And here is the events of the second day of ReginaCon, also known as The Fairy Tale Novel Get-Together or The Fairy Tale Novel Fan Gathering. ReginaCon is much shorter.
These would be pictures from day 2, because I'm afraid I have no pictures from Day 1 - at least not at Regina's house. Day 1 was mostly spent in touring Manassas Battlefield and Arlington Cemetery with my grandparents, who provided our transportation to Virginia. The Battlefield - sight of the first major battle of the war and a second battle just prior to Antietam - was quite lovely and rather different than Shiloh and Gettysburg. I knew something was different, but I couldn't figure it out at first. Then I noticed - no monuments. Well, there was one that was erected by the soldiers who fought at First Manassas, but the usual monuments and markers for all the regiments who fought and died on this piece of ground were absent. Also the only statue in sight was a large and impressive sculpture of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. It was simpler, but no less profound.
Arlington Cemetery was just - amazing. There are soooo many grave sights there, it's just so sobering. I had the good fortune to witness the Changing of the Guard Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unkowns... was that
beautiful. The extreme precision and detail and respect that goes into it is just awesome. For me though, the highlight of my visit was Arlington House. To think that General Robert E. Lee
lived there, walked on the exact same ground that I walked on... I know he was at Gettysburg, and I went there to... but on a battlefield you can't be sure exactly where everyone was because it is so big. But there... to
know that I was on the same ground as a man whom I admire so greatly - it was a very powerful experience for me.
And then of course there was arriving at Regina's house. No one heard us drive up, so we were able to walk in on them all eating dinner and see their surprised and (hopefully) delighted faces. I was thrilled to finally meet my dear brother and sister, Paul and Elena, and meet Laura who is an amazing girl. Lanta showed up a little later and knocked me over. I was very happy to see her too, and meet Dayandnight and Miss Eliza Bennet. We talked for a bit and then after the sun had set we all went swimming in the pond, dubbing ourselves "The Midnight Swimmers". Three more people arrived and joined us as well.
Now to the day that I have pictures for. (I do have pictures of Manassas and Arlington, if you want to see them later.)
After praying the Rosary, we all packed into the cars and drove down the road to pick blueberries. 'Twas very hot, but there were clouds for some of the time, so it wasn't that bad. We picked lots of blueberries, some of which Paul kept throwing at me *frowns at Paul*. I did hit him a few times though! David found a lonely pair of little girl's sunglasses at the end of one of the rows, and we adopted them.
We finished picking and drove back, during which I had a lovely conversation with Regina, and found that five more girls had arrived! Greetings and introductions were exchanged and made and then after lunch we listened to Regina talk on "Evangelizing the Imagination and How to Create Evil Characters if you are a Devout Christian". What a wonderful and helpful talk!
The rest of the afternoon was free time and some of us went shopping for more food while the rest watched "The Scarlet Pimpernel" (1982). That was an awesome movie!!!! Made for TV, so a little long... but was it good!
The day's events concluded with a talent show during which yours truely performed "Upside Down" (a recent forum adventure) along with Kathleen, Yaviel and some of our friends who where there. The talent show finished with a lovely theatrical reading of "The Importance of Being Earnest" by the Shirefield Players.
And that concludes the events of Day 2! Hannah, I hope that was enough detail. ;) Day 3 coming soon.
