But here's the problem...my camera sat on my jelly cabinet all night long. I was too busy partying to take any pictures. And I take pictures so I can remember moments. And since I don't have pictures to remember moments of our Harvest Festival, I'm going to actually have to use words to describe the moments I want to remember. Solidify the day in words. I'll make them short- the snipits, I mean. I might have a lot of them. But they'll be short.
snipit #1: Helen, the 5 year old neighbor with long bouncing blond locks, bounding across the yard to us, a flitter of color with striped tights and layers of skirts and dresses and sweaters and pants, shouting "Happy Festival Day!!" as if she were preparing for our party for months, and may have (herself) lost a few hours of sleep in excitement!
snipit #2: Babies, in sacks and Bjorns and slings and things bundled so tight that you can only see cheeks. And how mommies congregated and met each other for the first time by bouncing their tummies together to show off their new additions and to have them meet each other, as if the babies (who were all sleeping tight) would wake up and say, "hey, it's nice to meet you. Will you be my friend? And someday will you dig for treasure with me in the sand pile like those big kids over there?"
snipit #3: Paul Bunyan huffing and puffing and smiling as he managed to carry his 41.5 lb. pumpkin (he grew with own hands) up from the alpaca tent where he was weighing it on the gigantic scale we have to weigh alpacas. Guess the weight of the pumpkins folks...you'll win a prize!
snipit #4: The GIGANTIC produce that lined the bench. Our carrot, which I wish I would have weighed (and wish PB wouldn't have eaten in the late night), was the size of an elongated pumpkin. The baseball bat of a zucchini, the bean (taped together) the size of a snake, the rutabaga the size of a fat man's head, the red cabbage the size of a basketball. Glorious overgrowth- for all those who have small potatoes, this table's for you.
snipit #5: The pies still hot from the oven that emptied out of picnic baskets - apple, blueberry, peach, chocolate, all with numbers sticking from their stomachs. EAT PIE NOW, my voting box said. VOTE HERE. The winner...my friend E. An apple pie to die for.
snipit #6: Oliver. Big Brother to Teddy and Eliza. Started the Scavenger Hunt after all was said and done. No chance of winning. But it didn't matter as he proudly pulled moss and fungus and worms and sticks in the shape of 'Y' and birch bark and pumpkin leaves from his jacket pocket. He completed his task and found all twelve items and needed to show someone. And I promise you, Oliver, next year you will get a prize, even if you don't come back first. I'll have a sack the size of Santa's full of candy. Take as much as you want!
snipit #7: The apple press: the tossing and cranking and squeezing and re-squeezing of nature's finest to get the sweetest and juiciest and freshest cider ever produced...the old fashioned way. And then to think to warm it, on such a cold eve. Addy, you're one good cranker.
snipit #8: The outdoor movie actually worked! With the help of doctor Dan (!!). The thank yous that floated through the airways from parents who were able to cuddle around the fire as their wee ones got lost in the bright white screen and the movie Cars, which we projected, miraculously onto it! Next year...remember more blankets!
snipit #9: Paul Bunyan's cute butt as he stood by the grill cooking up brats and dogs for our friends.
snipit #10: the sun setting through the trees.
snipit #11: the stars coming out.
snipit #12: Paul Bunyan rounding the corner with a huge stack of Pine slab on the forks of his tractor and the plume of smoke that headed up into this starry sky after he unloaded it onto the fire...just to make it bigger.
snipit #13: Paul Bunyan rounding the corner with yet another huge stack of Pine slab on the forks of his tractor...just to make it bigger.
snipit #14: Paul Bunyan rounding the corner with yet another huge stack of Pine slab on the forks of his tractor...just to make it bigger. Well, you get my drift. He was trying to help the band out, I realize this. It was a cold night, but I think a few of us burned our eyelashes and our asses.
snipit #15: And I'll make this my last: dancing in the mud to this band, who we were so very lucky to hire to play. PB and I, we love our bluegrass. And if you ever get a chance to hear them play in Burlington- please go. They're great. And if you hear them, ask for Sugar...she's not officially in the band, being the wife of one of the leads. But she's my favorite banjo player, and that's not just because she's a chick.
01 Track 1.wma -
Please come to our Festival Day next year. We'll be harvesting some good times again...and don't forget to bring your BIG produce because you might just win a prize!
snipet #12a: and sitting squarely in his lap, his first born - holding his bottle of beer such that nare a drop be lost during this important mission....
ReplyDelete(thanx for asking US to show up - it was a fun night)