Fenner Apple Butter Festival

Whew, here I am!  Don't tell any of my perspective employers but I am so technically savvy that when I went to disconnect the charging cord for my IPOD, I pulled out the keyboard cord in error.  Kept tapping those keys and nothing happened!  At least I figured it out myself and didn't call the GEEK Squad (Ian) or anything. That really would have been embarrassing!

On Saturday we went to the Fenner Nature Center Apple Butter Festival. Cubby actually remembered being there last year.  We had to be there by 2:30pm so Cubby could hear his friend Ben (Hassenger) play the guitar. Ben even played Cubby's favorite song: "Jake" of course!

Also saw John P. and Dan B. and Jean C quilting for CCQG.

Cubby got to pet a really big snake! Looks like the snake is either trying to eat Cubby's hat or tell him a sssssecret.

Cubby still likes to cuddle with his mom.  Hold on to those precious moments mom. They go fast!

Gamma Gamma was pretty happy to spend a beautiful fall afternoon in the woods too!

Fall Fun

Last Saturday we travelled to Lowell to the Fallasburg Fall Festival.  It was a blustery, rainy day so I didn't bother with the camera. Despite the weather, we had a great time.  There was a play structure with a 10 foot climbing wall, three slides, a fire pole, a bridge and lots of nooks and crannies, just right for an almost 4 (!!!) year old. We also drew a scary face on a softball sized pumpkin and Cubby had a Jack-O-Lantern painted on his cheek. He's getting to be an old pro at this face painting thing. He managed to get through the day and all the way home before he"accidentally" splashed water on it. 

Look what came home with me! I couldn't resist this happy face. He's going to find a place in my garden if I ever find my garden. Oh, well. There's always next year. For the older crowd, there was an arts and crafts show, music and lots of yummy treats including warm baked apple dumplings with whipped cream ...mmmmm!

 
I won't say it's been awhile since I've mowed but.... look what's growing in my backyard.

Now who planted these?

Happy Wheatland!

Last weekend, I attended the 35th Annual Wheatland Music Festival with my friend Irene. I had a WONDERFUL time! Everyone camps. Some have RV's and camp in large fields but we found the perfect spot in the pines for our little tent. Irene's son Ben came from Ann Arbor and her son Nate and his friend Veronica came all the way from upstate New York.  The guys also had a group of friends with them, one had even come from Seattle!  They created their own little "compound" of tents in a different area away from the moms but we ran into them several times during the weekend. Ben even danced with his mom until 2am on Saturday night - Sunday morning?

There are three stages, the Main stage shown here, the Centennial Stage and the dance stage.

Some of the acts that were on the Centennial Stage were lesser known but just as good as the main acts.  We even got to see our own Jen Sygit and Jeremy Kittel. The dance stage was always hopping from early morning yoga, afternoon dance classes (I took 3 dance classes), and evening dances that went well after midnight. In addition, there are activities for children and teens and two other workshop tents where you could learn how to play different instruments.

I took a beginning Bodhran class and since I didn't have a bodhran, we learned on a pizza  box with a dowel for a tipper.

One of my favorite parts of Wheatland besides the relaxed family atmosphere was the impromptu jammin that went on. Many people bring their instruments and just get together and start playing. Here's a group playing in the picnic area.  Both nights there was a Stringband playing in the clearing near our tent - great to fall asleep to. The Fabulous Heftones from Lansing kept popping up here and there. Even little kids would get out their fiddles (I even saw a little girl on a camp stool with a cello) and leave their cases open hoping you'd show your appreciation. I was only gone two-and-a-half days but I feel like I had a real vacation.

Busy Weekend

On Friday and Saturday night we danced an Israeli folk dance as part of Sistrum Women's Chorus' Spring Concert. Pictured here are the "Adama" dancers, Irene and Abby, who choreographed the dance and Cynthia and I, willing participants. We learned the dance in less than a week. The greatest compliment we received was that we looked like we were "having fun" dancing.  We were! Sally Potter was the featured guest artist and the energy in the Mollygrove Chapel was amazing. Sistrum performs a holiday concert in conjunction with the Lansing Gay Men's Chorus which is awesome. Don't miss it.

Of course, this was also East Lansing Art Fair weekend. Cubby enjoyed his visit to the MSU Dairy store and especially all of the dog-dogs on 'parade'. I overheard one little boy tell his mom that he had "counted 63 dogs". I bought two pair of earrings. Samples can be seen on lavender-pie.blogspot.com and kuhlquilter.blogspot.com.

Cubby really enjoyed the music. Below he is applauding Jen Sygit and Spare Change. Next year I'm sure we won't be able to keep him in the stroller and he'll be the first one up dancing. As it was, he was tuckered out and came home and took a very long nap at Grandma's.

The weather at the art fair is always a gamble. On Sunday, Cindy, Irene and I tried to help kids create quilt blocks from construction paper at the Capitol City Quilt Guild booth.  It was cold, it was windy (not conducive for working with little pieces of paper) so we switched to crayons, (which melted when the sun sporadically appeared). We were relieved when our shift was over and commend Irene for her dedication as coordinator in sticking it out for the whole day.  I was very thankful to see that Jean and Jan had arrived to help her shortly after our shift was over.