autumn glory was awesome! well, the festival was...the camping part was pretty miserable at times. the drive went well, with the foliage getting more intense as we drove west. we made it to the state banjo competition and witnessed some very young as well as very old banjo players. the southern garrett county high school gym was packed with mostly senior citizens but also some really entertaining little kids who had fun dancing. camping that night involved four people sleeping in a two-person tent (we brought another but we couldn't set it up), without sleeping mats (we forgot them in baltimore), in the pouring rain, atop gravel. and the temperature was a high of 40 the next day, so needless to say it was very cold as well. the camping was really unpleasant, actually. the next day we got up early and headed straight into small-town america. we got to see the church choir perform a gospel puppet show (not as good as last year's), check out the (fabulously tacky) craft fair, buy ridiculously cheap pumpkins and gourds from some mennonite and amish farmers, eat hand-made donuts (pretty much the only vegetarian option in the entire county) and see an appalachian clogging performance all before witnessing the grand parade. it was just as absurd as it was last year, with lots of obnoxious shriner cars zipping around, lots of cheerleaders and drill teams in uniforms from the early 90s, their accompanying high school marching bands, beauty queens freezing in strapless gowns, historic fire engines, ROTC and other military brigades, and local politicians atop goofy floats. i love that stuff! our final stop before heading back home was to refuel and warm up with some great cheap coffee and vegan cupcakes (we made those and brought them with us) to celebrate timmy's 24th birthday! all in all, it was a really memorable weekend.
other than that i feel like i've been drowning in homework lately, specifically studying for midterm exams and writing reviews of literature. that's what i should be doing now, in fact! i also took time to set up a linked in account for the sake of networking and hopefully finding a job for the spring. we'll see how that works. if anyone hears of any full-time opportunities in the baltimore area from january to july of 2010, please let me know!!!
i get through my homework sessions with hyggeligt candles and oversized cups of coffee/tea/chai/hot chocolate/apple cider:
our harvest-time window display:
