Sunday, August 26, 2007


DUTCHESS COUNTY FAIR



We are spending Friday & Saturday at Rhinebeck a gorgeous small town 95 miles north of New York City. It is on the Hudson River an area greatly favoured by NY'ers for summer & weekend holidays.

Rhinebeck is in Dutchess County and today we attended the Dutchess County Fair which was great great fun. For New Zealanders a County Fair is very similar to the NZ A&P Show. Rides of every kind for the kids and games with soft toys as prizes, junk food stalls everywhere and of course loads of animals ,(loved the goats), hens and ducks, horticultural exhibitions etc etc.
Enormous crowds,perhaps 50,000 people, and very hot - max.95F but felt 105F (according to then local radio which was broadcasting from the Fair) - so lots of water, and home-made lemonade were the order of the day.



OBLONG BOOKS & MUSIC


Rhinebeck, although a small town, has an excellent independent bookstore called

Oblong Books & Music, where I spent a very happy couple of hours on Friday afternoon.They also have a branch at Millerton, about 25 minutes drive away.If you are in this area be sure to call in, they have a huge range of books, excellent fiction selection, a great children's area, and of course CD's.
They belong to an group of independent booksellers called whose name & motto is:

BOOK SENSE - Independent Bookstores for Independent Minds

In their August newsletter I was interested to read the following:

KEEP A GOOD THING GOOD

It matters that you spend money in your local indpenedent bookstore. Why?


Local businesses support each other. Booksellers typically purchase goods from otjer local businesses, services from a local accountant, and hire residents.

Sales taxes come home to work. The taxes collected by a local independent bookstore support your schools, social services, and public agancies.

Did you know that for every $100 spent by a consumer, a local business would give back $68 while a chain will only give back $43?

Shopping at an independent bookstore helps to sustain healthy and vibrant community for all.

Shop local. Buy local.
A message from your indpenedent bookstore with Book Sense.

Book isman Beattie thrilled to see indepenedent booksellers getting together in this fashion to ensure their survival.

One of the titles they are currently promoting is:

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom "Booklist" calls Anne Lamotts hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.
The above from their website - http://www.oblongbooks.com/

My daughter read this title recently and says it is a must read so I have added it to my list.

Because of the luggage space and weight problem with so many books already bought in NYC I confined myself to one book purchase and half a dozen greetings cards!

The book purchased is:


HUDSON RIVER VALLEY Nikki Goth Itoi Avalon Travel

Link to this website for full details of this and other Moon Handbooks.
The author was born and bred on the Hudson river and her firsthand expereince and honest insight makes this book a must for all interested in exploring this beautiful area so cose to New York City.
We will be back!

No comments: