I am one right tired bugger. It's been a busy day here in Tortugaland, what with all the running about and preparing for a new show. This weekend heralds the beginning of the'33rd Annual Minnesota Renaissance Festival', and we Tortugas have much to do.
I got in to the Minneapolis area yesterday after a quick jaunt and a stop in Dekalb, Illinois , visiting a lovely and intelligent friend, don'cha know. Ronn was here hours before me, and Jef and Sharon the day after. Sharon is very happy to be with her man again, and who can blame her? Our Jef is quite the wonderful 'hubby'.
I spent most of my first day here organizing my living space, finding a gym, running around doing errant errands, and playing catch up with some very dear friends. I still haven't gone shopping here. I'm trying to hold off from going to the Mall of America until Monday. Anne and Amy , Florida Tortuga friends, but more importantly best friends to Sharon - are coming for a short visit. The plan is to hit the Mall then where I'm sure much rabid shopping will occur. It is my intention to leave my credit card at home, but we-ll see how much shelf life that thought has.
I spent last week in the greater, wide north known as Canada - the Toronto area to be more specific. I planned my trip to fall on what they call Civic Holiday, which is basically what the government named it when they felt that their citizens needed another day off. Quite nice of them if you ask me - and another point for the Canadian team.
Since it was a Canadian holiday and not an American one, I was able to have a 'technical' weekend day off, and I promptly drove my vacationing butt to the 'Ontario Renaissance Festival' located right outside of Milton, Ontario. (That's in Canada for any of us 'Yanks' having trouble finding it on the map.) Actually, I arrived late on Sunday night, and I waltzed my way right into a party. The Irmisch's - of Tartan Terrors fame (more on that later) who were also playing my host family (what is the exchange rate for a road weary Rennie American?) - welcomed me warmly and quickly showed me first to 'my room' and then to my first beer of the party. I played the social butterfly for a while, but the miles and working weekend finally caught up with me, and I lay my weary head down to sleep on a comfy Canadian pillow.
The next day was spent at the Renaissance festival. It is quite an experience to see things from the front of the stages rather than the back. I walked around in normal clothing, drank beer at my leisure (Canadian beer, I was jokingly assured, was a lot stronger than our American "non-alcoholic" beers, so I had better be careful of my intake), and took in some of the shows. I ran into many of my Canadian friends, not to mention a few of the American ones who happened to be working up there at the time. It was a beautiful day, but Ontario is known for that. Their summers are composed of day after day of the most gorgeous and temperate weather. I couldn't have planned it any better.
I watched Zoltan the Adequate - k.2m.a. (known to me as) Andy Blau - perform some of his new "geek" magic tricks. Now, I am not a big fan of magicians and wizards - Harry Potter notwithstanding - but I really like Andy's patter and the Zoltan show as a whole. Consider this a thumbs-up recommendation. You can look up his website - he is also a Webmaster in his spare time as well as working for the Canadian government (oooh, isn't he just too cool?) , at:www.justadequate.com.
The Tartan Terrors are also high on my list of things that you should see. They have a mixture of music, song, and laughter that is nigh impossible to find anywhere today, let alone at a Renaissance festival. Okay, let me try to explain. First you put everyone on stage in kilts, and yes, I am afraid that some of them might have been "regimental". Then you throw in a few hot Scottish dancers (in much shorter kilts!), a couple of bagpipes along with various other instruments, and mix in some sheep jokes - complete with people in full sheep costumes, believe it or not - and there you have a Tartan Terrors show. See, simple, and now you know why this type of thing is hard to find anywhere else. Riverdance eat your heart out. You can check them out at: www.tartanterrors.com or for a better outsider's look: www.rambles.net/tartan_terrors.html.
The rest of my day went by too quickly, and I escaped that fun and frolic with only a slight sunburn on the back of my neck. It was just enough to impress my friends from North Carolina and Georgia for another day or two, but after that the bright red quickly faded to brown.
There is something to be said for taking a yearly trip to Canada, and Ontario specifically. A lot of people say that Canada is just 'America lite', that it is nothing more than a pale reflection of what we have down here. I disagree. To me it holds the flavor of Europe more strongly than that of its large neighbor to the south. It is also very 'cleansing' to spend time up there. There is a peacefulness and innocence that makes for a very healing vacation for the soul. Ronn calls it America in the 50's. I believe it is more than that, and yet I have a hard time putting my finger on what that more is. One day I would like to own property up there, a summerhouse, a destination for when I decide to 'go on holiday'. A vacation spot to gather my thoughts and catch my breath. Maybe even 'a place of beginning again'.
