Janalisa and I stayed in a charming cabin at the Folk Center for the conference. We had curly wooden beds and fancy quilted linens, and there was a TV though we didn’t use it.
All the mod cons, really, from fridge to hair dryer and ironing board. It was pretty lavish.
We’d walk up the hill to breakfast and sit down anywhere with anyone and start plying them with questions.
I’m interested in people’s lives. I don’t, however, usually find myself in settings in which I feel free to grill people about their life history and how many children they have and what they do all day. In this case, the conference attendees were all pretty public about their entire lives, so I felt free.
I got to talk to people from many walks of life, with many different backgrounds, from many different places.
We got to do this over fresh fruit, homemade soups, freshly baked rolls, and stuff like that. Very nice.
The park where we stayed is a part of the state park system. It has a village that interprets the late nineteenth century for visitors, and lovely gardens and lots of fine woodland.
I’m fortunate to live in such a beautiful state.
Janalisa and I spent a fair bit of time going around the village, where people were plying old-timey trades, and asking them lots of questions.
I was really the one asking all the questions. I wanted to know, and one of the guys assured us that it’s part of their job to answer questions, so I didn’t feel too bad about it.
There was a spinner, a potter, a cooper, a gunsmith, an herbalist, a glass bead maker — okay, I sort of wondered about that. You never hear about the old Ozark bead makers.
I bought some yarn. There was a spinning shop with fibers of all sorts, from dog hair to silk to Lurex. As always, each utterly unique twist of yarn had too little yardage to make anything.
The exception was a very pretty laceweight, 225 yards for about $65. I resisted the temptation. Instead I went with some pink wool, and I can probably do one of those neckwarmers held together with buttons.
I’m still unpacking. I’m tremendously behind on my work. My house is a mess and the Art Professor is coming over this morning, so I have to clean up and get even further behind on my work.
Even so, I’m very glad that I went. It was a lot of fun. I made some friends. I learned a couple of things. I saw a lot of very beautiful scenery. Can’t beat that.