A womens’ weekend with my Mom.

A medieval-themed dinner program.

A whirlwind shopping trip to the second-hand store.

A surprising encounter with a friend.

A brown fitted sheet. A green sheet too.

Brown boots. Black tights.

An impromtu feather.

All this

can only mean one thing…

Robin Hood.

I had a lovely weekend a little while ago. The crowning activity?

Creation.

This is my friend Heidi. She’s brilliant.

I’ve known Heidi for all of her life, and 95.2% of mine. If you added our years together we’d have 41 years of life experience and quite a variety of experiences at that!

I wasn’t expecting so see Heidi at this retreat but her and her mom were there to teach some of the sessions. She had an hour or so before her knitting class so naturally, I invited her to come hang out with me.

I, ever the camp kid, was skipping out on the activities to dwell in our room and do my own thing. I had a costume banquet to prepare for, and only a bag of hasty value village scraps to do so with.

Life Lesson #39: You can do a lot with a little.

Now, a word on strategies:

My mom and I are glue-gun folk.
(I can do a mean safety pin on occasion, but usually the safety pin is meaner.)
Duct, scotch, and packing tape are high on our list of valuables.

Heidi and her mom are also great with glueguns.
They’re also great with wool, books, needles, rubber, paintbrushes, or anything that takes a craftsman’s eye, patience, or fingers of dexterity.

So, after outlining the general vision, I handed the bulk of the design over to Heidi and proceeded to do the smaller, useful projects and accessorizing.

…also known as taking selfies in the bathroom because I was so excited…

So while I flapped around, Heidi whipped together a great tunic-and-hood, complete with a long medievalish hood and drawstrings.

“I haven’t had this much fun in a long time!” She said. “It’s just like when we were kids!”

It was true. We used to traipse around in a ragtag little troop of kidlings with her siblings and mine and a few other families, weilding sticks and hatchets and dress up clothes in the mud.

And now, though our lives may have firefighting hats, drivers licences’ and passport stamps, we can still

play.

We weren’t done yet though.

Oh no.

I was sent on a quest.

I went on a journey

to aquire a gown for Maid Marion

and a bow for Robin of the Hood.

Thankfully, I knew where to find some perfectly helpful companions.

–

Meet Lady Lucy:

–

And Sir Nicholas:

–

And after my jaunt down the road for aid, we were all set!

We donned our garmets and it was Banquet Ho!

[I do wish we’d kidnapped Lady Lindi and made her into Friar Tuck. Next time…]

It was a pleasurable evening by all, methinks.

What we lacked in Merry Men was made up for by a group of merry women.

[10 points if you can pick out our mothers!]

And so remember, folks:

It doesn’t take much to have fun.

Friendship is awesome.

And given a choice

always, always, be Robin Hood!