Dateline: AA terminal, O'Hare Int'l, Chicago, Saturday afternoon, sometime. At last! We're on our way to the German-speaking part of Europe to meet Dylan and Rachel and knock about with them for a couple of weeks! Our flight to Frankfurt leaves in an hour, or so, and I thought I'd write a quickie. Who knows if I'll get to it, again, for another, well, two weeks. My Dad and Jean and Abby, their sweet dog, are holding down our fort for the duration. Here's a picture of them, watching us go (and looking quite pleased about it, I think).
We actually left home, yesterday, Friday, about 5pm, to spend the night near the airport in SF. Our flight was scheduled to leave about 11, this morning and we didn't want to chance traffic on the day of (over 150 miles), so we got an early start. Good thing. At about 3:30 this morning, an automated call from American Airlines woke us up to inform us that our flight from SF had been canceled, that we would miss our connection in Chicago to Frankfurt, and that we had been rescheduled for Sunday to arrive on Monday! Yipes! The kids were planning to meet us at the airport (communications with them were iffy), and we had already arranged for rooms in Freiburg for Sunday night. A potential monkey wrench in the works, for sure. We figured it would be beneficial to talk to an actual human being before we panicked, though. Tom called AA, immediately and they were able to book us on an earlier flight out of SF. Just barely, as it turned out, since the flight would be full from other cancellations and "Rosh Hashanah" (one reason given). Turns out, she might have meant Yom Kippur. The new departure was only 1 1/2 hours earlier than the original, but we would have left right then, had it been necessary.
So, here we are, with a little extra time to burn in Chicago, and not particularly looking forward to the 9 hours in the plane--my longest, to date. I will try to sleep, but past experience isn't encouraging. But, how cool it will be to see Dylan and Rachel, there, and see parts of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, including a bit of Octoberfest! We'll spend time with our good friends, the Vajnas, in their home, toward the end of the two weeks! So fun! Tom and I, both, studied German for a year in college. I'm pretty sure, for me, it will be as though I had studied Greek. Tom will do much better, and has been brushing up. And Rachel spent a summer there, 11 years ago (enjoying the wonderful hospitality of the Vajnas, then, as well), so she'll be leading the pack, language-wise, I'm sure.
Well, must fly (really)! Don't know when I'll next blog in, so, for now,
Auf Wiedersehen!!
--Sandy
Shiver me timbers, all you landlubbers, out there! Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Blow me down! Of course, it sneeked (snuck?--I never know) up on me, again, as holidays (and pirates) are wont to do (I first heard about it on the radio about 5 years ago). With all the bluster around our move, I blanked on it.
For more information (as if you had no idea!) go to: http://www.talklikeapirate.com/tlapd07.html
Dave Barry helped the originators of the "holiday" get it going (those guys, by the by, take great pains to disavow everything pirates were/are about--except the language passed down to us through literature, which they think sounds so silly). Read about how it all got rolling--so fun! It's kind of crazy! This thing is all over the place, now! NPR hosts and national weatherpeople were TLAP this morning. And the website offers pirate lingo in German, Swedish and Mandarin! I'm going into town, today, and I will see if anyone at Hills Flat Lumber, or the post office is observing. I know that the Stonehouse restaurant in Nevada City is celebrating all day, doing "pirate stuff".
I had to "batten down the hatches" today, since a big storm is blowing in. Blowing, big time, at the moment! And getting darker by the minute. I still have all my studio supplies outside under the eaves, most of which is covered by tarps, but I need more tarps, I think. I had hoped to have the floor in the studio laid, and the room put together, by now, but, today, I was informed that the flooring won't be in until next Tuesday, now--2 1/2 weeks later than we had been told, originally. Ah, well. So, off to the home-improvement store, I go! I hope we get some rain, at least!
So, I've gotta push off, now, ye scalawags! Party hearty! Aar-r-r-r! --Sandy (btw, it's not "aargh")
I've counted four, FOUR!, different species of bee at one time sucking the nectar from the catmint in the planter outside the house, this summer. Two kinds were new to me: the carpenter bee (HUGE--1"plus, and shiny black) and some teensy, stripy-sort of bee I haven't identified, yet. They were joined by the usual honey bees and big, fuzzy bumble bees. As a kid, I was SO, afraid of bees, as were most of my peers. The evil bees used to love the Texas privet hedge next to our house in the summer, and we'd cross the street to go next door rather than chance certain death-by-bees. I was sure all they wanted in the whole wide world was a bite of me. A couple of stings didn't help my attitude. Gradually, I overcame the fear (maybe it was those Moody Bible Institute science films we used to see at church some Sunday evenings), and was, somewhere along the way, taught that "if you don't bother them, they won't bother you." As an adult, I find them quite fascinating!
So, I spent time in the bee booth at the Nevada County Fair, this year. First, there was this big, plexiglass hive, so it was possible to watch them working. You could see the queen and the unhatched ones, as well as the workers. Crazy! Agriculture is huge, around here, of course, and without bees, there would be precious little of it. Plus, there's been some kind of huge die-off in the bee population in the last few years in the US--making big news-- that the experts haven't, yet, entirely understood. It's called Colony Collapse Disorder and it may be caused by a virus. Scary stuff! So, bees are a serious deal! I met people who rent their bees out to farmers in the Central Valley. Renting bees? Turns out, lots of professional beekeepers across the US and world make a living hauling their bees all over creation to pollinate crops. But you knew that.
So, for fun, I thought I'd list a few FUN FACTS (apologies to David Letterman) about bees. I guarantee that, unless you are a Professional Bee Keeper Person, you will be surprised by some of them (and yes, some are about how NOT to get stung):
1. The average honey bee will visit 50-100 flowers on each trip, but in HER lifetime, she'll gather enough nectar to make only 1/12 teaspoon of honey. (WHAT?!)
2. Honey bees with fly over 55,000 miles to make one pound of honey (I'll eat it more respectfully, from now on).
3. Bees have developed stinging as a defense of their hive (and, therefore, lives) from large predators, like bears (who, everyone knows LOVE honey--just like Pooh!). To be most effective, they learned to aim for the EYES of the predator (like you and me), but ONLY near the hive.
4. So, if you discover that, yipes!, you're near a hive, lower, or cover your eyes, for one thing.
5. For another, don't make any sudden movements--"tai chi", smooth and graceful, is recommended (easier for some than for others...)
6. Near hives, avoid having dark spots on your person (like watchbands, SUNGLASSES, eye-print blouses, etc.), especially of the colors black and red. Bees see black and red as the same (and it's like wearing a target--near a hive).
7. And try to seem as un-bearlike as possible--no wool or fur coats (duh), and cover dark hair or beards/mustaches (again, easier for some...)
8. Guard bees (they have badges and carry little walkie-talkies) will usually give you a "warning bump" before they sting. Walk away slowly (easier said, especially when you hear them calling their buddies...).
9. You can "lose" a "stalking" bee by walking through shrubbery.
and,
10. If stung (how, after all these helpful hints I've given you?), scrape (don't pull or squeeze) the stinger out with a fingernail, or some such, apply papain/meat tenderizer, and take an antihistamine. Only one person in 100,000 is truly allergic to bees (if you are, carry epinephrine with you!).
Oh, and, one more:
11. A beekeeper wants to get at least 50 (!!) stings each year (200 is better!) in order to become "unreactive" to bee stings. The more stings, the less chance there is of developing allergic reactions. I'm definitely going to appreciate the honey in my tea more than I used to!
OK. I think you've had enough, for one day. Class dismissed!
--Sandy
I heard about this on NPR as I was driving near Sacramento last Friday. SO CUTE!! I WANT ONE! In fact, those exclamations are the most frequent comments registered in response to a cool little robot, named Keepon, who has recently debuted on YouTube. Here are some links (there are more): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPdP1jBfxzo&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g-yrjh58ms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VKE_VoXzNI&NR=1
I'll bet you've never imagined that a pair of squishy, yellow balls could have so many cool moves. Maybe more than you. Certainly more than me. I love the scene with the other robots.
Here are some fun facts...Keepon's eyes are cameras and his nose is a microphone. He (seems like a "he") is dancing on his own, that is, he's been programmed to dance to music, or any beat, and will change rhythms and speeds as they occur, but the "moves" are random--not choreographed to any particular music. He'll also react to different stimuli, almost expressively. But, the most interesting thing, of all, to me, anyway, is that his creator, Hideki Kozima--the guy in the videos--is a psychologist in Japan, and is using Keepons in research to help autistic kids. It seems the kids respond to Keepon in ways they won't with humans, even familiar humans. But, judging from the responses of non-autistic kids and adults (I'm not mentioning any names) to Keepon, he strikes some kind of happy chord. He's cute and I want one!
Keep on dancing, Keepon! --Sandy
I LOVE how different people "see"! Who would see perfect horses in driftwood? I'd seen a couple of these before, but Ruth sent me more photos recently that I must pass on. I think they're stunning! http://www.rense.com/general70/drift.htm
The artist, Heather Jansch, lives and works in England and has a website that you must look at. It has lots more pictures of these and her other work (different animals, different sizes) , plus a nice FAQ page (in question/answer form) which explains how she works. The legs are fiberglass, steel and wood, and hooves recycled copper. So interesting! One photo, particular, is hilarious. It's a picture of a real dog "checking out" the driftwood greyhound.
http://www.jansch.freeserve.co.uk/index.htm
Heather's work reminds me of the art of one of my faves, also a Brit--"environmental artist", Andy Goldsworthy. Ooooh, so fun! He takes what he finds in nature and, using no tools or extraordinary means (with a few notable exceptions for his huge, permanent work), and creates incredible arrangements of wood, or ice, or stone, or leaves, or, whatever. I can't describe it. But I can't stop trying to. He has no website, per se (!!), but photos are scattered about. I have all the books (except for the last one). Here are a few places to see some of the way cool stuff he does.
http://www.morning-earth.org/ARTISTNATURALISTS/AN_Goldsworthy.htmlhttp://www.hainesgallery.com/Main_Pages/Artist_Pages/AGOL.bio.html
http://www.artnet.com/Artists/ArtistHomePage.aspx?artist_id=7145&page_tab=Artworks_for_sale
http://www.sculpture.org.uk/image/504816331403
Phooey! I can't begin to find a good representation of his work. There happens to be one place in San Diego where one of his pieces stands. It's one of his "cairns" at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. Right in front, under a tree. Rachel and I saw an exhibit of his, there, one time, the cairn being the only remaining part (that cairn is part of a threesome--one on the east coast, one in the midwest and one on the west coast). As certain folks will attest (you know who you are!), I can babble on ad nauseum about him because I'm so moved and dumbfounded by what he does. Besides, look at his name! Just take the "s" from his last name and move it to the front of his first (I sound like Will Shortz!). What do you get? Haha!
So, keep your peepers peeled for A.G.'s photo books. It will be your defense at our house if I grab you to show you his pictures. You can smile and say you've seen them. And save us both alot of time...--Sandy
Dylan and Rachel both have new entries in their own blogs about their traveling adventures. You will notice a slight difference in style, but each is a very effective communicator! Dylan's blog is: http://dylangold.blogspot.com/ . Rachel's can be found at: http://web.mac.com/rkgold/
Check 'em out!
I sense that this will be one of my more riveting entries (hold on to something!). This is one way that
life is different for us here in Grass Valley
We live in the boonies, now, relative to the 'burbs, anyway, where we have spent most of our lives. Houses are farther apart, of course, as lots are generally larger. Much more ground to cover, if you're a postal delivery person. Or a newspaper carrier. Or the trash/recycling truck driver. So, we are required to meet them part way (what's with that?!!). That means, everything concerning those services for us happens on Greenhorn Rd. Our road, Echo Glen, joins up with Hoppy Hollow (yup, hoppy, like a bunny) which feeds on to Greenhorn like a little vein on a leaf meeting up with the central vein. It is .75 miles to Greenhorn from our house. We like that, because it's quieter than living nearer the more heavily-traveled (relatively speaking) road.
Almost every morning (barring pure laziness) I walk to get the Union from our Union box (Mon-Sat) or the SacBee from our SacBee box (Sat-Sun). Like the logic? One of us may, or may not, walk to get the mail (that laziness thing, again) from one of the two mail condos in the afternoons (sometimes it becomes a paper/mail-from-yesterday walk in the mornings), and once a week we have trash/recycling pick-up, which we just cram into the Subaru and haul down there. We've discovered that this is only the second year that the trucks
pick up at all, out here, so we're totally cool with that.
I love that walk in the morning. It takes 30-35 minutes, round trip; undulates up and down the hills and around the curves; and is heavily wooded. One doesn't pass more than three visible houses, though there are a few more than that hiding in the trees (if you're nosy). There are lots of bird and squirrel sounds and, frequently, deer, seen or only heard, picking their way over the dry, crunchy leaves. Sometimes, I keep walking past the mail/paper boxes and turn up or down Greenhorn and follow some of the other little "veins" like our own,
to check them out. I wave to all the (moving) cars that pass me on the little roads, especially ours. Those roads have names like, Manion Canyon, Jones Ridge and Pine Peak. Mostly, folks wave back. Sometimes I pick up trash, along the way.
One neighbor suggested that we are walking it because we're new and that the novelty of it will probably wear off, soon. Maybe. I hope not. It will be interesting to see what happens when the weather gets a little more, uh, inconvenient. Or as we get older. Meanwhile, I like
the rhythm of it. I took some pictures of it, yesterday. It was overcast and misty. The photos (you can click on them to see them bigger) include a picture with the trash cans we forgot to pick up from the day before (oops). Is the "Hoppy Hollow" sign big enough, do ya think? Also, on the "Echo Glen" and "Hoppy Hollow" signs, the one that currently reads "The Chamberlains" should have our name on it. I'll get right on that...And who gets to
decide which goofy "slow down" signs get posted?
Whew! How's your heart rate? Walk around a little and it'll slow down gradually...--Sandy
This morning, we received a call from Dylan. Turns out, he and Rachel were sitting in a cafe together in Helsinki. Rachel had arrived from Boston, and he from Estonia, just a few hours earlier and they connected without too much effort, it sounds like. Somehow, it's comforting to know that. Rachel has a laptop with her and they've both bought temporary phones for Finland, so we should be hearing from them from time to time for the next 5 days, or so. It was fun to hear their voices! They won't stay in Helsinki too long, it turns out, so it's still undecided as to whether they'll have time to connect with Finnish relatives (who don't know they're in town, anyway). Rachel has a friend in Turku, an interesting seaport city west of the capital, so they'll move in that direction in a day or two. They are, at present, 10 hours ahead of us, not that clock time matters to either of them, so much. Most of Europe is nine hours ahead, though the UK and Portugal are only 8. Dylan's been on the road alone, now, for 6 1/2 weeks. It will interesting to hear how their combined style looks after his
solitary one. Then things will REALLY get interesting when we join the fun, about 10 days from now. Ha ha!
Today, the weather cooled off by about 12 degrees! From 80, yesterday, looks like it won't move past 68 this afternoon. Lovely! Our bamboo wind chimes have been babbling all day. We are looking forward to the cooler weather, though.
For no good reason, here's a picture I just took of one of my orchids--the only one blooming, right now. It's a little dendrobium.
--Sandy
We had a GREAT weekend! Saturday morning, Tom and I hopped in the Cam to go south for the weekend. We drove to Fresno after breakfast to drop me off at my mom's place, around lunch time, after which Tom continued on down to the LA area to hang with his mom for awhile. One goal was to deliver a TV we didn't have room for, anymore, to Tom's brother, Ken, who happened to need one for his new apartment. I LOVE it when those kinds of things work out!
Fresno was in the tamer 90s,
degree-wise--hardly noticeable--though they are under some of the same smoky haze we've had up here from the fires, which are still blazing away many miles off! Mom is doing well and I was able to finish putting all her pictures and other stuff on the walls. The place looks very cute and she's quite comfortable, there. It has now been just about a year that we moved her back to California from Hawaii following her "year of adventure, sort of" living on Maui. So far, so good. She's able to be near to my sister, Terry, and her family, where new great-grandchildren seem to pop up every few months!
Mom and I also spent some good times with Terry, H, and about 2/3 of their growing family. Tom rejoined us Sunday afternoon, back from LA, to eat and hang out for awhile. Corrie, Jeff and their four kids, Ella, Tabor, Quinn and Gigi, along with Katie, Dave and little Grace were there. Andrea and Annie, who's just started college this term, plus Lamek (sp?), a student who used to live with T & S, rounded out the big group. They all routinely spend Sunday afternoons, together, which is just the coolest thing! Gigi is the newest member of the Sands family (Corrie and Jeff), at just a few months old, but there's an even more recently added Spees named Parker who was born a few weeks ago to Frank and Lisa, who live in Irvine, CA, in Orange County. Parker has a
big brother named Gavin. For way better pics and more info on any of T & H's married kids, see the blog links at the top of the page.
Tom, meanwhile, had motored to LaVerne, east of LA, where his mom lives, and also delivered the TV to Ken's. Tom accompanied his mom to dinner, where he met a bunch of her fellow thespians, partying, after having put on a production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" the night before. She's doing great! Afterward, Tom mosied up to Monrovia to hang with and spend the night at the home of his niece, Joy, her husband, Marcus, and their three boys, Wesley, Colby, and Griffin. He didn't have a camera, but you can check out their family blog (Stenzel), also at the top of the page.
I feel like I've been reciting family trees (and running out of colors) this whole time ! Tom and I left Terry and H's house for the 3 1/2 hour (plus stops, looking for Swedish Fish) drive back home. It was uneventful (although, we didn't find the SF--we're not fooled by Jujufish for one
minute--anymore!). I love being so close to my sister's place! It's so much more tractable to keep up with them after having lived so far away from each other all our adult lives! It's so great that mom has settled there, too. Enough for now! The pictures are of: Mom holding Grace, Ella (showing off the new teeth!), Tabor (displaying the features of the bell fountain), Terry holding tiny Gigi (#6 of 7 grandchildren!), and Annie (somehow, able to focus on her math homework in the midst of the bustle).
Perhaps tomorrow's the day I start my new, briefer, style of blogstering!
Dylan is still hanging out it Eastern Europe:I am in slovenia right now, will be until next week some time when I take a flight to see rachel, its cool here, folks are nice, very rainy, I am in ljubljana...but head to bled [near the borders of Austria and Italy] and the surrounding areas this morning...no ukraine, too much hassle, this place is more fun anyhow i believe...I've seen a little east austria, and had one full day in bratislava slovakia, but slovenia will be the country I concentrate on for about 5 more days...
He'll meet up with Rachel next week.
Nevada City celebrates Constitution Day this Sunday with a parade, the signing of the Constitution, and, uh, Civil War re-enactments (that's plural, because there will be three). We won't be in town, so, sadly, we'll miss the spectacle. However, though I'm no historian, and if, indeed, war re-enactments were called for, perhaps it would be the Revolutionary War that would be more appropriate to commemorate at this event. Admittedly, the urge to "re-enact" is lost on me, and the Civil War WAS a constitutional crisis (and super interesting in lots of ways!), but it still doesn't quite feel right. Reasonable people could differ on this, I guess...
Nevada County Union Police Blotter yesterday:
"At 11:42 a.m., a man called from South Church Street at Walsh Street to report peppermint gum was stuck to his car. A patrol officer was advised." [not spearmint or wintergreen?]
...and, today:
"At 10:08 a.m., a woman called from the 11000 block of Ragan Way to report she believed a war was happening and she wanted a deputy to respond to teach her what to do in case of an emergency. She told the dispatcher whe was OK, and she was going to sleep." [maybe not THAT OK...]
And Tom forwarded these to me this morning...
Amazing sculpture--check out the materials!
http://www.frankpicturesgallery.com/chen.html
You may have seen these before, but they're still fun:
http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/Gallery/gallery.html
And the winners for this year:
http://www.handlebarclub.co.uk/wbmcwinners.shtml
One wonders about the showering, sleeping, eating...what kind of time do these creations soak up each day? Hmm. Probably no more than a silly blog...
--Sandy
There's a bit of a lull in the action, right now (our kids might say our whole life is a lull...). Although, we did wake up, this morning, with a START--strong smell of smoke and bright orange sun! THAT gets one's energy flowing, around here. Turns out, there's a fire about 75 miles due north of here, between Lake Almanor and Susanville, and the air currents are such, today, that the smoke is heavy over us and the whole Sacramento area. Still, I think I might get back outside this afternoon and do some more branch-lopping and brush-clearing...
Dylan has changed routes, again. Never made it back to Stockholm. Instead, he dipped into Austria, then, over to Bratislava, Slovakia, and is now on his way to...somewhere. Ukraine, Poland. Not sure. He's hauling about 70 lb on his back and has let us know that he'll be wanting to send some of it back with us before he heads off to TZ.
Of course, I'm probably the last to find out about the latest--anything. But, I've developed the teensiest addiction to Youtube and love to go linking over there to see some of the goofy stuff people post. I know these have been going around, and I've forwarded them to a few folks, but thought I'd post them here in case someone out there is even farther than me behind the curve (or couldn't care less). It's about Tyson, the skateboarding---, well, watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvTVJtcvU34&mode=related&search=
And another:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st0iPoeY0pw&mode=related&search=
Make sure to check out the others, too.
Then, there's Tillman...what is it about bulldogs and skateboards?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wygt6L_3L5Y&mode=related&search=
Tillman, again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX_pd771ock&mode=related&search=
And, of course, Extreme Pete:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bluJaIMQN0k
That's all, folks (for today, anyway)! Back to work! --Sandy
It's Labor Day. For us, that fact doesn't change too much. Working from home means that we lose a bit of that "holiday" rhythm out there. It's just a Monday. We did hear from Dylan, today. Here's an excerpt:I will get to Stockholm tomorrow where I will get a phone number again and we can talk on tuesday or wednesday your time... I am still in Cesky Krumlov...this place is great, I linked up with these dudes at the prague hostel and we came here for 2 days, we rode mountain bikes through the czech forest all day, very nice, good workout...the town here is classic fairy tale land, done up for the tourists a bit, but totally legit...this area of europe is so great, bohemia they call it, but on into austria and germany, which aren't far away, we are stoked...the rivers and forests and castles and little towns are so interesting...it seems the farther away I get the more I like it, a mix of cities and small out of the way places is a good plan...I have decided to go back to sweden, but mainly there I can be nature boy for a few more days, and ride bikes and kayaks, which sweden has...
In Dylan's classic stream-of-consciousness style. Cesky Krumlov looks to be in southern Czech Republic, about 80 miles south of Prague. It's just a few miles, 10-20, or so, from both Austria (farther south) and Germany (west).
And, for something completely different, here's a really fun video that was forwarded from my friend, Ruth. It gives some different context for those of you who struggle whether to have indoor or outdoor cats. http://www.biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=3379
I LOVE this video!! (didn't explore the reason for the "fun babes" title at the top of the page) There are some follow-up confirmations about Jessica that I'll forward to anyone who's interested. Enjoy! --Sandy
You know that we're fair addicts. So, how could we pass up the chance to see the Big Daddy (of California fairs, anyway)?! Our one concern was the heat, which we knew would be one-oh-something. But, we figured that we could spend the really hot part of the day in the pavilions (I SO thought this word had two "L"s!), which is what we did, yesterday.
We expected big congestion on the freeway offramp to the Cal Expo grounds in Sacramento.
None. We thought there'd be a long line of cars out on the street waiting to park with lots of uncomfortably hot folks in orange vests waving orange flags at us in the dirt. Again, zilch. I guess we've been conditioned by the San Diego Del Mar experiences. We parked on concrete under a huge canopy of solar panels--nice. It was definitely hot, but quite breezy, which helped. No line at the ticket window. So easy. Then we figured that most folks probably come in after work and the kids like the fun zone after the sun sets. And most people wisely wait until it cools off a bit.
The Expo grounds are huge and include Raging Waters waterpark and a race track. Lots of permanents structures and misted covered areas with tables. Even a lagoon. It has an old-Disneyland feel about it, complete with sky gondolas and monorail. We got our bearings with a map, bought some lemonade and headed off to the commercial buildings and county exhibits. We'd missed the commercial pavilions at the Nevada County Fair (very limited), and we were itching to buy some new gadgets. There was a new mop! Didn't buy it, but new mops (this one uses steam) don't come along every year, you probably already know! We did buy: puncture-type wall (Hercules) hooks (from the guy that said he invented them in the first place), tortilla warmers, amazing Rhino glue ("glues anything to anything"--I'll have to run a Rhino vs Gorilla competition sometime), and a 400-thread-count Egyptian cotton queen-sized sheet set with deep pockets ($20!!). And fudge. Talked to the Shopsmith guy (we have one, already) and got a couple of pointers and free pattern cds.
The exhibits were a bit disappointing. Somehow, we thought they'd be, well, grander, or something,
than we were used to seeing at the county level. The creme d'la creme. But, alas, they were somewhat underwhelming. Especially the arts and crafts. Turns out, the pieces aren't taken from the winners in all the counties. These pieces were all submitted as if to any other regional competition. And, where were the gems and minerals? We did learn a couple of things. There was an area where each county could put together a big, promotional display. Nevada County, and quite a few others, were total no-shows. San Diego County--shouldn't have bothered--lame. But, who knew California had a Lake County, and an Alpine County? Glenn? Tehama? And California is trying to be the first state to recycle polystyrene. Cool! Also, somebody made a very nice Cal. grizzly bear all in Legos, that they put in the toy exhibit.
We went (comparatively) light on the dinner. The Chinese food plate was a good deal. I'll be skipping the eggroll-on-a-stick, next time. Too pasty. There were new fried options. I hadn't seen fried avocado, frog legs, pickles and/or olives at a fair before. But if it can be put on a stick, fried, dipped in chocolate, or all three, I should expect to see it sometime, I guess. At the Texas State Fair, this year, according to an article in the Nevada County Union, big winners included Deep Fried Lattes (fried pastry topped with cappuccino ice cream, caramel sauce, whipped cream and instant coffee powder), fried chili pie, fried guacamole (it's breaded, fried, and served with ranch dressing or salsa), fried cookie dough (now, we're talkin'), fried peach cobbler on a stick, fried sweet potato pie, and B.W.'s Original Fried Banana Pudding. Last year, the "smash hit", there, was fried Coke (!!!).
We liked it! We watched the Commodores for awhile, and a good 50's rock band was playing while we munched our Chinese food under the misters. We were also reinforced in our, up until now, purely theoretical opinion that older white women should never do hip-hop. In public. Please. We'll go back next year. The Hercules Hook guy also sells these nice little potted plant stands.
