Mab of Dream

After the Wiccanning, we piled into a convoy of cars and headed off to the Vegas Ren Faire. This was one of the things I'd been so warned about before I left for Vegas. Thou Shalt Not Pick on the Americans For Their Version of Medieval History. I must come across as a right uncompromising, sarcastic bint, I swear! Three different people warned me on this one, including my mother.

The event was brilliant. I didn't pick on the Americans about history, because it wasn't really like that. It was more a celebration of things Celtic, rather than historical, from what I could gather. The only glaring geographical anachronisation that I found was in the Welsh camp, where the accent was vaguely in the ballpark of Welsh, but I was informed that the character came from Herefordshire. Granted, parts of Herefordshire (as all the Marches) have been in Wales, but the accent is West Country there. I didn't say a word, just smiled. It was just a fun day out, not a museum trip.

One thing that did strike me was the quality of the Celtic experience. That back in Britain is far more diluted, whereas, in America, accents aside, you got the sense that Celtic identity had been not only held onto with an iron grasp, but had survived more intact than back in the homelands. It might be that the Celtic nations have evolved their identity and it all comes down to what defines 'Celtic'. For what I have considered Celtic, the Americans have the edge, if not the scenery.

Another thing that I'd been expecting was to seeing guns all over the place (I'm talking about Vegas as a whole, not the Ren Faire here), and I had been concerned about how I'd deal with that. I'd practiced keeping my face studiously neutral and reminding myself not to flinch. I didn't see a single gun the entire time I was there, however, walking into the Ren Faire, I did see a sign saying that firearms couldn't be taken into the park. Closer inspection also showed that neither could weapons of any sort, hence Dirk's... dirk... ended up in Shonna's nappy bag. They searched the larger bags, but not the small ones, like my handbag. I found that weird, because in Britain it's the tiny nooks and crannies they'd be looking into, but in America is the larger spaces. It just showed another cultural difference in what is being searched for.

The day was very hot. Pixie told me a couple of times to get some suntan cream on and I'm glad she did, as I think this was the day I really got tanned. I turned brown instead of red! :-o I think that might have something to do with the way the heat was, the dry heat, but it suited me. The worst that happened was I got very thirsty, but there was no sunstroke and the like.

I'm a little worried that Bella stole my soul with this picture. I can't remember it being taken, but by the look of it, it's me cooling down by whafting the back of my frock a bit. However, it's the most 'me' (inside my head) picture I've seen taken of me. There are plenty which make me look good (and plenty more which don't) but I think Bella's captured something here which I didn't know showed on the outside.

On the way in, Chelle had taken me to one side and passed on a message from someone in my past. This someone had once used the internet to spread concern that I was evil and to make some folk wary of me. She had admitted to Chelle recently that she'd been wrong and she was sorry. Chelle let me know this and it just seemed a perfect aside to happen on a perfect day.

I got to meet more members of the Grove too - Tabitha (whose ear was infected and had her in a lot of pain), Tracy and Ember.

We ended up making our base in the shade of a tree (reinforced by the shade of the pram) near to the main stage. Shonna sat there with the kids, while Anna, Georgia and I went to look around the stalls. I bought a pentacle stud, which hasn't sent my ear gammy. It looks like whatever I'm allergic to, it isn't silver. The stud went in my ear at that Ren Faire and is still there now. Pixie and Dirk followed us around; Corey appeared from nowhere and disappeared again; then we bumped into Bella, Brian and the kids. Aaron had something in my eye and, like the good Virgo I am, I had eye-drops in my bag for him. ;-) Festival first aider! LOL

Actually, the whole thing had the feel of a festival, which was great, because I thought my festival days were over for this year. I was trying to pin it down - I did tell someone that it was like the Greenfields at Glastonbury, but the further round I got, the more I realized that it wasn't. It's incomparable with any specific British festival, but had that festival feel to it.

The music was GREAT! It was all Celtic, mainly Gaelic from what I heard, but fantastic to dance to. Me and Billibob got up for a jig first and it was just the music for it; a kind of wild abandon thing. Later on, we were all getting up one by one or in gangs to dance. William loved it, so Shonna ended up taking him right up the stage to dance with him (he's three months old, he was more being carried with the dance than jigging around himself).

Elen was less impressed, being not one for music per se, from what I saw of her, and being very upset when her Mama disappeared into a crowd of jigging people. But I was well impressed with the picture I took of her when she got her Mama back and she was able to grab onto those skirts... her wings going nineteen to the dozen. Did I mention that Elen is a fairy?

Something mad happened though. We were all dancing down the front to O'Douling, when Walter (the lead singer) started a jigging competition with a CD up for grabs. Folk volunteered and ran up onto the stage to dance. The crowd then voted in applause and the winner stayed on. Everyone kept telling me to get my arse up there, but I thought of how many people would be looking at me and said no.

Then, a couple of songs on, I was looking at Bella when she suddenly started gesturing wildly at me and mouthing something. Shonna touched my arm and pointed. (No, I couldn't hear a word.) Walter was calling me on stage, because he'd been watching me dance from there. I didn't think on it. I think I vaguely thought, 'Oh! Bella and Shonna want me to go up there...' and just went. I'm such a sheep! LOL Halfway onto the stage, it occurred to me what I was doing. I banished the thought and pretended to be someone who didn't get stagefright, then I was on the stage.

Walter asked me where I was from and I told him that I was British. He (being from Eire) shook my hand to prove there were no hard feelings and someone must have shouted about me being Welsh, because he looked down to the Grove lot and said, 'Welsh? Well, never mind.' Then it was the dance off. I just lost myself in the music and didn't think of the people out there at all. I did think it was a shame on those I'd seen dancing so far, because I don't think any of them had ever seen a jig; I've seen billions of them, so I could copy them. Apparently, the skirt of my frock was flying up and everyone was seeing my blue knickers! If I'd have known that was going to happen, I'd have at least put on some of the new pants I'd got!





After that, I allowed myself to look down at the Grove gang and really focus on them. They were going yampy and I felt this big grin come up from the inside and land on my face.

I was up against a bloke and a young girl, the second time, and felt such a fraud! For a start, I hadn't gone through the whole competition and secondly, I'd been in Celtic countries watching it happen hundreds of times. I clapped both of them to big up their applause quota, but won anyway. :-D I got the band's 'Day at the Races' CD and later on, Georgia and Anna came with me to collect it and get it signed. Walter put his arm around me for a picture and judging by certain give-aways, I think he was pleased to see me. ;-) People kept coming up and thanking me for dancing, or bigging me up, and Bella's two sons were onto me to teach them how to jig. I really enjoyed it in the finish, though I think I'd have died of embarrassment if the bigging up had continued.

It was so amazing just sitting there with the gang, still at the looking around and thinking, 'That's Jodi... *grin*... that's Pixie... *grin*... that's Anna... *grin*' etc etc. We ended up all congregating in the shade of the tree, where Shonna had first plonked herself down. I learned that fizzy drinks are called sodas over there, which was a great help. There used to be a drink here called soda cream, which makes me feel sick, so I kept looking out for a stall which sold something other than soda, because I fancied a fizzy drink. Eventually, I gave up and asked Shonna if she'd seen a stall the like, else I'd get some water from the soda stall. A trans-Atlantically confused conversation later, I got some fizzy orange or orange soda as they call it. Such small things, so useful to know! LOL I also got myself some noodles from the Chinese stall while I was about it.

Incidentally, did I mention the amount of bekilted gentlemen around? Hundreds of them! Kilts wherever you looked, including three in our own party (Dirk, Sean and William). *Thundrous applause* Thank you American gentlemen! You made a British wench very happy. Of course, we now know what a lad wear's under his kilt, thanks to William - a nappy. Pixie made him a kilt! He looked so cute!

In the end, Shonna, Georgia, Anna, the kids and I went for a wander around the Faire. Elen got side-tracked by some pictures and I volunteered to stay with her, while the others pushed through the crowd. It was a bit of a bottleneck to all stay there. That's where I saw where Elen's passion is (insofar as a four year old gets passionate) - not with the music, but with the visual delights. She went through every single solitary picture, asking to be lifted to see the pictures framed above and having me go through each stack. There were a few that she liked, but at $198 apiece, she could just admire them there. There were smaller ones for $10, but none of the two she'd particularly liked. She had a great eye, she flicked past the more tacky ones and the ones she liked were beautiful. Fantasy scenes on an epic scale.

Afterwards, we stepped out and she spotted a stall selling Welsh corn dollies, so we went to investigate. Again she looked at them all and was lifted to see the ones above her, before deciding that she would like one of those. She didn't ask on, but I offered and she chose one. I didn't have to do anything beyond that. I gave her the dollars and she directed the stallman to the dollie. He asked if she would like it wrapped and she would. He was addressing his questions to her and she was responding in a very adult way. I was just proud Auntie Johnny watching the wench following her own mind.

But the stallman couldn't find the cellotape, so Elen pushed by and went behind the counter to look for it! LOL I got her out and agreed that duct tape would be fine. Elen looked dubious, but just on it the woman whose stall it really was came back. She found the cellotape and asked if we'd prefer it re-wrapping, Elen took over again. Yes, she would, thank you very much. She then supervised the re-wrapping, and asked for her name to be written on it, spelling it out. Meanwhile, the stallwoman asked if I knew what corn dollies where. I replied that I did and it was the first time I'd spoken a word. She did a doubletake! She was gushing then, because she'd been on the West coast and in the prairies, travelling around, and I was the first person she'd met in America who knew what a corn dollie was. I just figured that she hadn't met any of my friends yet.

We found the others then and carried on through the Faire. Passing the Welsh camp, with it's dozens of Ddraig Gochiau flying, Shonna paused to cant. They were allowing people to do archery, which got me thinking of mine and Jamie's efforts back in Wolverhampton earlier this year. Elen asked if she could have a go and I asked if there was a height restriction - she looked at Elen and said yes. Shonna agreed, so off we went!

The queue was massive, so I was mid-storytelling, telling Elen all about Myrddin and the red and white dragons, when we were called over. They let us queue jump! And they'd set up a shorter run for Elen to have a go. Shonna had to lean over and put her glove on for her, and the first bloke was great with her, showing her how to draw her bow. But I wasn't paying as much attention as I could have and so I messed it right up when I came to take over supervising her. The second woman who came to show us was apparently really sharp and snappy with Shonna, Georgia and Anna. She told them to stop cheering and clapping as they were putting Elen off. I, of course, was sat there right next to her, cheering and clapping. It's probably nothing to do with charm that I got away with it, and more to do with deafness. I didn't hear her have them let alone me! LOL

I got eaten! I was sitting there on the sawdust clapping Elen when I got the sharpest pain in my side. It was sharp enough for me to not care who saw my knickers (the entire Faire had seen them anyway) in order to look what was going on. Shonna said she saw something relatively large fly off, but I didn't see that, I saw something small which I picked out between my fingers. I thought that was the bug, but Shonna reckons that was only the sting and that the thing had been a hornet or a fire-ant. It really killed! But I did the stiff, upper lip/ignore it and it'll go away thing.

Ten minutes later, I sneaked another look, and I now had a bright red swelling about three inches across. I spotted a herbal remedy stall and nipped in to see if they had anything for bites. By now I was feeling quite faint, but didn't want to afret the others. It turned out that I knew more about herbs than they did and I couldn't see the others, so I ran out.

I spotted them by Queen Mab's court. *grin* Shonna sent me in to see a great shield hanging up. It was great, but I could feel myself going cold which really wasn't right for the heat of Vegas. I found myself a sweet, in case it was blood sugar, and started paying very close attention to my body. My interest in what I thought was fruit, but turned out to be jewellery (easy mistake to make!) told me that I was probably very thirsty.

We paused at the kilted Smith's forge (as you would) and the woman there was great with the kids. She gave them a dragon stone apiece (Shonna had William's) and also gave Elen a piece of paper with a story on it about the stone. I ended up with that in my handbag and it's still there. Note to self: Post Elen's dragon story back to Elen. By now, I was really feeling shivery inside and so took a couple of steps, wondering if I really ought to be mentioning this to three of my best friends, who will probably kill me reading this...

The others came with me, but we'd gone into the shade and it was as if someone had clicked their fingers, suddenly I was ok. I don't know if it was the shade, the breeze as suddenly came up or the sugar in the sweet kicking in, but the shiveryness faded and I didn't feel so faint. I had a little smile to myself that I hadn't afretted them. (A smile which will probably be wiped off my face when Shonna, Anna and Georgia read this. FT Kate once said that you can tell how ill I am by where I am on the scale between whinging and silence. If it's whinging you sympathize in full knowledge that it's a papercut; if I'm silent, you know it's a lot more.)

We passed a stall with THE perfect dress for Elen. But when would she have worn it but for the Ren Faire, and she'd have grown too much by the next one. Shonna went for a reccy anyway, but there was no price-tag on it, which decided that one. Around the corner, we were looking for a herb stall named Dragon's Hoard, when I spotted a lemonade stall. I was soon over there! Georgia came too and I thought for a second she'd sussed that I wasn't 100% and had come for a quiet word; but she didn't say anything. Had that been a British-sized cup of lemonade, I think I'd have finished it in one go; but it was a HUGE American-sized cup and I ended up chucking the last bit, there was so much. Georgia got Anna one and I got one apiece for Shonna and Elen. It was the best lemonade I've ever tasted, and it bought me down yet another level, so I was sorted then. Looking back, it was obviously dehydration, though it came so quickly on the bite, that I wonder if my body's immune system fighting that (or some very minor level of shock) had kick-started it.

We found Dragon's Hoard and they DID know their herbs. I had some tea-tree oil off them, which took the sting out almost immediately and within a minute or so brought the swelling down too. The Faire got its final look at my pants as I did that. And that was me completely sorted! They even took the box, as I'd carried the lemonade over in, off me. Bless their cotton socks.

Then it was time to go. :-( I was really enjoying myself and didn't want to leave. Of course, I had no idea what time it was! As it was, out of our gang, we were the last to leave and when Shonna 'phoned Bella, she was already back at her hotel and getting ready for the night. There was one last bit of trans-Atlantic confusion - Georgia was Elen's new favourite, so she was held up walking at her pace, so Anna and I stopped to wait for her. I looked up and asked where Shonna was. 'She's gone potty,' Anna told me. I was genuinely shocked, as Shonna had been fine two seconds before. I wondered what I'd missed.

Britain - 'Gone potty' = Become very upset, angry, mad at someone, pissed off at a situation. 'When his wife found out about the affair, she went potty'. 'When he found out what had been said about him, he went potty'. 'He threw a punch and then really went potty'.

America - 'Gone potty' = Gone to the toilet. 'Shonna was wetting herself, so went potty'.

Ok. LOL Fortunately, Anna sussed that one very quickly and reworded it slightly.

We saw an amazing sunset as we walked out towards the car. I'd had 'You might still see that in the desert' line in my head for days, and I remember thinking it, on repeat, until it was doing my head it at that point. I tried singing over the top of it, but then just let it happen. Another moment of serendipity at who I was, where I was, who I was with. *grin* Loving it!

Shonna drove us to the Mediterranean Cafe, where I forgot how large American portions are and made the mistake of ordering a starter.
Elen was overtired and upsetting her mama; and it was so loud that I couldn't hear anyone but Georgia; but I just sat there feeling so full of the moment. So privileged to be there. That was one of the few times when I really let that feeling wash over me to the point of not living it, if that makes sense. Anna recommended a red wine, which was gorgeous (what was it, Anna fach?), but I was thirsty again, so needed something to knock back. Anna ended up having to polish that.

With the kids showing all the hallmarks of two little ones who wanted to be abed, we left the cafe and Shonna dropped Georgia and I off at the Bellagio to see Stephane's show, 'O'. Now, let's put this into some kind of context. Years ago, when Shonna first told me that Stephane was a musician, I'd imagined that they had some kind of hand to mouth existence, while he tried to make it big. After a while, I began to suss that he was quite successful. Eventually, I learned that he was in a show, so my mind went to the Grand Theatre, in Wolverhampton. When Shonna once sent me a link for O, I up-graded my mental image to 'something like the West End'.

Nothing in Heaven and Earth prepared me for THAT!

The week before I left Wolverhampton, I was at work when Caroline asked me about the show. We went on the computer and looked up the Bellagio. My jaw dropped and Caroline said, 'You've got to get yourself a manicure for certain.' When my Mum saw it, her first words were, 'You've got to get yourself a ballgown or an evening dress, something posh.' I was panic scutting through e-bay, when Bella found out I was going by accident. Thank any passing deity that she did, or else I'd have been trying to squeeze a ballgown through customs! She reassured me that I could wear anything. I think my Mum and Caroline would have had a heart-attack if they could have seen me and Georgia walking into the Bellagio (and 'O') in our Ren Faire outfits, having been walking around a dusty Faire all day! LOL And little did I know that what I was listening to when Caroline and I opened the 'O' page was Stephane on piano.

As we walked through the corridor, Georgia asked me what the arrangements were. I didn't know, I hadn't been able to hear them properly. She gave me That Look which half of Wolverhampton has down to a tee, and we compared notes on what we thought the arrangements were. It boiled down to going to a certain cafe and waiting for Stephane, but trying the box office first in case he'd left our tickets there. He hadn't, so we went the scenic route to the cafe. By scenic, I MEAN scenic! WOW! At one time, I was putting my fag out and staring at the ceiling, when I realized that Georgia had lost me. I'd say I lost Georgia, but there's no way I was responsible for myself with all of those pretties going on. ;-) I peered around the corner and she was waiting for me, bless her. We tried the box office, then went up the cafe to wait for Stephane.

That was a good idea. Cafe = coffee. I was getting so tired! With only about three minutes sleep the night before, on top of all those nights with only about five minutes sleep, followed by the big day we'd had, I was knackered. Georgia was just as bad! LOL But the coffee worked. We even had the brainwave of 'phoning Shonna from Georgia's mobile to find out the arrangements and who we owed money to. Unfortunately, either Shonna was slipping after being subjected to my cut-glass-crystal-fake-so-Americans-could-understand-me accent all week; or I was so tired I'd defaulted to broadest Black Country, because she couldn't tell a word I was saying! The conversation ended up with her saying to wait there because Stephane had the tickets and he was meeting us there. Cool! We sat back and enjoyed our coffee.

And enjoyed the fact that Brian and Bella turned up too! They are both gorgeous anyway, but Bella was absolutely stunning that night. She REALLY scrubs up well, that wench. Brian and I kept nipping out for a fag, then going back in to the others, but they had decided to join us to suggest exploring the Bellagio, when Brian's phone rang. It was Shonna. He handed her to Georgia this time, who speaks American fluently. Stephane had picked up the tickets, but he'd taken them home with him. They were sitting on the table back at their house and Shonna was en route bringing them back!

We had just had this news, when Stephane comes walking along the corridor. With presents! The brochure and the CD, one for each of us. :-D :-D :-D *happy dance* (I've played the CD to death since I've been home) We gave him the news about the tickets and the poor bloke turned pale. We rushed to reassure him that Shonna was on her way and you could actually see the implications, then the solution playing out on his face. He'd assumed we'd be going back to the house before coming to 'O'. The poor cariad! Then he sussed that this was ok, and looked at his watch, he shook his head and breathed a sigh of relief, 'There's time for coffee.' That was cool! :-D

We sat around the table looking through our brochures and trying to get a sense of what we were about to see. (And taking the piss out of Stephane when we found the picture of him in the blue eye-shadow.) But nothing was going to prepare us for that. I was worried about Shonna (yes, I know I worry to much...), because I knew how tired she was, and how soul-destroying it would have been for her to finally relax for quiet time with Anna, only to have to come back out, driving through Vegas traffic for me and Georgia.

As always, I needn't have afretted. (Yes, I am getting this lesson slowly but surely!) She met Georgia and I at the ticket office, after Bella and Brian had gone shopping and Stephane had gone to prepare to entertain us, and she was bouncing around, looking like she'd had ten hours sleep since she'd last been with us! LOL She was well excited about us seeing the show and really wished she could see our faces at the opening curtain. Then hugged us both and sent us off to the show.

Bella was right on not worrying about what to wear. Some folk were in shorts and t-shirts; some in glittering things; some in full evening dress and everything in between. I saw a few young blonde women, with scarily large breasts and small waists, whose husbands/boyfriends appeared to be in their 80s. Georgia and I sat in VERY GOOD seats, playing spot Stephane, Bella and Brian. After mistaking another musician for Stephane (by sheer dint of the other bloke being the only one up there), we saw him, but didn't see Bella and Brian until the end.

It started with two clowns coming out of the door into the audience, then acting out in the aisles and such. I've never really found clowns funny, but that changed that night, they were hilarious! Then the opening curtain... FUCKING WOW! Georgia and I both sat there with open mouths watching something indescribable!

Which pretty much sums up 'O'. How do you describe something like that? Nothing in my experience prepared me for it and I doubt there's anything like it in Britain at all, so nothing I can send my friends and family here to see. It was truly amazing. :-D And now I know what Stephane does. 'kin Hell!

The only slight technical hitch was how tired I was. At one point, I was yawning one yawn after another, with my eyes open wide to stop them closing and me missing a second of this. So much so, my contact lenses were getting dry! LOL Then, out of nowhere, came a loud saxophone, which had me jumping out of my skin, accompanying a fast and furious routine. I was awake then! That was precisely what I needed. After that, sleep wasn't an issue, as I got my second wind and was able to watch the rest of the show without the mad eyes thing going on. I'm so glad about that, because I wouldn't have missed that for the world.

And who was behind the saxophone which startled me back into full alertness? Stephane, bless his socks! :-D

Mind you, if Georgia thought I was hyperactive when that was over, it was nothing compared to Bella! She came up behind us and didn't stop for breath! I lip-read all the 'Did you see...?' babbling, but didn't catch the end bits. I was too busy grinning at her. Someone kept stepping on Georgia's frock, but stopped just before words were had; and I was told off by a stewardess woman, who seemed to think that me foregoing a cigarette for the entire of the show meant that I was going to light up before I was out of the auditorium at the end of it... but we were all bouncing by the time we got to the part where I could not only light up but also hear Bella.

We all waited for Stephane and he was soon out. Georgia, Bella and I flew at him, hugging him and saying, 'WOW' a lot. It was quite funny that after that he was left with Brian, who could only put his hand out to shake! LOL Blokes really should be allowed to hug each other, I swear. :-D But yes, there was Stephane being mobbed by over-excited Grove women and he didn't seem to mind it at all. *grin*

He took Georgia and I up onto the roof, where his car was parked, which was another great thing. I'm a wench of simple tastes (which is why 'O' stunned me) and simple things like a car parked on a roof is enough to entertain me as well.

Anna and Shonna were both already abed by the time we got in, and we weren't far behind them at all.

That was one of the most amazing days of my entire life. Thank you everyone who shared it with and made it possible.

:-D

yours
Mab
xxxxx