The Cumming Country Fair, 2014

By now you know we fly every year to America in October because of the Cumming Country Fair.  Nicholas is now 14 years old, a high-school freshman, and still wants to go.  "It's a tradition," he says.  Since age two (in 2002) he has been 12 times, skipping only one year, 2012, when we weren't there in October because of nephew Peter's wedding in August.

This year was very different, however, because it was the first time Nicholas took a school buddy.

Buddy Sebastian is from Colombia, has lived in America only 7 years...and had never been to a fair.

So to start off, we all agreed the skylift was the first thing to do, to get the 12-minute overview.

We made sure they sat in front of us so we could "overview" them.

From that point on, till supper, we set the boys loose,

while Astrid and I went on our first-ever fair photo hunt.

Near the end of the skylift ride is the lineup of tractors and farm equipment, so we started there.

 Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, this pink tractor is always stage-center.

It's the wheels that grabbed my attention this year.

These are humongous, old-timey machines.

Put your hands together for all our farmers everywhere!

We always take time to run through the petting barn.

I remember when Nicholas was little and got to feel them.

This was our first time to walk through the old-timey school house...

...and the two churches attached on either side.

One was a Methodist Church and the other a Baptist Church.

How can you tell which is which?

At such-n-such a time, we rendezvoused with the boys for supper.

Each boy ate their own BIG turkey leg, while Astrid and I shared one...

with our prerequisite roasted corn, of course.

The guys were out of ride tickets at that point, ha, so g'ma did what she's good for.

And off we all were again.

By now we were getting a good ground-level overview of the fair, just as the sun started to set.

Talk about a Golden Hour as the sun treated us to its magic.

And then it was dark, with a different kind of magic.

The country store, the blacksmith shop, the quilting bee, the syrup and saw mills...

you get enough education to keep going back year after year, let alone for the rides.

But one thing new this year, winding its way throughout the fair the entire evening,

was the Puppetone Rockers.  They totally made the night for me.

We even talked with them for 15 minutes on one of their breaks.

Turn up the sound to get the gist,
totally upbeat and always with a message to the kids about "Doing Right."
What a thrill.  I hope they're back next year.

Last but not least, we always end the fair with homemade ice cream.
The boys had strawberry and the girls had chocolate-peanut-butter.
You'd be smiling, too!  :)

And yes, we already know the dates for next year's fair!

Sheep Shearing and Such in Dutchland

Let's take a commercial break from our England trip and throw in some fun...for my Friday the 13th, full-moon birthday!  (Supposedly there won't be another full-moon Friday the 13th until 2049, when I assume I'll be dead and buried.)

This past Monday was Pentecost Monday here in the Netherlands, a federally-recognized holiday.  And what did we do?  Well, just watch!

We drove back to Ottoland to the sheepfold to see the sheep being sheared.

(or is that shorn? either or?)

You may recall we were there in March to see the new-born lambs!

How is it possible that the sheepfold could have been emptied of all those sheep

in order to set up a fair-like venue for a special day!

We even bought some multi-grain flour for our bread machine, ground by a nearby windmill.

We got there in plenty of time, before it was too busy, and watched vendors set up shop.

Have you ever seen a spinning wheel like that?

There was a potter...

 ...a face-art painter...

...and even live entertainment.

But when we got to the fleece corner, we were reminded what we had come for.
Yup...to see the sheep being shorn!
Clearly many had already had their haircuts...their 3kg bundles for sale at €8 each.

From the outside, a wee pen was already loaded with the lucky few for the day.

And because we were early enough, I had a front-row show for the first sheep of the day.

Father and son brought in one sheep at a time from the make-shift pen.
Ready, set, go!



Now THAT is an education!  Five minutes from beginning to end.
(The record for sheep shearing is 45 seconds.  Can you imagine?)

BTW, Astrid says it's cruel NOT to shear sheep, especially for the summer months.
Did you notice how much this one seemed to enjoy the whole thing, kinda like a massage?!
In fact, even the sheep waiting seemed all comfy and cozy, as though knowing what was in store.

And after the shearer was done, he rolled it all up for the fleece stock,
while explaining the properties of the fleece, with its lanolin, and such.

He got such a kick out of my excitement, he came over to show me the shears.
Just like farmers everywhere, he knows his stuff.

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As if that weren't enough, as we left for the car, we heard a ruckus across the street.

What to our wondering eyes should appear but...TRACTORS.

A tractor parade of way over 100 tractors of every type and kind and brand!


I suddenly remembered my video option and caught the last 20 at the end.
How cool is that for a holiday ho-hum thing to do!

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

And since three is a charm, you know...

...as we arrived at the sheepfold...

...and as we left, we saw several groups of Roparun runners.
These were running from Hamburg, Germany, to Rotterdam, and just happened to pass by
right outside the sheepfold on the same road where the tractors also were.
Is this crazy or what!  Running 560 km in 3 days to raise money for cancer.
In 22 runs over the years, €57 million has been raised thus far.

How's THAT for a day outside on a holiday weekend, shooting the breeze!

Dordt in Stoom

...or in other words, Dordrecht in Steam = Dordrecht Steam Festival, the largest of its kind in Europe, just 13 miles from where we live here in Gorinchem, Netherlands. That's where we went by train on Saturday, May 30th. By train because, with the thousands of visitors expected (250,000), there'd be no place to park. It was a no-brainer.

We knew there'd be so much to see! Because we went by train and were already at the train station, we decided to first find the steam train and take our ride on it to the model train pavilion too far away for walking. It was part of the full-ticket 'Steam circuit Dordt' pass so we had to think ahead for how we'd schedule our day.

We were early and had to wait for the steam train to arrive at the station from its back-n-forth trip to the model train pavilion. The anticipation was intense because both Astrid and I wanted to get pictures of the train puffing its way in. We and everybody else! How fun when we finally saw it coming. After lots of pictures, we hopped on and took the 15-minute ride to the model train stop. (And if you guessed the bottom-left photo above is a model, you're right.)


There's something about model trains, and what's funny about that is both Astrid and I are mesmerized by them. So it made sense that our first order of business was to check out the pavilion. I have always loved things in miniature and think I must have made the buildings and scenery set-ups in a past life. Brother Nelson had his own model train set eons ago, which is still in my subconscious, I'm sure. (Did you notice the sulky race horses in the collage above...just like the real one from my last post!)

Before and after going into the model-train pavilion we strolled around all the vintage trucks parked for viewing. They don't run on steam, of course, but they were there just for the halibut and added nostalgia to the scene. They deserved to be there. And they led the way to the river bank where we then picked up our steam boat ride to the Dordrecht city center on the Merwede River...the same river that runs by our city Gorinchem.


Talk about all the stops and whistles. They really did it up big, bringing back the memories of a by-gone day. If I counted right, there were 23 steam ships from all over The Netherlands, all with their own names and all blowing off steam. And all were in working order, taking visitors up and down the river. The top-left contraption, by the way, is a lightvessel/lightship...a ship that is a lighthouse. We didn't take the time to tour it but at least I got a picture of it. (And did you find Astrid in the collage?)


When we got off the steam boat, we were at the harbor in the midst of the main crowd of the city-center hoopla. That's where all the steam tractors strutted their stuff, some like whirling dervishes spinning their gears. Most of them were miniature tractors, like the one Astrid is photographing above. This video shows you how cute they are when they work.

By then we were totally ready for a late lunch and started to walk through the city center away from the beaten path. We had a friend's apartment-warming party to attend that evening back at our senior-living complex and decided we had seen what we wanted to see at the festival. So after lunch, we wandered our way back through the streets towards the train station. Unbeknownst to us, we ended up on the main run of the old-timer buses driving visitors to the station. And since that was also part of our pass, we hopped on and enjoyed our ride back to the train...in total vintage style.

Steam-powered trains, ships, and tractors. Vintage trucks. Old-timer buses. Model trains. It may not be everybody's thing but Astrid and I were like kids in a toy shop. It happens only every other year and only in Dordrecht, so we felt lucky that it happend this year and, as I already said, just 13 miles from home. How does life get any better than that!

********

Update on Nicholas: A week after his attack by the 3 pit bulls, he is like his normal self, according to Amy. He even still likes dogs, he says! Amy says the owner surrended all his dogs which were then put down. He was also cited in violation of the leash law and not being proactive with the rabies shots. We truly believe Nicholas' healing is due to the "collective consciousness" of all of you who cared and prayed. Thank you.