20 years ago . .

The Renaissance Festival starts again this weekend. If you were going to the Festival during the mid-80's you know who this is. For the rest of you, this is Lord Lionfire, the grand wizard of Ren-Fest. He wowed the crowds with his "magical" substances such as early gunpowder and ground metals tossed into a fire. And his show was historically accurate, too!

For a couple of years his was the most popular of the traveling acts. Then, like the burst of fire in his magic, he was gone. We never heard why or where he might have gone. You can't really look up "Lord Lionfire" in the phone book, so if anybody knows what happened to him, please, do tell.

c. 1923 High School Building

I traveled out of town last week to photograph this beautiful junior high school building for a National Register of Historic Places nomination. Soon after I took this shot I was met at the front door by the school maintenance supervisor. I commented on how great the building looked and its fantastic condition. He told me he thought the building was old and obsolete and should be torn down and replaced with a new building. I was a bit dumbstruck. Maybe from his perspective it was a lot to handle, but that solution seemed extreme.

Most people don't see the value of old buildings, I guess,