YOP: Week 29

    The fair was a success.  My items did well and Liara got some ribbons as well.  We went to the parade on Tuesday, then down to the grounds once it was over.  We stopped by one local vender to grab some jewelry, grabbed some donuts from the Donut Diner then went to see how we placed.  Liara entered earrings that she hand-made with clay.  They did not place.  She entered a beaded bracelet that got first.

She also entered three of her drawings.  A Pegasus, a bunny and a magical worm.  The bunny and the worm received third and the Pegasus received second.

 

The bunny is my personal favorite of all the drawings she's done.  There is always a really good turn out in the drawing and photography categories, so she was up against some stiff competition.  I'm really happy she received some ribbons.

My items are as follows:

Rotini Beanie; First

Enchantress MKAL; First.

Sunburst Potholder; Second.  Cow and Hen Dishcloth set; First.

That Nice Stitch Bandana; First.  Get a Shift On!; First

Hollyhock Mittens; first.  Highlight Handpaint Socks; Second.

Alpaca/Llama Tote Bag; First.

Double Thick Hat; First and Beast In Show

I was very surprised by the best in show.  I kind of thought if anything would get best in show it would be the Enchantress which is beaded lace.  The Best In Show case was very sparse this year.  Besides my hat the only other item was a handbag that you can see the corner of in my picture above.  It goes to show that I can never predict how the judges will judge from year to year.  There were noticeably less items this year as compared to last.  Everything fit on two tables and the wall area behind said two tables.  My only disappointment this year is that they left my shawl folded up.  I wish they would have spread it out nice so people could see the actual lace and beads, but it's really just a minor complaint.  

    After seeing our winnings we needed to get back to the car so we could make it to our spot to watch the fireworks.  I found that the back parking lot of the BOCES building has a perfect vantage point for the fireworks.  Ronon went to the parade for the first time this year.  Many of the participants in the parade throw out candy and promotional items, so its a huge event for the whole town.  Ronon was absolutely over the moon for the candy, big tractors and horses.  I wish I would have taken a couple pictures of him.  He was so excited he bounced around for the whole thing and wouldn't sit at all.  He did really well walking down to the fairgrounds and back.  Tuesday was incredibly hot and humid but both kids listened and did great in the crowds of people.  We went to the fair Thursday.  A cold front had moved in and although it threatened rain the whole time we were there, it at least wasn't unbearably hot as it had been both Tuesday and Wednesday.  We did our tour of the cow, horse and small animal barns, then we had some dinner, deep fried Oreos and slushies.  Then we went up to the family homestead for the annual ice cream social.  In past years its been held the week after the fair, but it worked out well to have dinner at the fair before having ice cream and many many desserts at the farm.  I, of course, got busy catching up with relatives and forgot to take pictures of the kids with the goats.  My aunt and uncle, who own the "family farm" now, raise dwarf Nigerian goats along with their two grown children, in addition to the farm being a Christmas tree farm.  It was previously a dairy farm.

    I think we've deterred the deer from the garden.  We parked the four wheeler out beside two of the raised beds and hung a few aluminum bottles and cans from the shepherd hooks we have out there.  We've also been turning on the porch light at the back of the house each night.  Nothing more has been munched on this past week, so I'm crossing my fingers that its working.  I planted some fresh lettuce mix seeds today and some more peas.  If the peas grow, I should get a second crop in early September.  We all really like peas, so I'm hoping it works.  I picked my first zucchini today and cooked it up with some onions, butternut squash, black beans and spices.  I put it over a quinoa and brown rice pouch I picked up.  I was sort of imitating a dish I like to get at a local restaurant.  I had some for lunch and brought more to be my lunch tomorrow.  I portioned out and froze the rest of the vegetable mixture for later lunches.  I like what I did and I want to experiment with other combos to copycat that restaurant dish a bit more accurately.  I also harvested more rhubarb.  I diced it up, portioned it out and froze it.  I got 8 cups total this time.  I have 3 cups frozen from the last batch I did.      

    That was it for my week more or less.  I've started a dishcloth as I'm a bit stumped on what to make next.  My co-worker Nancy saw pictures of my Alpaca bag and would like me to make one for her to purchase.  We pushed back the go live date for our new instrument.  We're having some supply issues and we don't have all the reagents and controls needed to actually run our whole test menu on top of mostly everyone not feeling comfortable with the instrument.  In the mean time we're all going to run it and get more comfortable with it in the additional time we've given ourselves.  Until later.  Happy crafting.

-Q