Hello, I Must Be Going

Ramble, part II


Late in the afternoon I headed back to the Ramble for free Skinny Pancake. Decatur Street was still going strong with even more people and lots of bands playing. My favorite was Up Up We Go, featuring a banjolele, a regular banjo, and a bass guitar (as well as sundry kazoos, harmonicas, etc.) Here's a good sample:


I traded a bag of gorp for one of their CDs.

The Decatur Street carnival culminated in an "Epic Bike Ride." I didn't actually intend to participate in the ride, figuring my little three-speed wasn't up for anything epic. But as I headed towards the free crepes, I saw one of my co-workers in a crowd of bikes and she said "come on!" so I did. We rode all over the North End, escorted by the Crucial Couriers, who sped ahead of us and stopped traffic at intersections the way that police do for funeral processions. This procession was anything but funereal. At one point someone counted 160 bikes; I'm guessing it was closer to 200.



We ended up on North Winooski and had free crepes and dancing until dusk.



Did I mention lately how cute Burlington is? Yeah.

Love,
Sarah

Today is the North Burlington Ramble.

It's a homemade celebration of creativity and art. I wandered to the O.N.E. (Old North End) World Market where there were booths of glorious Nepalese silks and African jewelry for sale. Then I headed up to the Decatur Street Carnival, where the locals were offering excellent services of sundry types:






I had my nails done by 8 year olds. They picked the colors:



Up by the Old Spokes Home, a Tuba, Glockenspiel, Accordian, and Clarinet were rocking out.


Next door at Junktiques a crowd was helping the store owner glue toys and buttons to the doorjamb. (I thought I got a picture but I must have lost it.)

Across the street at the Bobbin Sew Bar & Craft Lounge I checked out a street display of repurposed clothing by Gracy's Green Earth, which is the summer project of an Oberlin student who got funding to study thrift stores and how people use/reuse/discard clothing. I don't know if her name is really Gracy or not but I picked up her business card.



As always, I got lost in the neighborhood. The streets are all kattycorner to each other and so when you think you're going North you actually end up heading East. Nevertheless, my pink and green fingernails gave me the strength to go on and I found my way back to the house.

Love,
Sarah