Isn't it about time for some pictures?

For the long weekend, we celebrated N's birthday by going down to Phoenix for a Renaissance festival they have there. He'd never been to one; I can't remember what came up in October, but we didn't go to the one here, plus it's always between 90 and 100 degrees here, and the idea of parading around in fancy clothes in wintertime was pretty nice.

As you can see, we lucked into a nice, overcast day. It started out pretty cold, and I was really, really wishing we'd brought the giant gray robe I'd made a few years ago. These pictures are from the tournament. We went to 2 different shows because there was a pirate, and really great special effects. Think the "Black Knight" sequence from Holy Grail.

There was also a falconer with some raptors. This horned owl looks just like T's cat, Fea.

This is a lees falcon, a relative of a peregrine falcon, the fastest known animal, who can dive at speeds in excess of 270 mph.

Outside Prescott, there was a wild animal rescue where we saw javelinas.....

and this tiger with a sinus infection,

plus coatis, really fat raccoons, coyotes, the butt end of a sleeping porcupine, a black bear, another horned owl, a raven that walked over to you if you said its name, big hairy spiders (although not the Goliath birdeater advertised in the brochure), and lemurs.

On the way home, we drove through Jerome and Sedona, but because it was a holiday weekend, we skipped the "vortex tours" and tried unsuccessfully to have a nice steak dinner in Laughlin instead.