Skip to main content

Fun and festivals

The area around DFW is never short of a few festivals, it seems, and we made it along to a couple more this weekend. We had originally hoped to go canoeing but there was a distinct chance of thunderstorms. These never materialised, though Saturday evening was rather cool with a bit of rain, which wasn't ideal for listening to music on an outdoor stage; conversely, Sunday was very warm and muggy, which didn't look fun for all the people dressed in full Renaissance costume!

So, first up was Taste Addison. Addison is a well-to-do area north of Dallas, and this festival was a chance for the local restaurants to have a stand and sell snack-size portions of their wares for around $5. I tried fish & chips (not quite up there with the British seaside version, but not bad), chilli and gumbo (much more American) and spring rolls (double size portion because it was almost the end of the festival). For dessert there was a very delicious honey flan with fruit. This is the Mexican version of flan - not a pie-type affair but a kind of baked custard, something like creme caramel.

Music was provided by Bowling for Soup and Foreigner.


Bowling for Soup: local band, fun music, crazy way-out-there banter between songs - and where did they get that name from, anyway???


Foreigner: rock band which I'd seen once before in conjunction with Bryan Adams; I liked them a lot better this time, though whether they actually were better or it's just that my ears have got attuned to rock music since living with Graham, I don't know! They're better known for their more mellow stuff than the rockier songs ("I wanna know what love i-i-i-i-i-s....").

On Sunday Graham and I, and a couple of friends, Dave and Amie, headed down to Waxahachie (great name) for the Scarborough Fair Renaissance Festival. I was somewhat unprepared for the sheer scale of the thing - 38 acres of mediaeval-style buildings, wrecked galleons, a castle, stages and jousting area. And more people in costume than you would ever believe possible.


We were intrigued by the concept of turtle racing, but it turned out to be much less exciting than it sounded, with a white-haired guy doing a lot of patter about the World Turtle Racing Federation and such like and only about two minutes of actual turtle action. Three of the turtles just sat there and the littlest one made a run for the edge of the stage and was pronounced winner. Thrilling.

The falconry exhibit was a lot better. We admired a couple of owls and a bald eagle, and saw some nifty flying by a hawk chasing the lure. The display was put on by a charity which cares for injured birds of prey, so they provided a lot of information about bird conservation as well, and a chance to chat afterwards.


The bald eagle, proud symbol of America.

Jousting was a grand production, attended by King Henry VIII himself (and one of his queens). The baddie was suitably rude, and died in a very dramatic fashion, and the winner, fighting for Sir William of Whitehall, retired to loud huzzahs from the crowd.



There were shops selling all manner of things, from bows and arrows and chain mail to fantasy art and wooden goblets. Orange and strawberry sorbet mounded onto half an orange provided a cool relief in the heat, but Graham was laughing at my orange lips for ages afterwards.



We rather liked the hanging chairs and hammocks. This is Dave and Amie looking relaxed:


and I could get used to this life!

I wonder why he seemed so reluctant to buy me one...
Labels:

Comments

John Evens said…
It always rains at foreigner concerts. I think we've seen them twice at Innsbrook and got completely soaked both times. I can't remember if there was a huge thunderstorm on both occasions or just the once, but that band definitely takes the (bad) weather with them. Still, it's always the most fun at their gigs. As for the Renaissance Fair - I'm ashamed of you!! OK, the bald eagle is pretty cool but everything else about those events is shameful (not that I've ever been)!
11 May 2009 at 20:37
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Where am I going now? The Portway

I should probably explain why I am pottering around Nottingham and its western suburbs, rather than roaming the Derbyshire countryside. It's not just the abundance of paved paths, although that certainly helps - I recently went on a country walk across a cow field and found myself tiptoeing gingerly across boggy mud cratered with six-inch deep hoof holes. Then I was confronted by a sign which said: Private Property, Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted. I congratulated myself on being on a public right of way, then, a few steps on, consulted the map and realised I wasn't. The path was across a completely different field. nice scenery, though I digress. Apart from the absence of cows and angry landowners, the reason I am walking around Nottingham is that it's the start of the Portway. There is a blog called The Old Roads of Derbyshire , written by a man named Stephen Bailey, who has also published a book of the same name. I can't remember now whether I came across the book fir...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Portway: Lenton to the Bramcote Hills

It was cold. My fingers were cold, and my phone was cold too. The OS map was totally failing to find my location, and the more I prodded it the less feeling I had in my fingers, so I gave up, shoved both my phone and my chilly hands into my pockets, and set off. After all, I knew where I was. This was Wollaton Park. And the path was very obvious. Just follow the avenue of trees... ...past the deer... ...and out through the fancy gates. Crossing a busy road brought me into a neat little housing estate with unusual round street signs. This was built when Wollaton Park was sold to Nottingham City Council in 1925. The old gatehouse, Lenton Lodge, is now estranged from the rest of the park, and stands by itself next to Derby Road. The bridge used to go over the Nottingham Canal, which has now been turned back into the River Leen. The unfortunate river got shoved out of the way whenever someone came up with a new building project. This is not its original course. My hands were warming up sli...
Post a Comment
Read more

Portway: Bramcote Hills to Stanton-by-Dale

I parked in the free car park at Bramcote Hills Park and set off, naturally enough, in the direction of where I'd last been. Up some steps through the woods, along the edge with marvellous views northwards, and down past a school to pick up Moor Lane again. At that point I realised I was supposed to be walking this route in the opposite direction. Oops. Well, it didn't make much difference. It just meant that the Hemlock Stone would come at the end rather than the start. Also, I was doing a figure of eight, so I could switch paths in the middle. That sorted, I pressed on along the disused Nottingham Canal. This had varying amounts of water in it. There were good views back up to the double hump of the Bramcote Hills. Nottingham Canal Also Nottingham Canal Just before I got to Trowell garden centre, I crossed a bridge and walked across a green space to a partly built housing estate. The Boundary Brook had been aggressively re-wiggled. I'm sure it will look better in a year...
Post a Comment
Read more