tiredI am coordinating most of the gigs involving "Captain Dana," cooking lunch for the reenactment midday meal scenario inside the adobe, training new people on use of the adobe oven, and doing a baking demo. Oh yeah, there's an artillery demo somewhere in here, too. I have fielded a call on this at work, today, regarding what sorts of dishes are needed for the "Captain's Table." I have to take my Californio dishes out of the car, wash them (they were washed 1840-style at the water hydrant, at Petaluma Adobe), repack them, and restock the car with a different set of props. I also need to buy new bread starter, as the sourdough starter I mixed on Sunday seems to be so old it's dead. I have now been told that the dragoon troop won't be showing up, so I don't need to worry about them, at least.
This all starts Friday. Friday, I get up, finish packing the car, drive 240 miles to the site, arriving by about noon, fire up the adobe oven, lay out the scenarios for the next day, train local volunteers on use of the period kitchen, and probably help set up tables, sunshades, etc. I will probably start the bread dough for the next day's baking then, too. That evening, we do a walkthrough with the living history crew who are there, then all go crash (myself at a friend's house).
Then it's up and at 'em, and it's 1852. I will try to keep everything running in synch for the day's activities, and deliver fresh baked goods for visitors to sample, at the same time. It's a full life.
Just think, I do this all for fun. Performance art. It has to be performance art.
