It rained on my parade, but I did't really care**

I slept pretty well last night, but it rained cats and dogs. It rained heavily enough that it woke me up at one point. But when I woke up, it was just overcast. I was pretty pumped about the Barnyard flea market down here, so I got on up, even though it was only about 7. I wandered around to see if any other early risers were out, but only found a couple of guys who had been up all night. I hung with them for a bit, and then went on to breakfast. Breakfast turned out to be fairly light. Some small bagels, cream cheese, some fresh fruit, and a selection of pastry and granola bars. Sadly, the coffee was really weak. But I partook. It was free, and I wanted to get going. I figured I could get something later if I wanted.

After breakfast, I got changed and headed for the flea market. I called Russ, since I told him I would, but not surprisingly, he wasn't up. It was ugly, so there weren't as many sellers at the flea market as usual, but there were enough that it was interesting. I found a woman who had a beautiful selection of plate and bowl stands, and bought a selection of those. The last ones I bought were pretty crappy, and I am always needing stands; but I really wanted to find some glass. All the pieces I found were damaged, and there weren't a lot of them. I saw plenty of stuff I recognized, thanks to Justin and his encouragement of my small knowledge of 50's and 60's stuff. I saw one cup that I thought was Aunt Polly, but didn't buy it. I went back looking for it later, just because I hadn't seen anything else; but when I found it again I still couldn't work up any enthusiasm about it. When I looked up the pattern later, I found out that Aunt Polly doesn't have any cups and saucers, so this was obviously a later look-alike pattern. I found a Dogwood plate, but it was chipped. I also found yet another white big berry Bubble bowl, but Russ already has two, and I didn't want it. Eventually, I just had to resign myself to the fact that there wasn't anything there, and left.

On the way back I stopped by a smaller, junkier flea market just to look around. Interestingly, I did find three glasses to match a set I bought at another flea market in Columbia. They aren't antique, just glasses that happened to strike my fancy, but I thought it was pretty interesting finding more of them here. I picked them up, and felt that at least it hadn't been a totally glass-free outing.

Back at the hotel, I decided I needed a nap. I had been out late and up early, and tonight would be the party night. So I read a bit, and slept for about two hours. I woke up to still cloudy skies, and got ready and went to lunch, thinking for sure I would run into Russ and Billy there. Lunch was pretty sad. It had been planned as a picnic by the pool, but it was drizzling rain. There wasn't much for me to eat. The entree was pork loin sandwiches and a fried chicken salad. Happily, there were some pimento cheese sandwiches. There was also some fruit, and a pretty uninspired cucumber salad. I got a plate and tried to find a place to sit. No one really wanted to be inside - the room with the tables was kind of gloomy and deserted. I made my way out to the pool, but still no Russ and Billy. Mostly couples and groups of friends had assembled in damp little groups to eat. I found a place and sat down. About halfway through lunch, the rain picked up, and a bunch of people were crammed under the overhang eating. I didn't really know anyone well enough to cram in the group, so I went on inside. Alone or not - I had been raised with the sense to get in out of the rain.

After lunch, I did find Russ and Billy, and talked to them for a bit. Russ was cutting hair all day. Billy and I walked over to his shop area. But Billy went to do something, and Russ was busy. So I went on back to my room to read. It started to monsoon. The rain just poored. I was laying there, reading, and thinking that I could really have just done this at home. I felt like I ought to go find people, but I didn't really feel like doing it. I really just felt like reading. So that's what I did.

Eventually, though, the light breakfast and lunch caught up with me. I was ravenous. Hungry enough that I decided to go into town for an early dinner. I called Russ, but he wasn't answering his phone. I figure they were probably taking a nap, but I was just too hungry to wait. Plus, I knew exactly what I wanted. I went to the little cafeteria in Augusta that makes the potatoes like my grandmother's. They were SO good - just like I remembered. I ate and read, and then went back to the hotel. It was still raining, so I decided just to lay up until a bit later.

I hooked up with Russ and Billy about 7, and we went over to the main building just as the dinner thing was wrapping up. The weather had cleared, finally, and it was turning out to be a nice evening. We found Lady D and dax, and settled in just to hang out and talk with them until the scenes and demos started. Daniel was there with Russ and Billy. He's the latest little BDSM boy that Russ and Billy have adopted. This was the first time he had gone to anything like this, other than one LOCK camp-out. He was staying with them, and since he isn't really intersted in guys, he was relying on Russ to act as a cock block for him. Which is kind of like hanging out with Freddy Kruger because you're afraid of Jason, but that's his life. In fairness, Russ wouldn't victimize him the way some there might have, but Russ is not averse to using his powerful gift o' gab to make things you never thought you would do sound like a pretty great idea.

While we were hanging out there talking, I met a really nice looking guy named Joshua. I had noticed him the night before because he was flagging for puppy play, but didn't seem like a puppy to me. I had thought about just going up to him and rubbing his head, but he was in a group of people. I didn't want to break protocol or piss someone off. He was very approachable, though, and funny and articulate. I ended up talking to him with Billy and Daniel for a while, as Lady D and Russ went off to set up their scene. I really like him. Eventually, we drifted inside to look at a demo of electrical and fire play. I wanted to see the violet wand work because I had never seen that up close, but the fire play I had seen before. The guy doing the demo was really good. He was patient and matter-of-fact, and he knew his stuff. I really enjoyed both of the things he was talking about.

Just as Joshua took his shirt off and got up on the table though, Russ came to tell me that he and Lady D were starting their scene. Joshua looked really hot on the table, and I was enjoying watching the electrical play on him; but he was there with someone else, and seeing Russ and Lady D do a scene together really wasn't something I wanted to miss. Also, it was an interrogation scene, and I hadn't seen one of those before and really wanted to.

It was pretty wild! dax had been told he was helping with a take-down and interrogation of another guy, but ended up getting pulled into the scene himself. I didn't know the whole premise of the scene going in. One of the Daddies there had a boy who had seriously disappointed him - to the point that he took the boy's collar. He had asked Lady D and Russ to set up the interrogation scene as a punishment for the boy.

The theme this year for the run was pirates. In keeping with the theme, the scene had been set up as an interrogation of co-conspirators about a stolen and divided treasure map. It was really cool. Surprisingly, Russ was in more of an instigator mood, and had stepped back to let Lady D and Billy run the scene. Billy is a wicked top. The scene went on for about two hours, and was fairly intense at places. I even got to help for a while. At the end, the Daddy, who was there with his boy's sister (she's apparently in the life as well), decided that he had done well, and gave him his collar back. It was very touching - all the more so to me because it was so unexpected. I thought it was very sweet.

Afterwards we all went downstairs for a post-scene smoke and discussion. Joshua met Lady D and asked her really good questions about setting up and running the scene. The tricky part about an interrogation scene is when to end it. Traditionally, it ends when the information is given up, but sometimes the sub is too out of it to rememeber, or may feel that he is letting the dom down by giving up, so the dom has to be very in tune with the sub to know how much they can take, or has to have someone there watching who does. It was very complex and very interesting.

Russ had a shaving scene going on then, and I went over to watch that. Billy was all charged up from the interrogation scene, and was bouncing and running all over the place. Although he had a problem concentrating, I did not. The shaving scene was HOT. I ended up taking a stroll on my own for a bit before going to say goodnight to everyone. Lady D and I set up a date to go to to the flea market in the morning. I got to bed around 3.