This is my 8th Pennsic - not an old vet, but been to a few - and this was the best one so far. There were just so many wonderful things.
The weather was grand ... not blazingly hot like normal, only rained a couple times after I got there (once was in the middle of the night, after we'd gone to bed, so no harm, no foul). The combination of the cooler weather and the fact that I seem to have finally learned the art of moderation in drinking at Pennsic enabled me to get out and about a lot more than many past Pennsics - I was waking up at a decent hour, feeling good, and the heat didn't wreck me by noon.
Robin and I spent more time together than we have at any Pennsic yet, which made it especially great.
We had a bunch of new people with us, and they were all awesome. We had two wonderful musicians new to our camp this year. They are part of a group known as Circa Paleo who are currently playing the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. These two were not only phenomenal musicians, but just fantastic people that it was great fun to camp with.
We did a very minimalist trip this year, and it worked out so great. I didn't even start packing till like the day before I was to go, and had little to deal with there or pack up to bring home. It was so liberating. Of course, that plan needs a little tweaking ... because I also showed up with no rum (someone made a town run, fortunately), and not enough food. But I managed, survived, thrived even. As long as I make sure to get more of the essentials next year, I think this minimalist plan is going to serve us well.
It's hard to put into words what all went into making this such a great Pennsic. Those are some of the things, but it's like, the total awesomeness was more than the sum of it's parts. Just really grand.
On to some pictures!
A lot of people with disabilities still like to enjoy Pennsic by way of one of those powered chairs. But I say, if you're going to do it, play the game!
And how do people who are using scooters know where to park them?
One of the things that is so cool about Pennsic is all the neat stuff to see, just walking around. Some people put a lot of work into making it all look great - nice sheet walls, gates, period pavilions for those who can afford them (one of these days!). Here are a few of the ones I liked.
Of course, sometimes it's just funny.
Some other fun shots.
The Shire of Hornwood in their 'shire colors' socks Lady Hannah bought for everyone, as a fun little thing to do on our last night there. She got us (Sea Chameleon) socks too - mine in my colors, purple and green. (for some reason I seem to have lost the picture of our crew in our socks ... bummer).
Hanging out in our camp.
Shepherd, Eve, Hannah, Archibald, and Elsbeth getting ready to attend Aethelmearc Court.
But all good things must come to an end ...
... and it's kind of rough this year. My first few Pennsics, I missed it so much when I came home, I would get serious post-Pennsic depressions and do weird things like continue to use my mug and feast gear for all my meals for weeks afterwards. Then I went through a few years where almost every year when I left, I swore I wasn't going back the following year (though I always did). This one was so great, I'm feeling pretty sad about it being over. The week went so fast ... I don't think I'll resort to using my feast gear all the time, but I do miss it. That's great motivation, though, to start working on all those Pennsic camp projects always percolating in my head, that I have such a hard time getting motivated to do.
I said it's hard to put into words what was so great about it, but I think there are two more things that helped a lot. First, with my getting to go at all being so up in the air, I felt really grateful to even be there, instead of taking it for granted. And second, I'm finally learning not to go to Pennsic with a bunch of expectations, because that always sets you up for disappointment. This year it was more along the lines of just being glad to be there, and accepting whatever happened as just part of the whole experience. My token phrase was that I planned to be all 'bohemian' this year, taking nothing extraneous, taking it moment by moment, and making sure that whatever I was doing was something I wanted to be doing. It sure seemed to work out well.
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