Odds and Ends

Renaissance Festival
After the wedding rush was over we took some time to do things we enjoyed. I have wanted to get back to the Michigan Renaissance Festival for years now. As kids our family used to go frequently but it had been many years since I had last been. The big attraction was to eat some of the great treats you only get at these festivals, like a giant turkey leg or a bowl of soup served in a bread bowl.

Dave Eating a Turkey Leg

If you’ve been to a Renaissance Festival before you know in addition to the food there is always great entertainment. We watched the joust while we ate. Lucky for us there was a fiddling group on a stage nearby so instead of paying attention to what they were saying about the joust we relaxed to some great music while we watched guys on horse back try to knock each other off.

Joust

Fiddling Group

The highlight of the festival for me is watching the glassblowing demonstrations. As a kid I remember sitting at this booth for long stretches at a time mesmerized at the molten glass being sculpted before my eyes. So I wasn't surprised to find ourselves at the Royal Glassmakers booth. For this demonstration they were making a customized goblet for a lady in the audience.

Glassblowing Demonstration

Adding Glass for a Sturdier Base

Sculpting the Base

Almost Finished

What Next?
Now that all our obligations of weddings and shed building are completed dave and I had to decide how our journey would continue. A quick look at our budget told us we needed to find work before we could continue to travel to the places we would still like to see. The next question was where to hunker down and work. For a variety of reasons we decided to spend the winter at my family’s cottage. Although the job market isn’t great due to the horrible economy in Michigan we figured we would be able to find something that would allow us to scrape some money together. We’ve applied at the grocery stores and pizza places but it looks like our best chance for a job will be with Pioneer Sugar sorting the sugar beets as they come in from the farms nearby. We’ve both taken the orientation class and are just waiting on the call that says they need us. We’ll keep you posted as we find out more.