A Day in the Park

This weekend was the 37th annual "Inman Park Spring Festival & Tour of Home". Michael & I got to play Daddy for the day, and got to take our friend Sophie to the festival yesterday. We met up with our friends Lucia, Jeff and Stephanie and had a great time shopping the booths. I really had my eye out for one specific item-- a decorative brass sprinkler. I've seen these sprinklers at the festival every year, but could never afford one. This year I saved up and was bound and determined to buy one. It turns out that the sprinkler dealer didn't participate in this year's festival. Damn! Maybe next year!

I did get a nice stained glass window that I installed in the sunroom. It's really old and came from a home in England. That's all I know about it's history, but I do like it. I also bought a couple of picture frames made out of antique wood. Just what I needed-- more frames to add to the shrine that I sometimes call the living room!

Sophie had a great time. We got her face painted and I bought her a toe ring that actually fits her little finger! She had fun in the play area, and enjoyed watching the "most talented people that she's ever seen " (as she described them). They were a trio of fire-eating acrobats from Kalamazoo. Funny story-- after watching the ladies perform for a few minutes, I left the group in search of the brass sprinklers. A few minutes later, I called Michael on his cell phone to let him know where I was. Michael happened to be standing in the front row with Sophie and one of the fire-eating acrobats from Kalamazoo answered his phone during the performance. She asked my name and I told her. Then she said into her microphone: "Everyone sell hello to Brian!". I was a few blocks away, but I heard the crowd with no problem: "HELLO BRIAN!". Funny!

We ended the day by watching our friend Heather perform with her band on the Delta Park stage. Of course, Heather was incredible as usual. The best part of the day, for me, was when an elderly lady got up to dance to Heather's music. She was your typical Southern grandmother-- she had the wardrobe and everything. She was probably in her late 70's or early 80's. I would've never predicted that this Southern granny would get up and dance to the music of Heather Littrell, but she did and she put a smile on everyone's face. She reminded me a lot of my grandmother, Mema. I immediately flashed back to the night that Mema was doing the Charleston at our house-- she was so cute doing her little dance-- until she fell down and broke her hip (or maybe she broke her hip and fell down, according to Michael). My smile quickly faded as I remembered the sight of the paramedics taking Mema out of the house on a stretcher, while my grandfather was threatening to sue my parents for damages (ok, that part never happened, but wouldn't that be a funny story?). But all was well with this lady-- she didn't fall, and no one got sued. Instead, she enjoyed a big round of applause from the audience. What a way to end an incredible day in the park!