The faerie gathering I attended at the Breitenbush Hot Springs Community in the Cascade foothills of rural Oregon was fabulous! I feel so relaxed.

I met about 175 faeries some of whom I’ve seen there for years. I think it’s my 16th or 17th visit as I’ve only missed one winter gathering there since 1986 or 1987.

Dean (Fister) was kind enough to pick me up from the airport and give me a place to stay the night before heading to the gathering. He introduced me to his friend Bam Bam. We went out for a couple of drinks at the queer bars on Stark Street, one of the two gay districts in Portland, Oregon. I saw some really goodlooking young longhair guys, some of whom were probably hustlers and none of whom seemed interested in me. So I hung out with Bam Bam until Dean joined us later in the evening. I did meet one nice fellow named Dustin. We played 20 Questions to see if we could figure out what each of us does for a living. I finally figured out that he is a diver. He figured out that I’m an Internet activist.

The next morning, Jim and Lars arrived at Dean’s place and we went to buy some boots at a butch camping store called G.I. Joe’s. I got some great pics of those guys in front of the store, then in the rifle section. Jim and I both bought the same size of women’s boots, called Bog Boots, perfect for Breitenbush weather. Then, we drove over to Three Friends, a fabulous cafe where the faeries meet on weekends. Lars and I played a very close game of pool while waiting for our food. We were famished and ate quickly. Then, we stopped at the car rental office to get me signed up as a driver.

We drove in a few hours to Breitenbush. Damien and another faerie greeted us at the parking lot and a lovely camouflaged nun pointed us to our parking spot.

I unpacked my stuff into geothermally heated cabin D8 which I shared with Viking Diva, Elephant’s Child, and another faerie whose name I can’t remember. My faerie name is Stardust.

The gathering was perhaps the mellowest one I have ever attended. I really relaxed, avoiding doing any of the organizational stuff since I got so sick last winter as co-Queen Registrar with Rosemary for Remembrance from trying to take care of everything about the gathering.

I just ate excellent vegetarian food, did yoga, exchanged massage, soaked in the tubs, went into the sauna, danced the Dances of Universal Peace (“sufi dancing”), attended Scotty Dog’s workshop on faerie intentional communities, and made love with a couple of really sweet faeries named Jacob (Cob) and Rodney.

The fashion show and the talent/no-talent shows were wonderfully entertaining and not as long as at most gatherings.

I met and connected with so many wonderful people that it would be impossible to list them all here.

I hitched a ride back to Portland with Rodney and his roommate James. We went to a re-entry potluck event at Walowa’s place. I ended up spending a wonderful night with Rodney at a Portland hotel.