War Eagle Weekend

We're home again after the four day weekend that is War Eagle Crafts Fair.  It always takes a few days to recover after a long stint of festival fun and talking lavender non-stop.

War Eagle 2009 was a bit slower than years past due (I believe) the big Arkansas football game at Florida. (It was a heartbreaking loss for the Razorbacks.) The mornings were cold but without fail there were shoppers lined up at the front gate waiting for entry and the shopping frenzy to begin.  While we sell at other events that are as big as War Eagle, there are unique traditions at this long time festival.

For instance, the costumes.  Not the vendors (thank goodness!) but the shoppers show up in funky and fun Halloween hats, shirts, and vests.  My guess is the tradition began with groups of women who wanted to be able to locate each other in the crowds.  Obviously this was before you could stand at one end of Tent 2 and call your shopping partner , who had gone on to Tent 4, on her cell phone to come back and taste the salsa or give her opinion on the jewelry that you think is destined to return home with you.

This year we went armed with a camera to catch some of the War Eagle fun and preserve it for all eternity.  (Or until we're bribed to take down photos that are evidence of non-sanctioned shopping sprees.)

As you can see War Eagle is not just about shopping.

It's about fun, family, and friendship.  The revelry crosses all generations.

I love when women show their witchy side!

Celebrating forty years of friendship!

It's been decades since Carol and I rode around on our bikes singing Moonshadow.

What say we meet on Aspen Drive and do it one more time?

Eastbound and down...

We're loaded up and truckin'....

Well, enough of Jerry Reed's classic song.  It's War Eagle Weekend in Northwest Arkansas and Chris and I have loaded the van with a bevy of lavender products to sell.

If you're heading to the many craft fairs planned for this weekend in the War Eagle area be sure to stop by and say hello.  We'll be found in Tent Two, Side One, Booth Six.

Personally I'll be stocking up on Jalapeno Jelly from WHH Ranch, candles from RC, and woven towels.  Maybe a new broom from the Grassy Creek men.  There's also a yarn barn that I've been coveting from the potter Kevin Byrnes. Who knows!

4x4 Required

As forecasted the rain began yesterday.

And continued.

It may sound a bit strange (but if you know me you're used to me being strange - yes?) but I absolutely love heavy rains.  Yes they make for a mess and can be dangerous.  I love the deafening sounds of heavy rain.  I love the roaring of an overflowing creek.  I even love the feeling of isolation.

Yesterday evening Chris checked the rain gauge between our house and the red barn - it held three and a half inches of water.  This morning I checked it again - another two and a half inches had fallen.  After coffee and a bagel we put on wellies, jackets, and hats and walked down to the lower pasture where the creek was over flowing.  It is at least twice as wide now and the large boulders that lined the crossing are no longer visible.

Still curious - we walked down the lane to the dirt road and further to the blacktop where there is a low-water bridge about a mile away.  Actually it isn't as bad as expected but still overflowing with water.  Last year they cleaned the "whistles" or pipes that run beneath the cement and allow water to pass under the bridge.  Because Clear Creek is lined with gravel the whistles can easily be clogged when heavy rains erode the floor and banks of the creek.

If necessary we could possibly cross in our truck which has 4x4 or maybe use the big tractor to cross (which poses the question of what to do then?).  It's not necessary as far as I'm concerned.  I enjoy a little isolation.

For an update on knitting - while going to and from, and staying in, Memphis last week I finished four of the five repeats of Chart A on the Icarus Shawl in llama yarn.  It's going to be great!

Chris and I went to the Tulsa State Fair to see the knitting displays.  I won a blue ribbon for the Blue Silk Aeolian.  Sorry no photos - but we'll take some nice ones when I get it back home next week.

On the way to Memphis I was knitting away when Chris pulled over the van.

"Get out" he said.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Just get out."

So - being the sort of trusting type I hopped out.  He didn't appear angry so I only worried a mild amount that I was being deposited on the side of a highway for knitting and not carrying my side of the conversation.

I love this guy!  He'd found a sign for me!

cross posted on lostcityknits.blogspot.com