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Blackbeard Pirate Festival, June 2008 - Hampton, VA
Epilogue - The last few threads of the weekend are discussed; a side trip to the airport to drop off an actress, philosophical discussions with Michael and the tale of the missing phone and shoes. Wait, there were no missing shoes. The tale of the missing phone and the found shoes. Also a bunch of amusing pictures that really didn't fit anywhere else. You have to put something entertaining on the Epilogue page, right?
(Photo: Michael Bagley)
The trip back from a pirate event always starts a
bit quietly, with a tinge of melancholy as you realize all your newfound
pirate brethren are moving away from you (or at least you from them). I
left, with Michael Bagley driving, Kate Souris and Cheeky (we picked up
an extra hand - well, we took an extra hand to the airport.) in the back
and your humble surgeon as a useless copilot.
The melancholy was quickly dispelled as Cheeky kept us entertained with a bright discussion of the weekend for the hour drive to Richmond (or something like that) airport. Upon arrival I got hugged again, causing me to vastly exceed my annual quota. OK, I was a willing participant. After we bid her adieu, Kate nodded off for awhile leaving Michael and I to have several very philosophical discussions about religion, politics, Myers-Briggs, the brain and whatnot. It was fun traveling with them. I arrived home at 5am and promptly went to bed for a few hours.
At right: My three newest friends - Michael S. Bagley/Micky Souris (look up Souris for fun), my splendid period-correct tailor whom I finally got to meet, his bride-to-be Kate Souris and that damned barrel.
For reasons that are not completely clear to me (although we can't rule out brain damage) I feel compelled to write up my experience every time I play pirate. I think it's may be threefold: it's in character (Surgeons were traditionally the historians of the pirate vessel), it helps me to organize the new experiences rushing at me and I just like writing things I find amusing. You must admit, pretending to be a pirate is sort of amusing, especially given the amount of time and money we spend doing so.
The web allows me to do something I might otherwise never do - edit all that junk I post in my on-line surgeon's journals. It also allows me to add a third dimension to the otherwise flat world of writing by setting my thoughts to picture. I am the world's single worst photographer, not because I don't know how to take a good picture. That I could learn (and actually do know a wee bit about). No, it's because I won't take a good picture. Why? I don't know. I've never liked having a camera dangling from my neck for some reason. This wouldn't be much of a web page without photos, and I really must thank everyone who allowed me to scavenge their photos for my little surgeon's opus. You'll find them below with a link to their photo collection if one is still available. Three cheers and a round of rum to them! Also a shout out to Duncan McGuyver (of whom I didn't find a photo)
Kate & Michael
Photo: The Bagleys
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Silkie McDonough
Photo: Shana
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Cheeky Actress
Photo: The Bagleys
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Shana Photo: The Bagleys |
Mary Diamond
Photo: The Bagleys |
(Photo: Michael Bagley)
At right: Cheeky Actress kisses Lob the
Monkey. Lob the monkey belongs to Michael and Kate. Lob has a whole
backstory that involves Michael giving classes on how to properly impale
things with some sort of weapon that I forget. Kate bought the stuffed
monkey as a target for the impalement training and Michael fell in love.
(With the monkey. I think he fell in love with Kate later.) So he tied
Lob to the end of his weapon and Lob has been a re-enacting tradition in
the Souris family ever since. Why Cheeky is kissing him, I really
couldn't say.
As a post-event note, I woke Monday morning only to discover that (in what was apparently another minor theme for me this weekend) I left my phone at the hotel - along with some shoes. Actually, I didn't leave the shoes because I never owned any shoes like the woman at the hotel described to me, so that was just odd. I told her to send me the phone, but not the shoes. Come to think of it, I should have asked her what size they were first. Oh well. Definitely an action-packed weekend. I always feel like a 7 year old kid when I write these endings because I think to myself...when can I go a-pirating again?
(Photo: Michael Bagley)
Caught at last! Actually, they decided to take a photo of the crew of the Archangel while we were all sitting around being the harbor master crew and this was the first pose we thought of. I wonder why that is...? Must be Freudian.
From left: Shana (who has been mercilessly cut off in this photo), Michael & Kate Bagley, Mission (in front of Kate), Aminjiria/Mad Jack, Abbington M. Normal (in front of Jack) not sure, Silkie (in front of Mary), Mary Diamond and Edward O' Keefe.
(Photo: withoutaname/Shana)
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(Photo: Michael Bagley)
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(Photo: Silkie McDonough)
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Above, from left: Silkie with curl, center: Michael's army - these are all the people at Hampton for whom Michael had generously sewn period-correct clothes - Shana, Kate, himself and old Mission. If not for Michael, I would be the naked pirate surgeon. And no one wants that. Right: Dutch and his sloppy slops. You would think I would get tired of that joke, wouldn't you? You would be wrong.)
(Photo: Kate Souris)
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The Archangel/Pyracy pub members who were working the docks. 1. withoutaname/Shana 2. Kate Souris (Mercury/Archangel) 3. Sarah Sterling (Archangel) 4. Aminjiria (Jack) (aka FB) (Archangel) 5. Silkie McDonough (Mercury/Archangel) 6. Abbington Normal (Archangel) |
7. Edward O'Keefe (Mercury/Archangel) 8. Cheeky Actress (playing Lily this weekend - Archangel) 9. Captain Sterling (aka Harbour master - Archangel) 10. Joshua Sterling (Archangel 11. Mission (Mercury/Archangel) 12. Michael S. Bagley (aka. Micky Souris) 13. Mad Mary Diamond (Archangel) |