I’ve heard a lot of people say “I don’t go to the fair for the food.” I’ve said it myself and I’ve always wondered if people believed me, if I believed myself. Yesterday I found out.
When the State Fair announced they would have a mini-fair open for Memorial Day weekend, I was online in a flash. You had to enter a lottery to be able to get a time slot during which you could buy tickets. Luckily I did OK and we got out first choice. There were two time periods each day, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then 4-9 p.m. You could arrive any time during your time slot but you had to leave at the end.
It was more crowded than I had anticipated although nothing compared to a regular fair day in August. There were folks with masks but mostly not; it was easy enough to do social distancing if you needed to, except in the cookie line. The open part of the fair was about four square blocks and included the giant slide, the DNR stage, the grandstand (although just a seating area and a bingo area). A handful of vendors, a few musical groups and food. LOTS and LOTS of food.
If I had been on my own, I would have stopped and listened to music as I walked around but YA’s musical sensibilities don’t line up with mine. So we walked around for a couple of hours, bought a couple of t-shirts. We got some Greek food and some cheese curds. YA got some toffee peanuts. We sat for a bit and decided that we’d had probably enjoyed it as much as we were going to – we headed home.
There were a lot of people who were clearly going to hang out the whole of their time slot and the lines in a few place were unbelievable (Pronto Pup had two lines going in opposite directions, at least a block long each way). But even sharing, neither YA nor I can simply plow our way through massive amounts of food.
So I guess it IS true for me. I don’t go to the fair for the food.
You doing anything out of the ordinary for Memorial Day?
Trail Baboon 
We are saying goodbye to son and his family as they head back to Brookings, SD. They are leaving their Westie with us as they take a vacation to Alabama to see DIL’s brother and his family. We will have our little terrier house guest for two weeks.
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I’m going under the assumption that everybody (at least in the Twin Cities area where the weather is fabulous today) is outside for the holiday. I’ve been doing yardwork all morning and now I’m headed out to do barbecue with YA.
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I’ve been enjoying a quiet lazy morning. Now I’m going to get the veggie garden done if it kills me! At least cross that off the list!
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Although the fact that I’m sitting here next to the bales, reading the blog is not boding well. But I’ll get there. I’ve got everything rounded up that I need now, post pounder, seeds, plastic fencing, and rabbit fencing for the bottom. Should be able to get too it.
In just a minute…. …. ….
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Done!
Some dark clouds came over w/ just a few sprinkles plus some rumbles of thunder, but I can cross that off the list.
I’m really beginning to doubt the value of this vs just buying stuff from the Farmers market or road stands…
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If you love to grow a garden it is worth it. If you don’t then the Farmer’s Market is going to make you happier.
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I think about this every summer. I’m absolutely sure that if I just bought veggies it would probably save me money. But there is something about digging in the dirt and watching the plants grow and picking those little tomatoes that I just love.
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That’s just it.
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The veggie garden is a chore for today and tomorrow. We have some of soaker hoses down, tomatoes, cabbages, and peppers went in last week, peas are up but we need to plant carrots, kohlrabi, chard, parsley, and beans. We also got the strings up on the bean poles. We had to replace some cantaloupe plants because the tremendous all day wind last Friday destroyed them.
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Yes. I watched an entire Twins game. They defeated Baltimore 3-2 in 10 innings. I really hate the extra innings rule that puts a man on second to start.
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I am sitting here in Central Iowa where we packed up my mother’s Assisted LIving room today. Tomorrow we move her to a Skilled Nursing facility. I was here three weeks ago for Mother’s Day, and in that three weeks she failed considerably. It was sad and poignant today. Yesterday we took her in the car to tour the cemetery where the family is buried and decorated graves and told stories about these folks. I miss them.
Oldest grave: Charles Hiram Jackson, Civil War Veteran
Newest grave: Aunt Gladys who lived to be 102 and died in 2005 (I think).
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Just about a perfect day here. I did the edging along the sidewalks this morning and planted some new irises that I got on sale at Bachmans. Cleaned up and did barbecue with YA in the backyard, corn and burgers. We built a little fire in the fire pit and I read a book while it smoldered away. Then I spent some time in my studio. I can’t think of anything that would have made it better!!
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My sister and I visited our hometown cemetery to clean up the site of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. It didn’t take us long so we also drove through our hometown, which has probably quadrupled in size/population since the late 50’s (when the population was about 500). We hardly recognized the town – so much that we used to know is gone, Main Street is sad looking. Much of the business has moved three blocks north along a county road. Our old house is a different color, a much larger garage has been built, and a privacy fence is around the large backyard (which used to be our softball field). But the owners have kept the property looking nice. We drove on what was formerly a sand road with several farms and is now paved with a complex of soccer and softball fields replacing the cornfields. The woods we used to play in are now filled with housing developments. The phrase “you can never go home” certainly rang true for us.
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Nothing out of the ordinary. Just thought about all the stuff I should be doing and didn’t actually do any of it.
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