Roberta Sings Tuesday, Jun 10 2008

7 June 2008
Texas Scottish Games. I look forward to it every year. And, every year I go, get sunburned and sweat too much in the searing Texas sun. What the heck am I thinking?
This is Roberta, she’s the fiddler (and on some songs, singer) for the local North Texas Celtic Rock band, the Kildares.

Cheers.

~KR (Written on 9 June 2008 )

Listening to:
Last Summer by Earl Grey and the Legomen
Earl Grey and The Legomen

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/5.5
Focal Length: 23.2 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

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Message in a Bottle Tuesday, Jun 10 2008

6 June 2008
My friends, The Rambling Sailors (singers of sea shanties, ditties and ballads) are getting married in September. This is their wedding invitation:

A message in a bottle. Clever, wot?
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 9 June 2008 )

Listening to:
Mother, Father by Journey
from Escape

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.4 sec (2/5)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

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Empty Friday, Jun 6 2008

1 June 2008
A long, hot, icky day saw fruit at the end with the successful pack down & load of the East Wind Games shop at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival. Yes, the season is done and just in time, too. It’s starting to get unbearable, Texas-style hot outside.

Cheers.

~KR (Written on 5 June 200

Listening to:
Alba by Runrig
from Transmitting Live

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

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The Jousting Knight Tuesday, May 20 2008

17 May 2008
Oh what a day! I’ve never seen so many people at SF (at least recently) and the sales were amazing. I had arranged to take the day off to spend with friends in for the day, so my manager and his primary sales assistant went to it. What a team they are. When we looked at the days results that evening it was a record-breaker! So, thanks Bill & Marcus for letting me out of the shop and for doing a bang-up job in my absence.
While I was out of the shop, I took opportunity to do things I haven’t done in years (in some cases, a decade or more). One of those was watch the joust. It amazes me still how hard those guys hit & fall. I know it’s all scripted and choreographed (sometimes it’s painfully obvious), but there’s still a great deal of talent underneath that show.

Then, when you look at the amount of money, time & skill that goes into making the armour, the entire experience takes on a new shine.
This evening, we had good wine, good company, & great jewelry. Thanks, Allyson, for yet another successful trunk show for Beading Dreams.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 19 May 200

Listening to:
Rainbow by Ween
from Chef Aid: The South Park Album

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/5.5
Focal Length: 23.2 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

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The Red Dragon Tuesday, May 13 2008

11 May 2008
Happy Mother’s Day, Mum!
What a relief from Saturday. A front moved through early, early, early Sunday morning pushing out all the humidity and bringing with it a cool breeze. The morning air was crisp & cold, almost fall-like.
The attendance was great, much greater than the past few Mother’s Days we’ve had at the faire. Perhaps it was the weather. Whatever it was they were happy and in a playful, spending mood…at least in my shop. We had another robust day pushing our year over year way up. My new manager seems to be making a world of difference for East Wind Games. And, speaking of East Wind Games, it’s time to show off another product. This is a new product line that I just picked up.

It’s a backgammon set with Red (pictured) and Blue dragons guarding the ends. It’s beautiful.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 13 May 2008 )

Listening to:
Back to me by the Positions
from Mastered CD!

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 125
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

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Self Portrait…again Monday, May 5 2008

4 May 2008
Somehow I managed only one photo in the 24 hours that made up Sunday. Not sure how, but it is what it is. This is me:

I have on a brand new, brilliantly black & yellow landsknecht chapeau (I will have to look up the proper time for the hat UPDATE: The hat is apparently called a tellerbarret ("platter hat")) and a new pair of green-tinted sunglasses with bronze rims. The sunglasses are reproductions of a pair of spectacles that date to the very early 18th century. I’ve been told that there is very little difference between this pair and the few pair that have been dated to the early-mid 16th century. Therefore, I feel fully vindicated in owning, wearing and selling them at a Renaissance festival that takes place, ostensibly, in 1538 England during the reign of HRM Henry VIII (although I feel pretty confident in saying that musketeers, frock-coat clad pirates in tricorns, and ninjas didn’t make their debut in England until much later).
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 5 May 2008 )

Listening to By-Tor and the Snow Dog by Rush
from Retrospective I (1974-1980)

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction

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Draughts or Chess? Monday, May 5 2008

3 May 2008
Saturday. Week 5 of Scarborough Faire.
Happy Birthday Starr!
The day was phenomenal for a faire day. Temperature in the low 70’s with a slight breeze and sunshine. Can you ask for better? Here you see a family playing chess on my large chess table that I have set up in the front yard. In the foreground, next to a small garden is another table with a jumbo draughts (Americans call it Checkers) set.

I was taught to play draughts at an extremely early age, as are I think most American youth. I grew, quickly, to detest the game because I either won too quickly or lost too quickly. There was no challenge in the game. As the owner of a game store, I have found a new love for draughts, but not in the form I was taught. There are, literally, hundreds of draughts variations that enhance the game and make it much more challenging and oh, so much more fun. My favourite version is Irish Draughts and I sometimes play it to distraction.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 5 May 2008 )

Listening to:
We’ve Been Had by Walkmen
from The Walkmen

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

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Pirates, Oh my! Thursday, Apr 24 2008

20 April 2008
Sometimes it’s not easy to not turn this into an advertisement for East Wind Games. It’s an introspection, a musing, a diatribe on occasion; but I don’t ever want it to be just a commercial vehicle. So, I feel slightly bad that so often it seems that my photos are of my product, or my shop or my…whatever. But, when you are immersed in the entrepreneurial aspect of a small business, you find yourself surrounded by that business at all times. So, it sometimes is just not possible to not mention it, or use product images as the journal entry of the day. So, that’s what we have: Pirate Chessmen from East Wind Games.

Cheers.

~KR (Written on 24 April 2008 )

Listening to:
Too Shy by Kajagoogoo
from Billboard Top 100 of 1983

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

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The Grinning Pirate Thursday, Apr 24 2008

19 April 2008
Back home from D.C. (very late) and out to faire I go to spend the last few minutes of Marita Beth’s birthday with her. I made it to faire just before midnight. The next morning, thanks to Marcus & the Captain, I slept in a little while they opened shop. Finally, I tore myself out of the Sandman’s grasp and went to meet the day as it was Blazing Sun day. How could I miss my compatriot’s and friends. This is Dane Light-Strings, the minstrel of the Blazing Sun:

Cheers.

~KR (Written on 24 April 200

Listening to:
JLM Remix by The Rinse
from Blisspop

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

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Frippery Witch Monday, Apr 21 2008

13 April 2008
Our good friends, Mike & Marlane, own a fantastic shop at Scarborough Renaissance Festival called Fripperies. Years ago, they occupied the building that East Wind Games now owns; since then, they have rebuilt their base on the other side of the festival. We don’t get to see them very often, but we do try to get over there as often as we may. MB still provides Michael with fabric for some of his fantastic creations. This is one of them:

Cheers.

~KR (Written on 21 April 200

Listening to:
Missa by Neil Diamond
from Tap Root Manuscript

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 125
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

One Response »