It all started out as a rather ordinary Saturday afternoon, as my sweetie and I decided to take advantage of one of the long-standing seasonal events in our area, and made our way to the Chile Pepper Fiesta at the Brookyn Botanic Garden. Knowing that the fiesta is usually very popular regardless of the weather, we decided to get an early start, in order to avoid the inevitable crowds. This turned out to be a wise move, as we were greeted not only by an entrance free of lines snaking around the block, but also by the lovely Pepper Sisters (later christened Belle Pepper and Holly Peño by the loopy MC at the main music stage).
As far as sweetie was concerned, our first order of business was to secure some Brooklyn Chili and a good spot on the lawn, both of which were accomplished with minimal fuss, since the gardens were still fairly empty at this point.
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We lay around on the lawn enjoying what turned out to be a wonderfully warm day, listening to all the great music and clearing our sinuses with some fiery chili, then after an hour or so we decided to venture into the music tent to get a closer look at the band on stage, the fabulous Red Baraat. It was at this point that our afternoon took a turn for the bizarre!
One of the MCs was making his way through the crowd and he approached my sweetie with a large plastic bucket, and asked him if he was willing to simply hold on to it for a while until they asked for it during their intermission show. It seemed like a reasonable request, but of course my curious eye continued to follow the man as he continued through the crowd, handing out buckets. And even though the spectators were a very mixed bag indeed, he seemed to be selecting a certain 'type' for this bucket-minding duty : young, tall, athletic-looking men. I began to suspect that he had a bit more in mind than simply collecting the buckets from these men and proceeding with his show, and I anticipated that there was something far more interesting in store for my sweetie than what he had in mind, so I did what any good girlfriend would have done - I kept my mouth shut!
A few minutes later, my silence was rewarded as I witnessed a hilarious demonstration of a 'trust exercise' starring my darling (first man on the left) and three other unsuspecting young men. Please forgive the shaky video, as it's very difficult to hold a camera steady when you're doubled over with laughter.
Needless to say, being recruited to perform some acrobatic stunts with a group of strangers while a couple of fire-eating clowns perch above you is not what you expect from your ordinary Saturday afternoon. But lately, Saturday afternoons don't seem to be very ordinary around here, and I'm quite grateful for that!
As far as sweetie was concerned, our first order of business was to secure some Brooklyn Chili and a good spot on the lawn, both of which were accomplished with minimal fuss, since the gardens were still fairly empty at this point.
.JPG)
We lay around on the lawn enjoying what turned out to be a wonderfully warm day, listening to all the great music and clearing our sinuses with some fiery chili, then after an hour or so we decided to venture into the music tent to get a closer look at the band on stage, the fabulous Red Baraat. It was at this point that our afternoon took a turn for the bizarre!
One of the MCs was making his way through the crowd and he approached my sweetie with a large plastic bucket, and asked him if he was willing to simply hold on to it for a while until they asked for it during their intermission show. It seemed like a reasonable request, but of course my curious eye continued to follow the man as he continued through the crowd, handing out buckets. And even though the spectators were a very mixed bag indeed, he seemed to be selecting a certain 'type' for this bucket-minding duty : young, tall, athletic-looking men. I began to suspect that he had a bit more in mind than simply collecting the buckets from these men and proceeding with his show, and I anticipated that there was something far more interesting in store for my sweetie than what he had in mind, so I did what any good girlfriend would have done - I kept my mouth shut!
A few minutes later, my silence was rewarded as I witnessed a hilarious demonstration of a 'trust exercise' starring my darling (first man on the left) and three other unsuspecting young men. Please forgive the shaky video, as it's very difficult to hold a camera steady when you're doubled over with laughter.
Needless to say, being recruited to perform some acrobatic stunts with a group of strangers while a couple of fire-eating clowns perch above you is not what you expect from your ordinary Saturday afternoon. But lately, Saturday afternoons don't seem to be very ordinary around here, and I'm quite grateful for that!
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