~ Destination Poolesville ~

I dragged my Varmint and Critter kicking and screaming (not literally, but darn-tootin’ nearly), to the business fair for the small town adjacent to our little hamlet of Dickerson.  It was called Destination Poolesville, and it was held in the gymnasium of the Poolesville Baptist Church.

The same place we have our Basketball practices.

The same place we have our Softball practices.

The same place we have our summer camps.

That church is a multi-tasker, I tell you!

I promised Varmint and Critter food.  I knew there would be soup and barbecue and funnel cakes and Hershey Ice Cream.   It mollified.  But only a little.

But it was enough to buy me time to browse a bit, and look at all the creative ideas talented people have come up with to make a living.

Hand spun woolen items:

Hello Claudia from Weave On Studios!

Handmade soaps with way cool scents like ‘Instant Karma’.

These were created by The Woolly Queen, Suzanne.  She was SO very interesting and beautiful.  I fell in love with her the moment I heard her ‘across-the-pond’ accent.  And check this out:

These aren’t cupcakes, though they look delicious!  They are actually more of her soaps!  So CREATIVE!

Yes, I purchased.  And yes, we will be very clean for the next couple of weeks.  After that, I’m not making any promises.

We received kid-friendly party favors from the new martial arts gig in town, Kick’s Karate:

Nancy shared everything from her fabric frisbees to her color changing drink tumblers.  The munchkins at her table were cute as all get out, too!

And of course, there were yummies:

Barbecue, and Ice Cream, and Spicy Dogs, Oh My!

Hello Harney Family from my beloved HarBro Twisted Cone! I sure do love you guys!

And Girl Scout Cookies!  It wouldn’t be America without those!

Isn’t she sweet?  I screwed up this next picture because I’m spastic…but I think it came out so cool I’m posting it anyways!

Would you just look at that smile?  Who WOULDN’T support this little lady’s troop?

And UH HELLO…Funnel Cakes are a MUST if you want to call any get-together a ‘Destination’.

But this…THIS… was the shocker of the day.

There is a group called the Historic Medley District (www.historicmedley.com) that had a display of artifacts found in the vicinity.  We are living in the spot of Civil War skirmishes, you see, as well as pioneer farms.  I like to look at these things, but I figured my kids would have no interest whatsoever.

WRONG.

Critter was glued to the display.

Enthralled, he insisted he borrow my camera to take pictures of his own.  He was snapping and snapping shot after shot.  It felt like a Jim Morrison photo shoot:

So the kid who absolutely-under-no-uncertain-circumstances-did-most-emphatically-NOT want to go to Destination Poolesville, not only went, but found a new subject on which to fixate.  He was amazed that we were looking at tangible items from the past.  (Mind you, we live within an hour of the Smithsonian, and he has been exposed to literally hundreds of historical places.)

Apparently the thing that made a difference to him today was that this is where we live.  These civil war mementos and artifacts are from our town’s soil.  It’s like it brought it, er, home to him.

He perked right up and began asking a million questions.  Mr. “I don’t wanna go!” became Mr. “Mom! Mom! Mom! Look at this!”

I hadn’t had my coffee yet.

I hadn’t even had my funnel cake yet.

I must really love that kid.