This past Saturday, I took the three elder kids to Scarborough Faire, an enormous Renaissance festival a bit south of Dallas. We all had a super time. Favorite things:

• Theater in the Ground mud show. We enjoyed this perennial favorite from the front rows, necessitating a trip to the restroom for cleanup afterward. These guys are some of the funniest live theater I’ve seen.
• Jem Moore’s hammered dulcimer playing. Amazing technique, excellent musicianship. This guy reminds me of why I fell in love with the instrument many years back. He had a giant, four-octave dulcimer, and did the only rendition on that instrument of Bach’s Tocatta & Fugue in D-minor that I’ve ever heard.
• Last Chance Forever does a show that features hunting birds that they’ve rescued and are rehabilitating. Since we live in Texas, red-tailed hawks and vultures are the most common, but they included some falcons, owls, and golden eagles as well. We were rapt.
• Critters: there was a well-stocked petting zoo, as well as the occasional horse, elephant, camel, and llama wandering by.

Altogether, as much fun as a day at an amusement park, and cheaper, less crowded, and (ironically) cleaner. Highly recommended, even if you don’t have a secret desire to be a knight errant or to wear tights.