The Witching Well

For years now, King Richard’s Faire has been on what I consider to be a downturn. They’ve been “Disneyfying” the show one inch at a time and consequently taking all the real life out of it. The jousting cheers have gotten tame and the songs with all the double entendres have been slowly weeded out. It’s been a sad thing to watch, especially as the gate price has continued to go up. Gods, if they want the family crowd so badly, they might think about making it more affordable for families.

But this year, they seem to have realized that they still have grownups in their audience. Roll Your Leg Over was back in the Pub Sing. And they hired a new trio of singing wenches, called the Three Graces, who are actually rated PG (they marked it on the program). I’m thrilled. ‘Cause you know what, gang? The Rennaissance was not rated G. Not by any stretch of the imagination. And leaving out the naughty bits leaves out lots of really cool stuff. Really cool, genuinely funny stuff.

Honestly, the last few years, the only reason I’ve even bothered with KRF is because they haven’t yet managed to drive Richard Weber away, and as long as Lord Percival Degagé is Chancellor, I’ll grit my teeth and pay the outrageous ticket price.

I sound like such a silly fangirl saying this, but I’m still bouncing over the fact that I actually got to tell him that yesterday. I think I caught him off-guard with it, too, which made it even better. Seriously, he sort of blinked at me and a second later his face just lit up. It was a marvelous thing to watch. Plus, I got to hug him.

And I have my husband to thank for that. He grabbed Percy when I wasn’t looking and asked him to come say hello to me. And I was walking away at the time, so I had the Lord Chancellor chasing after me across the faireground, calling my name. Yay!

Mood: giddy

Ernestine, AKA the bestest friend, has arrived in town. I can say that this is a fact because, even though I wasn’t supposed to get to see her until tonight at dinner, she and her husband both dropped in at my office yesterday (they both worked there, once upon a time). Yay!

Tonight, dinner. Tomorrow King Richard’s Faire. Which I’m not doing garb for, mainly because I don’t want to depress myself by trying to fit into any of my garb.

Mood: bouncy

Because life just refuses to only give us the happy things, the cat I’ve called “little sister” for the last three years (i.e. my mother’s cat) has left us. And because fate is particularly unkind, she got sick while Mom was out of the country on vacation. Though she waited until Mom was home before making her departure. Honey was a sweet kitty. The only person she ever hated, near as I can tell, was my cat. She even put up with my dog and his galumphing through her kitchen on a daily basis. So, you know, patience of a saint.

But there are happy things, too. Like a visit from my bestest friend later this week. Yay!!!

For our anniversary on Tuesday, my husband took me to Wicked, which I’ve been wanting to see since it was first staged. I’m a huge fan of the book, and I was thrilled with the idea of its being made into a musical.

You know what? It makes a very fun musical. No, musically, it’s not in the same category as Camelot or Phantom of the Opera, but who can resist the schoolgirl days of the Wicked Witch of the West? The cast was great, especially the actresses playing Elphaba and Glinda. The sets were gorgeous. And the costumes? Oh, dearie me, the costumes would give certain sewing-inclined friends of mine fits of creative ecstasy. They made some major changes to the book’s original plot, but it works.

And you know, Kermit was right: It’s not easy being green.

Mood: cheerful

Sometimes you can really tell the political affiliation of a radio station.

Yesterday morning, on the drive in to work, Andy and I were listening to WBZ, the local AM news station (they do traffic reports every ten minutes, you see), and they covered the story that the State Police will be taking over investigations of homicides that occur within Boston but on state property (such as inside the subway system). The newscaster said that this will take some of the pressure off the BPD and let them concentrate on other areas.

When I got to work, I switched on WFNX, the alternative music station I usually listen to during the day, and their news guy covered the same story at the top of the hour. Only he mentioned something that WBZ never did: that the BPD is seriously unhappy with the whole idea.

Which, as the granddaughter of a cop, I had already guessed.

Funny how staunchly conservative WBZ just sort of left that part out, eh?

Here’s the Boston Globe’s take on the situation.

Mood: cynical

Back a couple of months, I got an MP3 player as a birthday present. Which turned out to be defective. When I exchanged it for another one of the same model, it was broken, too, but in an entirely different way. I know three is supposed to be the charm, but I just didn’t want the hassle anymore and outright returned the verdammt thing. It took me until this past weekend to replace it.

Up front: I’m a gadget junkie. I loves me some shiny electronic toys. So it’s no surprise that I fell head over heels with this thing, now that I have one that works. I knew that I would like not dragging a CD player along on my commute, not to mention the disks, but oh my freaking Gods, this thing rocks!

Is it a sign of brain damage that I think that this is a perfectly delightful playlist?

• Warren Zevon, Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
• Great Big Sea, Let It Go
• Rosetta Stone, Adrenaline
• Sting, Fields of Gold
• James Marsters, Rest in Peace (from the Buffy musical episode Once More with Feeling)
• Depeche Mode, Only When I Lose Myself
• Kate Bush, Lily
• Concrete Blonde, Roses Grow
• Louis Prima, Angelina
• My Chemical Romance, Teenagers
• Johnny Cash, Hurt
• Jethro Tull, Hunting Girl

Mood: giggly

Andy and I spent a good chunk of Saturday afternoon watching a competition of antique hand-pumped fire engines. Now there’s a cool but obscure hobby for you!

The machines themselves are just gorgeous. Of course, they were built back when it was considered important that useful things also be as beautiful as possible.

Stunning, ain’t they? They’re even prettier in person. And you should see how well they work, especially when you get thirty or forty people to help pump:

Gods, but being married to a historical society curator gets me invited to some fun events!

Mood: impressed