Monday, November 30, 2015

A pirate's life for me

I have always loved the Texas Renaissance Festival and enjoyed an adventurous, cold day there the final weekend. Lords, Ladies, jousters, barbarians and turkey leg proprietors will just have to wait another year to set up booths and camps.
My daughter asked me to go and I gave her a big, fat “Yes!”
People always ask if you went in costume. In my one-day’s notice, I did gather some “earthy” robes and some jewelry I’d purchased over past festivals. But it was too cold for costuming for us. I had a sweat shirt, rain jacket and other layers over my festive garb. We went back to the car for a minute and Jasmine found her dad’s overcoat was in the car, so we took turns with that. There were gloves in the pocket. We had been sharing my fingerless gloves, one on each hand. So then we traded off wearing one of each, so we’d have at least one warmer hand at a time.
Jasmine’s friend Meghan and her mother joined us and this girl showed up as a pirate in a red dress under a black corseted overcoat and glittery eye makeup. It was awfully fun to be with someone who would not break character because of a little drop in temperature.
Even when it was downright misting on our heads, we still rate the Texas Renaissance Festival as “aces.

Traveling with the folks
“Planes, Canes, and Automobiles: Connecting With Your Aging Parents Through Travel” is a checklist, with anecdotes plans for trips of a lifetime.
Say you want to take the parents back to the old country and now there are concerns about their medications, level of fatigue, etc. Valerie M. Grubb tells you how to get there from here.
I want her to plan my trip abroad. Let’s go to Europe. All of it, Valerie.
I loved the story about a clever child who had arranged for wheelchair transport at the airport, etc. Turns out Mom was very insulted at the notion. Wheelchairs are for “old” people, she announced. There are ways to have these talks ahead of time, and this book could save relationships. No need to “stew” for the duration of your travels. It should be a time of incredible new memories.
From simple things, like getting your parent a fanny pack and going over the contents of keys and maps and medications daily, to arranging for additional nights for layovers and medical travel insurance, this book will get you ready to go. And get back home.

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