Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Fair days and expected highs



I had lots of goodies in my garden to take to the Bonner County Fair, but yesterday's 100-plus degree heat sapped me of the desire to keep picking more stuff to clean and prepare for display. Besides, once there, I knew there would be too many exhibit cards to fill out with the same information three times. And, besides, it would be beastly hot in that main exhibit hall.

I also had Barbara and Laurie's photographs to enter, so I settled for the four items above.
Oregano from our abundant patch, which doesn't get harvested but looks mighty pretty, was a last-minute choice. After all, three stems plucked from thousands wasn't gonna make a dent in the colorful display which runs along most of one garden patch amidst the rhubarb, strawberries, asparagus and other flowers.

My friend Carrie had the same mindset as I: take what's in abundance. Carrie wanted to enter jam, but she had just so many jars at home, so she wasn't gonna give up one to be sampled at the fair. That's how I felt about my cantaloupe. When I saw in the fairbook rules for "fruits and nuts" that only one melon was needed, I figured it would be okay because we'll have 11 more coming on about the same time. One melon missing from the lot wasn't going to make a lot of difference.

And, when you have two zucchini plants just getting started with their squash-bearing marathon, you don't mind one bit, cutting one off and hoping some kid, looking for a weekend zucchini high (ya know it's a little-known and well-kept secret that just a few raw chunks of these squash will provide a long-lasting cerebral euphoria rivaling that of any marijuana plant known to seasoned druggies), will steal it from the display case----after it's been judged, of course.

The cookies, as I said yesterday, are a bit on the strong side with that Mexican vanilla flavoring. Plus, they're kinda chewy. It's going to depend on the judge's tastebuds to determine the outcome of my competition with Grace. She brought six cookies on her plate. One superintendent thought we needed six; another thought we needed five. I brought four.

Turns out the fairbook saved me on that one: a plate of four cookies, it said. That meant Grace and Grandma Carrie each had a cookie to eat on their way home.

Today is the main exhibit hall judging. They'll lock off the place from the public and treat all us judges with plenty of water, coffee and donuts. I'm judging creative writing, while my sister Barbara is judging 4-H photography.

Maybe when we're finished, we can sneak around to the other exhibit areas and see how we did with our entries. No matter the results, there's just something fun about having things entered in the fair. It's a sense of ownership in what's going on, and it's just plain fun to see your stuff on display.

So, the fair days begin, and I'm sure there will be several highs between now and Saturday. Fortunately, the temperatures will decline from what they've been the past four days.

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1 comment:

Diane Rice
—DocuDoctor
said...

I'm lovin' those food-y photos, Marianne! As John Travolta says in one of those "Look Who's Talking" baby movies with Kirstie Alley, 'You're makin' my mout' wawtuh!' :-) Diane