Stronghold Olde English Faire! Oct. 2 & 3 2010, Oregon, Illinois

Join me, Jane the Phoole, at the Stronghold Olde English Faire this coming weekend!  Click here for every li'l detail about this delightful event at the scenic Stronghold Castle.  Phoole Friend Odorferious Thunderbottom will be there selling ThunderPickles (he's a Privy-Keeper, and here's his eye-searing Privy Council site), and there will be droves of other fun frolickers besides, including Phoole Faves the Guild of St. George and the deranged Anne Sommerset, Lady Percy, the Countess of Northumberland in her first visit to the Burleigh household -- brawling imminent!  On the subject of brawling, Phoole Skoolmaster Bob Charron of St. Martin's Academy of Medieval Arms will may possibly join Phoole Faves the Guild of St. Michael for demonstrations of the principles of Fior dei Liberi's Il Fior di Battaglia, and in any case, the Trayn'd Bands always deliver action-packed fun!  Phoole Faves the Ogham Duo are among the many excellent music acts.  And there are many more treats besides.  It's one weekend only, so hie thee thither with all speed!

Stronghold Olde English Faire! Oct. 3 & 4 2009

Come play with me at the Stronghold Olde English Faire this weekend! Autumn's gilding the Midwest with gorgeous color, and Stronghold's the perfect place to enjoy Nature's best-dressed season AND the Elizabethan Age's best-dressed people, of which I am, perhaps, the silliest.

The Stronghold Olde English Faire is a cozy little affair," nestled," as the website says, "high on the bluffs overlooking the Rock River." As I've just learned on Oregon, Illinois' website, Stronghold Castle was built by Chicago Daily News publisher/editor Walter Strong in 1929, as a retreat for his family and friends, based on the castles they'd visited and enjoyed in Europe, where castles and history come from.

There's plenty to do, and plenty of places to relax when you're done doing things for a little while. There are little shops, castle tours, hayrides (one of the drivers will deliver HAIR-RAISING HIGH-SPEED TERROR, if the one who drove me last year's still there), high-school madrigality, games, characters, sword-fightings, playlets, comedy, musics, Odorferious Thunderbottom, and sundrie delights. The Bristol Renaissance Faire's Guilde of St. Michael will be there, for Military Action Experience Beyond Your Expectations, and so will Bristol's Guilde of St. George, for Frolics with Queen Elizabeth and her Court and Hob-Nobbing With the Cultural Elite, or at least the Very, Very Rich.

And I'll be there too! I've thought about hosting a talk show there. Don't know when or where it'll happen, but be prepared to go on!

Stronghold's site includes a handy li'l gadget for getting directions to their location. The drive is picturesque, the site precious, and the diversions delightful, no matter what the weather. Merry meet me there, Phoole Friends!

Jane The Phoole, Fasso Latido, And The Happy Peasant

Jane The Phoole, Fasso Latido, And Me (9/365), originally uploaded by Happy_Peasant.

More cozy clownings in the tiny hovel at the Stronghold Olde Englishee Faireee, while waiting out the rain.

Stronghold Shelter

Jane The Phoole And Fasso Latidto, originally uploaded by Happy_Peasant.

On Sunday of this past Stronghold event, it rained, but only in the morning. It was supposed to rain -- we knew a week out that it would rain. Not even the most intricate carving and incantations and offerings RE the Tree God could ward off this most certain cold rain. But there was a tiny little house on the grounds, and if I stuck my enormous false backside out one of the windows, I fit comfortably. So Fasso joined Jane the Phoole in there, and we hosted a nice rotation of old and new friends while we waited out the downpours.

Stronghold Sweeties: Fasso and Jane

Chris Muetz, thanks for the Precious Moment!

The Post-Bristol Haze Begins to Clear...

...and I have two gigs awaiting me on the other side (so far)!

On 9/13 at 8am, join me at the Milwaukee County Zoo for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk to Cure Diabetes: http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=walk.walk&eventID=4157&chapterid=4728.

Then on October 4 & 5, come play with me at the Stronghold Olde English Faire: http://strongholdcenter.org/englishfaire.html

I'm not in it, but it's fantastic ANYWAY: Go immediately to see LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST at Milwaukee Shakespeare: http://www.milwaukeeshakespeare.com/lovesLaboursLost/index.lasso