Last Saturday we braved the unseasonal heat and humidity and visited the Connecticut Renaissance Faire in Hebron, Connecticut.
We saw a silk aerialist on one stage:
Then we were approached by this self-proclaimed fool who invited us to see his duel on another stage. I said we would come if he’d allow me to take his picture. He posed willingly.
We watched another show on the stage shown below, from a distance, while eating our lunch in the shade. Not sure what it was all about – there was a lot of splashing and towel snapping – no doubt they were poking fun at the man they coaxed up there from the audience.
There were costumes to be seen everywhere…
But our favorite part of the day was the falconry demonstration. I’m not sure how I feel about this sport, but the falconer explained that their birds were rescue birds and that they would have perished in the wild. In theory these birds of prey could fly away if they were unhappy with their lot in life.
I was thrilled to be so close to these beautiful creatures, but my camera was getting a workout trying to zoom in and out to get pictures of them up close and far away. This falconer was very accommodating and kept pausing in front of me so I could get a shot.
I got the sense that these falconers love and respect their birds of prey. They seemed genuinely interested in educating the public about their natural behavior. No unnatural or coerced circus tricks here.
Hi,
What a fantastic day out, looks like it was a heap of fun. Great photo’s, I especially love the photo of the bird, it is beautiful. The people dressed in costume look great, I would love to go to something like that.
It was loads of fun, Mags! Do you not have Renaissance Fairs in Australia? We don’t go every year as the closest one is about an hour to drive to. One of these years I may actually try wearing a costume! The birds were amazing – some flew very close to us…
Ohhhhhhh, I love your explanation of falconry:
“…their birds were rescue birds and that they would have perished in the wild. In theory these birds of prey could fly away if they were unhappy with their lot in life.”
Thank you!
You’re welcome, Laurie. There was one rescued bird in particular they brought out – his wing was so badly crippled that he was unable to fly. But he looked well-fed and content, even affectionate with his handler…
Hi Barbara, nice to see your new blog site. 🙂 I’m also thinking of moving – though possibly off wordpress altogether. Not sure yet.
I’ll subscribe via RSS feed as it’s easier for me than getting lots of emails. 🙂
Love the Dragons… we’ve one that sits in our front garden looking for flying cups!
I remember the picture of your dragon, Val! I was tempted to purchase these two. 🙂
It will be interesting to see where you move your blog, if you do. With your talent for digital art I bet you could create a very attractive domain! Have you ever had one on WordPress.org before?
No… I don’t have enough skills with the nuts and bolts of webdesign yet. And since coming off the BP reducing pills, while my brain’s cleared a bit, there’s still a way to go… I’m not sure really if I want to stay on WordPress at all, actually. I love some things about it but the way they mess with the admin areas drives me crazy!
If I ever see that pair of dragons online in the UK for a reasonable price – I’m having them! 😉
I should have asked the dragon merchant if he had a website! 🙂
My head is spinning with this change, too. I miss some features of WordPress.com, like how easy it is to manage subscriptions to posts and comments, but like a lot of things self-hosting at WordPress.org better. Guess I can’t have my cake and eat it, too!
Hope your brain continues to clear – I’d love to get off blood pressure meds, too.
Hi Barbara,
Even though I thought I’d subscribed I haven’t received anything and came here to see why you were so quiet!
Thanks for taking us with you to the Faire. I enjoyed your pictures especially the ones of the birds
Hi Rosie, I’m not sure what the problem is, but I don’t think I ever got a subscription notification from you either… Will you try subscribing once more? Sorry this has been so frustrating!
Those birds were amazing – wish I could have gotten pictures of them in flight…
This looks like such a fun day! And those birds are just gorgeous. 🙂
It was fun and the birds were a thrill to see up so close!
Hi there! I am the General Manager of The Connecticut Renaissance Faire. We are so happy that you enjoyed your day with us and we hope to see you back again with us in 2013!
Thanks!
Brian
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment, Brian! We did enjoy our day there and hope to return again next autumn or perhaps we’ll head over to Guilford to check out the springtime Connecticut Renaissance Faire…