Estes Park and Nederland

Biting wires is not good. That has been my litany for the past five minutes, while trying to separate Neddy from my keyboard and mouse connections (I'm not cool enough to have wireless connections, yet). I had a fantastic time yesterday at the Scandinavian Festival in Estes Park, at the Carousel of Happiness in Nederland, and at a really neat, very eclectic art gallery and shop, also in Ned. It was a very nice small festival that filled Bond Park and three of the streets surrounding the park up in Estes. I did not eat any lutefisk, but I did eat several pieces of lesne - a very thin griddle bread made of riced potatoes and flour, and it was absolutely delicious! Besides the food booths, a Viking camp reenactment group, music and dancing, there were quite a few craft booths. That's where I met my downfall - especially so at a rag rug booth. Two Swedish ladies from Texas take throw-away bath and bedding items and make the most incredible rugs - I purchased three, even though I wanted seven of them; and it was all I could to do carry the three back to Kathy and Jim's SUV. We purchased food for lunch at one of the booths and ate in the SUV while we had a fifteen minute rain storm that blew in and blew out. The temperature dropped about 15 degrees after the rain, but that just made it more enjoyable.
We left just before the Festival closed for the day and drove down the Peak to Peak Highway to Nederland, as Kathy was suddenly caught up in wanting to ride the Carousel of Happiness. It was marvelous! Kathy rode the alpaca, Jim rode the calico cat, and I rode the paint pony. I want to ride every critter on the carousel, but a few are so small that I don't know if I'd fit - the peacock, for instance, and the great blue heron gulping a fish... But the place is just magical - and all the money made goes to a non-profit for handicapped children. It's a great place. Then we went into the shop - I met the owner, and fell in love with about 15 items I wanted to buy, ranging in price from $2.99 to $695.00, and three pieces of metal sculpture that I wanted that didn't have price tags on them. The sculptor also had paintings and photo-shopped prints, as well as an illustrated book about his wacky cat (who lived to be 26) - I bought the book.
Brandi was her usual darling self the past two nights, and I met with Darcie and her hubby this morning about taking care of Lizzie and Maggie over the Fourth weekend. I'm back at home with Lovey and Neddy, and they both are full of love and want attention in a very needful way...