Well, we went to the Rhinebeck Fair, the birds and the beasts were there. The big baboon by the light of the moon was combing his long black hair. The monkey he got drunk, he sat on the elephant's trunk. The elephant sneezed, and fell on his knees and that was the end of the monk...that was the end of the monk. The Rhinebeck Fair has been a part of our lives for the almost 40 years we have lived here. Each year the kids would get a job there and earn their money for back to school clothes. Paul went a few days before the fair opened and he and his friends had the job of assembling the rides. (That's enough to keep me off the ferris wheel.) Maria worked the lemonade stand, in fact that is how she met Kevin. I guess he thought she was cute, and bought a drink from here...see how things can start. She would come home the last day of the fair, with handfuls of one dollar bills, sticky from the lemonade, all bunched together. One of her favorite stories was when the young guy she was working with was cleaning up. The owner yelled to him "Watch out for the wires!" and he heard "wash the wires" and started to do so, while the carny had a fit. Sabra worked different booths, one time in a booth that you had to throw darts and break balloons. She was about 15 and my friend Chrissy and I were in that section of the fair looking for her. I grabbed Chrissy arm, stunned at what I saw, Sabra next to a carny, leaning over the booth, smoking a cigarette!! Her job next year was much better, working in the booth with costumes, where the fair goers would select a certain look and then have their picture taken dressed up. So, the fair has a lot of memories...this was the first year that we went without Maria, so that was a big difference. But it was like she was there is some ways...she had encouraged me to enter my embrodery last year, and I had entered three pieces, winning only a second prize for a pillowcase. This year I asked my sisters Barbara and Diane to loan me back the Christmas presents I had made them, aprons, and I won first prize for each of the aprons. Also, last year Maria had said to me, "Ma, you should enter your postcards...the winner wasn't half as good as yours." So this year I entered four of my Tivoli postcards, and won a blue ribbon for them. Thanks Maria. You just can't get away from that girl. Maria's clothes always had a certain very pleasant smell about them, different than most. Sabra asked Rachael what kind of detergent did your mother use and found out it was Tide, in the purple bottle, with vanilla and lavendar. Sabra started using it and I looked for it on the grocer's shelf and bought it too. So everytime I grab a shirt, or hang up clothes there is Ria's smell. The Fair, the laundry, my birthday. My birthday came and went last week. Last year Maria had a party for me at her house, a pirate party, and we all were dressed like pirates. I have the picture of us all, hanging on the wall, handy to the eye. And the thing I love most about the picture is that Ria and I are the only ones going "Arrrrrrr". That is a wonderful picture, a wonderful day, and a wonderful memory.