Friday, September 23, 2011

Looking forward to the Durham Fair...even in all the rain!

Durham Fair 2009
Hello again! 

Just wanted to share my enthusiasm for the Durham Fair, which is the largest Agricultural Fair in Connecticut!

I wrote about it a couple of years ago and wanted to share how excited I am this year to be going also. It makes me feel like a little kid!  I enjoy the feel of a simpler day and age, lots of homemade foods (local groups do a lot of fundraiser booths, unlike many other fairs!) as well as the regular fare of the fair.  I love the agricultural stuff such as big giant 300 pound  pumpkins and seeing wool being spun into yarn. It is supposed to rain every day of the fair and , in fact, all next week after the fair is over. But this won't dampen my spirits.  Funny, but one gets so distracted that one hardly notices the weather. There are so many tents and buildings that there is lots of shelter.  I don't remember the rain from other years it rained, but I do remember that it did rain because I remember talking about it.  One year, I do recall, they had to pull up the tents, put down huge pieces of gravel, to help promote drainage because there was that much torrential rain.

There is so much to enjoy. There are many educational things at this fair ranging from farmland trusts, to wildlife rehabilitation, to various crafts, to far-out stuff as well. There's the musical acts and vendors of crafts, vinyl siding and other stuff I don't need. There's also people that sell really odd curiousities and neat things as well. Also, I have been paid a dollar or two to sit and take a survey at a booth for Yale University Research. Geuss that is one way that get those "random samples" I studied about in Methods of Social Research and Research Methods classes.


There's big name musical acts and smaller venues as well.  I was excited to REO Speedwagon (not high quality picture on video) last year This year is Blues Traveler and K.C. and the Sunshine Band. All really neat stuff.  You really get a lot of bang for your buck. Granted some of the food can get costly, so I'll probably eat something before I go and pick out something that's a treat there that I don't get too often.  For fifteen dollars I'm getting a lot of entertainment and experiences in one place. It's a pretty good deal compared to the cost of a movie. I can spend as much or little time there as I want.  If I don't like one thing, I can go somewhere else and not feel disappointed as if I wasted any money.


I really look forward to sharing some of my experiences with you from there. Here is a link to the post I wrote a couple of years ago about the fair with some pictures.  There is a cute video near the end of it also with some baby pigs and their mom dealing with getting enough food.  Enjoy.


Please share with me about fairs that you go to. I would love to hear about exciting or interesting things below in the comments section!

I hope you join me again soon. Thanks for dropping by!
Mary Ellen





Tuesday, September 20, 2011

A Peek at A Few of the Rabbits at Rabbit Hill Inn

Hello,
If you are a Bunn-a-holic like myself, you are in for a treat of getting a peek of some of the rabbits from the Rabbit Hill Inn in Lower Waterford, Vermont.  Almost anything rabbit-related in the form of adornment or decoration can be found in almost every nook and cranny of every room of the Inn. Everything about Rabbit Hill Inn is magical anyway. The memories of my stay there in August will stay with me forever. I am not getting paid to say this or anything else positive about this place. I will post about my actual stay there soon-it is probably going to be prime season for staying there very soon for leaf-peeping season.  Today, I will show you some of the bunnies I saw.

Even after a week of staying there, I know I did not catch all of those mystical long-earred creature representations there. I remember commenting to Brian Mulcahy (one of the innkeepers), once, there about how I keep finding more there every time I turn around.  He just smiled and said, "There are a lot and they keep multiplying!".  The truth is- they do!  Several figurines and stuffed animals have names on their bottoms or on a tag of people who were so inspired to give a gift of a bunny to the inn. These are everywhere!  On shelves, tables, at meals (even rabbit-shaped butter pats!), beds, on the walls (wait til you see the wallpaper photo!), statues, benches, in the sidewalk!  I even gave one of my prized rabbits to this multiplying collection.

Well, here they are: The ones I actually caught on film! Click on any photo to see it larger!

Bunny in the sidewalk up entryway

The black silhouette bunny that greeted us after a wearily long trip

A pewter bunny napkin ring

Click to enlarge

See all the bunnies at the buffet part of breakfast


Rabbit picture behind lantern

Rabbit under deer



A gift shop area for bunn-a-holics

A gift shop area for bunn-a-holics

A gift shop area for bunn-a-holics

A gift shop area for bunn-a-holics w/creamers and other great bunny things

A Lace Bunny

Cutout Bunnies

Rabbit Illustration


Watering Can


The Wallpaper!


The Garden Bunny Bench

Bunny to right of Dining Room Fireplace

Another view of the bunny bench.

Top bunny we "gifted" to Rabbit Hill Inn &a friend!

Bunny next to the Rabbit Hill Inn Sign


A copy of children's book "Rabbit Hill"


Some of my bunnies look like this.


Pewter Napkin Ring on it's own.



One of my favorites

A food mold of some sort?

I do have some more which I may show in a future post when sharing about the wonderful stay there, but I hope you enjoyed meeting some of the multitudes of multipliers! Going through that place everyday made it difficult to not stop and look at a bunny.  It is a bunderful place to visit and stay, even if you don't care one way or the other about bunnies.

Please share what you think about the bunnies or if you stayed there in the comments section. Do you have a rabbit collection or collection of anything that reflects a passion? Have you ever encountered a collection of rabbits somewhere else?  I would love to hear your story or comment! Please share in the comments below!

Hope you are having a Hoppy Day!
Mary Ellen
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