What I saw today!

Roller Sticks!  yes, that is what I think I saw.  Some men dressed in full cross country outfits shussing through the town on these roller sticks.  These look like sticks with two wheels - one on front and one on the back.  They use ski poles to propel themselves along and they say they are practicing for when the snow gets here (if it ever does one of them said), and so they ride these roller sticks through the streets and they do not go slowly.  When it snows, they will trade these roller sticks in for real cross country ski's and they will be out in the fields etc. doing their favorite thing.
I visited a quilt shop in downtown Augusta.  It is small, crowded and also offers stuff to knit, quilt, felt, and bead.  I have no  idea how they fit so much stuff into one little shopping space.  They also do wedding gown alterations.  I found some wonderful Puffin (sea birds here in the East) fabric and a 1/4 yard of it jumped right off the bolt and into my purse.  I discovered an easter egg.  In computer programming, they sometimes insert a small program they call "an easter egg" and I found one today at the quilt shop.  The lady who was keeping shop today is from Wales.  So I got to talking to her about Wales and told her of my Welsh ancestry and how they got to Australia.  She said that Wales is beautiful and green - and I have seen pictures that bear this out.  I found out that she is looking for a church and asked her if she would be interested in hearing about the LDS church and that I had changed from the church of England to the LDS church but she said she was not interested.  But, one thing in her favor - she is doing her genealogy.  Ah yes, the spirit of elijah is alive and well and doing just what the scriptures said it would do.  I also visited the bead store and had a visual picnic.  They were having class at the time I was there and I was envious of what they were doing.  Wish I had time to take a beading class while I am here.
I attended a craft show - yes, one more craft show.  It was billed as the "Last Gasp Craft Show before Christmas".  Something akin to the stocking stuffer show they have at the armory in Prescott.  I must admit that some of the items for sale would need a pretty big stocking if they were stocking stuffers.  They were wooden clothes dryers - like the one my mother had when things did not get dry in the winter time.  There were lots of tasting tables at this particular show and lots of people selling hand crocheted stocking caps, mittens and scarves.  The mood was festive and I walked away happy.  I bought a pair of earrings that are beaded Lobsters.  I saw them at a previous show and wanted to get them then, but didn't and when I saw them today, they jumped into my purse as well.  I am getting pretty much to be lobster'ed out - with my lobster theme fabric purse and now lobster ear rings.............I am beginning to become a 'down easter' or some foreign transplant who wishes to pose as such.
I did some grocery shopping as well.  The aisles were filled with merchandise and people.  Some of them obviously had to make hard choices between wants and needs and others wondering just what and how the ingredient necessary for the upcoming meal was to be found and purchased - they were wandering like lost children up and down the aisles and their eyes were glazed over.  Perhaps the holiday season is too much stress for them.
Saw a sign on the front of a church which said "May your Christmas bring a hush that will be greater than the Christmas rush".  Food for thought either way.
We ate out at Friendly's - a family style grill.  My first introduction to Friendly's was in 1974 when we arrived in Connecticut looking for a job for Bill soon after we were married.  He ordered Clam strips and fries and I wondered how anyone could eat that stuff.  Well "that Stuff" was what we ate for lunch today.  Amazing what a difference 37 years can make.
Our spider continues to live in the window.  Not much if anything comes in to get entangled in his web and so I have decided to name him "Slim Pickin's" owing to the pickings being less than slim for him.  I have no idea how he continues to live on so little.
Today was a beautiful winter day - not really cold, but warm enough to enjoy.