Family drum circle

About a month and a half ago when Noah started to do his military crawl he would wiggle over to the door that is propped by a djembe drum and knock it over so he could hit his hands on it.

This afternoon, as I was walking with my aunt along the 7th Avenue Street Fair I eyed a much smaller djembe and knew it was a perfect size for Noah.

The moment I handed him the drum he vigorously pounded on it with elation. We have been buying other musical toys for him like maracas and a castanet that his Aunt Loralee bought for him. I failed miserably when it came to musical instruments. I tried the piano but did not have enough patience, the flute only lasted a year though I guess if you count a recorder - I was pretty good at that!

The best peeler ever!

The first time John and I came across this guy was in the winter of 2006. He had the same set up as you see in the picture although he was sitting in the Time's Square station along the wall of the tiled hallway. The man and a faint accent although we quickly learned that he was from Switzerland. Maybe it was his kind face, or European accent that convinced us to buy one of his vegetable peelers, or that his product sold itself.


By the mounds of potato and carrot peelings filled in the plastic boxes he had been there a while. A small group of walker byers were curious and surrounded him as he was giving a live demonstration. He was finishing up with a potato and onto a carrot.

What sold me was that there was a side knife to gouge out potato eyes and also used to carve out lines to make star shaped cucumber or carrot chips. It also helped that the cost of this peeler was a mere $5. I immediately shuffled through my bag to find my wallet. Once in hand I could not wait to put it to use. Known as the Rex-Swiss-Peeler, ' The Original Swiss Peeler', the handle works best for me as someone with smaller hands.

I was happy to run into the peeler man only this time in Union Square. I could not help but buy 5 for $20 - a great steal!

We all have a little country in us.

Durham Fair, CT
http://www.durhamfair.com/content/44/default.aspx

In high school my friends and I would trek to the North Haven Fair, Orange Fireman's Fair and the Durham Fair in Connecticut; all of which fell between August and September. Who could not resist the amusement rides, cotton candy, and fried dough with tomato sauce?! My favorite ride was the Zipper, a two minute ride that jolted every inch of your body and was one of the best adrenaline rush!

My sister in law mentioned that the last day of the Durham Fair (in Durham. CT) was coming up and I couldn't pass the chance to go for old time sake. Though, since I was going with Noah I would not have a chance to ride the Zipper, not this time at least. There was an abundance of other attractions to keep us busy.

The rush of excitement as we were taking the shuttle bus to the fair grounds had me giddy even as I was pinned between Noah in his car seat and the rest of the stroller. With tickets in hand we were ready to conquer all.

We walked through the large warehouses of livestock that included - goats, poultry, rabbits, llamas, swine, sheep, dairy cattle. There was also competative arts and crafts exhibits, vegetables, canning, baking, needle work and so on. I can't wait until Noah is old enough to appreciate the Fair for all of its glory.

It would not be a fair without all the food vendors. We indulged in an onion flower, fried dough, root beer float and also had to force ourselves not to let our temptations get out of hand considering the food was pricey.

Next time we will have to allot more time to see everything! Can't wait for next year!

Durham Fair 2008 - http://www.durhamfair.com/