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April 2009 Issue 26
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The Beginning... again
Kenny hanging the Wee Peeple Doll Shoppe Sign
at Scarborough Faire the Renaissance Festival
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Willow got a Wizard and a Lion Doll, and Dana got a Changing Woman Doll
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while visiting the Wee Peeple Doll Arte Gallerie
at Scarborough Faire
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Special Recognition goes to Wee Peeple Parade Walker
Amanda, a total newcomer, on the very first Sunday
who won Best Presence in the Parade! They loved her!
Her award was Four Free Tickets to Scarborough Faire and $25.00 CASH!
And the Wee Peeple Doll Shoppe got a Letter of RECOGNITION
from our esteemed Craft Coordinator, Colleen.
WOW! The Wee Peeple Rock!
Amanda and Tommy, both Rookie Parade-Walkers, walked the Parade with
the new Wee Peeple Shoppe Banner! They Looked Very Fine!
(yay. after 19 years at Scarborough Faire, the Dollmaker finally made herself a BANNER!)
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April 12th- Easter Sunday
The Dollmaker, the Fairy and the Easter Onion
No one saw the Easter Onion arrive. It was just THERE on Easter morning!
Decorated with ornamental pastel paper scraps and boldly placed right on the Dollmaker's desk!
Now, there are 99 thousand things on the Dollmaker's desk, but this Easter Onion stood out.
Who do you think left the Easter Onion?
hmmmmmm.....?
Cluck?
A.E. and Goldie admitted to leaving the eggs, but emphatically denied having anything to do with Onions!
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Could one of these girls be the furtive Onion-Bunny?
neigh neigh.... 'twas the fairies....
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Doll News
A Change in the ARM Style
Soft Sculptured Dolls now have new Open Arm Style
now the Wee Peeple Dolls can hold bigger things!
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April Showers
Bastrop County finally got some rain after 13 months! This is the back yard...
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Hatmaker Makes Dolls
It started with Doll Hats. The Hatmaker (Kathel) was commissioned to make some Doll Hats and Doll Clothes... fashionable Rennie-style Doll Clothes with little teeny grommet-holes for laces and fancy-dancy trims.... the Hatmaker was having so much fun making the clothes, she decided to go for the gusto and make the whole Doll!
This smartly dressed doll was made by Kathel.
She has also made some outstanding quilts!
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A Scarborough Faire the Renaissance Festival Story finally told...
This happened a year ago....
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Dollmaker Learns Swordplay
I had a shoppe... At Scarborough Faire. The Renaissance Festival.
(you know, in England, Texas)
Yes, I was a shopkeeper. Shopkeeping away each morning, shuffling objects on my desk, you know the shopkeeper shuffle...
but then, Hark! One fine Spring morning I was given reason for Pause! For one moment I found cause to pause in my shuffling shopkeeping, as I thought I heard-
-a bell, not so distant- in fact, right in front of my shoppe- a loud clanging BELL. What? Ok, so it's a bell- a BELL- and all this clanging- has my attention, so then I hear a deep voice- the Voice which accompanies the clanging BELL, and it's shouting:
"Hasselhoff's School of Swords! Bring your bloodthirsty children!"
What? What... did he say?
What on the Green Earth was going on?! It was time to stop shuffling and rush forward to observe whatever chaos might belie the obvious... forthwith surely I would need to steel myself against whatever sordid horror was about to unfold upon the grass right in front of my own Dollmaking Shoppe!
Taking a quick check on the Ordinary Lawn out front, I saw that now Tall Ornate Stakes had been plunged into the ground, supporting a goodly length of rope, creating boundaries for a little temporary- well, School-Yard.. a nice neat little Arena for Swordfighting Children.
The Man with the Voice strode around the perimeter of the Arena like a cocky little rooster. Presumably the Sword-Master, he was the one ringing the BELL. And waving a sword around in the air. And shouting!
He shouted it again... Parents! Bring your Bloodthirsty Children!
hA hA I chuckled. Hey, that's a cute one- bloodthirsty children!
hmmm.
So it was . Here was a jolly Entertainer. A show right out front here on our own stretch of Lawn- How droll!- should draw customers - (the mind of a shopkeeper- always clicking...)
So it was three shows a day, six shows a weekend, times eight weekends- By the end of Scarborough Faire the Renaissance Festival, I had heard his whole show (and the BELL!) around 48- (feels like: 88) times, and I could pretty much recite his every line.
Renaissance Festivals attract all kinds of people, you know... LOL (understatement)... a lot of them in show biz on one level or another, and when the act is awful this kind of repetition is like a drill to the brain.
However- this guy neither bored nor offended. The clanging BELL I could have possibly done without, but, in fact, I found myself enjoying his showmanship and chuckling to myself as he balanced strict sword-fighting discipline with a jolly sense of humor; and I liked the way he ended his show by instructing the children sternly to follow their dreams and natural abilities and pursue the thing they most wanted to do in life.
A shopkeeper would also need to heed those words, I reflected. hmmm. I don't usually (like never) do this, but I resolved to find a way to be relieved of my shopkeeping duties for long enough to attend a class
at the "School of Swords".
So... on the very last day of the festival... Memorial Day Monday, it was...
we had a plan. It was decided-
Kelaine took charge of the shoppe, Bill took charge of the camera, and off I went,
to the 12:00 Noon Sword-Fighting class....
at the... School of Swords!
Ok, I do these things, you know, when I fancy that I have a certain aptitude for them- I could kind of picture myself as- well- you know- Lady Zorro- she of the quick side-step and lightning blade... so I was unprepared for the sheer weight of the wooden sword which was handed to me- hey I'm not Conan you know! But then I realized that all the children- all the little boys and girls in the class- were using that same size sword, and they weren't whining or asking for smaller swords...
It didn't help that nobody else got introduced to the audience of what one must assume was mainly composed of parents whose offspring were bloodthirsty children- Our impeccably genteel Instructor found it necessary to introduce me as the Wee Peeple Doll Lady, a shoppe-keeper from "right over there", and "the Oldest Child" in the class... oh brother. Xena would not put up with this!
Without delay, we marched in single file and the Sword-Master positioned us in lines, one behind the other, while he took up his teaching position actually outside the arena, to demonstrate.
Hey wait a minute. I was inside the arena. Looking back at it now, how could I have not seen this scenario coming... what was I doing? How did I get inside an arena with 12 armed and dangerous KNOWN bloodthirsty children, every one of them holding a heavy sword he or she absolutely did not know how to use. Hello! Anybody home in there...?!
We began learning immediately. Firstly, the class of children -and I- learned to "thrust" and "retreat", and I personally learned that these actions taxed the fit of the garments I was wearing, in particular, my new bodice! Did this ever happen to Xena- did She ever "thrust" herself right out of her clothes?
Aerial somersaults (Xena style) were definitely out of the question.
We learned that the phrase "EN GUARDE" meant "get ready"- We should point our swords at our opponent's eye while taking a stance with the feet firmly planted and knees slightly bent- but the bloodthirsty child standing behind me, for lack of an eye to point at, must have imagined that my head would do for a focal point. He's lucky he missed it when it came time to "Thrust", however I did feel the dull point of his little wooden blade in my back. I turned around and glared at him. He must have mistaken my glare for a friendly nod, for when it came time to "thrust" again, why there was his dull little point in my back again...
I am thinking- How about if I just wheel around and "block" this kid's skull.. I was pretty sure I could take him... if the sword didn't fall out of my hand and my clothes didn't fall off... when the instructor began explaining the importance of the
"War Cry"- AAAAAARGH! a tactic of intimidation-
so when he said "Now you try it." I wheeled around and AAAAARGH! War Cried the little Bloodthirsty behind me. That time I startled him. Of course he War Cried me back- AAARGH! the next time... I am thinking, isn't anybody watching this- and then I saw some adults (could this be the parents?) laughing and nodding at the kid from the sidelines... hmmm I could see I was on my own here... when the Sword-Meister called for "Bloodthirsty Children", evidently he hit a home run with these parents...
Well, before the situation could escalate, it was over, and we were lined up again and marching toward our own Graduation, whereupon I received with diplomacy the special attention of our Instructor again while recieving my diploma.
Oh well, I thought, at least I will have some great pictures of myself in swashbuckling poses... so I arrived home and opened the pictures in my art program and for sure, there I was in all my Warrior Glory, but there was a problem... the backround.
Right behind me in each of the photographs stood a picnic table lit upon by a multitude of fluttery touristy looking people wearing tee shirts and shorts smoking cigarettes and chowing down on turkey legs- Romantic and Derring-Do this is not.
Dollmaker Forced to Learn "Cut and Paste"
So, the time had come for me to learn how to cut and paste (retreat and thrust) an object (myself) from one photograph to another... good thing I had lots of time because this took all day and still came out looking like a kindergartener did it, but finally I was able to figure how to cut myself out in Warrior stance and paste myself into photos which leant more credibility to the action.
More accelerated learning experiences,
Scarborough Faire style,
(you might say it was- "a double-edged sword")
So, anyway, after I left "The School", I went back to my ordinary life following my dreams and fussily shop-keeping in my Doll Shoppe at Scarborough Faire the Renaissance Festival, but every time this story gets told, it grows... and that little boy behind me becomes more and more treacherous...
At last telling, the small boy had transmutated into a horrible, rough green-skinned, three-headed devil-cyclops from whom I (translate: Lady Zorro) courageously and skillfully saved the entire Swordfighting Class, even when the Sword-Meister was forced to cower, using my quick side-step and lightning blade (and confusing him with my aerial acrobatics), I sent the impudent pest fleeing across the bridge!
AAAAAARGH!
let's just end the story there.
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(Images from the Internet)
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A happy Playtron modelling a lavishly wearable red Beadhead Doll.
May 2nd and May 9th, 2009
The Texas Renaissance Festival seeks interactive character actors and specialty acts for its 2009 Performance Company.
Entertainers of all types are needed to fill various roles including nobility, fairies, barbarians, puppeteers and peasants. All positions are part-time/seasonal and are paid. Previous stage experience is helpful but not required. Bilingual actors are especially welcome. Specialty acts (musicians, jugglers, singers, dancers, etc.) may also audition at this time.
Auditions will be held on Saturday, May 2nd and Saturday, May, 9th and will take place at the on the grounds of the Texas Renaissance Festival, 21778 FM 1774 in Plantersville, Texas.
Auditions are by appointment only and must be scheduled in advance. To schedule an audition, call the TRF office at 800-458-3435, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information visit our Auditions Page at www.texrenfest.com/auditions.
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...if you are feeling lost in any way just
"Be still and know. Be still and know."
From that stillness the answers will come.
-Patricia Crane, Ph.D. and Rick Nichols
Heart Inspired Presentations Inspiring people the world over to a higher level of thinking about who they are, what they've got, and how to have a more powerful positive impact on the world around them.
http://www.heartinspired.com
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til next time....
... see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
from "Auguries of Innocence"
a poem by William Blake
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Contact Information
Phone Kandra:
512-332-6680
or 512-360-2443
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Write: PO Box 326
Smithville, Tx. 78957
Email: BigKandra
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go to the website:
(the Renaissance Festival)
Directions:
Just 30 minutes south of Dallas/Fort Worth, in Waxahachie, Texas.
Our physical address is: 2511 FM 66, Waxahachie, TX 75167
From Dallas:
Take I-35E South to Exit 399A
Go west on FM66 1.6 miles
From Fort Worth:
Take Hwy 287 South to I-35E South
Take I-35E South to Exit 399A
Go west on FM66 1.6 miles
From Austin or Waco:
Take I-35E North to Exit 399
Go west on FM66 1.6 miles
From Houston:
Take I-45 North to Hwy 287 North
Take Hwy 287 North to I-35E South
Take I-35E South to Exit 399A
Go west on FM66 1.6 miles
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"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of
it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad
belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to
cooperate with the good, that it may prevail. I try to increase the power
God has given me to see the best in everything and every one, and make
that Best a part of my life . . .
No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land
or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."
-Helen Keller
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The
Wee Peeple
Newsletter 