jakebe | Reading

I must once more beg off writing up the European Vacation in order to tend other matters of great importance. Please enjoy more pictures from the Fairy Ball, though.

We poked back around the woodland trail in full darkness.

Here's the sort of path we were following by night.

And here we emerged onto the Court of the Fae, illuminated only by the overhead lights.

The Moon Grove looks even more remote in portrait mode.

They had something or other going nearly all the time, with the drawback being you couldn't avoid missing a lot of stuff.

Fairy lights in the darkness doing a very good job of being the trail.

Moon Grove as the wedding dancing was going on and, you can see, they were bringing out the light sabers!

Meanwhile here's a woman demonstrating fire dancing moves.

That's an exciting event!

Swinging the flames around some.

Yes, there's fire-swallowing.

And some dancing with the fire.

Trivia: Two of the final projects of Terry Toons were Saturday morning cartoon pilots: The Ruby Eye of the Monkey God, a jungle-adventure cartoon, and Sally Sargent, about a 16-year-old secret agent girl. Source: Terry Toons: The Story of Paul Terry and his Classic Cartoon Factory, W Gerald Hamonic.

Currently Reading: Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator, Keith Houston.

austin_dern

My days continue to be too busy with matters not yet fit to be shared, so please enjoy Fairy Ball pictures while I hope this situation soon changes.

They started taking volunteers for a Lion Dance and bunnyhugger joined the first and, it turned out, only group to perform.

Folks gathered around, getting their parts and getting instructions on what to do.

As an old marching band hand bunnyhugger was well-equipped to march correctly, unlike other people.

Here, someone makes off with a set of speakers while everyone else watches the dragon.

Frame from the middle of my movie of the dragon dancing.

And here we're near the end, the dragon's final bow.

Another sword-fighting demonstration, this time by night so everything looks blurry.

Alternatively, everyone looks really, really fast!

The end of the demonstration. Seconds gather up the participants.

And into the night and the wedding reception.

One of the communal art projects was painting these fairy mushroom scenes on the right.

Here's one of the completed boards.

Trivia: In the last year of Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz's life (1873) he ran a summer school for natural history, at the seashore on Penikese Island, off the southern shore of Massachusetts. Around 50 to 60 people attended. Source: Yankee Science in the Making, Dirk J Struik. (The island would in the 20th century house a leper hospital and, later, a residential school for troubled boys and is now a bird sanctuary.)

Currently Reading: Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator, Keith Houston.

austin_dern

My humor blog has been another week of Robert Benchley and some very slight other stuff. Also a joke based on a thing bunnyhugger has been facing. Want to read all about it? Here we go.

And now let me share a normal amount of pictures from the Fairy Ball last year.

Swordfighting at the Moon Grove! I don't know if this was merely a demonstration or if it was actually for some prize.

Much like a small convention they set up things like palm-reading booths and some vendor stations.

Some of the many signs made and not yet put up even as the event was under way.

This was a small circle very useful for navigating. The bike stand is on the right, with the Moon Grove below.

bunnyhugger examines the entry arch. Note the Christmas lights --- the fairy lights --- to line the path inside.

bunnyhugger composing an ode to the entryway.

Drum circle that was going on as we went to walk the path through the woods.

There's the drummers on the right; I can't tell what's going on in the background. Hidden behind the trees was a crepes truck, though.

And here's the walkway. Those probably aren't actual ghosts draped up in the woods.

This seems like an unproductive bridge until you remember it's probably a lot of fun to ride a bike over.

Following the fairy lights through the woods here.

And we came out the path near the Moon Grove where, it happens, the wedding ceremony was going on, with the exit right behind, like, everybody. So, we stayed back rather than intrude, and maybe appeared as blurry visions in the background of other people's pictures.

Trivia: Greenland ice core studies indicate that between atmospheric lead levels rose from 0.5 parts per trillion to 2 parts per trillion in the first century AD, reflecting Rome conquering Britain and mining the island's lead. Source: Molecules at an Exhibition: The Science of Everyday Life, John Emsley.

Currently Reading: Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator, Keith Houston.

austin_dern

I regret that certain matters not yet ready to be revealed have kept me from completing the next entry in the Plopsaland portion of our European Vacation report. I hope to get the needed time soon but, meanwhile, please enjoy a double dose of pictures from that Fairy Ball.

Greetings to the fairy court. They were having an actual wedding, as the original plan to have a play wedding grew beyond the original whimsical bounds.

And here the host explains the rules of things and I think also what the mysterious Court of the Fae mounds were. They were obstacles put up for a BMX racing track that these grounds had been.

And that's what the opening looked like, fairy court and honor guards and all.

They had a small horse, too! With everything moving faster than my camera wanted to photograph. Well, a unicorn.

Slightly better picture of the unicorn, who only hung around a couple hours before going back wherever young unicorns go.

Back at the Moon Grove, a kid does tae kwan do demonstrations.

Some more of her moves.

We went back to the car for something or other and this let me get some pictures of the signs and the ad hoc nature of parking; we were lucky to get there early enough there were normal-ish parking spots available.

Note the Enchanted Fae Wedding signs look different each time you look at them!

The proper entrance to the woods. I can't explain the free-standing sink beside it.

This stand, on a hill bove the Moon Grove, was the stand used to launch BMX bikes into the course.

You can almost picture riding a bicycle extremely into the Moon Grove, can't you?

Trivia: In 1923 the United States Navy announced plans to fly the airship Shenandoah to the North Pole. It was cancelled by President Calvin Coolidge, who judged the plan too dangerous. Source: When Giants Ruled The Sky: The Brief Reign and the Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship, John J Geoghegan.

Currently Reading: Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator, Keith Houston.

kevin_standlee

Current Mood: optimistic
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

Because I'm driving to Westercon instead of flying, I can be more expansive in my packing and don't have to fit everything into one (or at most two) bags. That's both good and bad. The good part is not having to work so hard packing. The bad part is carrying way too much stuff. But I guess it's sort of good practice for Worldcon. I sprung for first class for the flight to Seattle, so I get two checked bags, and based on what I've been packing for Westercon, I think I'll need it. Mind you, I won't be taking an extra Banker's Box of Westercon gear with me to Seattle, which will help.

Tomorrow's plan is for me to get away from Fernley as early as possible. I typically am up around 3 or 3:30 AM on Thursdays anyway, so if I can make an early start, I should be able to get to the hotel and get moved in fairly early. I'm I'm lucky, I won't get tangled up in any of the commute-time traffic, save possibly the morning Sacramento commute. Wish me luck!