Here's the crew. The Star Wars family is the son and his family. Of course the pirate is the blacksmith in disguise, complete with hand forged sword and hook.
Mike, Eileen, and girls.
The Cat in the hat and son.
My great-nieces!
My neighbors, she won first place in the adult costumes division! Emily you did great making that costume.
First place in the children's division.
A craft table was set up for the kids.
The children line up for trick or treating.
An Osage Bluff couple! Uhmm . . . wonder who they are?
Candy, candy, and more candy!
The daughter in law ( Princess Leia), her oldest sister and her family.
A really cute family!
My niece and her family!
Some even tricked out their means of transportation. I just wished I had gotten a picture of Scooby Doo and the rest of the crew in it!
Two tourists headed for the beach!
And a great time was had by all! Good food, good friends, and great weather!
We also canned the last of our turnip kraut. 42 pints. We've done this before and here is a link to previous post on making turnip kraut.
And so we close another canning season with the shelves stocked full. 228 pints, 53 quarts jars, plus 27 qt bags in the freezer full of corn, not to mention the 15 gallons of blackberries. Now if the blacksmith bags a deer, we will be set for awhile!
We pulled out of Mountain View, Arkansas at 8:30 and 106 miles later we were in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas.
It took us one stop at the visitor center to find the only RV park in the area. It happened to be across the bridge, a block away. It was $18 per night for water and electricity.
$2 was added if you wanted wifi.
This would be the wifi . . . a walk up the hill to the picnic table in 50 degree temps!
After setting up camp and grabbing a bite of lunch we headed about 16 miles away to Hardy, Arkansas.
We found this junk shop. Well I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder. There was too much "new" things and too high prices on what old stuff that was there.
In Hardy, one of the first shops we walked into had the most kitchen cupboards we had ever seen. I quit counting at 22.
We were told at this corner shop we could find some weights we were looking for. If they were there, we never uncovered them.
Both sides of the streets are lined with antique shops, craft shops, one tattoo parlor and an ice cream shop. We stayed a couple of hours and then headed back to the Casita.
Later in the afternoon, in Mammoth Spring we walked Main street and found a few antique shops too. Our neighbors at the campground recommended Fred's Fish House for dinner. It was one good recommendation. The blacksmith had fried walleye and I had shrimp. We both were served pickled green tomatoes. They were very tasty.
(More on that in another post).
We slept in until about 8 on Friday morning. We loaded up and headed for home, our 8 day trip was winding down. We drove across the bridge and stop at the spring. The morning fog was slowing floating off.
After a stop at McDonald's for coffee it was homeward bound.
Ozark Folk Center. Check it out!. It's a village full of crafters. We spent two days there. There is no amusement park theme to it, just good old fashioned crafts. The craftsmen and craft ladies are so ready to visit with you. You will love their accents and their hospitality. A restaurant is on site with good country cooking (even though they were out of chicken and dumplings by the dinner meal).
The jewelry maker
Plant Market
The broom maker at work
The broom maker's wonderful works of art.
Marva, the country cook.
It's not her best picture, but she was a dream to visit with. She was making corn cakes that she shared with us. They were topped with either apple or peach preserves.
The pot rack in the country kitchen was made on site by the local blacksmith.
I wanted all of her skillets!
I would take her stove too, if she would have parted with it. However it was too warm to transport, she was actually using it!
Of course I've seen plenty of blacksmith shops, so no need to show this one.
But the sign was unique.
Shannon cabin. Notice the smoke coming out of the chimney?
How did this picture get in here?
So I will just tell you the fried pies were awesome.
Mine was peach. The blacksmith had cherry. And they were still warm.
This guy was just hanging out while the old fashion carrousel with swings that he powered was being modified due to high winds.
Old time print shop. That press was so quiet!
The cooper was making wooden spoons, he said the market for spoons is more desirable than wooden buckets.
The spinning and weaving cabin.
The potter. Beautiful works, although I like cobalt blue pottery and not too many people do that. Therefore I left empty handed.
The candlestick maker. At least it's his shop, he's not in on the picture.
I bought this from the basket maker, Sharon Fernimen.
Can you guess what it is?
It's to cover your plate of food to keep bugs and flies off!
An old fashioned foot lathe. This gentlemen made some wonderful wooden tops.
Every night we went back to the Folk Center for their music show. It was 2 hours of pure bliss. Their music is so enjoyable (except for one lady who played the harp). Children and adult alike were invited at anytime to join on stage to dance. Clogging or square dancing or whatever was fine. I only wish we lived closer to have season tickets.
The three boys in this group are the Cobb brothers. Sorry the video isn't picture clear, but you can still hear the music.
