FESTIVAL FRENZY SEASON & SURPRISING STORIES

My daughter sent me a link to the Austin Busker Festival earlier this week, suggesting we might all want to meet up there. I wrote back saying "Yeah, that does sound fun! Only problem is, we've got at least three things going on at once here in Wimberley this weekend -- the Wimberley Arts Fest, the W.I.C. Pie Social, and a barbecue cook-off!" What can I say? 'Tis the season -- that very brief window when it's not too hot and not too cold. The wildflowers are abloomin', but the skeeters and chiggers are still asnoozin'. Gotta make hay while the sun shines!

Since several of my artsy-fartsy-friends had booths in the festival this year, and since my hubby does love a good piece of apple pie, we opted to stay in Wimberley this weekend. The Arts Fest used to be held in town around the square, but they moved down to the parking area for the Blue Hole last year, and it's working out really well. Vendors can now set their booths up the day before, instead of the morning of, the parking situation is better, everything is closer together, and the bathroom facilities are vastly improved!

First stop was at the Thai Gourmet tent, for some of their thirst-quenching lemonade.

Fiber Art by Inna Miller, from Round Rock, TX

I was fascinated by this booth filled with form-fitting, intricately crocheted and knitted clothing. Reminds me of some of muse Fiber Woman's work, only hers is mostly woven. A young woman with the hint of a lilt to her tongue told me she does all the crocheting, while her mother does the knitting.

So what was the one thing we couldn't live without?

Totem Pole by Ceramic Artist Douglas Oertli, from San Angelo, TX

A totem pole for the cantina garden! Fortunately, they had golf carts to ferry us most of the way back to the car. That stone base alone weighed a friggin' ton! Which is a good thing. I would be very, very sad if this thing were to crash and shatter when the next big wind comes gusting through the garden.

I hate the pie social, hosted every year at the historic Winters-Wimberley House, by the Wimberley Institute of Cultures. Why? Because, unlike my hubby, who heads straight to the apple pie table without a moment's deliberation, I can never make up my mind!

Do I want something fruity? If so, do I want peach? Cherry? Blackberry. What about something creamy? Key Lime? Lemon Meringue? Chess? Buttermilk?

Last year I went with peach, but then I passed the chocolate table, and wondered if I had made the wrong choice. So this year I decided it would be chocolately, but did I want chocolate cream? Chocolate fudge? Chocolate Chip? Finally I gave up and just grabbed this chocolatey, nutty, caramelish thing. Boy, was it good. And rich. Very, very, very rich. After a couple of bites my tummy began to rebel. After three, my toes started to curl. The rest is still in the fridge.

Maybe next year I will finally get it right.

One especially interesting tidbit came out of the event. There is a welder in town named Glen. We were always seeing his truck parked outside of Wimberley Cafe on the weekend, and one day my hubby went over to the geezer table out on the porch and asked "Which one of you owns that truck?" So this fellow Glen ended up fixing a broken gate for us and, just recently, made some new, longer stakes for our bottle tree. He's the only person I know who eats at Mima's even more than me, so we run into each other all the time. Boy, were we ever surprised when we stumbled across a full page spread in the newspaper about him and his illustrious rodeo career! We had no clue. But wait, there's more! We ran into Glen at the pie social. He and my hubby were standing there, comparing whose apple pie slice was bigger, when he casually mentioned that "This used ta be my house." "You grew up here? In the Winters-Wimberley House?" "Nah. It was my grandma's then. She's the one who was a Wimberley. Susie Wimberley. Then after she died it was my mom's. But I was the last one that lived in it, before they sold it to the city." Well Glen boy, you are just full of surprises!