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MARY RHYNER-NADIG AT THE MALL OF AMERICA
October 27th, 2001, Mary Rhyner-Nadig was due to arrive at Al's Farm Toys at the Mall of America. I arrived in Minnesota from Orlando the day before to check out where Mary would be doing the signing. I also wanted to see if Al might have that one special piece I was looking for.
I was talking to one of the girls working at Al's and to my surprise she informed me that Mary was going to dinner with Al that night and would be stopping by the store around 7:30 or so. Well it was about 7:00 and of course, I was going to wait until she got there.
I looked at everything in Al's store. I was very surprised to see several prototypes of new and upcoming moo moos. This was very unusual to see these prototypes at a signing so I was very excited to see them. Al has a wonderful display of Mary's Moo Moos and had several items on clearance at great prices. He sure has a lot a neat stuff; especially if you're a farm animal or equipment collector. As it got a little closer to 7:30 I heard a familiar sound. Yes it was Mary! She had been shopping in the mall and was running a few minutes late. She was in a rush to get back to her hotel before Al arrived to pick her up and was just stopping by to let them know that she was running a little late. I came around the corner and Mary looked up and said, "Wow, I just can't get away from you can I?!" We both laughed and said our hellos and I let her hurry off to meet Al for dinner.
On Saturday morning around 8:30 am I rushed as fast as I could up to the 3rd floor to Al's. Mary was going to be doing the signing there in Al's store. I thought that it might be a little cramped, but actually it turned out quite nice. They had a corner set up where Mary could sign items and sit comfortably behind the counter. I was ready to see Mary - Had my camera ready, Cow spotted jacket and boots on and a bag of moo moos to get signed.
I first talked with Al and introduced myself to him. He remembered me from the signing that Mary did two years ago. As we were waiting for Mary to arrive I was able to meet another Moo Hunt Club member, Cynthia. She was there with her husband with a bag of moos to be signed too.
I began taking pictures of the new moos when all of sudden my digital camera turns off and its completely dead. Only 4 pictures of the prototypes had been taken and my camera was dead! As I was digging in my bag for my regular camera, I was approached by one of the Enesco representatives. He told me that he too was at the dinner the night before with Mary and Al and that Mary had told him that she had seen me at Al's and I was up from Orlando.
Once Mary arrived off we went to get our moo's signed. As usual, Mary was very delightful. I always enjoy talking to Mary, not only about her Moo's, but also about her family and just everyday things. Mary graciously signed all my moos and Cynthia's too. We both ended up buying a few moos while we were there. It's hard to see Mary and not have more items for her to sign.
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