Elaby's LiveJournal - 57 Academics

I've been wanting to post about our time at the Spoutwood Farm Fairie Festival, because it was a transformative experience for me and I cherish the memories in ways like no other - but at the same time, it's incredibly hard to put all that wonder and glitter and love into words. I'll settle for a chronicle, so that I can read it down the road and remember all the details <3



( Many pictures and much retelling of our wonderful time! )

I already knew our autumn was going to be busy, and then the universe threw a broken ankle into the mix XD

In case you missed the mention on caitirin's blog - I fell down our stairs last Tuesday night and broke my ankle. The half-a-tennis-ball-sized lump on my foot compelled us to cart me to the emergency room, where they took x-rays and diagnosed me with a left talar avulsion fracture (which means that when I fell, the ligament that goes from my outside ankle bone ripped a chunk of bone off my talus, the middle ankle bone). Relatively speaking, this is a fairly non-serious break, so I didn't need it to be set or casted. I have a big black velcro-strapped boot that lets me put a little weight on my foot. I can get around now with only one crutch. Optimistically, I'll be able to stop using the boot in about three weeks from now.

I was doubly frustrated to have broken my ankle a few days before mermaiden and willow_cabin were coming to visit! We were supposed to cavort! It turns out you can cavort pretty well with a broken ankle given the right set of friends :3

We had the most spectacularly love-filled, magical, fulfilling weekend. Having Sarah and Jenn at our house was a delight in so many ways - great conversation, so much laughter, inspiration and love and understanding and unique camaraderie. There's nothing quite like getting to show people you love and admire all of the best things about the area where you live. The whole weekend was one long, rainbow blur of wonderfulness, but here are some highlights:

- Sarah is a brilliant repository of Victorian gravestone imagery and death culture, and we have a really cool cemetery right down the road from our house. She gave us a tour and told us the meaning of the carvings and gravestone shapes that appeared there. We even had some zinc monuments, which are fascinating and apparently rare, so she was wicked excited about that! :D
- We got to take them to two of our favorite places to eat, Susty's Vegan Cafe in Northwood, NH and Dobra Tea in Portland, ME. I always love Susty's, and we tried new food at Dobra Tea that was DELICIOUS: couscous topped with apples, bananas, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, honey, maple syrup, and cinnamon. HOMG. Sarah also convinced me to try Genmaicha Matcha, a green tea made with roasted rice. It was SO GOOD.
- While in Portland, we took them to Mexicali Blues, the clothing/accessory/decor store where we get pretty much all of our hippie-dress clothes. Sarah and Jenn had always liked our clothes from there, so we wanted to bring them. Rachel and I got some really pretty shirts :3 Ha, one is the same shirt only different sizes XD Jenn got the most gorgeous scarves, and Sarah got a pair of so-comfortable-looking-yet-dressy pants.
- On Sunday, we visited South Church to attend a Unitarian Universalist sermon. South Church is so pretty and the sermon was incredibly nice - funny and meaningful and bursting with self-affirmation. Everyone was so welcoming.
- We brought Sarah and Jenn to two of our favorite "rocky Maine coast" places - Seapoint Beach in my native Kittery Point and the Nubble Lighthouse in York. They're both such beautiful places and I know Sarah and Jenn love the ocean so much. We had a great time at both places, walking around together and enjoying the world.
- LESBIAN MOVIES OMG. I'm sadly bereft in experience with lesbian cinema. When we told Sarah this, she was like "WE SHALL BRING ALL THE FILMS THEN" and we watched some really good ones. When Night Is Falling is a modern lesbian interpretation of the Cupid and Psyche myth, and it was uplifting and so beautifully filmed. Were the World Mine is a gay Midsummer Night's Dream about a student acting in a high school production of the play. Things that happen in the play start happening in real life too, and it's so funny and gloriously gay and the MUSIC is SO AWESOME. Tipping the Velvet is a BBC miniseries based on the book of the same name, about an oyster-girl-turned-vaudeville-crossdresser in Victorian London. COME ON, HOW COULD I NOT LOVE THAT. It was my favorite (Victorian lesbians and a happy ending? You're so surprised! XD) but they were all so excellent and had such good, happy messages. Lesbian stories that don't end in tragedy-due-to-lesbianness are the best.

I'm leaving out all kinds of little moments of wonderfulness - I'll cherish the whole weekend forever. We told Sarah and Jenn to sleep in the day they were leaving, because we had to get up early for work and they had a long ride home, and when we got home that night, they'd left us the most beautiful note and two clear quartz points. Such love radiates from those crystals. We're going to see them again in a couple of weeks after the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival, and I can scarcely wait <3