But anyway, we had a good time. Warning: the Castle Dragon is NOT for folks of my size and dimension, wearing a somewhat-complex costume. The Castle Dragon is for someone about 4' 2", 80 lbs, in a streamlined ninja suit!

I got to visit with Greg and Eric for a couple of minutes, talked AFR-talk for a bit, then my goddessdaughter got fidgety.

We entered the costume contest, at the suggestion of a couple of faire employees, but we either didn't get a correct where/when on it, or the costume contest was running late, and the kid can't sit still that long, so off we went and missed it completely. Would have helped if I'd grabbed a program/map/clue, of course, but that didn't occur to me until later.

The new, expanded Hawkwood is fun. I like wandering through the woods and just kind of coming across things. Saw a couple of shows, all of which were well-attended. The 'special effects' show with Yoko the Dragon flaming people went over very well with my goddaughter. "To the Hilt" (lots of talking interspersed with a little bit of fighting) did not fare so well. I thought that "Commedia del Carte" (Photo, above left) would bore the kid to death, but she really liked their show: they combined their over-her-head verbal humor with a lot of physical humor, so we both enjoyed them, actually.

Anyway, we caught some shows, saw some folks (Hi, Elizabeth!!), ate some food, drank lots of lemonade (Hi, Jim with some numbers after his name!) got really hot and sweaty, and decided to call it a day. We met up with Frederick and Ivy in the parking lot and chatted for quite some time. Since I was dressed as an Orc, Frederick decided to give me a Tolkein pop-quiz, which I failed utterly. I've promised to study this week so as to be ready for the make-up test this weekend!

Driving home was very cool: there was lightning in a 180-degree view all around us, so it was a great show. And we didn't actually get rained on until we hit Hillsboro. Found a radio station playing 'ultimate rock blocks' so I got half an hour of the Police (yay!) and half an hour of Lynyrd Skynyrd (not so yay, but plenty of nostalgia value) and then by the time we were really getting rained on, the station had faded and I'd found a station playing blues. Blues in the rain: it was an experience verging on the spiritual.

Anyway, it was a good day. There are plenty of repairs and revisions that I need to do to my costume before next weekend, and I hope it gets cooler so that the green makeup doesn't drip so much, but whatever the weather, I'm looking very much forward to it!

--Eek

Standard Disclaimer: These webpages are strictly an *Unofficial* look at the Hawkwood Medieval Fantasy Faire held near Fort Worth, Texas in 1998. The author of these pages is in no way, shape, manner or form connected with the Hawkwood Medieval Fantasy Faire, Past Times Productions and/or any of the sponsors associated with this event. All opinions expressed are strictly this author's own. Unless expressly noted otherwise, all photographs are copyright ©1998 by George Laking.

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