I won't be making it to the Canfield Fair this year...

... and I'm kinda bummed. Canfield, Ohio has a huge county fair and it's the one time of year I do my best to see the extended family for our annual Henry Hootenanny Hoe-down. But my mom is at the point in her ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) where traveling would be really difficult due to all of her equipment and day to day routine that simply makes life a bit more challenging. So, since we are missing the Canfield Fair this year, I'm bringing a happy photo to all of YOU! This is from a photo essay from Smithsonian Magazine, and this photo is by Dan Nelken.

And the best part... all the happiness and none of the smell. Enjoy!

TIME TO LEARN SOMETHING!!!

This is what I used to do at the National Museum of American Indian. I could tell you a whole bunch of stuff about Winter Counts. Here's Emil Her Many Horses, a Lakota colleague of mine -- he and Candace Greene can tell you instead:

I like your shoes...

Harper's Bazaar did a photo shoot with some of my favorite style icons... the Muppets from Sesame Street. I've been watching a lot of the old videos or "classics" as they say on the Sesame Street website with Sadie. She's a sucker for the Ray Charles videos. And she doesn't even notice the afros, bellbottoms or unusual mustard colored clothing. She just likes the songs.

For the record, here are some of the prices for the clothing in this photo shoot.

Left: Cape, $1,990, blazer, blouse, $690, skirt, $3,790, and shoes, $890, Derek Lam. 212-966-1616. Bracelet, $4,375, Dean Harris for Derek Lam. Right: Coat, $2,190, blouse, $1,090, and pants, $790, Thakoon. Stanley Korshak, Dallas; 214-871-3600. Earrings, $450, Fenton for Thakoon. barneys.com. Gloves, Portolano. portolano.com. Shoes, $1,195, Giuseppe Zanotti for Thakoon. net-a-porter.com.

As much as I appreciate Harper's Bazaar for slummin' it down to the Street, I am a little shocked at almost $2000 for a cape. The Count wouldn't pay that much for a flimsy piece of fabric.

What's the Word on the Street? Pretentious.

Meanwhile, Bert has been rockin' the same white turtleneck and striped sweater for over 40 years... which is more environmentally friendly. You can see Cookie, Grover, Abby Cadabby and their take on fashion here.

Paris.... *sigh*....

The Smithsonian started a new site on Cafe Press with some pretty cool images to put on t-shirts, tote bags, posters...

I thought this was a nice little piece of eye candy. It's in the new stages, but they'll be adding more images over time. The most recent adds are from the Smithsonian Folkways collection and is great for music fans. This is from their Book Art section that is just getting started.

L' Exposition de Paris (1900)

They also have some old seed catalog art that are great for anyone interested in the Victorian style or wants to have a more garden floral look in their house. Here's a sample of their framed posters: