The Cabin: Day 3

Hi Folks!

Sorry I'm a little late in getting back to this blog thing with the details from day three at granddad's cabin. I've got a good excuse though. I spent all last week over by Turner's Mill at the annual Book Fair. You wouldn't think a body could spend an entire week going through stalls of books and bookish things... but you'd be wrong. Every year I discover a treasure trove of out of print books on subjects you'd never think somebody would have cared enough about to write about... never mind do a whole book about it.

This year I came across three I couldn't help but buy. The most interesting was about Nauga Butter. Yeah I hear you... that's the last thing I ever would've thought could be a byproduct of them Naugas. Don't rightly see how anything they produce could be turned into anything remotely resembling butter. But there it was... right there on the cover. The book was written by Arnulf Svenderson around the turn of the century. Contained diagrams that showed everything one could possibly want to know... and then some... about how to go about getting butter from the... leavings of the Nauga. Now I'm a practical man myself... and I've got a bit of inventiveness to boot... but even I couldn't have dreamed this stuff up. Still... ifn I take one of the spare storage bins from the back yard and mix in some alfalfa from the back forty and maybe some cane sugar to sweeten the batch then maybe... just maybe... But you folks don't want me spend your time talkin about esoteric stuff like that.

Yeah the Book Fair is definitely something you might want to get to next year. A real big affair I tell you. Course it wasn't always that way. Back when it first started... oh about twenty years ago... it was just a way for the local bookstores and the library to get rid of surplus stock or books that had been on the shelves for too long. There were only about five booths that first year. Some people came out of curiosity but it weren't nothing like today. It started getting bigger about ten years ago when theyse got the idea to open it up to folks who might want to show off their crafts and stuff and maybe sell a few things here and there.

Well the Book Fair took off like a rocket after that. It's got well over two hundred booths now. Folks from all over come for a day or so just to see what might show up this year. Why there was a fella from Memphis who makes mirrors that show a body's true self... kinda mystical thing I'd say. The mirrors have all sorts of angles and multiple reflecting surfaces that present a rather skewed view of things. Personally I think people see what they want to when they look into one... but that fella sure seemed to be selling a lot of them so there just might be something to it all.

Yeah today you can find almost anything you'd want at the Book Fair. The Wallace Family singers have a booth over by the east end of the fair where they sell CDs and perform a mix of old favorites and some of their newer songs. Yep, a good rousing chorus of "The Nauga's in the field" really brings folks 'round. They always end up selling a few CDs after that. Carly Jo Buford has had a booth every year for the past ten years. Seems that when she's not inventin stuff like the Binford 9000 laser saw she's also a champion quilter. She's got some of the most innovative designs I've ever seen... least around here. She incorporates local farming scenes into each quilt... even includes Nauga hide and straps and... other stuff into a lot of her quilts. Uses a lot of the hide for backing. Makes the quilts more durable she says. Can't rightly question that. I bought one a few years back. Still good as new. Uses Gerper down for stuffing. Makes them real warm. Don't need to wear nothing ifn you're under one of her quilts... even on the coldest of winter nights.

Then there's the food section. Joe Jones sets up his fish fry every year. He goes fishin with his Binford 9000 the day before the fair and then brings his catch along. Puts 'em on ice so they don't spoil. Does it up real well with fires and slaw and his own special sauce. Hmmmm Hmmmm. Nothin like a good fish fry with Strout and Pica and lot's of other local favorites on a hot summer's day. Nearby to Joe's place, Thelma Lou sets up shop with some of the other ladies to raise money for the local orphanage. You can smell their booth half way across the fair. You can get Nauga sausage, Nauga ham, and well just about any other way you can cook Nauga at their place. Just the mention that Thelma Lou is back will get most folks to gravitate towards the food area. Gets mighty crowded over there after awhile I tell you.

But the real highlight this year was Missy Franklyn. She owns the Franklyn Gallery over in Bakersville. Sells real high end art ranging from classic pieces to pieces by local folks. Does real well by the looks of it. But her real love is taxi dancing. Been doin it since she was in high school. Why I remember one time when she did a flamenco on the top of a Yellow Cab in Biggsbee after the homecoming game. Got her a lot of attention that did. She was in all the papers. Got some offers from talent agents and everything. Almost made a career of it but then she discovered art. Just fell in love with the way it made her feel when she looks at it. Even tried her hand at it for awhile but found out she weren't no good at it. No way she was gonna make a livin as an artist. To make ends meet she got a job at the old Flynt Gallery. Wasn't long before she figured out that she could have the best of both worlds... could work with art and still make money doin it. After a few years she saved up enough money to buy the place. Changed the name and spruced it up a bit. Been runnin that gallery ever since.

Still and all, she never lost her love for taxi dancing. Course today there's not to many taxis around so she's started dancing on Ubers and Lyfts. So there she was at the fair, demonstrating one of her classic dance moves... you know the one where she jumps from cab to cab while doin her Ginger Rogers impersonation... well she failed to notice that the third Uber in the mix she was using for her demonstration was a soft top convertible. Well now she couldn't really be blamed... what with all the modern use of composite materials and other enhancements that top looked pretty much like any other car top. 'Cept it weren't.

No sireee, her foot went through that top just like a knife through Nauga butter... went in right up to her knee. To make things worse, Bobbie Smallson... it was his car you see... he's trying to start his own limousine business and figured out that Uber might just be his way of getting his foot through the door so to speak... yeah Bobbie had left the car idling... in park mind you... but still running while he went to collect his next passenger who was lost somewhere out among all those fair booths. Well when Missy's leg went through the car's top her foot hit the gear shift and things went from bad to worse. That gear shift pushed itself into drive and that car took off... slowly at first but then faster and faster as it got to the edge of the hill that leads down to Lender's Pond.

Well it was quite a sight... that car headin down the hill... Missy screamin and a hollerin the entire time. Folks just stopped whatever they was doin just to stand and watch. Some folks tried to help but there weren't much anyone could do. Seems Bobbie had locked the doors and what with him being out there trying to find his fare... well all the tugging and pulling in the world wasn't gonna stop that car. It missed Mary Jo Simple's pottery booth by only a couple of feet... though it did rip out one of the guide ropes holding up the front flap. The only thing that finally stopped it was when it ran itself into the pond. Didn't sink too far... should only take a day or so to get it out... safe to say though that Bobbie's fare had to find another way home... Yep. I always enjoy the Book Fair... there's always something to find or see...

Oh but I was gonna tell you about day three up at granddad's cabin... actually there wasn't too much to tell. Oh we got up bright and early, had a good breakfast and then set out towards the Big River with hopes high. Once we got there though, it was clear that we weren't gonna have much luck that day. What with the big storm the night before, the river was all flooded and swollen and burstin at its banks. Weren't much hope of any fish lounging around against that current. We went to a couple of the tributaries to see if they was any better but nope.... they was just as bad. Still in all we did spend a good part of the day traipsing around from place to place hopin to find one spot that might still be relatively undisturbed. Truth be told we did find one spot that looked promising... but all we found was a bunch of Ten Toed Tressles moving around trying their best to get to the shallow part of the stream. To find that many Tressles in one spot was a pretty unique find in itself... we scooped some up to help repopulate some areas where they've gone scarce... but there weren't no fish to be found.

We finally just went back to the cabin and just relaxed for the rest of the day, working on our fishing gear, swappin stories, and eventually gettin round to supper. All in all a nice day... 'cept for the part about no fish.

Well that's it for now. 'Til next time. Jon