Parchment Paths

Yesterday, my church's drama team held it's first read thorough for the Christmas Drama. This will be my first time acting in about eight or nine years so I'm a bit nervous but incredibly excited about it! It's a great story, but I don't want to give anything away. Today, my nephew, niece, and I spent some time outdoors, just enjoying the changing leaves and gorgeous weather. A small hawk like bird even perched in a tree by us. I just love this time of year, the sunshine is still warm, but there's still a faint chill in the air, the leaves are changing, giving one last burst of color before the winter comes.

It's rather late in coming, but here is the tale of my  latest adventure at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire!     A few weeks ago, my father and I took my niece and nephew for the second pirate themed weekend at the faire. Pirate Captain Grace O'Malley. (she and my niece bonded over French Fries)       First, we visited the  Children's Discovery Garden, where Dad taught, or rather attempted to teach the kids how to play giant checkers. Then we were off the see the first joust of the day. I had a great time, but the kids got bored. The knights were explaining the rules, and were exchanging a lot of banter and I think it was over their three and five year old heads.  I wasn't about to distract the people around me or make the kids sit through something they didn't like so we left Bosworth Field and wondered about the Shire. That plan seems to work best with the kids. We perused the Imaginrium Gallery and Museum . The kids wer...

I tried my hand again at geocaching again, aided , actually led, by my good friend, Nicole.  I say led because she has the geocaching APP on her phone and knows how to use it. We set of for Na Aug Park in Scranton, where our first cache led us to the tree house.  To be honest, we were distracted by the graffiti inside.   As Christians, we appreciated this. I was also impressed by the use of cursive!  As Whovians, appreciated the following... After getting back on track, we followed the APP though were having trouble with the map. It wasn't updating as we walked along, so knowing the area, we tried to follow the landmark themed clues which led us to the gorge. I have no idea what this rusted frame used to belong to; any ideas? Aside from the gorgeous , a little pun intended,  view, our trek yielded nothing. In fact, once the map updated, it seemed to take us away from the gorge and towards the playgroun...

Last weekend I got to spend some time with my dad at the  Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. Even though I attend many times, I find the people I go with influence the experience.  While last time my friends and I followed the story line shows, my dad and I wondered about catching shows by chance. Such as this one, Pastimes. I've heard this group on their reproduction hurdy gurdys while in line to get inside the fair grounds, I've never attended one of their shows. It was very informative as they gave not just the history of the instruments but of the songs they played as well. The music was enjoyable, perhaps not something I'd listen to aside from the faire, but still pleasant and the history was presented in an informal, interesting manner. After that, I suggested seeing Tartanic, a drum and bagpipe group that plays more modern Celtic, and other music. It was neat comparing and contrasting the two shows. Tartanic is an incredibly fun group that performs at various other...

Have you ever come across an amazingly unique, cafe or restaurant while on vacation and enjoyed the place so much you wished you lived nearby just to enjoy it? That's how I feel about Ballyhoo , an old fashioned ice cream parlor in West Pittston, PA. Except I do live nearby! The atmosphere inside is so wonderful that it does feel like a vacation spot. The decor reminds me, well not actually since I'm only 29, of a 1940's or perhaps even earlier ice cream parlor. It even has a vintage display case stocked with unusual candies, like licorice pipes, wax mustaches, and candy sticks, formally known as candy cigarettes. They also sell soda in glass bottles! The lady who runs the place is extremely friendly and even gave me a bit of history on the building. While the ice cream parlor is quite small, it's part of larger building that was a  functioning store dating fairly far back. There's a picture of the building on the wall, dating back to I'd guess 1930. Maybe...

This Sunday I had the long awaited opportunity of visiting the    Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire for Time Traveler’s Weekend.   As always, it’s a pleasure to see the costumes of fellow fairgoers. Though there are always few non time period specific costumes year round, the number increases on some themed weekends. I stepped aside from my usual faire attire and dressed as River Song from Doctor Who, since she is a time traveler after all.  Aside from looking at all the costumes, some were even on cast members, my group and I had a great time wondering about the shire (the fairgrounds are made to resemble a town or shire).   We followed the story line shows, but mostly wondered around, shopping and seeing a few shows. The Royal Falconer Show Circa Paleo, one of my most favorite groups    It was nice to go at slow pace because it led us to something new for the whole group, The Dungeon. I’ve often wondered if it ...

Overall this book was enjoyable, but while it took me awhile to connect to the characters in this series first book, Boneshaker, I never really felt connected or sympathetic to anyone. The people just weren't as compelling or fleshed out (which may be a terrible pun considering the zombies in the plot). I felt that Mercy was mildly interesting, but seemed far too stoic to be realistic and in some ways she seemed like a vague version of Briar from Boneshaker. It's a good, exciting, fast read however, and it did leave me curious about the others in the Clockwork Century series