I think it is time for a change of pace.  I am so totally pissed off with both politics and economics that I don't even know how to express myself on those topics.

The fall color is almost fully developed here and now.  A month ago we began to see some of the changes.  Some trees changed almost overnight, almost with the kind of drunken enthusiasm the stock market had the few times over the last month when it went up.  Those trees are nearly bare now surrounded by the irregular circles of fallen leaves.  We passed several such on our walk this morning and crunched our way through the leaves where the passage of other walkers had created two channels along the path.  I love watching the trees change.  The change last year was much less than spectacular because we had had so little rainfall.  Perhaps the color this year is one of the few good gifts of Hurricane Ike.  Some of the trees change from the top down.  Others change in stripes while still others take on a painted pony appearance with blotches of bright color in the green.  We have a few still hanging on the the summer foliage but even they are showing reluctant edges of color.  They will eventually change protesting all the way.

When I first came back to this area we visited some of the bigger festivals in Chicago.  The Taste of Chicago was a disappointment.  Much too expensive, much too crowded.  We enjoyed the Tall Ships but the lines to see the ships were so long.  The one we enjoyed the most was the Celtic Fest.  But with the changed economic times such trips to the big city have become too expensive and we have been staying closer to home.

This picture is from the Popcorn Festival, Valparaiso's yearly tribute to Orville Reddenbocker, who I understand was a home town boy.  Unfortunately, many of the booths had signs that asked us not to take pictures.  Some of the local artisans showed their wares.  However, most of the vendors displayed goods that may have been hand made but were hand made in China.  Our verdict: the music was too loud, the booths too commercial.

This girl is making apple butter at the Pioneer Park Harvest Festival.  We spent about an hour here watching exhibitors crocheting rag rugs, quilting, making some kind of Indian bread, cooking up a huge pot of ham and beans.  Unfortunately, if their blurb in the festival directory was accurate, many of the usual exhibitors did not show.  But we had fun talking to those who did.  The photo at the top is the lady who makes the rag rugs.  She had a lot of them for sale.  We didn't buy any because I am using my quilting scraps to make my own.

We have been to other festivals and I will include pictures of them on a future post.