(Pictures will be added soon - I am writing this off location.)
The Last Officially Super Busy Weekend is done, at least for a while, and boy, was it fun!
On Friday we had dinner with my aunt, my cousin, her son, Evan, my mom and the in laws. Evan will turn 14 this summer. While I have always enjoyed being with him, this time was different. He was more of his own person, so I got to know who the real Evan is, instead of just the fun and polite boy I've known in the past. He bought out his electric guitar and played some tunes for us. He made funny, subtle and sarcastic jokes, which made me snicker. His mother is as pale and blonde as you can get. His dad is a full blood Navajo. Evan is a beautiful mix of the two - dark skin, high cheek bones, long eyelashes and a lanky walk. He will be, if not already, a heart breaker.
After dinner Ethan and I left for the "Hammer In." It is a very primitive, rustic and kick-in-the-pants bit of fun for a few days. Ethan and I went last year. When we pulled into the horse pasture where it is located we were greeted heartily by many people. "Ethan, bud, it is so good to see you." "Oh, Ethan! We were wondering if you were coming this year." "Ethan, is that you? No broken arm this year? And you are so much taller." You get the idea. It was like a home coming. His friend, Logan, who introduced us to the camp, was there. He is an eclectic, interesting teen who lives on a mountain farm in Conifer. He works as the king's page at the Renaissance Festival every summer. He and Ethan worked on making stuff to go to the festival in style. Ethan made a knife, but it was bent. Logan tried to fix it for him by putting it in a vice. He forgot that once the metal has cooled that is becomes brittle or hardened. When he tried to help, he actually broke part of the end off. Blacksmithing Tragedy! But wait, Logan did his fastest ever blacksmithing and saved the day by making it shorter, but still usable. Then came Suzanne. She is a trained message therapist that has a bad case of wunderlust. She never stays any place longer than a year. Her mom lives near us, so we get to see her from time to time. She always has wonderful stories. She had just returned from 4.5 months living at a station in Anartica. She told fun tales of cornering beakers (scientists) to find out what their projects are. She told tales of adventures with Kiwis (Aussies) and of -40 degree adventure hunts for bags of potato chips. She spun tales of what happens when the power goes down for about a day and six people get injured, but most still manage to have fun. Her stories and photos were amazing. They worked side by side. Then there were the blacksmiths - a fun and unusual looking lot.
The Last Officially Super Busy Weekend is done, at least for a while, and boy, was it fun!
On Friday we had dinner with my aunt, my cousin, her son, Evan, my mom and the in laws. Evan will turn 14 this summer. While I have always enjoyed being with him, this time was different. He was more of his own person, so I got to know who the real Evan is, instead of just the fun and polite boy I've known in the past. He bought out his electric guitar and played some tunes for us. He made funny, subtle and sarcastic jokes, which made me snicker. His mother is as pale and blonde as you can get. His dad is a full blood Navajo. Evan is a beautiful mix of the two - dark skin, high cheek bones, long eyelashes and a lanky walk. He will be, if not already, a heart breaker.
After dinner Ethan and I left for the "Hammer In." It is a very primitive, rustic and kick-in-the-pants bit of fun for a few days. Ethan and I went last year. When we pulled into the horse pasture where it is located we were greeted heartily by many people. "Ethan, bud, it is so good to see you." "Oh, Ethan! We were wondering if you were coming this year." "Ethan, is that you? No broken arm this year? And you are so much taller." You get the idea. It was like a home coming. His friend, Logan, who introduced us to the camp, was there. He is an eclectic, interesting teen who lives on a mountain farm in Conifer. He works as the king's page at the Renaissance Festival every summer. He and Ethan worked on making stuff to go to the festival in style. Ethan made a knife, but it was bent. Logan tried to fix it for him by putting it in a vice. He forgot that once the metal has cooled that is becomes brittle or hardened. When he tried to help, he actually broke part of the end off. Blacksmithing Tragedy! But wait, Logan did his fastest ever blacksmithing and saved the day by making it shorter, but still usable. Then came Suzanne. She is a trained message therapist that has a bad case of wunderlust. She never stays any place longer than a year. Her mom lives near us, so we get to see her from time to time. She always has wonderful stories. She had just returned from 4.5 months living at a station in Anartica. She told fun tales of cornering beakers (scientists) to find out what their projects are. She told tales of adventures with Kiwis (Aussies) and of -40 degree adventure hunts for bags of potato chips. She spun tales of what happens when the power goes down for about a day and six people get injured, but most still manage to have fun. Her stories and photos were amazing. They worked side by side. Then there were the blacksmiths - a fun and unusual looking lot.
I was up with the rising sun the next morning. It was peaceful and interesting watching the sun peek over the mountain and drench the heavy metal and wood tools with the early morning glow. Slowly the blacksmiths began to rise and stir. If you did not know you were at "Hammer In," you might mistake yourself for someone on the back lot at the movie studios. There's one guy who hand built a civil war cannon and wears interesting period clothing to go with it. There's guys who look like a rough lot with their long mustaches, their bandannas with skulls and their missing digits - these are actually pussy cats with a heart of gold in rough clothing. Of course we can't forget the guys who work at the live museums doing blacksmithing. Or how about the guy who is dressed as an Early American explorer - he's the one who helped Ethan get started with the knife. There are others that I have not described, but I am sure you get the picture, so of. While Ethan is working away at the forge and the anvil, I am in the cooking tent. Three to four of us are cooking all at the same time. There is the pie queen who made seven different pies. The most unusual and pretty popular variety is the buttermilk pie. It is like a custard that she topped with strawberries. We made a ton of main dishes including smoked racks of ribs, a smoked brisket with Cajun butter injected into it, deep fried turkeys, pork tenderloin stuffed roll, lemon pepper chicken, green curry pork, pickled beef tongue (more tasty than it sounds), white chili, wild rice with onions and mushrooms, wild rice with almonds and cranberries, white rice for the curry, two kinds of scalloped potatoes, spiced green beans, mincemeat pie, sausage, onion olive pie, beef stew, spiced apple dumplings and strawberry dumplings. Even with this long list, I am sure I have forgotten something. The fest was wonderful. We fed a crowd of around 80 people. During dinner it began to rain. Most people gathered under the tarps with the anvils and made hospitable, conversational groups. We were up until it was pitch dark and our eyes drooped. We had to bid goodbye early as Ethan and Ellie had a 7:20 a.m. race the next day. We had to leave at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday in order to get there are registered in time to race.
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