For about three years now, my partner Doug has been hankering after Mister Softee, a soft-serve ice cream truck that he fondly remembers from his childhood. Mister Softee of Central Illinois has a Facebook page so you can find the truck. Today they were parked all day at the Warrensburg Corn Festival. So we went, and drove an hour to get ice cream ... and it was the best street fair we've been to. Tiny little thing -- no more than 5-6 vendors, maybe 6-8 food and beverage places, a midway with a handful of rides, and miscellaneous entertainment. But I give them 10 out of 10 points. Let me explain why...

( Read more...Collapse )

Tags: community, event, event report, family skills, food, holiday, illinois, life lessons, personal, review
Current Mood: happy

Yesterday we visited Urbana's Market at the Square followed by Common Ground food co-op in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. You may have seen my dessert recipe "Strawberry Fog" which was inspired by this shopping trip.  The farmer's market has a Facebook page with updates so that you can see what is currently in season.  (Common Ground is also on FB.)  I'm finding this very convenient for planning ahead! 

This year the market is offering a new service: you can buy tokens with a credit/debit card, or with the LINK card for food assistance.  (There are two different types of tokens to distinguish these.)  All vendors take one or both types of token, depending on what they sell, which makes it much easier to shop there.  There is also a "Sprouts at the Market" program for children ages 3-8 that teaches about food, cooking, farming, and related topics.  If you live in the Champaign-Urbana area, please help spread the word to interested people.

( Walk with me...Collapse )

Tags: activism, event report, food, illinois, networking, shopping
Current Mood: busy

Today Doug and I went to the Broomcorn Festival in Arcola, Illinois. They have about six blocks of street closed off for food vendors and other merchants. There's a small midway with rides on a perpendicular street at one end, and some of the side streets have additional attractions.

The biggest tent, down one of the side streets, has the broom-making demonstrations and brooms for sale at bargain prices. These are real broomcorn brooms with solid wooden handles, plain or fancy. Some of the brooms have straw that's dyed red, green, blue, purple, or some combination. A few of the rainbow brooms are partially trimmed, with broomseed still in the inner straws -- those would be ideal as handfasting besoms, if anyone is shopping for such. The demonstrations are also fun to watch.

I scored some terrific bargains shopping for other things, too. One is an embroidered t-shirt with a forest scene and cardinals on it; those are going for $5.99, and embroidered shirts usually start at $20. There are also a couple of different booths selling stones and jewelry suitable for magical/spiritual uses. One has mostly jade pendants and some fiber-optic glass. The other, Earth and Beyond, has assorted rocks, fossils, jewelry, and other goodies. Sadly I didn't have enough to pick up one of the Flexi-8 hair barrettes, but I'll be watching for that booth at future festivals.

Most of the food is standard fair food. However, there's a booth selling blackberry shakeups. That's well worth a stop. So is the one selling apple dumplings topped with vanilla ice cream. Last time I had one that good was at the Apple Dumpling restaurant!

The weather was lovely today -- cool and partly cloudy. I managed to walk around the whole event without getting overheated or exhausted. I am well pleased.

If you like street fairs, this is a good one. You can still catch it on Sunday.

Tags: event report, illinois
Current Mood: satisfied

Today we went to the Arthur Cheese Festival, which also runs Sunday and Monday.

We watched a performance of the Joey Kelly Circus, a little family circus with a big history. (Joey Kelly is the grandson of one of the most famous clowns in the world, Emmett Kelly.) It featured Joey the Clown, Lindy the ringleader, Nathan the juggler (quite good already, and he's only 12), and Bethany the acrobat (on both aerial silks and trapeze).

The festival had a good selection of vendors -- better than recent years, actually. I bought several yards of fabric (variously $1 and $.50 per yard, wow) and a hurricane lamp candleholder, plus a packet of "Habanero Hot" dip mix for Doug. The latter booth had a wide selection of different-flavored dips available for sampling. We also admired the contents of a blacksmith's booth; good prices on the decorative ironwork, just a bit out of current budget range. Plus we ate lunch and bought a funnel cake for dessert.

Central Illinois folks who don't have anything to do this weekend, consider dropping by the Cheese Festival. It's fun.

Tags: event report, illinois
Current Mood: happy

For the second part of my event report about the Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire, I'll be covering the entertainers, local color, and other tidbits. This section contains many photographs of faire attractions. There is one weekend left in this season, June 7-8, so if you haven't visited the faire yet there is still time. Also most of the merchants and entertainers can be found at other faires and festivals throughout the summer; look on people's websites because many of them list their upcoming appearances.

( Come see the shows!Collapse )

Tags: event report, music, renaissance faires
Current Mood: busy

This year, my partner and I went to the Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire with several friends. There were some general challenges, beginning with budget issues and the weather, compounded by faire management. The main perks were some excellent shopping discoveries, and getting to see friends we don't see very often.

I'll post the faire report in sections, beginning with an overview and the merchants. There are photos under the cut.

( Read on!Collapse )

Tags: event report, renaissance faires, shopping
Current Mood: busy

We had a wonderful Yule celebration today. There were a total of 14 people here. Our version of "The Chocolate Ritual" was a big hit, with much mirth and reverence for the yummy things in life.

The Yule Feast included:

Venison stew with chocolate sauce
Brown-sugar carrots
Green beans with almonds
Sushi
Salad
Lamb & rice
Bread and spreads
Chocolate covered gummie bears
Fudge
Pumpkin gingerbread trifle
Wassail
Peppermint tea
Eggnog

We are blessed with many gifted and enthusiastic cooks. Not counting the venison stew (which I helped make, so I can't fairly vote on, but everybody loved it) I think the pumpkin gingerbread trifle was the best.

The gift exchange was lots of fun, with much SQUEE! and WHOO! and other goodness. Several folks gave magical gifts, and lots of handmade stuff.

We sang holiday carols. We have several talented singers in the community now, so that's getting more effective as an activity. The evening wound down with socializing and casual chatter before people had to head home. Most of them have other obligations tonight or tomorrow.

On the whole, I am well pleased. This has been a good season on the holiday front.

Tags: event report, food, holiday, paganism
Current Mood: pleased

On Saturday, Doug and I went to a rock and gem show in Peoria. It was a lot of fun to walk around and look at all the tables. There were displays of fossils and remarkable stones, as well as stuff to buy. There was a geode-cracking demonstration and a guy doing lampworked dichroic glass. The vendors included:

PV's Rocks -- PV'sRocks@aol.com
Gary L. Peavy sells mainly minerals and fossils, including some very interesting spheres that had geode inclusions on one side. I bought some tumbled stones here to keep for when people need them. (I give away a fair number of stones.) I made sure to get a couple of good rose quartz chunks; that's a favorite all-purpose stone for emotional first-aid.

WindStones Art
Kathy Travis makes dichroic glass jewelry.

Carved Opal and Obsidian -- opalandobsidian@yahoo.com
Larry and Pamela Castle carry "lapidary, folk art, jewelry, and the unexpected." They had an especially splendid selection of carved stone beads at good prices, of which I bought several for magical and ornamental purposes. They also had a lot of rainbow obsidian carved in ways that display its different colors ... a fascinating application of chatoyancy through clever carving. The piece I bought casts a five-pointed star.

Rock's Rocks
He buys and sells fossils and minerals. There were some nice bead necklaces and pendants there.

Nature's Drift -- naturesdrift@insightbb.com
Dave & Georgia Hoggatt carry rock and mineral speciments, and Brazilian products. They had some nice stone windchimes and boxes. The prices weren't totally unreasonable, but above what I'm willing to spend at a rock show. In that context I'm seriously in bargain-hunter mode, unless caught by something truly spectacular. One reason I love rock shows is because they always contain some bargains, if the show is even good enough to bother attending in the first place.

Bill List
He sells a rustic assortment of antler lamps and hooks, powder horns, stone and steel knives. I was particularly intrigued by the knives, variously made of knapped obsidian and manmade glass with antler hilts. Still haven't found one I want to take home, but I think I'm looking for a knapped athame. I keep getting caught by "almosts."

After we finished shopping at the rock show, we went to Mother Nature's Emporium. This is a small New Age shop in Peoria, whose owner we met recently. She invited us to drop by since she knew we'd be in town. The shop carries a lot of magical spices and oils, plus some other altar tools and supplies for New Age, Native American, Pagan, and other traditions. It's worth a stop if you're in the area.

Tags: event report, illinois, magic
Current Mood: tired

I heard back from the folks at Borders who helped me arrange the author event for Composing Magic this past weekend. The store sold 7 copies of the book, so on average, about one copy per two attendees. Since several people had previously purchased copies, that's pretty good!

Tags: composing magic, event report, paganism
Current Mood: pleased

The author event at Borders tonight was a success! We had 14 attendees for the workshop and signing. Several people bought copies of Composing Magic and other things I've written. After the introductory lecture on ritual poetry, we broke the group into small teams for the composition. One team wrote a ballad, one team wrote an acrostic poem, and one team wrote a list poem.

There was also one "extra" poem, which seems to be a pattern with my poetry workshops. I figure if I'm inspiring enough that people start writing while I'm still warming up the presentation, I must be doing something right. Phoenix graciously granted permission to print this acrostic poem here:




Everyone arrived, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed
Entirely unsuspecting we sat, listening all as one
Pernicious poetry waited in ambush for us one and all


On the whole, I'm very pleased with how this event went. Everyone seemed to have a good time. It's wonderful that so many people came; I'm very appreciative of that. I'm also grateful to the staff at Borders for providing the space and plenty of promotional support. The store did some good business. (I learned that often, a store doesn't sell any copies of an author's book at a signing, so it may only take a few sales to qualify as a success. So if you go to a friend's event in a bookstore, buy something: people notice.) I'm hoping to do another event there next year, when the Pagan Fiction Award anthology comes out.

Tags: composing magic, event report, paganism, poetry, writing
Current Mood: accomplished

My third panel at Archon/NASFiC covered writing science-fiction lyrics. (Most of my ballad poetry, and some other forms, could be sung.) Here is the recommended resource list, which includes books and music and other goodies. Please feel free to pipe up with your own suggestions.

( Read the handout.Collapse )

Tags: event report, fantasy, music, science fiction, writing
Current Mood: busy

We often catch a filk concert while at a convention. This time we attended several, and bought some albums too.

The first was the "Bardic Concert, Part II" on Friday afternoon at 5 PM. It featured Blind Lemming Chiffon, Mary Crowell, and Tom Smith. Blind Lemming Chiffon has a filky, fannish, style that's strongest on nostalgic songs that rely on emotional impact; he plays guitar. Mary Crowell has an amazingly sultry voice, perfect for "bad girl" songs. I was particularly charmed by the one about growing up to be Jessica Rabbit. She plays keyboard with a blues/jazz flavor. It wasn't until we got home that Doug figured out that Mary belongs to the Pagan band Three Weird Sisters, whose music I've enjoyed in the past. We wound up buying her new CD Courting My Muse and you can find a copy of your own here. Tom Smith is a favorite performer, and the one we actually went to the concert for. He sings very wacky humor and satire, and plays guitar. We bought one of his new iTom albums, iTom 1.0: And So It Begins -- the one with "Hey, It's Can(n)on" (aka "Hermione Granger, the Pirate Queen") on it. He's also on LiveJournal as filkertom.

The second was "Wild Mercy" on Friday night at 9 PM. Wild Mercy consists of Barry (bass, guitars, Roland GR-33 guitar synth, vocals), Debbie (keyboards, percussion, vocals, occasional guitar), Jennifer (harp, vocals, bass guitar, psaltery), and Sally (drums). I was most enchanted by Jennifer, of course, being a big fan of harps and harpers, and she has a marvelous slinky voice. But I also enjoyed the complex counterpoint the band vocalists wove together in some of the songs. The music has kind of a Celtic/jazz flavor, very eclectic. Alas! My favorite songs from their performance were all unavailable, being either a) covers of somebody else's songs, or b) on the list for the CD that's currently in production. I am waiting not-very-patiently for that so I can hear "A Star for the County Down" again, one of their lightship songs. I like song cycles too, that relate to people and events in the same setting over time. But Doug was sufficiently charmed by the band to bring home one of their current albums, Summer Storm.

The third concert was "The Great Luke Ski" at 10 PM on Friday night. The Great Luke Ski is a hilarious visual comedian as well as a talented filk singer. He performed a few new pieces ("I Love You, TiVo" is among the most nakedly honest things I've ever heard a man sing) and some old favorites such as "It's a Fanboy Christmas" and "88 Lines About 44 Simpsons." He has a new album out, BACONspiracy, but our budget was already stretched so we'll have to get that one later.

Then we went to see the "Tom Smith" solo concert on Saturday at 1 PM. By that point, I was tired and my body was protesting the amount of time I'd spent sitting near-motionless in crummy hotel chairs. But Tom was still funny, and I was pleased to learn that he is now happily self-employed as a full-time filker. Feed the Bards, buy an album.

Finally, there was this extra bit of music: at one point I walked into the Dealer's Room to hear ... murmuring bagpipes? Yes, indeed. Maria Murda was playing a set of "parlor pipes" which are designed for indoor use. The sound is much mellower and more sonorous than ordinary bagpipes, sounding rather like a fistful of melancholy oboes. I like all kinds of pipes, including this one which is new to me.

Tags: event report, fantasy, music, science fiction
Current Mood: busy

Archon/NASFiC fielded a terrific Dealer's Room this year, plus more stuff (mostly artists, authors, and musicians) spilling out into the hallways. Here are some of the folks we stopped to talk with, ogle their stuff, and in some cases buy from. I hope you enjoy the virtual tour.

( Go Shopping!Collapse )

Tags: event report, science fiction
Current Mood: busy

This is the recommended reading list that I handed out for my panel on religion and magic in speculative fiction. Please feel free to add your own thoughts and recommendations, or pick up the discussion.

( Read the handout.Collapse )

Tags: event report, fantasy, paganism, science fiction
Current Mood: busy

Here begins the Archon/NASFiC event report. Additional sections on other topics will follow as I have time. I sat on three panels myself, attended one other, and also attended a dance workshop. There were some schedule glitches, but for the most part, the programming was quite enjoyable.

( Programming ReportCollapse )

Tags: event report, fantasy, paganism, poetry, science fiction, writing
Current Mood: happy

One of the panels I presented at Archon/NASFiC this past weekend was about poetry in science fiction and fantasy. Here is the recommended reading list that I handed out to the audience. You folks are heartily encouraged to add your own recommendations or discuss the ones I've listed here. These aren't even all of my favorites -- I cut a lengthening list down to what would fit on the two sides of one page. Have fun!

( Read the handout.Collapse )

Tags: event report, poetry, science fiction, writing
Current Mood: busy

Doug and I are home safe from Archon/NASFiC. We are both exhausted. The weekend had its ups and downs. Highlights will be posted here as I have time over the next few days.

If you are someone I met at the con:

1) Hi! I'm delighted you stopped by. If you have a LiveJournal of your own, please leave me a comment and I'll try to take a peek at your LJ when I have time.

2) On LJ I seem to post most of my event reports in topical sections. If your topic ("dealer's room," "panels," etc.) isn't up yet, check back the next day or so. If the topic is up and you're not in it -- but you have my card and I said I'd list you -- then probably my copy of your info got eaten by gremlins. Please remind me and I'll add you.

If you are someone else I frequently communicate with and/or owe work to:

1) I'm swamped and exhausted.

2) Work will be turned in on time, but maybe not early this month. Social stuff is getting crammed in whenever I have a free minute or so. If yours goes missing, it's not because I don't care, but because my poor overloaded brain is losing stuff that isn't marked "DUE 8/##/07."

Tags: event report, science fiction, writing
Current Mood: exhausted

This is the second half of my event report about the St. Louis Pagan Picnic on July 14-15. I'm also throwing in some fun tidbits from other shopping we did over the weekend.

( Let's Go ShoppingCollapse )

Tags: event report, food, networking, paganism
Current Mood: happy

We have arrived home safe from the St. Louis Pagan Picnic. It was a wonderful trip, full of surprises and satisfaction.

Special thanks to: Elbee for inviting me; Charlynn for making the event pleasant and effective; beckyzoole and bbwoof for providing sleep space on Friday night; and janetmiles for making an unexpected and altogether delightful appearance.

( Read Event ReportCollapse )

Tags: composing magic, event report, grey school of wizardry, paganism, poetry
Current Mood: accomplished

Today my family and I went to Arts in the Park in Danville, Illinois. It will be continuing tomorrow, June 24. We had funnel cakes and strawberry shake-ups, and roamed around the merchant booths. There were many different kinds of artists, most of them quite skilled. (The musical entertainment ranged from decent to ... valiant attempts.) Some of our favorites included...

Rula Glass
Fused, lampworked, and stained glass by Julie Leonhardt. I liked her wire-wrapped dichroic glass jewelry.

Coon Hollow Studio -- artrn@mindless.com
Pen & ink, watercolor, and acrylic paintings of old houses, barns, outhouses, and other buildings. Artist Larry Miller paints with exquisite precision, vivid color, and intense passion. His slogan is "Remembering the Vanishing American Scene" and it's right on the mark. If you love Midwest imagery, look him up. We bought an outhouse picture for my uncle.

Art by Kristen -- ksw_art@sbcglobal.net
Kristen Wolfinbarger is a photographer and digital artist. She does lovely nature photos, fractal art, electronic abstracts, and other imagery. It's uncommon to see an artist with such a diversity of style and media; most have a narrower focus. We bought a lovely green-and-blue e-art print for our living room.

Watercolor by Karl Feng
He paints Chinese-American art. That is, delicate paintings in oriental style ... but some of the pictures have cardinals, Canada geese, and other American wildlife in addition to the traditional panda bears, dragons, peonies, and cherry blossoms. I love the melting pot when it works. Cultural mix can do wonderful things in the right hands. Karl Feng has the right hands.

Sherry Hatt Artistic Stonework
She makes beautiful little birdhouses, birdbaths, candleholders, and other items that are entirely covered with pebbles in interesting patterns. Out of my price range, but fun to look at.

Mike Harper, Artist -- kosmiksuperfly@insightbb.com
Oil paintings, murals, graphic design, and custom art. I had fun looking at his oil paintings, which revealed a lot of different influences -- psychedelic art, grotesques, Mexican death art, rock album covers, and horror movies were all apparent. I was particularly impressed by the brilliantly colored sea diver and the portrait of Frankenstein. This guy probably doesn't get as much appreciation as he deserves. Go look, he's worth the trip.

Maplewoods Pottery
Liz and Rich Dellinger make ceramic bowls, platters, birdbaths, and other items. Each is inspired by objects found in nature, mostly maple leaves but also oak leaves and acorns, other leaves, owls, turtles, and so forth. My parents bought me a gorgeous birdbath in blue ceramic with maple leaves and a turtle in it. This has a socket on the bottom that fits over a long copper pipe which can be stuck in the ground. I've been wanting a birdbath for several years, but all I could find were two-piece ceramic or concrete ones. Given all the critters around here, that'd last five minutes before something knocked the bowl off the pedestal. The bowl-socket-pipe arrangement has been woodland-tested, I am assured, and certainly seems more secure. I am pleased.

Bill & Shirley McCaffrey -- BrassBilly@aol.com
Contemporary art in metal; sculpture and jewelry. They make lovely metal wall art of turtles, dragonflies, and tree branches complete with little leaves. They also do some lovely earrings and solid torc-like necklaces.

There were about 50 vendors present, and we managed at least a quick sweep of most of them. Then it started raining, so we snarfed down a funnel cake and headed home. I am very glad for the rain; we need the rain. I'll be just as glad if it rains on the Midsummer ritual I'm hosting tomorrow ... I wrote it as a sun ritual, oh well, I can rewrite it as a rain ritual if the context calls for that.

Tags: art, event report
Current Mood: happy