It was 59°F this morning at 8 a.m. when we left for the Yellow Daisy Festival. In the second week of September!

Yes, I'm serious, and don't call me Shirley.

This is unheard of for this early in September, and so very welcome! We slept with the windows open last night and although I woke up feeling warm a couple of times, it was pretty bearable. This morning it was lovely: blue, blue sky with regular dabs of foamy clouds, and cool enough to drive with open windows. Better yet, the usual line of cars going through the gate of Stone Mountain Park for the Festival was absent. Did the "cold" drive them away? Heck, we saw people showing up in jackets and coats!

We always go early, not just to beat the heat, but to get a close parking space. We are usually able to park several rows down from the parking lot entrance and go directly across to the gate. Well, this year they made us park behind the vendors. It was very odd, and a longer walk, which bothered James, as his foot is hurting again.

The first two hours of walking was splendid. It was cool and shady, and we could take our time and look at all the booths, although, as in the past few years, there is a preponderance of cutesy kids' clothes and geegaws. Once through the "A" loop, James took a break then because his foot was hurting, and I went back to my favorite booth, Country Pickin's. They sell miniatures. I've made a kitchen theme shelf, a "home" theme, a fall theme, a combination Christmas and winter theme (depending on the figures put on the shelf, which has a snowman background), a lighthouse/seashore theme, and another autumn theme in our room. They also have Hallowe'en, gardening, patriotic, pets, sewing, laundry, and cooking, but I didn't have any ideas for those. I decided, however, that with some finagling I could do a "me" arrangement, of my interests.

To that effect I bought one of the shelves that looks like a miniature bookcase, and then bought an autumn-themed Shaker box, a checkerboard Christmas tree, a sheep, two snow-themed "plaques," a lighthouse theme "plaque," a little dog, a birdhouse, an apple, and a jar of "gingerbread men" to represent "gingerbread weather." Unfortunately, they don't do anything relating to books, computers or writing, and the only needlework crafts represented are sewing and quilting. However, she did have two "spell books" that are part of the Hallowe'en theme, plus an open spell book, and three different color "cookbooks." I will repaint these to look like other books and hand-letter titles on them. The checked "cookbook" covers almost look like the old Little House covers. There is also a rectangle of wood that is a slate painted with a ghost theme. I will repaint it to look like a tablet. I also got what was a sewing theme "plaque," with a tiny scissors, two spools of thread, and buttons on it. I will take the spools and buttons off  and add coils of thread to represent embroidery floss. I have an idea to make a pad of paper and a pen, too, and maybe I can figure out a way to make a paintbrush.

We did the circuit of the other two paths, "B" and "C," more slowly. We bought barbecue sauce for the year, mint jelly with real mint in it, savory jellies for finishing sauces, some treats for the dog, our fudge treat for the year, some dip mixes, a Christmas gift, and I bought a CD of Christmas music. And we emerged from the final path in a position to cut through a back road and walk directly to the truck, so the weird parking arrangement worked out.

When we left it was 77 degrees, about the temperature it's usually been when we left the house on previous years. Wow.

We came home by REI, in fruitless hope of finding James some heavy socks to wear to bed. The diabetes. makes his feet cold, even in summer. I got him some thermal socks at REI a couple of years back, but haven't been able to find any since. The place was crowded because they were having a big sale...but no heavy socks. We also stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond to get a new carbon dioxide refill for the Soda Stream. It took forever to check out.

But finally we had our postponed treat from last weekend: James had his free dessert birthday coupon with him this time, so we both had a nice steak at Longhorn, with a Chocolate Stampede for dessert. I  understand there are people who eat the whole thing. The idea is rather nauseating. :-) We eat the ice cream and take the cake home. It will last us for two more desserts!

Spent what was left of the afternoon under the fans, reading the paper. Just noshed for supper; I had some Grape Nuts. Later we watched a couple of Murdoch Mysteries and the end of Spencer's Mountain.

Oh, with the doors open we can see directly out to the bird feeders. One of our goldfinch pairs had a young male who has been appearing frequently at the feeder. Tonight he was out there again. He's quite young, young enough that between the distinctive yellow feathers  you can still see a great deal of fluff! Poor guy, he'll just get in his proper yellow coat when it will be time for him to moult into his winter plumage!

Labels: autumn, Christmas, crafts, events, food, music, shopping

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