Showing posts with label
Fifth Annual Clue Hunt On the Bayou.
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Showing posts with label
Fifth Annual Clue Hunt On the Bayou.
Show all posts
Well, the fun has ended for another year. The last run of the Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou was last night with most of the team members being of the original group for which the hunt was started. My grandniece had always wanted her birthday party to be held at my house but since her birthday in February, it just wasn't going to happen. I am not a cutesy, heart and ruffles type person. So, the clue hunt came into being and has been going strong for these past five years. Hopefully, it will be able to continue for many more years.
For the fun event, several spots around the Bayou are totally transformed to fit the theme. This year, the greenhouse became a blacksmith's shop complete with tools and a makeshift "forge". It took days to make the transformation but, today, it became a greenhouse again in just a matter of minutes. Necessity called. Our weather has taken a turn to the cooler side and I have a couple dozen potted plants that were shaking in their boots at the mere mention of cold. Out with the blacksmith's stuff and in with the plants! In a way, it feels good to be getting stuff back to normal...whatever that is around here.
Now, on the cold days that are to come, I can putter around in the relative warmth the greenhouse offers. The old dog, PJ, can get fresh air and sunshine without having to be miserably achy. His arthritis does not seem to appreciate bursts of wintry weather. He did, however, enjoy basking in the sunshine that poured through the greenhouse windows. All that is needed is a nice rug for him and the wicker chair for me and we shall be set!
While most of the year, my greenhouse is just that....a greenhouse. It is a place that houses plants from tiny seedling to sprawling tropicals and anything in between. But, come late September, the greenhouse suddenly transforms into a magical place. This past month, the place was stripped of everything greenhouse related and filled with an odd assortment of things that one (using one's imagination) might find in a blacksmith's shop, Anything iron or metal was hauled into the tiny building and proudly put on display. Chains, pulleys, tools, buckets, anvils and old farm equipment were all lugged out of sheds, attics and from any place that I could find that had unusual chunks of metal. Why would I go to all this trouble to turn my perfectly good greenhouse into a shabby, wannabe blacksmith shop? All of this transformation was for the Fifth Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou, of course!
With the theme being Medieval Times, a blacksmith just had to be included in the hunt. Well, that and I needed a forge....or at least a place for our teams to melt candles. So, I figured that we may as well go all out and pop for an entire blacksmith's shop as well as a forge. No problem...except if you ask my tropical plants. The weather has taken a jaunt to the cooler side and the plants are shivering in their boots! I guess that forge is just not putting out enough heat! Stoke that fire! Fan those flames! Brrr...it is chilly! The plants will probably be real thankful come this weekend and the hunt is over for another year!
It is October and that can mean only one thing at the Little Bayou House. It is time for the Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou! This is the fifth year that Son and I have thrown this massive event! It seems to be growing each year. So far, our teams are family and friends. While many folks have asked, we have not gone public. Time constraints would put a kink in the production. As it is, we are running willynilly to get things ready each year. Perhaps if we had a different venue the idea would work but since the Little Bayou House is home to the hunt, it is impossible. Space is limited! We do still live here!
During the months of September and October, the place is nigh on unrecognizable. Weird and wonderful things fill every nook and cranny (even more so than usual!). Sometimes people, who are not here for the hunt, ask why the place is "decorated" as such. I hear things like...."Those are not Halloween decorations!" or "Why do you have a strange box on the table?" Folks who participate each year have come to expect the Little Bayou House and the surrounding outbuildings to be a bit strange. They know something is afoot and the unusual trappings just add to the anticipation. The box on the table? Yep, it is there. A rather large, wooden box with windows on the front is barred with boards, chains and a lock. The idea is to get into that contraption and retrieve the very visible keys that hang in the windows! This is actually only one of many such things that adorn the place at the moment. There are twelve other huge props besides several puzzles that need to be solved, opened, unlocked or smashed! (Yep, smashed! But we won't go there...yet!)
With two of the teams already having competed, we are resetting all of the props in advance of the next team that comes tomorrow night. What fun! There will be a meal served and three hours of fun filled tromping about the hillside in search of clues that will help solve our mystery! As the teams are using their abilities to crack the case, Son and I will be already pondering how to make next year's hunt even better!
I was never so glad to see one of Son's friends come to the Little Bayou House as I was today. The first run of the clue hunt is barreling at me like a herd of runaway elephants and with this bum leg, I am far from ready. Son has been working like crazy to build the major props but it is the fine details that are left to my doing. Decorating has been a pain since climbing a ladder is...well, a pain. When Chris came knocking at the door, I knew that he would not have any qualms about helping. I asked...he agreed. We were good. So, while Son built yet another huge prop, Chris climbed the ladder and poked things exactly where I pointed. The leg was rested, the work got done and I am a happy camper now. No, the hunt is not ready but I feel far more at ease that we will complete it in the few days that we have left before folks arrive. As much as I would love to have added weeks before beginning, Mark has to go back to work. His group will literally be a "trial" run and I hope for the best. They are all good sports, though, so hopefully, things will be perfect.
This year's theme is "Save the Alchemist" and, of course, is set during Medieval Times. We have narrowed the "rooms" down to an alchemy lab, a blacksmith's shop, a tannery and a candlemaker's shop. By far my favorite is the alchemy lab. This alchemist seems to not only be practicing chemistry but has a deepseated desire to be a wizard. That said, the lab is filled with all sorts of weird and wonderful things. There are the usual chemistry related items but thrown in for good measure are dozens and dozens of quirky, off-the-wall, out-of-the-ordinary knickknacks. Chris spent a good bit of time pondering just why this alchemist might have a tea kettle hanging from the ceiling. I had no answer other than "Why not?" Works for me! Perhaps my alchemist is just as eccentric as I am!
Chris promised to come back and help a few more days before the first run of the clue hunt. He also volunteered to help with each running. I am so appreciative! Now that things are starting to fall into place, I can concentrate on the meal and tablescape! Fun times will be had on the Bayou come the month of October!
Each year, Son and I work our little fingers to the bone trying to piece together a bit of entertainment for others. We start planning in November for the following October so it is a year-round endeavor for us. The Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou is something he and I do purely for the enjoyment of others. We do not get anything out of it other than the satisfaction that those attending are having a grand time. That, in itself, makes it all worth the effort. We start by writing a storyline then build props, puzzles, locked boxes and mechanical devices. We totally transform the Little Bayou House and surrounding outbuildings to meet the needs of the hunt. My oldest son said that our clue hunts are not clue hunts at all but rather LARP and Room Escape had a baby. (LARP being "Live Action Role Playing.) I suppose he is correct on that! There are very few (if any) written clues. You have to be observant and "find" your clues that help you solve the mystery.
This year, the clue hunt's theme is Medieval Times with a title of "Save the Alchemist". Since the Little Bayou House is far from being a castle, we are working more with townsfolks and leading characters. As of today, my living room has become an alchemist's lab. Shelves line the windows and are heavily laden with all those magical things that any good alchemist would need to further his/her experiments. The delving into science might easily be accomplished in our lab!
All that is left to complete the lab is the "work table" where the experiments actually are performed. That will be set up tomorrow and will be carefully arranged to allow for the teams to do whatever is necessary to complete the given tasks presented to them. Part of the appeal of these hunts is the challenge that we pose for the teams. The groups are going up against Son's brain. That is not an easy task as not only is he brilliant but he has a very quirky sense of humor. Combine the two and some clues and props need a bit of figuring. Now, toss in a bit of my eclectic and eccentric artistic sense and things get even fuzzier. It takes most teams a good three hours to complete the tasks set before them but no one, as of yet, has quit nor complained and they all want to return for the next hunt. That sure makes you feel good!
We are running a bit behind schedule (due to my uncooperative knee) but should have things ready for the groups scheduled later in the month of October. The knee put a hindrance on progress so the first few hunts had to be cancelled. Thankfully, Son's good friend has stepped in to give us a hand and I can sit back and supervise.
There is a dragon in my cupboard! Yes, indeed, and it is a lovely dragon as far as dragons go. While the thing resides in my cabinet, it is not mine. I cannot lay claim to the critter nor can I discourage it from dwelling there. It just has to stay for the duration of about three more months. Then the thing can go home. It can journey back to its original domain and I will be free from its rule. Not that I mind. The dragon has been relatively well behaved and its stay has not been overly stressful for either of us. To be truthful, I hardly realize it is there except when I wander through the dining room. BUT! I would not trade it for the world! Even though, as I have said, the dragon is not mine to claim, it is meaningful to me.
The dragon in question is none other than a small figurine. Back a few months ago, a lifelong buddy of Son's came to visit. He smugly presented me with the dragon. "Here! This is to help you stay in the spirit of the clue hunt!" he said as the dragon was passed to my hands. You see, the theme of this year's Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou is "Save the Alchemist" which is set in Medieval Times. Since no decent Alchemist is without a dragon somewhere in the whole realm of things, I obviously needed one to keep me in check. Now, whenever I start getting a bit bogged down and "clueless", I have a reminder that keeps me striving to complete the task. The dragon is to return to its original home after the final day of the hunt.
This evening, I took a photograph of the dragon and was at first distressed about the reflection of the flash on the glass of the cupboard. Then after staring at the thing a bit, I thought that it was rather appropriate after all. If you really squint your eyes and use a great deal of imagination, perhaps the dragon is "breathing fire"! Sounds good to me! Its funny how things work.
