Our Reenacting Season Finale

On Saturday I was up in Albany with my reenacting unit for Civil War Heritage Days at the Albany Rural Cemetery. Although we could have camped at the event site this weekend, I have to admit that the idea of sleeping in a cemetery creeped me out seemed a little odd, so we hoteled it Friday and Saturday nights. Anyway, it was a really great one-day event.

Beautiful weather, neat displays, great entertainment, and even President and Mrs. Lincoln made an appearance.

Best of all, the spectators got a big kick out of "Evelyn," my unit's authentic 12-pound Napoleon cannon (named after Evelyn Keefe, a dear friend and supporter of the unit). Here's a picture of Jim talking to the spectators in front of a couple of camera crews from the local TV stations.

While the guys put on a couple of artillery firing demonstrations, I made good progress on Jim's second soldier sock. (No sock pictures this weekend. Sorry...) The event ended with a very nice commemorative service for the Civil War dead who are buried at the cemetery, after which we packed up and loaded Evelyn on to the trailer with the help of the commander in chief.

I bet you never knew that the president was such a hands-on guy!

Well, we finished packing up by around 4 p.m., headed back to the hotel to change out of our reenacting clothes, and went to the movies and had dinner. Just like a real date for a change!

Sunset over Albany.

Sunday morning we met a couple of people from our unit for breakfast and then took Evelyn to her winter quarters at the Watervliet Arsenal Museum. Unfortunately, our contact at the museum was unavailable to meet us, so we couldn't leave her there. Jim had to take her back to Vermont until we can make arrangements to drop her off again.

So, Jim went home, and I began my journey south--with a couple of pit stops at yarn shops!

To be continued...