Red-Handed Jill

^ When I'm doing genuine historic reenactment, I go as a man, so no makeup. < I've got both tricorns (fantasy pirate) and toques (historic buccaneer.) V Pass the question.

This is why I'm glad the black powder rendezvous I go to are on private land!

Wow Patt - that's amazing!

We're not meant to make it easy for you. We'd be no help at all if we just told you what you thought you wanted to hear. Right now, the way you feel makes moving on and concentrating on your marriage and family the difficult thing to do. In the short term I'm sure it is. I think it's a safe bet that breaking your wife's heart, destroying her trust in you and perhaps splitting up your family might be tougher in the long run... There's another thread around here somewhere that brings this up - getting over things. It takes as long as it takes, but if you keep hanging on to the past, you're never going to be free of it. I really didn't mean to keep beating the proverbial dead horse and all but I have been in your wife's position and it's not a place I'd want to revisit ever again in my lifetime. And Haunting Lily didn't appear to enjoy her stay there, either. I've also had my own blast from the past, acted on it and it was a BIG mistake (and I didn't even have a significant other to hurt.) It's human nature to idealise things - the reality is never what you think it was.

Aye - it was pretty eerie to see one of our own as a critter... BTW, it won second place in the contest.

AMEN to that, LongTom. Whether or not you ever see this woman in person, you still have a connection with her that is interfering with your marriage and family life. You can continue on and keep your heart divided, but it's a good bet that your wife will discover this and it will hurt her. Are you willing to risk that for a fantasy? I've seen friends go through the same situation and the ones who didn't move on and concentrate on their current relationship ended up regretting it in a big way. These folks all wanted validation that what they were doing was okay and by some miracle would work out well, but it never worked out. Let's put the shoe on the other foot. What if your wife was still pining after one of her old flames, got back in touch with him and, although she knew in her heart it was a bad idea, stayed in touch with him, even though it was taking her emotionally away from you? Seriously, how would you feel?

I was in a somewhat similar situation, but not in your role. Years ago, I was involved with a guy who re-connected with his old flame after many years. He said that they were now friends; she was now engaged to someone else and he had been talking marriage with me. Well, their friendship led to a long visit by her where, shall we say, she did not stay in the guest bedroom. Needless to say, I left him. I realise that I had less to lose than you and your wife, but if your feelings are as you say, the outcome could be similar to mine. Are you willing to risk that? Time does weird things to memories. I'm of the opinion that LongTom has the right idea about this.

Northern California and Southern California have very different climates. Up here, we're in a temperate zone. Southern California is a sub-tropical desert. Generally speaking, we start seeing sporadic rain around this time, unless it is a drought year. In Spring, though, it's all about the fog and rain.

Check these out - their latest contest. Worth 1000 pirate critter contest One of the entries looks kinda familiar...

Yeah, it drizzled last year a bit, but the rain was pretty bad yesterday. I hope it didn't wash anyone away. At least it's not raining today - hopefully they'll be able to dry up and make some noise with cannons!

I did a combo of parsnips and yams for the soup, seasoned with ginger and a bit of garlic.

Okey dokey - "I also get that broken-mirror, black-cat, Friday-the-thirteenth kind of feeling about this one...."

Getting ready to make some parsnip soup.

Silent Running?

I am really sorry to hear that Patt - it is such a fun faire. Jack and I are really sorry to be missing it as well. I hope the others are having fun this weekend.

Wow - those are GORGEOUS! I am SOOOOO envious! Did you machine those yourself?

Ooooooh....

I recently started a blog, which is a big leap of faith for me. When I was young, I kept a diary but my bratty cousins got a hold of it and read it, so that was the end of that. I kept another as a young adult, but there was WAY too much incriminating evidence in it, so I burned it. I'm much more circumspect with my blog.

Yay! Looking forward to seeing those shoes!

Patt - you have to admit that the worst fairy infestation was Ojai, 2005. Redd and I really wanted to get our hands on some Raid. They were OBNOXIOUS.

Yeah - it's killing us to miss this one. Ojai is the sentimental favorite of our group because it was TO7S' first event. Plus we get to see folks we normally don't get to spend time with. But there have been more laugh-out-loud moments at the Kearney Faire than at any other. Last year, we lashed one of our gents to a grate and played The Grating Game (a Dating Game spoof, with questions like "I've been a bad, bad cabin boy. What is my punishment?") And a streaker visited the bedlam area as well. Fun stuff!

Heh. Here's a pic of one of the Tales of the Seven Seas member's rat Missy - guzzling up the rum and coke. He only had his back turned for a couple of seconds...

Kenneth - definitely come as a pirate. And seek out the Tales of the Seven Seas encampment in the Bedlam area. Patt - Jack and I won't be there this year (GRRRR!) Jack has to fly out for a conference (same one he had to leave early for last year) and I have to work (I asked them to not schedule anything for this particular weekend, but the client had the last word...) Claire has Wee Annie and her accoutrement and we're making charges with Paul and Jacquie tonight, so there will be plenty of bangs 'n booms!

Heh - the jugglers. We had set up a playpen for our cannons and got ready to fire them. The schedule of performers got a bit mixed up and we ended up firing a VERY LOUD triple broadside right as a couple of performers were juggling torches - with a member of the audience between them. Needless to say, it was rather exciting for them. Someone claimed that the audience member ended up with a wee puddle at his feet, but that is unsubstantiated... That cannon blast also caused all of the car alarms in the parking lot (which was actually a ways off) to go off. And one woman said that it knocked over her kid, but we're a bit sceptic about that claim. At any rate, the jugglers incorporated the BOOM in the rest of their acts that weekend.

Yeah - I'm giving up on the scale as well. Due to the weight training, my size loss and weight loss don't seem to be related. I've lost a third of the weight I want to lose but half of the size I want to lose. Most folks my size weigh about ten pounds less than I do, even allowing for my small bone structure.