Monday, August 10, 2009

Summer Happenings

Summer is going quickly. I think we only have had 3 hot days and yesterday was one of them. I'm not complaining. Unless you are trying to swim, the temperature has been rather delightful. The early summer saw lots of rain but then it stopped and we experienced somewhat of a draught in these parts. People were praying for rain in a big way.

Our annual Car Show Festival was slated for last Friday and Saturday. Of course we were hoping that if it did rain it would hold off until the festival was ended or rain in the nighttime.


I was not part of the car show committee, but a good friend was in charge of the craft show part of the weekend. Her grandaughter was getting married in TN, so she asked if I would be in charge of assigning spots and checking in the crafters.


I got to church about 9 am on Friday and numbered each of the sites that had been staked out the night before. The crafters weren't slated to arrive until 1:30 and so after placing the final marker I drove back home to change clothes and pick up my lawn chair.


When I got back a little while later, I was shocked to see that one of the crafters already there and busy at work putting his EZ UP up. (I linked the word because until Friday I had never heard the expression). The guy has the same site every year so he knew just where to go. When the show was finished for the night his wife was still putting the finishing touches to their booth.

I wondered if they just planned on leaving it unattended or were they planning on packing it all up. I found out he planned to put the sides on the ez up and leave it all inside. Kind of a gutsy move since we had no security at night. But all the other crafters did the same and just lowered the tent in case of rain.

We got rain all right. Boy did we get rain. It rained steadily from 11pm Friday until 5 pm Saturday afternoon.

One crafter, who was scheduled for Saturday only, arrived the next morning prepared to set up in the rain. I suggested she atleast set up on the front porch of the rectory, with a large over hang for protection. She was grateful and ended up being the only crafter who showed up that day. She gave it the old college try for a few hours and finally called it quits.


Some of the old cars pulled out of town but some stayed and joined in the rest of the activities which were moved into the social hall.

And a good time was had by all that were brave enough to come out in the down pour.

The outdoor movie became an indoor movie. The wine tasting booth was a hit and also the elephant ear booth.





I didn't win the $2000 dollar grand prize drawing but I did win some wonderful parting gifts after spending $5 on raffle tickets .


The prize was donated by one of our parishoners. It was nice enough to be broken into two prizes, but now that I've won it I'm not complaining. Heres the first part.



And the second.





If you enlarge the picture you can see my mother and dad's wedding photo on the shelf below the glass.


Only 3 wine bottle holders are visable in this picture but there are four. I'd say it was a good investment of my five dollars. Even the wine cost more than that.


The rain was a blessing for the dried up grass and crops, but I was tempted to grumble about the way it messed up the car show. But as I took my turn making elephant ears I took a good look around the social hall. People were laughing and talking, and people were pitching in to help where help was needed. We were in a tightly confind area but no one was complaining.


I guess it goes to show you just how big God's umbrella can be. It can only rain on your parade if you let it.