Brendan's Life at Faire & in the SCA

Brendan has been going to faires as a participant since he was a very small baby. It's been an important part of his life, and he's a great hit! We like to say he's the consummate faire actor - he's never said anything out of character. (Of course at the time of writing this he's still learning to talk.) Having a small child at faire can be a gig in itself. Of course, it's a lot of work, but we feel it's worth it. I was inactive in the SCA when Brendan was small, but now that I'm attending SCA events again, Brendan often comes along. We hope you'll come visit with Brendan at some of the faires we go to, if you're ever in the Southern California area. And come greet us as well at SCA events in the kingdom of Caid and the southern portions of the kingdom of the West. Here's some of the ways you'll recognize him!

One of Brendan's great loves in life is SWORDPLAY! It seems only natural, since he's been surrounded by swords and swordplay for so much of his life. One of his very first toys was a plastic MardiGras dagger given to him by his Aunt Robyn. Ever since then swords have gotten his attention.
This last faire season we bought him a pair of wooden swords. He was ecstatic! He's ready for combat! Here's a picture of him fencing with Gwenna Hedden, another child in our circle of faire friends, whose about 5 months younger than Brendan.
Brendan is a bit more enthusiastic about the whole thing than Gwenna is. He doesn't just limit himself to opponents his own size, either! Here we see him taking on Keely, with a bit of height-assistance from Kevin. Watch out, Mama!
Aww. . . makes a faire mother so proud. Brendan's a honorable fighter, too. He won't fight someone who's unarmed - so he'll do everything he can to hand you a sword. Beware! Once you take it from him, he assumes you're willing to play, and will SWING! And not just swords, either, but anything he can pretend is a sword. This leaves Laura and Karl in the unenviable position of having discussions with the day care provider. . ."Well, if Matthew didn't WANT to play swordplay, he shouldn't have accepted the other croquet mallet from Brendan. . ."

One of the ways we're recognized at faire is by the Brendan Cart. Oh, it's a wonderful piece of carpentry. No, we didn't make it. We bought it at the Irvine faire in 1996 from a merchant known as Woodpecker. Last I heard, they'd given up selling at faires because they were unable to make back their costs. Sigh. . . If I hear anything about them or find a link for them I'll post it here. As soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted one for Brendan. Crib, playpen, stroller, all in one, and it looked period. Huzzah! I borrowed money from half my guild to get it, then paid them back through the winter.
The cart has been a wonderful nap space for Brendan, and also for Gwenna on occasion. We've enjoyed taking him around faires and SCA events for a sleep-inducing walk in the cart.
We often make a gig of it, and tell passers-by that we are on a Great Quest for a Nap - have they seen one, please? Size small, length long.
Then once the wee bairn is asleep, we can follow it up with a gig of wheeling him around the faire, declaiming at the TOP of our lungs, "Pray SILENCE, the bairn is ASLEEP!" Fortunately, once he's asleep,he's asleep. We'll play with selling-the-bairn gigs, exhibiting the wild Irish baby gigs, and so forth. Kevin once tried to sell him to the gypsies, but they were too smart for that!

Brendan has been showing an interest in musical instruments. He loves to bang on drums, and we've bought him a small one. (No, Brendan, you can't stand on it!) He tries to play my recorder whenever he sees it. He also is fascinated when I blow my cow horn. He'll take it and put it in his mouth and make horn-noises into it.

We hope you'll come see Brendan at faires and make friends with him. He's a happy, outgoing child.

Come see some pictures of Brendan in mundane garb

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