camping everywhere. What were neighboring farmers fields are now crammed with tents and cars. In the more established camps there is a much higher level of infrastructure. Lots more period pavillions. Lots of yurts. Most of the larger camps have their own gas powered how water systems, using either a hot water tank or an in-line heater so they can have their own hot showers. Likewise the larger camps have big and highly rganized kitchen areas. Many more camps now have large and ornamental gateways.

Judith and I have been splitting our time between EK Royal where Anne and Karl live and Locleven. It was a bit odd to be sitting around the table last night Lucan and probably a bunch of other EK muckity-mucks. Being homeless at Pennsic does lead to a very different experience. We (Judith and I) dont have some central camp where we can just sit and chew the fat with our firends all day. We must search out entertainment, whch means I have explored more of Pennsic in the last 2 days than in any of the 3 previous visits.

We did drop by horde camp, only saw three people we recognized. Colamr (with a new lady and a spudlet), Irina (of bunny-clubbing fame) and Sip. The really amusing frightening thing is that both Colmar and Irina recognized me… with the line “Oh, yeah! The pants!” Be afraid. At least those wonderful pants are safely packed away in New Zealand, waiting to be unleashed on an unsuspecting nation.

I bough my new bow from Yumi. I also picked up the one Chris ordered, and to prevent too much envy I got one for Tam, too. Woo! Now when we get down to NZ we will have to buy a property with a range sufficient for very long range shooting. And maybe some horses, since we will all have horse bows. :)

By far the most exciting moment last night was getting back out of the site. The repeated rain storms had turned the parking lots into a muddy mess. I thought we would have no problem, as we could go down the hill we were parked on and out the bottom exit (which then connected to a better sand road). So we arrive at the parking lot around midnight, and find a minivan trapped in the mud at the bottom of our aisle. Yikes. I belive my words were “oh you have to be s**ting me!”. The only way out was up a 100 meter mud slicky. So we walked the course. The center was churned mud, no traction. But the cars were parked on basically intact grass. We determined that if we could edge along the car bumpers and stay on the grass we might have a chance. Judith took the wheel, and by god we made it. A harrowing moment. We were giddy afterwards, driving through the dense fog (follow that big rig… wait where did it go? Ahhhh! Ghost Truck!) we were more than a little giddy.

Tonight Anne, Juidth and I plan to get dressed up and hunt for dancing parties. Woo!