Carolina Renaissance Festival, November 4, 2006

   

 

 

www.royalfaires.com/carolina

 

 

Huntersville, NC, in the Charlotte area... off of Poplar Tent Rd...

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

 

Sarah Mullen - Celtic Harp This was one of the two most memorable parts of the gathering for me. I sat and listened to this beautiful music for quite a while... sometimes watching the folks walk by, other times lost in reverie. I chatted briefly with Sarah and bought her CD "The Wild Woods"...

 

         

 

My photos of the swordsmith vanished. I love watching that work and the sound of a blade being drawn from its scabbard...

 

       

 

       

 

The other most memorable part of the day happened as I was walking down to the jousting area (below). I took a roundabout path through the woods and came upon a spot where horses were tended to, well out of public view. The area was setup much as I imagine a horse camp would have been setup 500 years ago. A campfire was burning and the smoke hung in the air. I could hear the sound of horses and smell the scent of horses. I could see a couple of fellows going about their work, tending to some kind of leather piece, and I could hear the sound of a hammer against an anvil. Nobody else was around. At that moment it occurred to me that nothing in my field of perception was of modern times... it was as if I had stumbled out of the Time Tunnel into an age long passed. I looked around for something that would give away the modern age, but there was nothing. I stood there and soaked it in...

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

I thought I would camp for the evening at the festival, but by the shank of the afternoon my mind was leaning back to Strawberry Hill...