Cloved Fruits and Kissing "Games"

[Tyrca at aol.com]

     I have never had the experience of being offered a fruit by some walking
ghoul (as some of the descriptions seem to intimate), and have enjoyed them
from the time I joined the Society more than 15 years ago.  In my experience,
the game has been mostly played in situations where everyone knows each
other, and are comfortable with it.
     I also can understand that in Bjornsborg, they have developed their own
game, and get great delight playing it.  I feel like it is unproductive to
feel slighted if your chosen "clove" target refuses to play, if they take a
reduced participation (such as kissing hands or something to that effect), or
even if your "opponent" takes the cloved lemon from you, pulls the pin, yells
INCOMING and falls to the ground.
     I try to keep in mind the old Chinese proverb:   He who takes offense
when no offense is meant is a fool.  He who takes offense when offense _is_
meant is also a fool. 
     I think we can use our tomfoolery in much more entertaining places ;)

      Lady Tyrca Ivarsdottir
         Barony Namron,  Ansteorra