What makes you think of faire?..

[Storm]

The Minnesota faire is my home faire, and every year when it is about ready to begin I am pumped up and ready for it in a big way. During the run of faire I put all my other hobbies on hold. Those 7 weekends are for faire and nothing else. But, when those 7 weekends are up I am pretty much ready to return to my mudane life and to get back into my mundane hobbies and pleasures.

During the faire off season, though, there are some things that remind me of faire and make me wish I was back there in a big way.

Every year at faire my wife and I buy a bunch of incense sticks at a booth at faire. We just love the smells of them and burn them quite a bit. Of course, we are usually all out of them by the end of October!

A couple of weeks ago I was doing some cleaning and ran across a couple of packets of incense we bought last year. I found a dozen of both Frankenmire and Pine incense. Some how we had misplaced them and thought we were out. Well, we started burning them and as soon as the smell hit my nose it took me right back to faire, and I am now so ready for faire to start that it isn't funny! Thankfully, it does start in another couple of weeks!..LoL

Any way...I was just wondering, what things make you all think of faire during the off season?

[anne of oaktower]

Truthfully, I never stop thinking about faire!  No matter what I'm doing during the rest of the year, the thought is ever present..."How long til the next faire?!"   Fortunately for me, one of our friends is an Irish Troubadour and sings at many of the Pubs in Pittsburgh.  So, when I'm in desperate need of a ren-fix, we can go down and listen to him and hang with our other rennie friends 

[Joyce "Delfinia DuSwallow" Howard]

Thats me, I never stop thinking about it. Theres either something I want to make or repair or spiff up. Its always something. Then you have the boards, where you can talk faire 24/7, how great is that! I just have to remember that theres other things I need to keep in mind to get them done.

[Kiss-me-Kate]

I think for me it is certain smells.

Recently I was walking outside to my car at a strip mall, and one of the restaurants there, the exhaust smelled like our fest does.     I stood there for a few seconds inhaling deeply.

Oh, and the smell of leather.  For obvious reasons. 

Otherwise, I don't stop thinking about fest.

[greenknightslady]

Yeah, for me it's smells. I can wake up one morning and go outside (I live in the country) and I will tell my husband "it smells like Scarborough outside" or it smells like Mount Hope in PA. Faires Like King Richard's in Carver Mass. well, they all have their own special aromas and that really does it for me.

[Sir William Marcus]

I think of faire everytime I log on here!

[laedyfaire]

i too always think about faire. off season, i read only historical fiction and non fiction, watch period movies, look at faire photos, look up all the faire across the usa and study them...look at videos on you tube..the list goes on and on.

i also stock up on incense!!!! when i burn them ( every day ) my lord always comments...."hmm. smells like the faire right now"

enjoy your season..LF

[Pinn]

Certain movies. Making clothes for faire. While I'm making I am thinking this would look good on so and so with such and such. Irish music and going to certain pubs in my area.

[Lady Nicolette]

Certain songs, of course, but mostly certainly other kinds of sounds and scents.  The sound of bells and coin scarves.  Turkish coffee warmly wafting up the hill and that slightly damp scent that clings to haybales in the morning.  In the distance, armor sounds, the clink of metalworkers, crowd "huzzahs" and "Make way for the Queen!"  Dumbeks and zils, ouds and lutes and harps and of course brass, but so much less brassy than the modern versions.

[LadyStitch]

When I was in NZ for 6 months, I really missed faire (They don't have them over there.)  What really hurt me was when we went out to an ancesteral home of a local Maori tribe. (NZ natives)
The comradery of sitting around the fire singing old sea shanty's.  The huddling under awnings when the weather got bad. Talking to the local crafts people when they made their shell jewery, and hand woven flax items. Sharing a mug of coffee on an early morning with people, as the fire slowly dies, and the dew lingers on the grass and the tents.

And I also have to agree the smell of certain incenses sets me off as well. It makes me want to run home and make garb for the next faire, even if it is 6 months away.

[Yrose]

Ren gatherings with McLotofus and AARG are the best. The CD's and perfumes I've bought at fair.

[tigerlilly]

Pachouli, sandalwood, and the smell of grass and hot pine needles all make me think of TRF.

Doumbeks, bagpipes, bodhrans, zills, and jingly little bells.

My backyard has so many pine trees that on a warm fall day it actually smells a bit like TRF back there...it's part of the reason I bought my house!

[jinx]

I have this bodywash...sandalwood and cinnamon.  I get reminded of Faire every time I shower.  It's wonderful.

Those lovely cool mornings when everything's shiny and fresh and feeling like autumn, bagpipes, sheep, the fabric department at work, my closet, this site, a bunch of the songs on my iPod, a lot of the stuff in my bedroom...xD  The list goes on and on. 

[theChuck]

I think of faire everytime I log on here!

seconded. coming to this forum on the off-season makes me sad.

[CatAshtrophy]

Besides faire smells and movies and such, one thing that reminds me of faire are jingly noises. When I want to remind myself of faire I put on my anklet that jingles.