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Santa Maria Pirate Weekend, September 2010 - Columbus, OH
(Photo: Mission)
Epilogue. Of what remains to be told about the event including the
group shot and the thank you notes. Also of what remains in the dregs of
the barrel of photos, focusing particularly on things that wouldn't fit
into the main text, even with a crow bar and axle grease. (This includes
Lob. Although we probably don't want to know what Lob would be doing
with a crow bar and axle grease.)
Shay and I stuck around for awhile after the battle so I could do a few more presentations. However, since a long drive awaited us and the long weekend spent outside was almost behind us, I thought it best to mosey on after an hour or so of that. So we said our goodbyes and left. Shay lugged my box o' surgical crap for me, something which it only took a week for her to recover from.
Left: The Pirate Proclamation, fastened to the mainmast. Notice the spelling and lettering. Someone must have at least peeked at my Guide for Writing in Fyne 17th/18th c. Style primer.
One thing I neglected on the last page was the group shot. We all gathered in front of the ship to get the photo and posed with the Mercury flag for posterity.
(Photo: Mission)
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So let me reel off the names of the folks in in the photo (above). From back left - Thomas Alleman and Georgia, Richard W. (behind them) Jon and Paula, Bloody Marty, Sam, Laurie from Rieske Family Cannon crew (in front of Sam), Shay (straw hat) and I (huge Patrick Hand original hat), Captain John of the Rieske Family Cannon Crew, Rachel (posing again), Callenish Gunner, Trish, Dan Needham (red kerchief) and Mark Gist. Kneeling and whatnot in front from left, Michael S. Bagley, Jay Babcock, Kate Bagley (sprawled out in front), Salty holding Hamish, Jennie Gist (holding the flag), Blue Jessica, Rachel from Rieske Family Cannon crew and Shannon Mathers as The Beaver.
(Photo: Mission)
At right are a bunch of people who magically appeared with cameras when
all the pirate came out front of the ship and lined up with their flag.
Some of these folks were very nice and took photos using seventy-three different
re-enactor's cameras as a favor to us. From left: Peter Mayhew and Janice
Burchett, Phil Brown is standing behind Gilda Cohen and Kenny Baker, Maria
De Aragon trying to figure out somebody's camera, Jack Purvis, who will no
doubt be asking for a pirate hat from his mom in the very near future.
Diana Sadley Way wearing a sort of reddish coat, William Hootkins in a yellow t-shirt,
some guy whom I don't know with his back rudely to us, Denis Lawson (seated),
Richard LeParmentier, Carrie Fisher, Shelagh Fraser, Garrick Hagon, who is generously holding
yet another re-enactor's camera, Captain John's fancy hat and Femi Taylor (seated).
(Photo: Mission)
I would like to thank Michael and Kate for making me feel welcome and
even distantly accepted as the lone vegetarian this weekend. Kudos to Kate
for making that huge salad which I saw several people enjoying. (People
may dismiss it as rabbit food, but many of them were more than happy to
partake.) Thanks also to Mark and Jennie Gist who are a driving force in
keeping the pirate weekends thriving. A generous nod to Shay of the Key
for finding out interesting things about people and taking notes on them
in my notebook. (Left) The funny thing about the
notebook is that
I've
had it since PiP 2008. I bought it specifically so that I could take
notes to be used when I'm making up the Surgeon's Journals; I am forever
forgetting people's names and confusing what one person told me about
themselves with what another person told me. In this spirit, I have hauled this notebook
around to most of the events I attended and...usually left it in the box I
brought it in. In fact, before I gave it to Shay, it had two notes in it -
someone's name and the fact that she liked blue topazes. Shay is going to
use it at PiP this year, so thanks to her for making it feel
loved.
Trish & Shannon
(Photo: Kate Bagley)
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Jon & Paula
(Photo: Iron Jon)
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Thanks also to those who allow me to pillage their photos and bring the Journal to life. Click on the pics to see their all their on-line photos. |
Georgia
(Photo: Georgia)
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Mission
(Photo: Kate)
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Kate & Michael
(Photo: Trish)
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And that leads us to some random notes from the field...
(Photo: Mission)
(Photo: Mission)
We lead off with a new take on the concept of a 'boned corset' from Jenny
Gist. Regular readers of the Surgeon's Journal will recall
Shay's struggles with creating her first boned corset which she made for the
Lockhouse event at Havre de Grace. Well, Jennie was having none of that!
So she came up with a whole new take on the boned corset, of which I
(naturally) approve. (Anything to do with skeletons and I'm there,
dude.)
Left: Jennie Gist modeling her newly made boned corset, suitable for Hallowe'en. Right: a close-up of the boning. (Hah!)
Clothing is an important aspect of re-enacting, although it is one we rarely talk about in these journals since I can't sew. However, there were some photos that need to be here because I somehow found them interesting, provocative and/or funny. (Hopefully, for your sake, mostly funny.) We start with Dan Needham's new coat (below left), as created by Lady Constance Thatcher, who is a regular Columbus attendee who (sadly) wasn't here this weekend. Now, the detail is a little fuzzy due to the shrinking of the photo, but I think Dan is vying for a spot in the Garish Smoking Jacket Club. Next we have Hamish amongst the skirts, giving skyward looks of wonder. (Enjoy that while you can, kid.) Finally we have Blue Jess adjusting her garters while Lob looks on. (For you first time readers, that's Lob in the foreground! Jay is the one looking on in the background.) Isn't it amazing to see all the situations Lob manages to get himself into?
(Photo: Jessica)
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(Photo: Trish)
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(Photo: Mission)
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Speaking of Lob, let's speak of Lob. Fresh from his adventures with the
Thatchers, Lob arrived after being put in the diplomatic bag. (Below
left - a virtual nickel to anyone who can identify the movie that
quote is from without looking it up.) They thoughtfully put him in a
diaper for his multi-day journey via the postal service. Hamish took
Lob up immediately as he has done in several past adventures to which I am
too lazy to link. (Below center left. If you find all the
occurrences of this while reading the other journals and let me know,
maybe I'll put them in here and give you credit. Or maybe not.) Hamish
discovered that Lob had raisins in 
his diaper...er...well, that's what we
told Hamish, anyhow. Fortunately someone grabbed
them before he could respond to the universal infant siren call to put
everything you lay your hands upon into your mouth. Eventually George
wound up with Lob (below center right and right),
giving the monk the love he deserved...and maybe a little more. (This
reminds me of the Bugs Bunny parody cartoon
Hare Meets Herr where Bugs dresses up as Hitler to fool Hermann Göring who
says, "Look! I kiss mein Führer's hand. I kiss right in
der
Führer's face!" Except, of course, George isn't Göring and
Nazis aren't funny.)
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Jessica)
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(Photo: Jessica)
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Of course, old Lob was up to his usual tricks. He mounted Georgia's hat because he saw the heart. (Below right. Lob is not in love with anyone...other than himself...but he is in love with the idea of being in love. Well, he's in love with it for as long as it takes to cop a feel...) For whatever reason, Rachel and Jess felt compelled to give him a mutual smooch which led to typical misbehavior on Lob's part (below center and right). That monkey always takes a mile when he's given an inch.
(Photo: Georgia)
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(Photo: Georgia)
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(Photo: Georgia)
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There were some photos which I really liked of people that I could not fit (or at least couldn't fit all of) into the main text, so I'll stick those in here. The theme of the first two photos is 'ropes.' You may have noticed a lot of pictures in which I have intentionally left the ropes. This is partially because there are ropes everywhere on this ship and you really can't avoid having them in your photos and partially because I think they look cool and very sea-like.
Below left: the photo of Sam taking aim. Yes, this is the same photo as was on the other page, only New and Improved! Now with Ropes! Below right is a picture of Michael on the first arm of the mainmast. I'm sure it has some sort of fancy name like mizzen-top-gallant-poop-yard, but I'm too lazy to look it up. Michael has that whole 'Tom Sawyer' thing going on, though.
(Photo: Jessica)
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(Photo: Jessica)
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The next couple are a potpourri of photos of people. Below left are Iron Jon and Paula in a rather charming photo. Below center left left we have the governor's daughter Blue Jess held prisoner by the Wicked Warden Rachel. (Which I have included for all you fan-boys out there. Has anyone else noticed that all the 'naughty' pictures were taken by Trish and Shannon? I'm just sayin'... ) Below center right is a gathering of pira- er, sailors on the Santa Maria. From left in the photo - Dan Needham, Iron Jon and Mark Gist. Below right, Bloody Marty stops to chat with Mark Gist while taking the family mortar out for its daily walk. "I was just out walking my mortar and I seem to have lost my way!" (A virtual nickel if you can identify the movie for that one, too. (If you got the first one, that one should be easy.))
(Photo: Iron Jon)
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(Photo: Trish)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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Even pirates have to do things they don't want to. I'm not talking about the pillaging, destroying and fighting - those are the things many of the pirates love to do. No, I'm talking about those tasks that must be done just to get along in life - things ranging from the irritating to the truly odious. So here's a sampling of that for you kids, just so you don't go around getting all star-struck and dewy-eyed and you wish you could be a pirate.
Going from bad to worse, we begin with doing the dishes. Yes, pirates have to do the dishes, as cabin boy/girl Georgia shows us below left. (Did anyone else happen to notice how much the dish-brush (in Georgia's hand) looks like the bitter end (previous page)? Hmm... Have you ever seen the two of them together in the same place?) There's also the sordid business of bribing the local gendarmes to look the other way while we dragged the governor's daughter through the streets - a distasteful service that Kate Bagley performed for our group at the Art Fair - below center. (What? You thought pirates always hacked and slashed their way through life? Why try and push a rope uphill when you can just pull it?) Last, and certainly least, there is the odious task of plaiting Sam's locks (below right), something Rachel bravely agreed to do on Sunday morning. (I mean...it's Sam's hair! And she's touching it! Like...ew!)
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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I had mentioned earlier that there are always fads at these events and that the fad this time was shooting a black powder weapon. Well, that was the major fad. There was another, minor fad going on as well - one that couldn't be more opposite to shooting a black powder weapon if it tried to be. That fad was lazing about in the hammock. Michael had made and then put up a rope hammock for the event, which you can see below left. I don't know if he actually slept in the hammock or not, but it was there and several other people slept in it - like Shay of the Keys (below right). Speaking of Shay, she was one of three people to come up from Florida for this event. The other two were Iron Jon and Paula. This event has a history of attracting people from Florida for some reason: Red Jessi and Diosa both came out for the May 2009 event (as not seen in the Missing Columbus Surgeon's Journal) and Ivan Henry came out for the May 2010 event. Very curious, all that. It's as if it were part of the over arching Columbus Pirate Days story arc or something.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Jessica)
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Later, Jay took at turn at hammock napping while Lob stealthily crept onto his head (below left). Watch out Jay! Those aren't raisins in Lob's diaper! Blue Jess took a mid-day snooze on Saturday (below right). Somehow this picture reminds me of my sister's room at my folks house... Anyhow, that's enough of the hammock photos. (They tend to be long photos that take lots of space.)
(Photo: Jessica)
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(Photo: Mission)
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There were a couple of photos of stuff that I also wanted to share with y'all before closing out this Journal, starting with this fascinating picture below.
(Photo: Mission)
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Now you may ask yourself, 'Why did he take
this photo?' And you may ask yourself, 'Where does that roadway go to?'
And you may ask yourself, 'Why am I reading this Journal?' And you may
say to yourself, 'My God, what have I done?' Well, this particular pic
is a result of Shay insisting I take it. To her credit, there is a kind
of funny joke here, but I'm not going to tell you;
you have to figure it out for yourself! I will give you a hint, though. The
middle road name sign (which is sort of hard to read) says,
"COMMIT TO BE FIT.' See if you can figure out the joke.
(Photo: Mission)
Another fun bit of history that will make no sense to most of you is the
letter Chole Black wrote to Michael Bagley at Paynetown*. Kate had set
up a nice writing desk at the event. (Columbus, not at Paynetown.
Pay attention!) On Sunday, she put the letter from Chole out for
everyone to see. The
letter read, "Sir, It distresses me greatly to write this letter
under such circumstances, but necessity begs that I do. At this moment I
find myself in a dire position, certain debts have lately been imposed
upon my person which are currently beyond my means to discharge. I beg
of you sir - payment of the outstanding debt to the coffee house which
is currently 9£ 2s. Even a small portion of this sum would be an
immeasurable assistance to, your humble servant, Chole Black." I
happened to be sitting with Michael and Kate when a lad delivered the
letter. (At Paynetown, not Columbus. This is your last warning!) When
I asked about it, Michael told me it was a bill from Chole,
sighed heavily and said, "I guess I have to go to the ATM." !!
* - Not from the Paynetown 2010 Surgeon's Journal - this particular story line was left on the cutting room floor due to budget cuts and a lack of good photos.
Another neat photo was taken by Iron Jon. He brought William Red Wake's wonderfully detailed draughts of the Mercury with him and set them out in a display of ship's things. Since my editor is forever complaining about the lack of the Mercury ship in thee narratives, I thought I would give this bit a nice large display. Maybe he'll shut up, now. More likely he'll just get out his red pen and start cutting out huge swaths of my tex
(Photo: Iron Jon)
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I also would like to take a moment to comment upon the HMS Scow (below
left), a ship
which
I named in a previous journal. However, it is time to take a moment
and speak on the Scow's behalf. She may not look like much, but
she's got it where it counts. Michael has made a lot of special
modifications himself. It's the ship that made the Scioto Run in less than
twelve parsecs. Still, you'll notice that I pretty much stayed with the
Green Black Sheep. In fact, when Shay told me she had boarded the Santa
Maria from the HMS Scow, I found myself saying, "You went
in that thing? You're braver than I thought."
(Photo: Jessica)
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(Photo: What photo?)
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(Photo: Trish)
All of which brings us finally to the end of the Columbus Talk Like a
Pirate Day 2010 journal. You'll be glad to know that mistress Trish, who
was in charge of shackling and keeping the governor's daughter got her
just reward when she was struck by lightning whilst aboard the Santa
Maria. (At right.) Either that or she was just laying
there appreciating the stars. Choose whichever description pleases you
most.
I would be remiss if I didn't thank Pyracy Pub poster jendobyns for inadvertently suggesting the stupid pop culture theme for this Journal. (I'll bet you didn't know that these Journals had pop culture themes.
Actually, come to think of it, neither did I.)
November, 2011: While upgrading all the old Journals to the new format, I had to sacrifice the title graphics I designed for each page. Since they often required a lot of work with really crappy tools, I wanted to make them available, if only so I could go back and look at them myself. So you get to see them too. Below is the graphic I originally used as the title for this Journal.
(Photo: Mission, the artiste)
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