Katherine minded the shop Friday morning and so I gathered the tentage and sleeping gear out of the hayloft, brought the clothing, bedding, and kitchen boxes up from the basement, ironed the dresses, and scrambled to finish assembling the food. Mom ran to town and picked up a few more items to fill in our cooler before coming home, eating, and heading to the Farmer's Market.
When we did get out, it was someplace near 3 pm, give or take. I stopped just east of our town to see if the smell we were smelling came from our engine--couldn't locate anything off--so we continued. I did actually remember to check the gauges fairly often (I normally forget) and checked the oil at a rest stop further up the road. Everything seemed fine, so I quit worrying.
It was probably about 6-something when we arrived at our destination. We headed into the camp to find registration when we were hailed by a twice-before met acquaintance. I think it's rather safe to say that Hawk and Jill are now friends. :) But anyway, we talked for a bit then went over and registered and then crossed the road to set up.
Wouldn't you know it...we had our modern tent set up and were just starting to bring in the bedding when Hawk comes over and says something like this, "I don't know why I didn't think of this before...but we have an extra A-frame if you'd like to use that...."
We did and we did. :)
I might add here, we also made the acquaintance of a young man (who reminded Katherine of one brother and me of another, but no matter) named Josh. He has an infectious grin and a sense of humor to match--so between the two men, the ladies had a deal of laughing. No complaining on that front. Anyway, it wasn't until the next day when I saw him in uniform that I realized that Josh was none other than the fella at the Coldwater dance that I had saucily asked if he were dyslexic (not very nice as I realized in reflection). I had actually been going to ask him if he were homeschooled (we have a reputation for getting our left and right mixed up, ya know), but I changed my mind at the last minute because if he hadn't been he wouldn't have understood! Turns out he was "home-teached" as he put it with an ornery look. I got to confess my folly and was forgiven of it after an, "Oh, that was you! I recognize you now..." (I was wearing the same dress and even had my hair the same!!)
Anyway...we finally straggled off to bed and poor Katherine didn't have enough blanket on Night One.
Saturday morning, I woke up and had to ask Katherine for her camera...I had a couple of views out from under the tent edges that I had to shoot.
Last time, I forgot the butter and the K's were so gracious as to speedily hand me a stick when I shamelessly asked if I could 'borrow' some. This time, I remembered the butter--but I forgot the spatula to turn the eggs with! Thus, scrambled it was. Can't get anything perfect when you're out of practice, you know...
After breakfast, we then meandered back across to bug Hawk, Jill, and Josh as we would end up doing for the majority of the weekend. Hawk was fixing to make a Celtic knot "thump mat" for a hot pad and I ended up "helping" by pulling the on the rope. Josh pulled out his smart phone (so the things do come in handy from time to time) to get directions. Hawk said he's made a ton of these things, but he just couldn't remember how to get it started because it had been awhile.
The event planners split the six-hour battle of Ball's Bluff, Virginia into two days. Saturday, "we" were repulsed by the Yankee's on the high ground, but on the Lord's Day, the tyrants were firmly defeated.
Here's the first day in pictures:
We ladies ended up by the battlefield where we observed the impromptu skirmish--and a bit of an anomaly:
Shortly after the church service, the event planners had scheduled another "washing" scenario--only this time, it was giving a couple of soldiers a bath! (We did not participate. And the men were still fully clothed, by the way--just so's you know.)
At roughly the same time, a young man showed up at Hawk and Jill's tent in nothing but his undershorts--because he was supposed to get into Hawk's long red underwear and be paraded around in the barrel that proclaims "Do not Drink or Gamble". Well, it became apparent after a bit that he was too large for the red flannel underwear--so he crawled into the barrel in just his shorts (with a little help from Josh):
After the battle, we sat around with Jill and Hawk for a bit, discussing church and such things, said "adios" to Josh, who left almost immediately, and then went and broke down camp ourselves. Returning the tent to Hawk, we said our farewells (we would have stayed and helped them breakdown, but I actually think we would have been more in the way than help because when one knows where everything goes and how things get taken down, having to stop and give directions slows them down), and hit the road. I think I munched most of the way home to keep myself alert. I'm also glad we stopped and got a cup of coffee north of FW. I needed it.
Upon arriving home, we unloaded the stuff that came into the house and I forthwith slid into my bee gear to do some unplanned and unusual for Sunday bee-work. The bees were bearding bad enough to get attention. I think they were simply hot, but I went ahead and added a super on to each hive since both colonies were quickly running out of room.
Thus far is the story of the Turkeyville Civil War reenactment....