Wherein Crook Gets Inky then Buys Kettle Korn

Today was a very exciting day for me. Why? Because Angela's Happy Stamper, my LSS, scored a weekend of classes given by none other than Jennifer McGuire:

Sorry this is so blurry (I need a better phone), but it's all I've got. She is SO sweet and generous and fun, and we got really inky, too. And I won one of the door prizes! Yay!

Part of the fun of taking this class is my friend June attended the same session, so we got to catch up! I haven't see her in forever, and it was great to have a chance to chat before and after class.

Just an aside: I don't mean to be a downer, but people, when you take a class, please have enough respect for the other paying students and (more importantly) the instructor, and SHUT UP when she is talking. I swear, there was shushing going on the whole time. AND, when the instructor says, "DO NOT do this right now, I want you to look up here so I can show you ...", please don't pick up the ink and start working. I am an instructor, and I can tell you this is totally annoying, especially when those are the same people who then ask for something to be repeated because they weren't paying attention. Okay, I'm done now.

As part of this trip over the river into Virginia, I'd planned to take the long way home to stop by our Kettle Corn stand and take photos for one of my Tweeps who knows not of the joys of Kettle Corn.

The adventure begins when you see signs like this along that 2-lane back road:

These were in the pull-off area. There were yellow Kettle Korn signs for about a mile before this. My pulse quickened with anticipation.

This is the stand:

Those panels are to protect the guys from the heat of the day. It's in the 90s, and no clouds, so it's HOT HOT HOT today. Plus, they're standing over this:

This, my friends, is the Kettle part of Kettle Korn. That thing on the left is the cooker. They pour kernels in there and stir them around with that wooden stick until it's all popped. Then they tip the kettle over and it all pours into that big copper bowl.

When you order some, the guy just scoops it into a bag for you:

That guy in the back, sitting, exhausted, in a chair, just got done dumping that popped corn into the copper bowl. I think he's sitting in the sun to cool off. Not kidding.

Here is my bag of corn (korn):

Part of the fun for ME, besides taking the scenic way home, is my car now smells of Kettle Korn. This place is near Point Of Rocks, MD, just north of Lucketts, VA. You pick up the corn, cross the bridge over the Potomac River, and you're in MD. This is what some people refer to as BFE, or "way far away". (look it up) It is FAR. The roads all the way back are two lanes through farm country and tiny towns with speed traps.

This was not a problem for me today, because I spent a LOT of time behind this:

Average speed: 15-20 mph. I stayed in 1st or 2nd gear, depending on if we went down a hill and he sped up a little. See that solid line down the center of the road? No passing. Too many blind curves, anyway, and I didn't want to die today, so I just enjoyed the scenery.

Finally, he found a place to pull over, and the rest of my drive looked like this:

Pretty, huh? I love that you can drive 5 minutes out of civilization and be here. Okay. maybe now it's 10 minutes - there's been a lot of development going on. But happily, I saw a HUGE new equestrian center being developed with riding trails and everything, so a lot of this area will stay wild for quite some time to come. I like that.

So, I got inky, but none of my cards have been assembled or finished. I did NOT buy more Basic Grey papers because they aren't coming in until next week (drat!), so to celebrate the fact that I used a few pieces of my current BG paper last week, I enabled myself to buy some other stuff instead. I'm generous like that.

Also, Jennifer gave me a FABBY idea to use for my Stamp Camps, which I'll share if I ever manage to put that idea to paper.

That is all I have for you today. Thanks for stopping by!