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treeskinBecause fire and flood and drums in the streets are commonplace at HPF, you know.
We're back. Got back last night, actually, having finishing loading the trailer (and hooking the blasted thing up) in hard rain. Managed to call Mom and chat a bit before the storm got really bad, did not manage to shower or fix any dinner before the power went off, so we had granola bars for dinner. Have not heard how the rest of the Heretics still up at camp fared in the rain. They'd intended to pack a bunch of air mattresses over into![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
taran_stone's great big tent, but the rain got there first. Last we saw, they were venturing out from under cover to see how well the new berm went. (Which was fairly well, for the most part, a little backwash back into the kitchen around the open end, but that's as much a factor of how much rain there was and how fast it came down. When we get the grade raised in the whole kitchen that ought to be fixed.)
My hair is now greenish, streaked with blonde. Still cool though. Everyone seemed to like it. (And one fellow left site at 5:15am yesterday planning to tell his roommate that he was 12 hrs late heading home because he was playing in a field all night with a green-haired witch, but that's another story.) There are lots of pics with me and the green hair, and I will try to get them from Chuck to post.
So, Heartland.
I still think the best part of the trip are the days before and days after festival, when everyone's in a festival/party mood, but there's only a hundred or so folk on site.
We ended up with 20 people in camp, and feeding about 30 at the top end, which were manageable numbers. Karen did a fantastic job on the meal plan; we threw very little away this year, and had just enough leftovers for the last folks at camp. The ununsed stuff we brought home fit in a grocery sack (last year our portion of the leftovers filled a cooler).
The pig roast didn't go quite as planned--they didn't have the first fire hot enough, so it came out of the ground still very raw the first time. Easy fix though: wrap it back up, stoke the fire up again (as in hot enough to melt caution tape from the bottom of the pit and 6 feet again), , then bury pig again. The second morning, the ground was still steaming above the pig. Much better. I didn't have any (which is a public service; I need to stay away from pork things), but the 50-odd people who did loved it.
What else? I'm not terribly focused today, as you may have noticed. Working registration was interesting, will probably do that again if Jen's heading that committee. By spent a lot of time fixing things for people, or last minute stuff for the fires. Did a little shopping--By got a nice merscham churchwarden pipe and some new comfy clothes from Tigger's booth (hipari jacket and hakama pants, whcih look very spiffy on him). I got a hipari in woodsy colors that garnered many compliments, and failed me saving throw against temptation on a lovely Native American flute with a bright tone.
Didn't make it to any workshops this year, mostly because the ones I was half interested in were held while I was working. Didn't make it to any of the rituals either, but what I saw/heard from them were quite silly. Nothing new there. Concerts were great this year, a much better lineup overall than in years past. Djembe Kaan rocks my world.
Did not hook up with Pet this year. He came to camp and visited, but always with his roommate in tow. Roommate is a nice kid; they stayed and chatted and ate pig with us Sat night.
The rangoli and Sunday fire were fantastic. It took five of us about 5 hrs total to draw the rangoli, which included lotus motifs I pulled off of Peg's tatoo. Ashe ran a line of strantium around the fire, arranged waterfall effects off the top corners, and had someone else build a fireball to launch out of the top. So, when the concert ended and that crew of drummers processed to the dancing circle, they set off the strantium first, a wonder red fire around the crib, then the waterfalls in hissing silver sparkles from the top, then **poomf** and out goes the fireball. And the remote start actually worked this year. Three years trying, and it worked this year. All beautiful. I know there are pictures, and video, as Chuck was on top of the pavillion filming. Will try to get pics for sharing.
We got a bit silly the Sunday before fest. Have I mentioned the monkeys before? Heretic Camp is all about the monkeys. 5' tall inflatable, 2' tall squeaky inflatable, and brightly colored plush. Monkeys everywhere. And that's the normal part of the camp decorations. The hill of leftover construction soil, where ER redid the drainage around the pavillion, was *not* part of the usual camp decorations, but someone was silly enough to leave it at our south gate, so....The first day it was christened Golgatha, which got us talking about putting a cross of some kind up there. That devolved into a procession from our front porch to the hill, with a purple plush monkey tied to an upside-down cross, and chanting, and candles. Saint Simian stayed up until yesterday morning, and acquired a group of devoted followers and many offerings of bananas and grapes and pretty rocks.
The Friday during fest added another note to the "thou shalt not mess with the Heretics" legend. Ian, who ran the shuttles during fest, had gotten permission from Ashe and Karen to "borrow" a monkey to adorn one of the shuttles, provided the monkey was masked. No one told the rest of the folk in camp about it, though, so when Ian sidled down into camp and nabbed one, it became necessary for me to maintain our honor. Note to self: running in an ankle length dress, clogs, and no bra is possible, but not the wisest idea. Caught the little bastard though. My campmates said it looked like I was channelling Kali :) Ian wouldn't come into camp after that without Ashe or Karen escorting him. Color me very amused.
Monday night was the after-fest pyro party. Ashe pulled out the leftovers, and some stuff they wanted to test to see if it'd work for the fires, and made all kinds of noise and bright lights. When the smoke from that faded, they decided to go tobaganning down the hill below the dining hall. The original plan was to use boxes from the new pavillions, lubricated with cooking oil (the boxes, that is, the participants were lubricated with rum and blueberry mead). When that didn't work, the crew got creative, and ending up with Ashe and Coyote sliding down the hill, naked, on a plastic table. From there they tried the canoe that was stashed by the main hall. Something about reenacting Washington crossing the Delaware. Never heard if they actually tried the industrial size cookie sheets. *I* was up at camp watching Maia and talking with Tim, but I'm told there are pictures.
I'm sure there will be more later, as I remember. I ran on 3 hrs of sleep yesterday, and hurried loading in cold rain after that, so I'm not all here today.
We're back. Got back last night, actually, having finishing loading the trailer (and hooking the blasted thing up) in hard rain. Managed to call Mom and chat a bit before the storm got really bad, did not manage to shower or fix any dinner before the power went off, so we had granola bars for dinner. Have not heard how the rest of the Heretics still up at camp fared in the rain. They'd intended to pack a bunch of air mattresses over into
taran_stone's great big tent, but the rain got there first. Last we saw, they were venturing out from under cover to see how well the new berm went. (Which was fairly well, for the most part, a little backwash back into the kitchen around the open end, but that's as much a factor of how much rain there was and how fast it came down. When we get the grade raised in the whole kitchen that ought to be fixed.)My hair is now greenish, streaked with blonde. Still cool though. Everyone seemed to like it. (And one fellow left site at 5:15am yesterday planning to tell his roommate that he was 12 hrs late heading home because he was playing in a field all night with a green-haired witch, but that's another story.) There are lots of pics with me and the green hair, and I will try to get them from Chuck to post.
So, Heartland.
I still think the best part of the trip are the days before and days after festival, when everyone's in a festival/party mood, but there's only a hundred or so folk on site.
We ended up with 20 people in camp, and feeding about 30 at the top end, which were manageable numbers. Karen did a fantastic job on the meal plan; we threw very little away this year, and had just enough leftovers for the last folks at camp. The ununsed stuff we brought home fit in a grocery sack (last year our portion of the leftovers filled a cooler).
The pig roast didn't go quite as planned--they didn't have the first fire hot enough, so it came out of the ground still very raw the first time. Easy fix though: wrap it back up, stoke the fire up again (as in hot enough to melt caution tape from the bottom of the pit and 6 feet again), , then bury pig again. The second morning, the ground was still steaming above the pig. Much better. I didn't have any (which is a public service; I need to stay away from pork things), but the 50-odd people who did loved it.
What else? I'm not terribly focused today, as you may have noticed. Working registration was interesting, will probably do that again if Jen's heading that committee. By spent a lot of time fixing things for people, or last minute stuff for the fires. Did a little shopping--By got a nice merscham churchwarden pipe and some new comfy clothes from Tigger's booth (hipari jacket and hakama pants, whcih look very spiffy on him). I got a hipari in woodsy colors that garnered many compliments, and failed me saving throw against temptation on a lovely Native American flute with a bright tone.
Didn't make it to any workshops this year, mostly because the ones I was half interested in were held while I was working. Didn't make it to any of the rituals either, but what I saw/heard from them were quite silly. Nothing new there. Concerts were great this year, a much better lineup overall than in years past. Djembe Kaan rocks my world.
Did not hook up with Pet this year. He came to camp and visited, but always with his roommate in tow. Roommate is a nice kid; they stayed and chatted and ate pig with us Sat night.
The rangoli and Sunday fire were fantastic. It took five of us about 5 hrs total to draw the rangoli, which included lotus motifs I pulled off of Peg's tatoo. Ashe ran a line of strantium around the fire, arranged waterfall effects off the top corners, and had someone else build a fireball to launch out of the top. So, when the concert ended and that crew of drummers processed to the dancing circle, they set off the strantium first, a wonder red fire around the crib, then the waterfalls in hissing silver sparkles from the top, then **poomf** and out goes the fireball. And the remote start actually worked this year. Three years trying, and it worked this year. All beautiful. I know there are pictures, and video, as Chuck was on top of the pavillion filming. Will try to get pics for sharing.
We got a bit silly the Sunday before fest. Have I mentioned the monkeys before? Heretic Camp is all about the monkeys. 5' tall inflatable, 2' tall squeaky inflatable, and brightly colored plush. Monkeys everywhere. And that's the normal part of the camp decorations. The hill of leftover construction soil, where ER redid the drainage around the pavillion, was *not* part of the usual camp decorations, but someone was silly enough to leave it at our south gate, so....The first day it was christened Golgatha, which got us talking about putting a cross of some kind up there. That devolved into a procession from our front porch to the hill, with a purple plush monkey tied to an upside-down cross, and chanting, and candles. Saint Simian stayed up until yesterday morning, and acquired a group of devoted followers and many offerings of bananas and grapes and pretty rocks.
The Friday during fest added another note to the "thou shalt not mess with the Heretics" legend. Ian, who ran the shuttles during fest, had gotten permission from Ashe and Karen to "borrow" a monkey to adorn one of the shuttles, provided the monkey was masked. No one told the rest of the folk in camp about it, though, so when Ian sidled down into camp and nabbed one, it became necessary for me to maintain our honor. Note to self: running in an ankle length dress, clogs, and no bra is possible, but not the wisest idea. Caught the little bastard though. My campmates said it looked like I was channelling Kali :) Ian wouldn't come into camp after that without Ashe or Karen escorting him. Color me very amused.
Monday night was the after-fest pyro party. Ashe pulled out the leftovers, and some stuff they wanted to test to see if it'd work for the fires, and made all kinds of noise and bright lights. When the smoke from that faded, they decided to go tobaganning down the hill below the dining hall. The original plan was to use boxes from the new pavillions, lubricated with cooking oil (the boxes, that is, the participants were lubricated with rum and blueberry mead). When that didn't work, the crew got creative, and ending up with Ashe and Coyote sliding down the hill, naked, on a plastic table. From there they tried the canoe that was stashed by the main hall. Something about reenacting Washington crossing the Delaware. Never heard if they actually tried the industrial size cookie sheets. *I* was up at camp watching Maia and talking with Tim, but I'm told there are pictures.
I'm sure there will be more later, as I remember. I ran on 3 hrs of sleep yesterday, and hurried loading in cold rain after that, so I'm not all here today.
