That was a mouthful, yes indeed! Today, it was supposed to rain all day, and it rained in the morning, then let up in the afternoon and after talking to PSM, I decided to head to the Mt Gretna Arts Festival, turns out they were celebrating their 50th year of the festival, perfect!

I thought about taking the bike, but I wasn’t sure if the rain would hold off, so I dropped the top on Annie and headed out. I went to where the parking and shuttle buses were and decided to keep going to the festival itself. I got there, Mt Gretna is not a very big place and I didn’t have $10 for parking, nor did I wish to pay the $10 for parking, so…I turned around and went back to where the shuttle buses were, parked for free and hopped on the big yellow school bus with the rest of the folks, and back to Mt Gretna we went!

It felt like a very long ride, it was nice, through the woods, but seemed to take forever, especially when compared to coming back to the car, it was about a 5 or 7 minute drive back… they dropped us off and I was trying to find the crafter vendors, but I wasn’t sure where they were, those are the less expensive artists and creators, those that probably weren’t up for paying the more expensive booth fees to be in the festival, so I paid the $15 and went in.

Last year, we stayed outside and just walked around the crafter vendor section, this time I was on the inside and it was lovely. There were food tents, alcohol tastings and sales, the local shops were open, and the artists had their creations on display. The nice thing was, since it had rained all night and some of the morning, the temperature was very comfortable, as opposed to last year! It’s mid August, after all!

I strolled up and down the aisles, it wasn’t a huge arts festival, so I think I made it around in about an hour, maybe hour and a half, and that’s not stopping at every booth, I looked, but not everything is my jam, so I moved on from those. I was a bit peckish and happy to find the Oasis food truck with their terrific acai bowls! I remember them from last year and acai bowls make PSM and I homesick for Hawai’i, PSM even said when we go back, that’s all he’s having for breakfast every day!

If you don’t know what an acai bowl is, it’s like heaven in a dish. It’s healthy and you feel like you’re getting something bad, let me ‘splain! An acai bowl has frozen acai berries on the bottom, it’s more like in sorbet form. Then it’s topped with some goodness, traditionally it’s fruit like, well, what I had, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, granola, and honey. I also added some peanut butter. Let’s just say Y U M! The hard part is getting to the acai at first, and it’s frozen, so not easy to get into, but…once you get to it, after eating some of the fruit out of the way, you can start scooping the acai with the fruit… yeah, just yum. And filling!

Ok, back to the festival. I was eating my acai bowl, listening to Broadway musicals, walking in and out of some booths, being careful to not spill or bump into anything or anyone while I was eating! I really enjoyed myself, Mt Gretna is so pretty, I think I told you about it last year, but if not… it’s this cute area, in the woods, or at least a wooded area, the streets are narrow, the population is about 200, if that, and some of the houses are residences and a lot of them are rentals. It is so charming to just walk the area, the houses are decorated just so, there are statuary and installations in peoples yards, it definitely lends to the atmosphere for the arts festival.

There was also a band playing here and there, the No Last Call Street Band! They were so much fun! Have a listen!

I didn’t buy much, just a few things, can’t tell you all of them! I did buy a t-shirt from the festival, but what I did buy… we’re adding to the flower box! I bought a metal sunflower, sorry PSM, from one of the shops, and then from the artists, I bought a dragonfly made from steel with glad beaded eyes, a flower made from spoons, and a beautiful glass flower. What I love is that I’m making my garden bloom and there is no chance I’m going to kill any of these flowers… unless Mother Nature has her way and blows them down, but…I think I got them in the flower box pretty well. I hope you like what I’ve grown, I walked by in the evening and the way the sun was hitting the flowerbox, everything really…well… it makes me smile, I hope it does the same for you!

And with that…I bid you farewell, gotta pretend to go to sleep, work in the AM! The dogs are waiting to snuggle, sigh. G’night!