Back To The Fifties Festival

This weekend is the big 50's festival in town. Here are a few pictures from the day.

They block off three sides of the square (all the streets except the state highway) and several other side streets in town. Most are filled with antique cars while other are lined with vendors, politicians and community groups hawking all types of homemade goods or services. And since trailers are prohibited, there is a definite community feel rather than the usual overblown commercial junk.
Several local groups perform demonstrations such as the local karate class and the community band. But it's the antique cars that are the reason for the celebration. My favorite vehicle is the VW Camper. It's fully loaded and ready to hit the road. Just imagine cruising Route 66 in that beauty! I also like the snapshot of the multicolored line of Thunderbirds with the Courthouse dome in the background.
Other highlights are the Frito-Lay booth where they hand out free snack size bags of chips produced in the factory located just north of town. This year they were introducing a new line of healthy snacks called Flat Earth. The Apple Cinnamon Grove baked crisps were very tasty and supply half a serving of fruit in every ounce.
But for the boy, the real show stopper is the Lego display that the library sponsors. This year Brian Darrow returned with another amazing layout. His BlackTron Intelligence Agency layout takes eight hours to assemble and was constructed over four and a half years. Sounds like most of my weekend projects! Checkout more photos from his collection here or his video here. You can also see Brian's work during the Great Train Expo at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in October.
With blue skies and cool weather, it's been a fantastic weekend to recharge from the hectic pace of school.

We Have A Plan

 

This is the design idea for the front yard, you know the one that EVERYBODY sees, the one we haven't really done anything with for six years. Each square on the graph equals one square foot. The scraggly tree is already there, we're just adding the gravel path to mirror the knot garden. Plants are still to be decided. Here's what we agree on so far: climbing roses against the house with black-eyed Susan's and obedient plants along the sidewalk. It may be next year before it all comes together. This weekend we ripped out a LOT of wildflowers and irises, some have been replanted elsewhere and others given away.

Suspended Rant

Just recently I made my first and only eBay purchase. Not a week later, I received two spam emails through the eBay mail system and then a notice that my account had been suspended due to "safety concerns". I think I've been hacked.
I sent an email to customer service but just got a standard reply. You would think that if someone was spamming under another users account they would want to look into it. But no, guess I'm guilty until I can prove my innocence. So I'm cancelling my account. Sorry everybody but you'll just have to send it through freecycle.