Ceri and I made it to Cleveland, Ohio, to go to this year's North American Festival of Wales. We've set up our table in the Welsh Marketplace with David Western's incredible 2011 West Coast Eisteddfod Lovespoon on display and piles of great books from Y Llofa and Cinnamon Press heaped high in front of us and more incredible titles from the University of Wales, via the University of Chicago Press, behind us.

When we got in, we were very happy to find that lovespoon carver Laura Gorun is sitting right across from us. She and David Western collaborated on last year's gorgeous LCE lovespoon but I hadn't ever got to meet her in person and neither had Ceri. Her work is completely incredible, totally different than any other spoon I'd ever seen - very delicate and full of curves and beautiful detail. She laid out dozens of spoons along the table in front of her and then sat down and pulled out her tools and continued working on a new spoon. She said that all her spoons are carved by hand, she never uses power tools, which is amazing when you see the detail on them and how thin she gets some of the elements. You can see some more of her spoons on her site: http://www.blakespa.com/

On our other side is My Grandmother's Teapot , with three tables heaped with gorgeous stuff - all kinds of beautiful pots and cups, quilted covers for tea pots, runners and aprons and napkins and other linens, Glengettie tea from the UK, some Welsh dolls, jewelry and a lot more. I've fallen in love with a beautiful tea set with daffodils on it and the Glengettie tea, which I hadn't ever had before - the ladies at the booth cackled evilly when I said I drank Lipton, called me a Glengettie virgin and said I'd be addicted after my first cup, and they were right, it was really good tea.

The Great Plains Welsh Heritage Project is just down from us and at their table you can get information about getting translations from Y Drych, the more than a hundred year old America-Welsh newspaper which once listed every arrival from Wales and all their births, deaths, marriages and news, as well as copies of "Hanes Cymry America = A History of the Welsh in America (1872)" - I'm still reading this and will do a review but this book is an inventory of Welsh communities in the United States in 1872 and is an original primary source document, absolutely packed with the most amazing historical and genealogical information about Welsh heritage in the US and if you're interested in that (and I am), it's gold.

I also went over to the Infamous Welsh Cookie Company table and they have lots of delicious flavors this year (some of which are also in this year's tea room), including traditional Welsh cakes, chocolate mint, blueberry, pumpkin raisin, lemon sunflower, apricot almond, cranberry orange, chocolate peanut butter and limited supplies of two new flavors they're introducing: spiced apple cranberry and coffee cocoa almond. So far I tried the cranberry orange and it was delicious.

Lots more to look at - the Moch Pryderi table and they're performing as I write, and more and more and more! If you're at NAFOW this year, come say hello to us in the market room!