Just call me Jeeves

Hi! Did I see you at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend? You may or may not remember me ... on Saturday I was wearing a grey t-shirt and had my hair up in a bun. I didn't spend much time in the barns, but when I was there I could be found perusing the sock yarn. Oh, wait a minute! I know how to jog your memory ....

I am the woman who brought the WoolyBabe to Rhinebeck.

In past years, I've spent the two days at the fairgrounds meeting up with old friends and making new ones, eating food that really isn't good for me, and shopping, shopping, shopping. I always had a child with me, but Her Ladyship is a big girl, and we were barely inside the gates before she and Lucia's Miss B ran off to explore and enjoy their freedom.

This year I also had a five-week-old in tow. And while people were nice and made like they were happy to see me, I know the truth.

I was just a bump in the road on the way to the baby.

There were plenty of people willing to hold the baby for me, and I was happy to take them up on their kind offers, but she does have one need that only I (or another lactating mother, but that's too much to ask) could meet. Which is how I came to spend most of Saturday afternoon sitting on the floor in a corner of Building A, and how I discovered that if you stay in one place long enough, people will come to you. First one nursing mother drifted over to join me, then another, then some people who weren't nursing but just wanted to say hi, and before you know it we had quite a klatch going on.

The only downside was that following the baby's schedule didn't leave me any time to shop.

You didn't buy anything? Yeah, sure Momma. Tell these nice people the truth.

O.k., o.k. With the WoolyBabe's cooperation (and the aid of my trusty sling), I bought a few things.

Those of you who heard me proclaiming pre-Rhinebeck that I was staying away from the sock yarn can stop laughing now. We all know that there's no such thing as "too much sock yarn".

I was not the only member of the family to get good use out of a sling. My older daughter got to hold a baby kangaroo:

Her Ladyship with Jimmy the Joey

It must be noted that Jimmy's fur was soft, soft, soft, and that he loves his sling as much as the WoolyBabe loves hers.

We spent less time at the fair on Sunday than we might have liked because someone riding in our car had homework to do ("Don't worry, Mom," Her Ladyship said airily on Thursday night, when we realized that she had a major project due on Monday morning. "I'll do it over the weekend."), but by that time we were all pretty tired.

Time to go home, Mom

As always, we had a most wonderful weekend.