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Pirates of Paynetown 2010 - Bloomington, IN
(Photo: Mission)
Chapter 4th: Talking of the search for coffee; Breakfast habits of the
Mercury crew; Michael's need for sailing; Chole's new dress, The
peepshow vendor (not at all what you're thinking, you perv); The cool
girl, the gibbet; Purchasing a wholly unnecessary writing desk; The pottery
guy; The splendid encampment and the amazing food tent.
Not wanting to miss another morning in camp, I was up at the crack of dawn. Realizing there was really no reason to be up quite that early, I tried to go back to bed. Nope, wouldn't work; there was too much to do today. So I got up, made some wretched in-room coffee of which I drank about 1/3. I looked fruitlessly around the internet and then finally decided to just check out and head to camp. For some strange reason I had vowed to keep my socks on today. I don't know what put this idiot thought into my head, but I was determined. For some stranger reason, I had decided not to put on a fresh pair, but to re-use my dark green ones that I had worn for about an hour yesterday. Period socks go halfway up your thigh and get all stretched out, so this proved to be a poor decision as they bagged immediately (left).
The first order of business was to get some coffee that didn't insult my palate. I started out in the Mercury camp, but they were too busy with breakfast to have bothered with coffee. (Sometimes I wonder how I could possibly be associated with a crew with such inferior priorities.) While I was standing there, who should approach but my back-scratching pal, Grace Thatcher. She appeared to...could it be...Yes! She had a mug in her hand! (Below left.) Surely this was hot cocoa? No, surely not! It was coffee! Huzzah! I asked her if she was afraid it would stunt her growth, drinking coffee at age 10. You can see her response below center. This reminded me of my sister Kristine who used to sneak coffee at about that age until our father caught her. Being a wise man, he continued to give it to her when my mom wasn't looking. (Or they would sneak off to Big Boys and have it with pie.) So the Thatchers have a much more enlightened view of coffee and children. I learned from Grace that there was coffee in the Thatcher encampment. They invited me to have some, which I did (below right) and all was well. Morning and dessert are two times when nothing but coffee will do.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
As mentioned, Sunday breakfast was the item of interest when I arrived.
The Mercury camp was cooking up bacon (below left and center),
although Michael had one dead soldier who had leapt out of the frying
pan and...on to the ground. (That doesn't sound as dramatic as I thought
it would.) Jenny
would never have let that happen. Mark Gist cut up some cantaloupe,
which was of great interest to the bees (right - Burt can keep
his stupid bees) and our neighbor, Sam (below left).
The offered me some, but I had already breakfasted at BK (One of the
worst fast food joints for you on the planet.) I then wandered over to
Chole's site since my coffee was depleted. There I found Jay
Babcock stealing Chole's fire so he could make breakfast. (I guess he
thought those little period correct grills were inadequate. I can't
imagine why.) I noticed that all of the Mercury breakfasts involved bacon,
which I felt was most appropriate and a nice tribute to our leader,
William Brand, who is one of bacon's biggest fans.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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Because I had arrived so early, Sunday morning was pretty relaxed. I walked around and watched what was going on and talked with various people. So let's do a Rogue's Gallery for this event of some interesting folks I met (and in one case, didn't meet at all.)
(Photo: Mission)
Throughout the weekend, I kept seeing this funny little wagon with a
monkey puppet attached to it, usually being ferried about by a couple.
They went around the 'streets' of the campsite with their
wagon singing and playing bells to get the interest of the people.
(At right. Kind of like a modern ice cream truck
without the truck. Or the ice cream. So maybe it's not kind of like that.) When
people gathered around them - which happened many times from what I saw -
they'd start their show. The show included the monkey puppet - I believe
named Dan (below left) and a pair of puppets dressed
like a pirate and a skeleton. I liked this, although it appeared to me
that it was set up so that the skeleton always lost the fight. So I didn't
like it quite as much as I could have (below center.)
They told stories and had other bits and props in the wagon to supplement
the stories and jokes. The centerpiece of their entertainment were little
boxes that they called peepshows. These contained illustrated scenes on
thick paper that were set up in layers to provide a 3D effect when looked
into (below right.) They had several and, even though they didn't
photograph very well, they looked really cool inside.
(Photo: Thatchers)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
(Photo: Mission)
Chole was working on a yellow dress on Saturday (left)
that she promised me I would get to see on Sunday. She and Kate Bagley
(who were as thick as thieves) got together early Sunday morning and
finished it to made her promise come true (right.) While
over there (enjoying coffee, natch) I asked her if Chole was her real
name because I didn't think it was likely, even though I've seen her use
Chole White as her name as well. She admitted that it was not, but that
it fit her better than her real name. So you know the next question. She
replied that few people knew her real name and that it certainly wasn't
going in the Journal! (Sorry.)
(Photo: Mission)
(Photo: Mission)
Then there's Billy Bones. He hung around (hah!) the flag all weekend looking at
his coffin. (Seems pretty dreary, doesn't it?) He did get a new gibbet
this year made of welded steel bars which was quite nice. (I'd covet this
gibbet, except I can imagine how unwieldy it must be.) I assume they
eventually threw him in his coffin
like last year,
but if so, I missed it. Billy has been re-enacting most of his life and he
always plays the same role. His goal is to be a super model. I offered to
add skin to him like my Bucky
& Becky
props, but Nathan thought it would alarm folks. (Well that's the point, isn't it?)
(Photo: Elizabeth)
Now, Elisabeth Bostelman, the violin player at left, is
someone I never actually met. This will not stop me from writing about her,
because I found her on Facebook and chatted with her. Elisabeth has played the violin
for 13 years (I found out it's a
violin because it has gut strings; if it had steel strings, it would be a
fiddle. See, you learned something today like me.) Her violin is
made with gut because it is over 200 years old! She was filling
in as shopkeeper for Sign
of the Green Turtle owner Rosanne Gordon for most of the weekend.
(Rosanne was off singing at a wedding or some such thing. Weddings over
pirates? I mean to say, what?!) She's currently working on a degree in Archaeology
with a minor in Classical Studies, hoping to get her grad degree at the University
of Newcastle in the UK. She explained that she had always wanted to be a
re-enactor, but it was Rosanne prodding that got her started a year and a
half ago.
(Photo: Jessica Bagley)
(Photo: Thatchers)
Then there's Jay Henderson (left, looking daring), owner of
J. Henderson Artifacts and member of the Great
Lakes River Pirates. In addition to making pottery, Jay also builds
boats. As mentioned, he sold Jay Babcock one of his little boats,
which Mr. Babcock took possession of at this event. Jay had two of his other boats
there including the Tantrum (at right).
When we were all heading out to go paddling on Saturday night, I asked him how many boats he had made so far. He said that he had made four, but was currently working on his fifth boat which will be 16 feet long - the largest he's attempted to far. He confessed that boat-making was really a hobby - his profession is making pottery.
(Photo: Mission)
Of course, Sunday being the last day of the event, it was also the time to
be buying your last-minute stuff! As I mentioned several pages ago,
Paynetown has had very good vendors both of the times I've been there. I
ran across Grace Thatcher and her dad as I checked through the vendors for
more socks (no, really, you can never have enough socks.) Silas had bought
Grace a little notebook with a cardinal on the cover, because Grace likes
animals so much. I imagine she'll sketch in it. Kate Bagley saw it and
suggested I get one, but since I already had the very non-PC hotel note
stationery, I figured I might as well stick with that.
On the way to look at more socks at Daniel Boone of Kentucky's, I spotted these two cool writing desks. While the one of the left looked like it had more pockets and cubbys, the one on the right had that neat, fold-down angled writing surface. Knowing I didn't know enough, I fetched Michael Bagley and asked him his opinion. Turns out he had bought one on the right for Kate. I would like to note that I did buy socks in addition to a writing desk. I mean that's what I wanted, right?
(Photo: Mission) C'mon, they're just too cool, even if I don't need one. |
(Photo: Mission)
Store owner Steven Caudill and desk. |
(Photo: Mission)
(Photo: Mission)
Speaking of Michael, he had been wanting to take one of Mark
Gist's boats sailing all weekend. He'd look
longingly at the sailboats out on the lake and sign heavily (left).
Finally, Mark took pity on him and said, "Let's go sailing,
boy!" resulting in their carrying off a heavy-looking mast to the
beach (right). Once there, they proceeded to put the mast
into the Firefly, which took quite a bit of work. (You'll notice below
that I stayed far away from this work until the mast was up.) While they were
securing the mast, Jay Henderson and Suzanne Larner came in from the
water in the Tantrum. Seeing the boys having trouble, they went
over to stare at them and make them nervous (below center right.)
Finally whatever problem they were having was rectified and they went
sailing. (Below right.)
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
One of the great things in the Mercury camp during this trip was the
hammock. At least that's the way it seems. See, I have to say this
without having actually experienced it. I thought about getting in it,
but then those butterflies would go off into the woods... Kate (left)
actually decided to take a nap in it, so it must have been reasonably
comfortable. Of course, where there are things like hammocks, there is juvenile
behavior. This has long been true, as documentaries like Tom & Jerry
prove. (Especially the one where Jerry gets all the ants marching on the
wires which causes the hammock to bounce up and down until Tom falls out
of it. Classic!) Thinking on it now, I can't come up with any good
reason for a kid to want to get into a hammock except to a) fall out of it,
b) push someone else so they fall out of it, or c) break it. In fact, I
call the two photos below "Gee, I don't know how it broke!" Below
left, we have Zach, Grace, Ryan and Miles Thatcher on the hammock. Below
right we have chaos.
(Photo: Jessica Bagley)
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(Photo: Jessica Bagley)
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(Photo: Mission)
Growing weary of watching the
Hammock Ride, I espied Suzanne Larner sitting under a tree. I toddled
over to see what I could learn. Her daughter Kat had
left yesterday to go off with her father to another re-enacting event.
(That child must have lots of re-enacting clothes.) Suzanne was sitting
there working on cleaning her gun. Of course, the guys in camp couldn't have a
lone woman doing that! So Mike Dollinger and Sam came over to help her, or
keep her company, or annoy her. (Unlike me. I was looking for a story. Below
left.) Seeing she was cleaning her frisson or muzzen or mainmast
(What do I know about guns?), Sam suggested she use Listerine, which he
just happened to have in his back pocket. (Of course that's a
lie! Period pants do not have pockets because period tailors hated period
men. So it's best not to ask where Sam kept the Listerine) Sam then plopped on the ground by the tree and attempted to ram a
large round ball into a pistol (below center right), which
makes me wonder why Suzanne took his word about the Listerine. She said
she usually played American heroine Mad
Anne Bailey about which she keeps a really
neat blog. But all this frippery ended when the Brute Squad
(below right) arrived to announce the start of battle.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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