Craft Show and Parade

I skipped my exercises again this morning so we could go to a craft fair at 9 a.m. It was a bright and sunny day, but windy-cold, so we were glad for the warmth of the building where the event was held.



As we were nearing the fair along a narrow, curvy road, we noticed a car had nose-dived into the ditch. Several cars were parked along both sides of the road, with folks milling around the accident. We stopped to see if we could help, but were told someone had already called 911. We saw that the elderly lady in the car was moving, so we assumed she was had no life-threatening injuries.



The first thing we did when we arrived at the craft fair was buy six huge cinnamon rolls to take home. These luscious pastries are a specialty of the facility, and we look forward to the mouth-watering treats each year.



Otherwise, we didn't buy much...I did get a jar of locally produced honey that I'll save for next spring. It's said that locally grown honey helps keep allergies at bay, although others say this is just an old wives tale. It might be my imagination, but it seems to help me.



As usual, we saw lots of folks we know at the event, so we had a good time visiting. We were sorry to learn, though, that one of our friends, only in her sixties, is having physical difficulties that have forced her to move to an independent living center. I don't even want to think about sorting through and discarding years of accumulation to move to an apartment size space like that.



Mother and I talked about needing to go to the center to visit this lady and others that we know who now live there. Mother agreed that we should schedule a time soon. "Just don't leave me there," Mother laughed. I promised.



After we got back from the craft fair, we finished Christmas decorating. And then Hubbie and I took both vehicles downtown, where we left the truck on a church parking lot facing Main Street. This is where we sat to watch the Christmas parade. Mother and I both have electric afghans that can be plugged into the truck (or van), so we stayed toasty warm.

In past years, my toes, nose, and fingers have frozen when I took snapshotsof the parade for the regional section of our state newspaper. I got pretty chilled one year, too, when I rode on a float as a Jack in the Box. I probably would have gotten colder if I hadn't been popping in and out of the box.

We enjoyed tonight's parade that included the requisite blue-lights-flashing sheriff's cars, sirens- blaring ambulances, fire engines, and rescue trucks, high school bands, steppers and cheerleaders, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, colorful float entries (mainly from the churches), horses, and, of course, Santa.

The parade lasted about 45 minutes, after which we sat on the parking lot for another 15 minutes before we could feed into traffic. Hubbie sneaked out early enough to drive the van home and have water heated for cups of hot chocolate. I drove the truck home, with Mother still in the back seat snuggled under the electric afghan.