Fall Foliage Tour Part 3

 Not only does Vermont have a lot of trees and farms, it has villages. And in the heart of every village, (well not every village, some villages are so small, hardly anyone lives there) So I'll say in the heart of most villages, they have a general store. General stores are where you go to get what you need and say Hi to your neighbors. They are like micro-mini Department/Food stores with a great, big warm heart. You can buy gourmet coffee, a fresh baked muffin made by a neighbor, a hat, a new broom and tin foil. You can discuss the weather, get directions, decide what other kinds of muffiins the neighbor should bake and get advice about snow or gardening.

We stopped at this General Store. They were surprised to say Hi to a traveling mannequin. The owners of The Vermont Apron Company got more gourmet coffee and a bottle of plum juice. They never had plum juice before and were happy to have some. Me? I just stood out front and watched the traffic go by. I didn't want plum juice and frankly it was a lot of fun to smile at the people driving by. Vermonters wave a lot!

I wasn't sure if it was me or the hot pizza sign that excited them.

The theme here is roads of Vermont (I guess... I'm inventing here). I'm standing on the edge of one. There are lots of them so I'm wearing my Big Wheel Apron and Tool Hat. Why the tool hat? Because on the road, at some point  you need tools. We don't talk about it much but cars break down. Its just one of those sad, sad topics we try to keep under our lids.

Here's a closer look at me with my Tool Apron. Yeah, my grey slacks match. Good styling, I thought.They left me standing here for quite awhile. I think there was a map issue. It was ok, though. I got to hear big trucks blow their horns as they drove past. I think they liked the Tool Hat.

~Wes

Fall Foliage

Well Friends,
My trip is confirmed! I will be taking a tour of Vermont's Fall Foliage. The other big cheese of the Company is even coming to town to to help me. If anyone has a favorite place to me to tour and photograph, let me know!

~Wes

Bib Aprons, a Tradition

I was told recently that the real tradition is the Bib Apron. They had some in the store once in awhile. They sold really well so this year they have a collection. Take a look! I guess because they quilted the top and used differnt prints, it's a big deal. http://vermontapron.com/Bib_Aprons.html

No Idea

I have absolutely no idea what's going on. The store needs a good cleaning, nothing new has come in here in weeks. Hardly anyone even comes here. Everyone's at the studio. I have nothing to report except that the floor could use a good scrub. I'd do it but I can't bend.

Still Smiling..
~Wes

Frank in the Window

This is Frank.

If you haven't met him before, he's special.

He has lots of joints and can move more then me.

He was flown in from Germany.

He's wearing the new mens Long Host Apron.

Frank is in the window. I'm in the Mens Department of the store.

We're practically back to back.

We can hear each other grumble.

Frank likes to think he's a photographer.

Oh sure, his arms are jointed, they bend and do all sorts of fancy moves,

but photographers have an eye for it.

Franks still trying to figure out how the tripod works.

Peeking over Frank's shoulder, I understand what he's about right now.

I was in the window once,too.

You get to watch the sights and activites of the city.

It's exciting, new and a bit scary.

In the end, all we mannequins can do is watch

the big city and its city activites from here

in this window.


~Wes

Bibs, Bags and Napkins

Who knew you could be refined with a bib? Some people expect to. There are people out there that use Adult bibs and expect to stay clean....eating in the car, business lunches and who knows what else but for these customers, we went a step further and made napkins and a carry bag for them. Yup, we now have Bib Bags and Napkin sets.

Here's what a Bib Bag looks like. We used the napkin for a tiny table cover. It's a fairly big napkin.

Here's a bunch of them displayed in the store.

They got put next to the Bibs. Idea being that you choose a Bib and then a Bag Set to match.

Pretty good I guess for $12.

~Wes

Modeling..

Have you ever wanted to be a model? Its a lot more fun than you probably think. On camera most models look stern, stone faced, or bored as hell. Not me, ok, I'm not a model, I'm a mannequin but I'm smiling.... and I really think it's because I work for The Vermont Apron Company. It's a fun place! Here's some pics of the models behind the scenes from our photoshoot.

There was a lot of laughing.

There was running up and down old stone stairs.

There was dancing in the street....isn't that a song?

There was hat pulling.

There was peeking in windows.

The cows were very friendly. We petted them.

We hung in trees.

There was wrestling and more laughing.

There was more hat pulling.

In the end, we gave up on hats.

~Wes

A Big Tree

We were taking pictures of the Gathering Bag Aprons in the Gardens.

Afterwards we found this humongeous tree!

The girls lost site of each other.

Thank goodness I was there to direct them.

Ok,..I admit...the model on the left is hiding on purpose.

Who said modeling isnt fun?

The model on the right must think her friend

went up into the tree by the way she's looking.

Finally they found each other...only to spot a cute guy on a 4-wheeler.

I cant ride those things, my legs dont bend.

Thanks for visiting
~Wes