Pirates in Paradise 2008 - Key West, Fl
Extra Page: The Extraordinary Ordinary
(Photo: Madam Grace)
I don't know if there is enough that can be said about The Sealkie's
Hide, Mistress Murin McDonough's extraordinary ordinary. An ordinary is
a place where one period author noted that " a Mixture of Land and
Seafaring People" gather to eat, drink and be merry. Silkie
described her plan for the ordinary as being "a gathering place for
all camps, place for a combined kitchen and one fire. We would
coordinate all kitchen equipment, tables, cooks, food's etc." And
that is precisely what it was. It was a great place, always stocked with
food and company; a great place to sit and chat or just rest when you
were weary. Several people bought, made and donated meals for anyone
willing to shell out a few bucks (I believe it was about
$20 for all four days) and all proceeds were donated to the charities
designated by the food donators.
At night the place came to life with several itinerant musicians bringing their instruments, people holding discussions and folks bringing several bottles of rum so they could sit around and just chat about the long weekend, the events of the day and life in general. Silkie/Murin forwent the purchase of a tent for herself this year just so she could afford the 20 x 20 fly that was needed to create the Hide. We should all applaud her because it was a great place to hang out.
Below left is an overview of the hide area. In the foreground is a picnic table as well as one of Willie and Doug's pound-in-the-sand tables for food preparation. To the right in the midground is the community fire pit. In the background is the Hide, around which are water and Gatorade jugs. Below right: Lady Constance Thatcher is making raisin muffins for the crew in the Hide. Note the backdrop. Makes you sorry you missed it, now doesn't it?
(Photo: Cpt. Sophia)
|
(Photo: Thatchers)
|
(Photo: Mission)
|
(Photo: Cpt. Sophia)
|
Above we find Willie Wobble working on dinner in the Sealkie's Hide fire pit. Above right is a view from inside the hide. Food was everywhere (like the bananas hanging out on the line there.) Below left: The Hide as a hub of activity before dinner. Below right: Silkie painting the Hide sign.
(Photo: Mary Diamond)
|
(Photo: Mission)
|
(Photo: Mary Diamond)
|
(Photo: Cheeky)
|
Above left:A toast to the Hide during dinner! From left, foreground - Silkie, M.A. d'Dogge, Diosa and Lily Alexander. Above right: Another scene from another dinner. In the foreground are Captain Jim and Patrick Hand. Below left: from left - Captain Jim and Patrick, Capt. Sophia M. Eisley and Lily Alexander. Below right: Captain Sterling in a discussion with Greg Hudson while dining.
(Photo: Madam Grace)
|
(Photo: Jessica Bagley)
|
Below left: Greg Hudson and Captain Jim on the acoustic guitars are joined by Mark gist on the fiddle in the hide on Friday night. Below center: Mission and Delana listen to the trio. Far right: One of the Hide's clean up crew looking for scraps under a picnic table.
(Photo: Cpt. Sophia)
|
(Photo: Cpt. Sophia)
|
(Photo: Cpt. Sophia)
|