Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Silver Cliff 2008

Presbyterian Gal, you made me do it. You asked for lots of pictures. LOL!


Bearded Eagle hangs up our Yankee flag after we are set up. You can't see his face because he is standing behind "Fred" the bearskin. Our chairs are draped with sheepskins and deer hides, and our little table sits under the awning too. Behind the table you can glimpse my new camp "kitchen." Our lodge opens in both the front and back, as you can see. Nice for cross ventilation.

Inside our "lodge" -- our little Rendezvous home away from home, a bow, arrows and black powder guns hang on the ceiling pole, a candle lantern sits atop my wooden box of clothing and "possibles" (all necessary stuff) and both front door and back door are open to let in the breeze. Also the bugs. Out the back door you see the meadow behind us.



Biscuits, bacon and eggs for breakfast, all cooked by Bearded Eagle on our little wood stove. You can see the stove pipe sticking out the lodge ceiling.


Ahhh, coffee! I know, my hair's a mess. Don't worry. I'll soon be putting a mob cap on it. Isn't my cup cute?


This is my new camp kitchen set up. I love it! No more standing on my head to dig around in a wooden box trying to find the salt or the beef jerky.!



A little looking around in the woods always produces a wildflower arrangement. Note the French fleur de lis on the cup. Very proper to the period.


Haley and her baby sister, Taylor. Two beautiful little frontier mademoiselles!


As the stars began to come out, the people began to gather around some musicians. It was a lovely, cool evening. The music ranged from traditional American songs, to Irish jigs to a little Dylan and even some Coldplay.

"Two Portions" plays the wash tub. I mean, he plays it! If you weren't looking at him you would think that he was playing a big bass fiddle. The guy is amazing. He played for hours. He told me he can play the bass fiddle and the bass guitar, but he prefers playing the washtub at a campfire with his reenactor friends. His daughter once dated our son. Alas, the relationship did not bloom or perhaps I'd have learned to play the washtub by now.
Little girls came out to dance to the fiddle tunes. The two on the outside are dressed in plains Indian "ribbon dresses."

Here is the fiddler. Earlier, I am happy to say, The Mandolin Man visited camp and played with him. Mandolin Man looked the same, and played, once again, like a professional. Sadly, he couldn't stay long so was not present in the evening.


I know this didn't come out right. I had the camera on the wrong setting, but I kind of like it. A whole line of little girls are twirling to the music. You can see the candle lanterns hanging on a lodge behind them.


We are welcoming the people to the Sunday worship service. The two of us did a "tag team" sermon about the cross.

After church Ken (Bearded Eagle) took a photo of Taylor and her mommy, Maria, and me. Maria's father owns the land we were on.

Now came the truly unpleasant part--packing all this gear up and loading it in our van and little trailer. It is NOT FUN and takes time! We will be doing this again in a couple of weeks, but next time we will be with Kris and Daryl and little Trinity. We are looking forward to it!

15 comments:

Lori said...

Wow that looks like SO much fun! My mom and dad used to live near Santa Cruz where there were many re-enactments, including the Civil War, at Roaring Camp. And my dad used to make and play instruments like the wash tub. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

Come visit, and I'll take you with us to one. I have stuff you can borrow. :-)

Ruth said...

I *have* to go out with my daughter one of these days. I'm hoping to at least go to the Big Island rendevous this year. Might even take my parents.

It all looks like a lot of fun. Hope you had as good a time as it looks like from the pictures.

Anonymous said...

nice photos, looks like you guys had a lot of fun.

Bad Alice said...

Well that looks neat. I've never done any reenactments, but ever since I saw Frontier House, I've thought it would be an interesting experience. Only thing is, I do have a preference for flush toilets.

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

I think we all do! ;-) And showers.

LoieJ said...

Now I understand a little more about what you do there. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I do 17th Century reenactment, and I used to be the Camp Cook. I have serious kitchen envy. Your kitchen is quite too large for me--I have to move my stuff myself, and fit all my gear in my smallish car--but if I had space? I'd totally want a kitchen like that.

seethroughfaith said...

goodness me - you almost have the kitchen sink with you. I'm impressed. Real beds, bedside table and that kitchen wow :)

no wonder hotel capri wasn't that attractive (other than the matching pillowslips that is)

thanks for sharing this!

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

Some people do sleep on furs, and some bring rope beds that come apart. We used to have one too. But our backs aren't so great, so what you see there are cots. We do cheat and add foam pads, but don't tell. ;-) Maria's family has one rope bed, bigger size, for her and husband, and a longer rope bed for the little girls. One will go on one end and one on the other as soon as little Taylor is out of crib stage.

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

Of course, I admit that no mountain man would have been able to haul a wooden kitchen on his mule--what happens is a sort of combination of period life in the wilds with period life in a cabin. And an 1830 fur trade rendezvous would have been a very rowdy place indeed with lots of drunkness and other unsavoryness. Not to say that jugs don't get passed around--one called "apple pie in a bottle" was making the rounds at the musical circle. But most rendezvous reenactments these days are family friendly. This one especially is. In addition to the usual gun shoots, archery, tomahawk throwing and what not, there are games for the children. And they do something else neat which helps the kids actually understand history. We all have tiny "pelts" made from rabbit or deer. These represent the beaver pelts that were the whole point of the fur trade era. The kids trade for these, or they do work (help with dishes, haul a bucket of water or a load of wood, etc.) and near the end of the weekend they turn them in at the "trading post" for some really pretty cool items.

Anonymous said...

So excited for next weekend. Trinity is a great camper

zorra said...

You look so cute! And all of you look like you're enjoying yourselves so much.

Rev Kim said...

I'm just catching up on your blog...these are beautiful pictures! The Rendezvous here is the end of this week. Hope you make it here sometime.

And I love the story of your stay at the Capri Motel.

Mavis said...

These pictures are so great! I love your kitchen. And don't envy the packing up :-)