Iain and I learned a very important lesson this weekend–help is great!! We had helpers in Boxborough to take down Sargent Memorial Library on Friday (thank you Jennifer, Mike and Suzanne!), and very special helpers to put up Crossgates Mall on Saturday.

This was our first exhibit in New York, our fourth state, and our NINTH mall this year. We decided it would be best to do an overnighter with the UHaul, which is why we ended up like this:

Fiyero has many fears, and we discovered one of them is riding in a UHaul van. He was oblivious to the beautiful drive through the fall colors of the Green Mountain State and was only happy when we reached Grammy and Grampy’s house.

On Saturday we were at the Blue Benn Diner in Bennington, VT just after 6 am, as is the custom when you stay with my parents.

Then we were off to Crossgates Mall in Albany, accompanied by longtime neighbor and friend, Linda, who offered to lend a hand.

Mom and Linda folding storage bags

In about an hour we were up and running, ready for the mall to open:

As we exited the mall, we heard the words I have heard every time we are out in public with my retired Earth Science teacher dad, “Hey Mr. Carlsen!” Despite being an hour from their home, yet another former student found us.

I’m very grateful to Leslie Finn, and everyone at Pyramid Management for welcoming us to Crossgates and we hope it has a positive impact on the Capital Region!