Recently in fairs Category

I love to write about my cloth kids, especially when they are doing good work.  A dozen working girls and boys just got the golden opportunity  -- to be displayed in the new Vermont Welcome Center in Hartford. How did they get the job?   They are very popular and have already been chosen by someone, saved in the Promise Room until their owner picks them up.  Meanwhile, they just wanted to help. Who is the daisy guy laying down in the bottom right? What is his role?

Three people are full of joy this October day. Bonnie. Lew.  And Silvio.

Maybe even thirty more if you consider those Bundles left behind with Silvio when we headed out to a Vermont craft fair. There were always choices to be made. The totes would only allow for the chosen forty. Silvio cannot believe the empty van and is trying to convince Kitty. "No more craft fairs."  Except for our Chester Fall Festival on the Green in September. Why?

Quechee Hot Air Balloon fest was all we expected and more.  The

weather was the most cooperative in years, but both Saturday and Sunday evenings sudden and unusual winds prevented liftoff. I proudly wore my smart skirt made by daughter Kara of doll fabrics, and I soared with the compliments. We, as usual, made wonderful connections to treasured friends. Julie took Angelina home. Meeting Ian and planting cherry seeds with Juliet's boys was really fun.  Old Chester school connections happened too. We also learned to use our girls to the best advantage. 

This year's Quechee Hot Air Balloon Festival is not quite like our first fair back in

1972 at the Fanwood, NJ railroad station. Here we are with Kekewawa as she called herself. I think our hair has changed color! And Kate has grown up nicely into a beautiful, talented woman. Further, I am so glad that I wised up and centered on dolls rather than all those doodads! Love the costumes. Kara (K2) created a gored skirt of doll fabrics for me to wear as we launch the fair season at Quechee.

I've said it before. I'll say it again. There is nothing like being in Chester, Vermont in the fall for its celebrated Festival on the Green, especially when you live here and were in the first Green Sale 37 years ago!  Rotary gave me my regular prime corner spot in front of the Fullerton. The dark clouds were as numerous as the umbrellas, but there were lots of smiles, hugs, and sales. Yes, it is all about connection.

We began the fair circuit in Quechee in mid-June at the 31^st Annual Balloon Festival.  Everything was perfect - the weather, the crowds, the orders, the sales. It was like the mid-eighties for us all over again. We were next door to Bella and her family again and even appeared on WCAX-TV one night.  The balloon launches werre magical, and I am always brought back to the years when our little girls would draw hot air balloons while their Dad took pictures, out of which came the Jennifer doll.  Does it get better?      

There's a great story I wrote on our journey of a lifetime three years ago, among others, about how the dolls come alive when sitting in the gossip chair.  These stories are favorites of our grandchildren, but published they are not. So, why not share about The Baby Sitter in a blog. What fairs? Who's the baby sitter?