strangetreat

Pieced this together based on an email to a friend, as it summarizes this rather well.

This weekend I attended a regional Burning Man event called "Lakes of Fire." Kind of a mini-Burning Man, which is this: Burning Man. This is our third year attending this event, which lasts four days. It's really wonderful to see people of all ages and from all walks of life come together to be creative, playful, and express themselves--responsibily for the most part.

We got there late Thursday. It was an odd situation because both my wife and girlfriend where there, as well as my girlfriend's boyfriend and his wife and her boyfriend. This whole open marriage thing is still new to us so we were not sure what to expect. I am pleased to say everything went well. After setting up Thursday we walked about the grounds a bit, said hi to friends, and checked out some of the performances and art exhibits, including a giant totem pole that shot fire out of the figures mouths. Whiskey and wine were passed about freely and we didn't fall asleep until daylight--a trend for the whole weekend.

Friday was our wedding anniversary. We went to a workshop and a yoga class that some friends were putting on there and saw more art and more performances. It was hot that day so we did some skinny dipping. Etherea and I skinny dipped with a couple friends and I went again later with Dearie Delicious. Then we laid low for a while and tried to sleep a bit. That night Etherea and I went out to the various dance parties that were happening on the grounds, visited with more friends, huddled together and talked alone in the dark woods and so forth. Dearie Delicious went out with her boyfriend that night. We all finished up hanging out around a fire.

Saturday we all slept late and got up and ate bacon. Bacon is a big deal there. It is the official meat of Burning Man. We camped with a group called The International House of Bacon. We cooked dozens of pounds of bacon and passed it out to passers by. One funny thing was the naked 5k race that happened that morning. I didn't participate but they did run past the camp. I was amused by this. It was cool that they were running. It was cool that they were naked. It was hilarious that they kept explaining to people that this is what they were doing. One would think that a naked running person would be self-explanatory--that one wouldnt' necessarily have to yell, "We are running naked!" over and over for people to understand what was going on. But so it goes.

Dearie Delicious and I went for a long walk and talk in the woods. Anytime anyone passed by we huddled together and hid our faces, I started calling us the "Armadillo of Love," because we instinctively rolled up in a "ball" when people passed by. Then I taught her how to be a "safety" during a fire performance. I spin fire poi, I post pictures and what not of me doing this on FB and such. The safety's job is to watch to make sure the fire dancer doesn't catch fire and if he/she does, to let them know and put them out. (You don't always feel it right away.) Then more swimming.

At this point we enacted our plan to have a Thanksgiving in the woods. Dearie roasted sweet potatoes in the campfire; Etherea made a fruit compote that was to die for, and I set up a huge deep fryer for the turkey. At some point a remark was made by Etherea about these Superman briefs that she had given me as a joke. Someone said, "I would love ... love ... to see you make this turkey wearing nothing but those Superman undies." So that's what I did. (Though I did wear boots and goggles) I spent the next three hours practically naked and working with raw poultry. Then we feasted and took a brief rest. Then checked out a shibari rope bondage demonstration at "Camp Slut."

Then I had a fire safety meeting for the conclave. The event culminates with the burning of a huge effigy that was constructed for that purpose. They have built and burned a life size pirate ship, a working lighthouse, and a sculpture of a whale in past years. This year they built a house of sorts, with a tall chimney that housed a flamethrower, and decorated with mosaics representing the various Midwestern states and the participants and principles of Burning Man. The fire conclave is a group of fire dancers that perform around the effigy right before it is burned. This is the first year that I participated. It was a great experience. So, I danced with fire, and then they called us in and my friend Dixon, who is an AMAZING violinist, began to play as fireworks went off and a series of flamethrowers were fired into the air in formation. The fire dancers hit the deck and crawled a short distance away and the effigy went up in flames. Dixon played while it burned and we waited for the structure to collapse and for the safety perimeter to be dropped. Then mayhem ensued. Everyone danced ecstatically around the burning effigy. We played silly games and made the totem pole spit fire and rode across the lake on a dragon boat--someone made a replica viking ship that looked like a dragon--and it actually breathed fire. We danced like mad people.

Sunday was all about cleaning up and packing up so that's pretty much what we did. Many fond goodbyes were said and we began the 5 hour drive home. The rest of the night was devoted to unpacking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, cuddling and sleeping. There was SO much more to this weekend. So many things experienced and felt and seen and heard, but this is all I can articulate right now.