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The Enchanted Forest - that's what I call my new home on Sand Mountain, Alabama. I tagged it with the name as soon as we drove the U-Haul onto the property in late June, partly to trick my psyche into loving this new, very different locale that I wasn't sure I really wanted. I knew if I told myself often enough that this place was a treasure, I would eventually believe it. It worked. I love my small piece of the planet, and have accepted (almost) everything about it. I wish I'd started this journal the day we arrived - it's too labor-intensive to retrace all the steps that have brought me to this point, so I will begin here and let each day decide what is worthy of documenting. It's self-indulgent, and will surely vacsillate between celebratory and borderline-depressing - but that's what life is. And I find comfort in that cycle. So here goes . . .

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Ribbon fries, snow cones and downtown fun

 (From Wikipedia - "In the late 1880s, Fort Payne experienced explosive growth as investors and workers from New England and the North flooded into the region to exploit coal and iron deposits discovered a few years earlier. This period is called the "Boom Days", or simply as the "Boom". Many of the notable and historic buildings in Fort Payne date from this period of economic growth, including the state's oldest standing theater, the Fort Payne Opera House; the former factory of the Hardware Manufacturing Company (today known as the W.B. Davis Mill Building, and home to an antiques mall and deli), and the Fort Payne Depot Museum, formerly the passenger station for the present-day Norfolk Southern Railway. Today it serves as a museum of local history.[4]"   
So today we took advantage of the beautiful weather and local entertainment and immersed ourselves in Fort Payne's annual "Boom Days" festival.  Good times!  Started at the home of Anne Hamilton, a local artist whose  "Grand Ol' Lady" Victorian home was transformed into a gallery for members of the Northeast Alabama Arts Council.  Lovely meeting her and enjoying the works of these talented artists.  Streets of downtown were blocked off for dozens of vendors, with great music of all kinds (bluegrass, rock, country,, gospel) being performed on 5 different stages, punctuated by the "clip-clop" of a beautiful horse-drawn carriage carrying festival goers from one end of downtown to the other.  Art show in the park, along with classic cars, dog agility demonstrations and pet parade; civil war re-enactors and hoop-skirted belles dancing the Virginia Reel to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home.  Crispy ribbon fries, sweet/tart fresh-squeezed lemonade,sugary funnel cakes, and the best strawberry daquiri snow cone(s) I've ever had!  (yes, I had two of them!)  Enjoyed stopping by the Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce to meet and chat with Carol Beddingfield, the Chamber Director.  A fun Saturday morning outing!  By all accounts, a great success - congratulations organizers and volunteers! 
Ribbon fries - cut from a fresh potato using a drill to turn the blade!
Handsome hubby!
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