Shaker Village Christmas Fair

Dear Diary,

Well, you couldn't get a more stark contrast than the Victoria Mansion and the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village!  It was a wonderful blue sky day that, again, was unseasonably warm for Maine.  Unfortunately, this is the best I could do photographically speaking since the inside of the Trustee's building, where all the crafts were, was so crowded you could barely move let alone hold up a camera.  I would have just gotten the backs of people's heads, which is about all I got outside too!

Still, I purchased some beautiful handmade gifts made in the village and by local craftsmen and a piece of Sister Francis' peanut butter fudge, which is beyond description.  The simple white clapboard buildings of the village were a far cry from the ornate stone exterior of the Portland mansion and for me so much more beautiful.

Our lives are lived in contrast...happy days and sad ones, busy days and quiet ones.  Today, I will begin with quiet reflection on the Second Sunday of Advent at St. Andrews in the Valley and then go to the Stone Mountain Arts Center for their Holiday Artisan's Fair.  This has been an immensely busy but entertaining weekend!