Tunbridge Fair

At least the little guy didn't have to pull the gals uphill!

Bob loves country fairs. I can enjoy one a year or so and I prefer to visit a different one if possible. I hadn't been to the Tunbridge Fair in over 25 years, so that's the one we picked. There's an old Vermont saying that the Tunbridge Fair is where men go with someone else's wife and a jug of whiskey. It's not quite like that any more.

We arrived just as the parade was beginning...

I now know how to take a pig for a walk!

We sure do love our flag...it becomes the decoration of choice.

There were kids of all ages...and calves of varied temperaments...some wanted to walk in the opposite direction.

The sheep were more willing to just follow along...

Some critters got to ride in the parade...

Notice that one fella hanging on to his wiggly duck!

They traveled a large circle...in the background the miniature horses are now catching up to the end of the parade!

We had arrived about noon and I'd only had a banana for breakfast. The first vendor was selling hot apple crisp with a scoop of ice cream. We decided to have lunch, beginning with dessert!

That's Bob waiting in line...


The main event for this afternoon was the ox pull, so we worked our way through the crowds to the open barn and the hard working oxen...

Some folk had seen enough so we luckily got seats on the bleachers...but there was no way to walk up the bleacher benches to reach those seats. Fortunately I have decent upper body strength and was able to pull myself onto the high bench...not a very lady-like maneuver, but much better than standing behind people much taller than me!

 For the oxen, pulling this much weight was a piece of cake...

Eventually the oxen pulled twice as many cement blocks as can be seen here.

What I found fascinating was the way the farmers handled their oxen. The youngest fellow had a lot to learn. He acted like an angry bully, whipping his oxen in the face, and got the poorest performance. Thankfully, no one else behaved the way he did.

This farmer was a delight to watch...

He never yelled at his team. He would tap them with the stick so they would know when to turn. He was calm, the oxen were calm, and the rapport between beast and man was obvious.

The fellow walking behind is carrying the hook that he will attach to the loaded sled once the oxen turn around and are in position to pull.

Below is another team...

There were all sorts of exhibits. This was the ultimate reversal of "don't play with your food." I got a chuckle out of the blue fish...

Then came the adult crafts and a bigger fish...

No fair is complete without the pumpkin contest. Bob said that the Rutland fair had a bigger pumpkin, but the 675 pound winner here can make more than enough pies for any size family!

Note the stuffed (pun intended) "families" in the background, riding in carriages. 

One building was devoted to vegetables. I don't know what makes one green bean better than another when they look identical, but if blue ribbons encourage food gardening, hand out more blue ribbons!

I grew lots of those delicata (yellow with green stripes) squash...some day I'll give myself a ribbon

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this stuffed monkey. One year a student left a similar monkey in my classroom. He stayed there for many years. We even used him as Richard III when we did the research comparing history to Shakespeare's version and then put Richard III on trial for the murder of his young nephews. One of the local lawyers came in to act as the judge. Poor Richard lost his case and we hung him out the window from our third floor classroom.

There was also a museum section to the fair.

This woman was demonstrating candle making.
Another was playing an old organ. Someone else was preparing a meal as it would have been done years ago in a fireplace.


There was also an old-fashioned store...

This gal was carding wool and then spinning it into thread.


The schoolroom was in its own small building.


Even the kids were dressed in old-fashioned garb...

Then there was music and suddenly these monkeys showed up...

This fellow spent his day making shingles. It was the one thing I actually remembered having seen the last time I had been at this fair!

Across the way another fellow was making wood water pipes. He had a scooped knife on a long pole and was slowly hand-drilling a hole into a long log.

Bob said that some of those wood pipes are still in use. Amazing.

 
One barn was full of old carriages. I laughed. How can I compare these treasures to the old carriages covered in gold that I saw in France?



If you couldn't afford to keep a horse, there was always pedal power for getting around...

There were a number of rides that were definitely designed to make people sick if the junk food didn't kill them first. Neither Bob nor I was interested in spoiling a pleasant day!

The carousel might have tempted me, but it was crammed in-between other tents and didn't look very enjoyable.

Fall color hadn't arrived, but below is a roadside scene we passed on our way home...

   

 

Hay Bales

Every year the Killington area businesses try to outdo each other by creatively using hay bales...mostly the big round ones with some help from the older variety rectangular bales.

These were the first two I came across, and they were barely up the road from Rutland, which is 25 minutes from my house and where I do most of my shopping.

I continued driving along Route 4...heading east. It's all uphill from Rutland because Killington is known mostly for skiing. Not too many years ago the town changed its name to match the name of its ski area.

They were having a yard sale outside the store where this squirrel (or cat?) sat...that's why there's a rack of clothing in the picture.

Then came the monkey wearing skis...




It was a Saturday, September 1st, and after leading the Bone Builders class, I had met Mary in Rutland to go to the Farmers Market. This was just taking the long way home...

These cows were hanging out just across from the ski area access road. I took a detour to travel up that road.


The first thing I found was this cute dog house...


                  and then a brown bear.

Just then a gal came along with more plastic flowers...

Up to this point in my tour I'd only found animals I'd expect to see in Vermont. The giraffe was a little out of place...even though we are experiencing global warming...but he was cleverly done.




Yup, that's my red car in the background.

This moose was resting by a real estate office.


A red fox was further down the road...

And another bear...







Time to head back down the access road and on towards home...but then I had to stop for this fellow...

The Cottage Piano

My grandmother played the piano with gusto, but after all, she was definitely a force to be reckoned with. My sister plays politely. She has a much gentler personality. I, too, was given piano lessons, but after going through Book I for the second time, my teacher gave me up as hopeless! 

I don't know when this piano showed up at the cottage because my grandmother got it placed there long before I was even a possibility! She probably had it tuned on occasion, but after she passed away, I'm sure my mother didn't bother. Of Grandmother's 6 children, Mom was the only one who didn't play a musical instrument.

A couple of years ago my sister took pity on the cottage piano and called in a piano tuner. He recently returned...

This time when he looked inside, the piano hadn't been stuffed to overflowing by mice who thought it was a great hotel. After being rudely evacuated the last time, they hadn't returned...

I wondered why he was looping red felt ribbon in the wires and was told that that allowed him to tune one string at a time though there are 3 strings for each piano key.

Take the 3 strings on my dulcimer and multiply it how many times? It took him 2 hours to complete the tuning. I appreciate just how easy I have it...one, two, three, done. (My new dulcimer is being made...it'll have 4 strings.)  

I'd heard that he would play a tune when the tuning was complete, so I was determined to stick around.

I learned that his name was Bruce Arnold, that he was from Saranac Lake and he really digs 60s  and 79's music. He plays bass guitar for a local band.

Apparently, the first time he came it had been so many years since the piano had been tuned that he thought he'd only be able to tune it to itself, not to the real notes. Then he got a surprise. The piano was delighted to be tuned correctly! Bruce said it was because the piano sits in an unheated house. 

When the tuning was completed, he not only played...he sang as well!  And it wasn't just one song...it was 3:  "Just the Way You Are,"  "Lady Blue," and "Jazz Lullaby."

I thoroughly enjoyed the private concert.

Flowers for School

Years ago I decided to share the flowers from my yard with my fellow teachers. It was a way to bring my garden into school where I could enjoy it as well. Then it became a challenge to see how far into autumn I could continue to place a vase of flowers on each teacher's desk.

These are the fourth week's vases. The hydrangea blossoms came from my own bush, but the Queen Anne's Lace (carotte sauvage) and yellow Jerusalem artichoke were roadside picks.  

Last week the Black Eyed Susans came from my garden, but the Goldenrod was found by the side of a road and the flower clusters came from another garden in town.

I now have seeds for that flower and have sprinkled them on my tulip bed...they should come up after the tulips die down. Hopefully I will learn the name of those flowers before they pop up in the spring.

These were the vases for the second week...packed and ready to travel via my car. (More about my car in a minute.)

Here the Queen Anne's Lace is its normal white color. The ones I used for the fourth week I let stand over night in water with red food dye added.

It takes a couple of hours to create all 22 vases. I suppose I could do it faster, but why rush something I enjoy? 

There was enough phlox for the first set of vases, delivered on Monday, August 21st. Students weren't arriving until that Wednesday and I delivered these late in the afternoon so most of the teachers had gone home.

I took advantage of my replacement not being in the classroom and snapped a couple of photographs...

It has been 3 years since I've taught in this room and the burlap I left on the bulletin board hasn't been changed.

This was my "olive" tree. My niece, Carol Ann, painted it for me. By the time she got to the leaves it was late in the day so she cleverly cut a sponge into the shape of a leaf and then did a "dip into paint-press on the wall" routine to finish the job before heading back to college. That has to have been 20 years ago!

I used the tree every year as part of the scenery when we acted out Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Movable scenery, like the stone walls kids helped me create, have all vanished. My replacement doesn't do "acting," but no one has painted the walls and so the tree remains.

I still like to encourage reading...this is the back of my car. The small bumper sticker on the left says, "Going to war over religion is killing people to see who has the best imaginary friend." The small one on the upper right says, "Tea Party sounds so much nicer than 'Mob of racists and homophobes.'"

 And I certainly didn't want to waste the space on the car doors!

The other side of the car has "Love Your Mother" with a picture of the earth, "If the fetus you save is gay, will you still fight for its rights?" and "You can tell Monopoly is an old game because there is a luxury tax and rich people can go to jail."

 While I was teaching I decorated my desk. Those bumper stickers are still there....