Oregon Cheese Festival 2018

 I asked the Cheese Lady what she was doing when she wasn't at the Oregon Cheese Festival.  She said, carving cheese.  It IS her day job.  She goes to festivals all over the country/world:  Superbowls, Indy 500s, fairs, festivals. She's been carving cheese sculptures for over a decade.   The Rogue Creamery is about 12 minutes from us and once a year they have a massive tent event.  Our "over 21" bracelets got us unlimited wine, beer and spirits tasting, in addition to all the cheeses, honeys, hot sauces, and breads to taste. Many artisans dotted the aisles with local crafts. We came cashless, having bought our discounted tickets on line in advance.  Unfortunately, every vendor in the universe now has an instant way to take your credit card with some magical device that attaches to their phone or ipad.  So we DID have to shop a little and left with more booty than just our commemorative wine tasting glass.  I admired a peppery vodka billed as "great in bloody Marys" and we got 4 hot sauces at a discount. I got a free button from Effie's cookies (which have been gifted to us in Maine before) and come to find out their central office is in Massachusetts but there's a western distributor in Humboldt, CA. Good to know lest I get homesick.

For St. Patrick's day, we planned to go to a local winery, Paschal, for their swing dance lessons and live music.  About 3:00 in the afternoon, I thought I was having a wardrobe malfunction and said, "we're walking down town."  By accident we stumbled upon Jacksonville's Shamrock event: many stores on all 3 blocks of the main street were having snacks, wine samples, give aways, and sign up cards for a chance to win a prize gift basket valued at $350. I was just looking for not-black stockings, so started by only going into the women's clothing stores.  But SO many stores were giving away treats or prizes that we ended up going into almost all, just for a chance to sign up for the gift basket.  We were still walking home within an hour, ready for fish tacos on the deck before the dance.

The winery, Paschal, is in Talent, 23 minutes from Jacksonville. Band Du Pays brings along a dance instructor for the first 30min and then the live music starts. A wide range of ages and competencies graced the dance floor. We were certainly not the dorkiest but we were among those having the best time.  An adorable octogenarian couple got up with their canes and orthopedic shoes to cut up the rug at one point. One couple was particularly good at swinging and gave the rest of us something to aspire to.  Judd and  I had a really fun time. We may even go back for lesson  #2.  We did not master "the pretzel" at this lesson.