Mr/Ms New Jersey Leather Weekend

Baltimore Leather Folk receiving notice that the New Jersey Leather Family loves us!

October 18-20, 2013 - Asbury Park, New Jersey feels like a second home to me in the Leather community.  So, being asked to coordinate the bootblacks for the Mr/Ms New Jersey Leather Weekend was an honor and I accepted quickly and gratefully.  Even more fun was being asked to organize a bootblack mosh pit for the Saturday schedule of classes during the weekend.  I gathered together a great group of bootblacks and even worked out a schedule for them so everyone got fairly equal time to shine.  Half of the tips were donated to the winners' travel fund.

Friday Meet & Greet, with Boy Roger of Keystone Boys of Leather

Parade of Colors, representing the Bootblack Brigade

I love working on the Leatherfolk who attend events in Asbury Park and I am a bit astonished at times that they remember me and welcome me so warmly.  We spent Friday and Saturday nights at the Empress Hotel, with Raquel and Pug sharing a room with Sir and I to cut down on the cost.  I made up meals to cook in the slow cookers to help with cost of eating and, in fact, we ate only two meals that were not prepackaged by me at home.

I was so happy when Keith and Nikki won their titles!  They are awesome Leather people and I am certain they will represent New Jersey with pride and lots of sexy fun.

Keith and Nikki, Mr and Ms NJ Leather 2014

New Jersey Pride Parade/Festival

The Mid-Atlantic Leather Family 2013

June 2, 2013 - What a way to spend a Sunday!  I caught a ride with Nina Love (Mid-Atlantic Leatherwoman 2013) and her Daddy, Sir Diesel.  I spent the time in the car working on a Leather Sir/boy Pride pillow and talking about various things with them.  Once we got to Asbury Park, we found the location of the beginning of the parade and found a good place to recover at Johnny Mac's bar.  It was amazing because of the huge pride flag surrounding two sides of the building and the fact that on Sundays, purchase of a drink gets you a ticket for a free, freshly-made omelet.  YUM!

Nina and I inside of Johnny Mac's

The huge Pride flag at Johnny Mac's

We met up with the other titleholders from up and down the East Coast, and I was so happy to be among Leatherfolk.  I met Phil, Northeast Community Bootblack 2013; KJ Nichol, Mr. Connecticut 2013, and Tank Teachworth, Mr. Atlanta Eagle 2013.  Oh, yeah, I also met Kevin Samson, who squirted into my water bottle and turned it pink!  *giggles*

Phil, boy quinton, and me

 I rode in the back of a pick-up truck and, at the beginning of the parade, Phil made sure I did not fall out by grabbing me around the chest when the truck jerked into place in the parade.   I tried to grab onto KJ's forearm to keep him from falling off the back, only to discover that this particular Bear had an arm too large for me to really grab. *grins*  I do love me some Bears!

The parade stopped by the Pride Festival and Nina, Sir Diesel and I walked around, enjoying the sights and sounds of the LGBT folk in New Jersey.  I bought a pair of deep purple feather earrings.

May 17--19, 2013

Last week was, once again, an interesting week medically in our household.  This time it was my foster mother, who has lived with us for the last 10 years and is in her 80s, that had medical issues including acute renal failure.  I was not sure if she would be hospitalized and had to worry about cancelling the plans I had to travel during the weekend.  Eventually, she began to eat and drink again and a trip to the hospital was averted.

Friday, May 17th, was supposed to be my opportunity to present a leather care class to a combination of kinky and vanilla folk through the Touch of Flavor festival.  However, the manager of the venue in Baltimore MD decided that they were not comfortable with the fact that the classes being taught were edgy and sexy and breached the contract entered into by the prior management company with Touch of Flavor producers.  While the case is before the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, the preliminary injunction trying to enforce the contract terms was denied and the producers will fight on for the right to have the festival sometime in the future.  I am certain the breach of contract will result in punishment legally of the management company but it saddens me to see the mainstream folks still trying to step on the civil liberties of those who are not like them.  *sighs*

Saturday, May 18th, Sir drove me to Camp Ramblewood in Darlington, Maryland for NDDS BootCamp V.  I presented a class on leather care, as well as working the cigar social.  We also had the opportunity to sit in on a class on inverted suspensions and came away with some interesting ideas.  I loved the campgrounds, which are amazingly huge, and we took advantage of the time between my class and the cigar social to play in the open dungeon.  I was excited by the thought of a place where a person can play at any time that the dungeon's doors are open and the lights on (as long as there are no classes going on).  Such FUN!  The people attending my class were very interested and asked many questions.  The class was only supposed to be for 90 minutes but we went on for two hours and some of the attendees came to the cigar social to continue with their questions.  I spoke about my charity, B.A.C.A., to those who attended the class and there was talk from some Delaware residents about setting up a chapter in that State since there is no chapter of B.A.C.A. in Delaware.  All agreed that it was a worthy charity and that it was too bad more people did not know of its existence.   YAY for bootblack love!

Sunday, May 19th, I was supposed to go to Asbury Park, New Jersey to help raise funds for Mr. New Jersey Leather 2013 in his send off for IML.  Unfortunately, I was too tired from the cigar social and Sir had to work the day shift anyway.  I hope that the New Jersey Leather community will forgive my inability to help out with this fundraiser.  I will be there for other events, including New Jersey Pride.

Bootblack Skillshare

May 4, 2013 - I was not able to attend this event because I was so emotionally drained by what happened during the week.  On Tuesday, Sir Tatsujin Paris had a minor stroke and was admitted to the hospital.  He was not released from the hospital until Friday evening, when he was well enough to walk home with me.  I was frantic most of the week, trying to make sure that Sir was doing well in the hospital and still doing what needed to be done at my office.  I do not think I slept more than six hours all week and, Friday night, I fell out around 9:30 p.m.  I slept until 6:30 a.m. Saturday.  I was wiped out emotionally and just the thought of being around people was unbearable most of Saturday.  After another night's sleep, I was ready to travel to Asbury Park NJ on Sunday, where I had a wonderful time.  Sir drove a ZipCar, which we have discovered is an awesome way to travel around the Mid-Atlantic Region.  I hope to attend future events in Frederick, Maryland.

Sinner Sunday - Kinky Karnival

May 5, 2013 at the Paradise in Asbury Park NJ - Cinco de Mayo was never so much fun!  I helped to raise funds for the NJ Pride Festival, as well as a bit for B.A.C.A. on the side.  The Karnival was such fun, with the Wheel of Pain (spin for some fun impact play), as well as a web and a St. Andrews Cross for flogging scenes.  The Leather community was well-represented with clubs from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland in attendance, all having a blast while getting their kink on.

Working on Sir's python skin cowboy boots.

A happy Leatherman after I worked on his kilt that was once Spanky's

Working a high shine!