A Good Trip

Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2003 – 9:49 a.m.

2003-08-27 9:49

Well, Pennsic has come and gone. It was a good trip despite the gastro-intenstinal issues that I had for a couple of days. It slowed me down for a day or two but I recovered. Fortunately I did not get “the Cough” that a number of folk in camp did come down with including Robert, Gwenlian, Mistress Claire, and Ellen (and Anne since then). It was rainy for a couple of days and the roads started to get a little sloppy but I had my garden shoes, which are basically rubber, so my feet stayed dry, at least from outside wetness. Since the shoes don’t breath, my feet did sweat and get damp that way… However, foot powder worked wonders there. Later in the week, the weather turned sunny and just got hot.

Pennsic Plunder and the Missing Garden Gnome

Of course one of the great things about Pennsic is all the merchants. I spent a fair amount of time looking around and browsing through the merchants. Fairly early on, I stopped in at T’ger Toggs to replentish my tights supply. He has some truely eye-wrenching color selections (one was thin strips of various bright colors that almost made one ill just looking at it…[shudder]) but I chose some pretty standard parti-color one-leg-solid/one-leg-stripped pairs. Ok, that’s one thing off my shopping list….

Another thing on my list was to get a pair of period style shoes and pattens. Last year, Adriana has recommended a particular merchant on Street of Gold so I went by to see him… but I get ahead of myself. That particular day, I had chosen to dress in a pair of red/white stripped tights (both legs the same) and a green shirt. To this I added my red phyrgian cap and I, of course, was wearing my green garden shoes (which really didn’t look too out of place…except for the “Mud Boots” label across the top of the instep.) When I stepped out of my tent that morning, one of the folk in camp expressed with delight to me that he had seen a flyer posted regarding a missing garden gnome and that I could go turn myself in and collect the reward. [sigh] I thought he was just razzing me however I did later see a flyer regarding a missing garden gnome [rolling of eyes]. I didn’t give it much thought and during the day, I went by the shoe merchant. I tried on what he had and basically he didn’t really have any shoes or pattens that fit. I had not really expected to walk out with stuff I could wear so I ordered a pair of shoes and pattens to fit. Several other folk had come in the tent while I was doing things like filling out the order info and were trying on some of the shoes. At this point, the shoemaker asked me what color I wanted the shoes, to which I replied “oh, I think light brown; I don’t really want anything that stands out…” and the person who was trying on shoes chimed in “This from the guy in peppermint-stripe tights, a bright green shirt, and a red phrygian cap….” We all has good chuckle and I said “It’s not my shoes that I am trying to attract attention to…”

My other “Pennsic Plunder” included 3 dozen buttons from Bill & Charlies, a new straw hat to replace my old one which was on its last legs (the crown was almost completely broken out and the brim was even starting to get holes in it), a new felt hat in a nice dark burgudy color, and a book on the history of the rosary. My initial impulse was to pass on this book, but after scanning it and finding a section called “the rose in christian iconography” and similar, I decided to add it to my library. See? I did get this around to roses in the end [grin]

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