Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Pleasures of PA

I woke up this morning to my favorite classical radio station, WQXR and heard an ad for visitPA.com. That made me smile because Pennsylvania is truly one of my favorite places to be!

I grew up in the desert between Los Angeles and San Diego, so when I was hired for the Shakespeare troupe for the PA Renaissance Faire, I had no idea I'd be going into a world so lush and green! It was so very different from my little tumbleweed town of Hemet, CA, but I immediately fell in love, not only with the place but with the people.
I met my fiance, Rob, at the PA Ren Faire. He was cast the comic villain, Cardinal Synne (the handsome fellow center in the pic above), and we performed in many of the stage shows, not to mention the interactive "street work" (think improvisational Shakespeare). I also met my soul sister, Tina (tada girl on the left), who was working with her sister, Maryanne (far right) at the Faire's herb shoppe. These two wild women were quickly dubbed The Twisted Sisters because of their hysterical sense of humors.

We all left the Faire after a few seasons. Rob and I moved to NY, and the Sisters started their own businesses, evolving into The Sibling Group.

I recently got to visit Tina in her woodsy paradise, and it was such a thrill to see her at work. I'm a big fan of her magazine, The Essential Herbal, and it was so cool to be right where it all happens!
Tina was showing me around, taking time to literally stop and smell the roses and caress the leaves. She even did some quick harvesting of some St. Basil on the fly.Maryanne lives right down the road from Tina, and I got to see where she makes her incredible handmade jewelry for her Torchsong Studio.The jewelry is really exceptional and each piece is unique. I HAD to get a bracelet and came home with a piece that looks like her "Blue Nebula."
It was such an immense pleasure to be around the Sisters, laughing and talking about all sorts of stuff, from old times to world events. These gals are such incredibly BIG small business owners and their works are treasures indeed!

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