Healing Fireball

Faire and Con Report: Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

The Healer — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:32:05 +0000

It’s time for another pre-faire rundown. It’s another Pirate Jamboree! Our new roving reporter and resident pirate cook, Mum, will be attending the PA Renaissance Faire’s Pyrate Invasion this weekend. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the PA Faire, it is set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and, like the Maryland Faire, they have a different theme each weekend. The faire is located on the beautiful Mount Hope Winery in Manheim, PA. So come down and meet us, matey!

~Christopher Baldi “The Healer”~

~October 9, 2008~

Faire and Con Report: Collingswood Book Festival

Carol — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:31:16 +0000

Capping off a busy week, Chris and I traveled to the much-anticipated Collingswood Book Festival. My favorite part about this festival is always the Town Book. As usual, it was something I probably wouldn’t have picked up on my own. This year’s selection was The Stolen Child, by Keith Donohue, a novel that delves into the concept of identity while the narrative follows a band a changling fairies and one of their own who has taken the place of another. The festival hosted a book discussion last Tuesday and the author was there on Saturday to give a presentation and autographs.

We ended up bringing home more books than we have space for, as usual.

Collingswood Shakespeare Company presents King Lear

Carol — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:28:24 +0000

Chris and I can’t resist the “up close and personal” feel of the Collingswood Shakespeare Company and the pseudo-in-the-round presentation at the American Legion. They always make the most of the small space to bring the audience right into the show, so you’ll have characters practically dying at your feet. The feeling that you’re a part of the show, and not just the audience, really makes the emotional ending all the more personal. Jacqueline Holloway as the Fool was an unsurprising standout and I did appreciate that she had the very last moment. We can’t wait to see what they have planned for the upcoming year.

Banned Books Week at the Free Library

Carol — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:59:02 +0000

This past week, Chris and I celebrated Banned Books Week with a reading at the Philadelphia Free Library. Local notables read passages from their favorite banned books, such as Raisin in the Sun and To Kill a Mockingbird. The host, Gene Shay of WXPN’s folk show also presented “banned and taboo” music samples. The standout favorite was a reading of “noted evildoer” Shel Silverstein. Next up at the library - the OED 80th Anniversary, Nov. 18th.

Wandering Fireball: Watch out - it’s coming your way

The Healer — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:43:53 +0000

Well its time again to unveil a new category -the Wandering Fireball category. I realize that the last new category, Faire and Con Reports, has been a bit thin. Unfortunately we chose to skip some of our usual faires so we could save some cash. But I promise there will be more coming for that category and that this category will see more action that that one did.

So what is this new category about and why do you keep talking about the Faire and Con Reports category? Well the answer to both of these question is that, like the Faire and Con Reports category, the Wandering Fireball category will be a travelogue. Unlike the Faire and Con Reports category, however, this new category will be a general travelogue for all the trips that don’t fit in this first category. I decided to create this category because my wife and I seem to take a lot of road trips on the weekends. Sometimes these trips are of a strange nature; my wife and I are huge fans of New Jersey and all its weird landmarks. Other times they’re to see museum exhibitions and in October my wife and her family will be visiting Ireland. Combine these facts with my wife’s love of taking pictures and I hope this new travelogue will be fun and interesting. As with the Faire and Con Reports category I will be also making an associated Wandering Fireball category in the links section that will contain the links to the places we go if any. So until next time make a Dex check to avoid the fireball.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~

~October 3, 2008~

Faire and Con Report: A Wet Weekend Festival

The Healer — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:51:07 +0000

Despite the rainy weather, our roving pirate reporter MUM the pirate cook attended the Adventure Pirate Weekend at the Maryland Renaissance Festival and filed this report.

Arrr! Ye can drench me bones but ye can’t soak me spirit.This weekend was the pirate Adventure Weekend at theMaryland Renaissance Festival.This is always one of me favorite times of the year and even though the ground was muddy and the sky kept dumping on us intermittently I was not disappointed.All me favorite acts were there, from the Pyrates Royale, to the Hooligans to the O’ Danny Girls and, even when the rain was pouring, the acts continued and got even more rowdy for the weather. Then there was the peasant bread. For those of you who do not know, peasant bread is a fried piece of dough that has been stretched thin. The result is a crunchy wafer that can be used to hold fruit topping, honey, sugar, or just be lightly salted. Reminds me of a dish me grandmother used to make. Finally the day ended as always with a rowdy pub sing at the White Hart Tavern. Well that’s about it me lads, another fine celebration of piracy - I can’t wait till next year.

Well, thanks for that report MUM and we hope to hear more from you in the future during other pirate events.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
~September 30, 2008~

Faire and Con Report: Maryland Renaissance Festival

The Healer — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:48:22 +0000

As promised I’m back with another installment of the Faire and Con Report. This time I am hear with a preview of our next faire, the Maryland Renaissance Festival. For our readers that have not visited this one, here is the rundown of this larger faire’s stats. This faire is set during the reign of King Henry the Eighth and every year features a story about his reign. However, that’s not the only theme; each weekend has its own subtheme and performing acts and shows related to that subtheme. The faire itself is located in a comfortably shady glen in Anne Arundel County in Crownsville, Maryland.

This year I am proud to announce that our resident pirate and newest roving reporter MUM the pirate cook will be attending the fair the weekend of September 26 to join in the Adventure Weekend and celebrate all things piratical. This fair is always one of our favorite fairs and this year is sure to be no different so if you’re in the neighborhood come out and see it.
~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
~September 26, 2008~

Faire and Con Report: Another Fun Day

The Healer — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:10:18 +0000

As I mentioned in the last Faire and Con Report, we were off to the Village Renaissance Faire in Wrightstown, Pennsylvania last Saturday. We had another fine sunny day for the trip and were glad to see that this fair just keeps growing. This year the children’s area was even larger, with castle blocks, a bubble table, a music area and balance platforms for foam sword fighting on. Round Table Jousting with our friends from Period Productions put on another fine jousting show which ended in a little intrigue and was quickly followed by a bar brawl at the tavern. But the real gem of the show was Shakespearean chess where Shakespeare’s tragedies took on his comedies. This was done brilliantly, using the lines from the individual plays as the dialog on the field and the starting rundown of the plays was very funny. Then there was the food. This is another fair where they let in almost any food vender and your taste buds will thank you for it. While I stuck with the simple cheese sticks and a hamburger, Carol on the other hand had a cross between a quesadilla and an empanada [That would be an “empanadilla.” – ed.]. All in all it was a fun day.

~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
~September 23, 2008~

Product Preview: Talk Like a Pirate Day

The Healer — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:12:53 +0000

With Talk like a Pirate Day fast approaching I figured now would be a good time to introduce our new employee, Pete Dunham, who will be writing a line of nautical-themed books for us. So with out further ado, I will turn this column over to Pete.

Why, thank you, lad, but everyone calls me Old Pete or just “The Voice of the Sea,” a title I am quite fond of as I do strive to give voice to all the sea’s myriad tails. Allow me to explain - I am both a scholar and a sailor and over the years I have collected the descriptions of strange phenomena, the tales of old salts and have even viewed some battles firsthand. Now that my gunny sack is stuffed with notes, I chose to take Healing Fireball’s generous offer and have begun to publish me store in a set of volumes. This first set will be concerned with the weapons of the pirates, their powers and the tales behind them. The first volume of this set I have entitled Blades of the Buccaneers shall deal with the myriad of weapons used by the legendary Captain Red Jack Roberts and his partner in crime, Ezekiel Drake. So, lad, just click the link below and see a sample of this new ledger.

Blades of the Buccaneers DEMO

Thanks, Pete, for that great introduction to your work. If you enjoy the sample items you can get the full book at our store as of Friday 19, 2008 or Talk like a Pirate Day. The full book contains 16 new weapons of an exotic, technical and nautical theme, as well as complete rules for weapon entrapping and beraking and 6 feats that alter these rules.
~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
~September 17, 2008~

Faire and Con Report: The Village Renaissance Faire

The Healer — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:37:48 +0000

Wow, it’s been a while since I wrote one of these. I apologize for the delay but unfortunately due to work and gas prices we chose not to attend all the faires we usually do. However I do have another faire preview for you. This time it’s for the Village Renaissance Faire in Wrightstown, Pennsylvania. This is a one-weekend fair that is a charity fair that raises money for the Wrightstown Village Library. My wife and I are friends with many of the actors at this faire. The faire itself is designed to both entertain adults with a different story every year and children with a play area and arts and crafts table. This year the plot of the main story revolves around a plot hatched by King Phillip II and Mary Queen of Scots to remove the protestant Elizabeth and replace her with a Catholic monarch. It promises to be fun day so if you’re in the Pennsylvania area, come out and support the library. Both I and my wife will be there taking pictures for a follow up Faire and Con Report.
~Chris Baldi “The Healer”~
~September 17, 2008~