I had a lovely time in Berryville, Saturday and Sunday. I was also totally exhausted, both Saturday night and Sunday. I’m not sure I’m over it yet. But I learned a lot and said hello to hundreds of delightful people.

I’m going to say first, that though I’ve been to the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival several times in the past, I was thinking then only of what I wanted. Fiber! This time I did quite a bit of people watching, and it was intensely entertaining.

People were carrying tote bags and t-shirts that were definitely meant to be seen. Logos from other festivals, or this festival from other years, or just very interesting and well-designed logos, on tote bags and t-shirts flowed past. An ivory tote bag with black line images from the coronation of King Charles III of England was notable, and easily described. Other images were amazing in the moment, and then displaced by the next bag. I developed some serious acquisitive desires. The organizers of this festival gave me a tote bag so, yeah, I can do a little swagger of my own now. Plus, it was cold and I bought a beautiful sweatshirt with the festival name.

Many people wore or carried items that they had knitted or crocheted or felted for themselves. It wasn’t quite like the New York sheep festival which I have heard is very competitive about knitted sweaters, but it was definitely a chance for hand made items to be seen and appreciated.

There were people in lederhosen and people in Victorian dresses. A long black cloak went by and some bunny ears on gray hair. Boots with tights and tunics cruised past. Some boots were laced up hiking or combat and some were fancy heels with painted leather. Some were just plain (or fancy) rubber boots, especially Sunday when it was damp.

I sold books.

I had incredible promotion by the festival organizer and I handed out 200 bookmarks that I had printed up. I’m still processing the lessons there. I needed a bit more information on the bookmarks. This was actually pointed out to me in the gentlest possible way by the Staples employee who was printing more bookmarks for me Saturday night. I had a QR code on the back, and he thought I needed to mention What the QR code was for — and he was quite right. Too late for this time but good for some other moment!

I also need a better spiel. People had no idea what the book was about even with the blurb in front of them, and I didn’t have a good answer. Was it my personal history? Did it explain how to deal with sheep? Was it a romance? Oh, it was fiction!

My favorite was the person who asked about Romance and then worried when I said there was a handsome man and he did get together with the heroine. — By Amazon standards this is not a ‘Romance’. A ‘Romance’ is supposed to be all about feelings; this book has feelings, but it also has some very concrete actions with respect to sheep and rocks and food. So not quite romance, or at least ‘clean and sweet’. — My questioner said, “You just gave away the ending!” Ummmm, I’m sorry!

Anyway, I’m still sleepy.

And I’m sorry for everyone in the path of Hurricane Helene. I am praying for them.