A DAY OFF AND ANOTHER "DAYCATION"

I'd like to share my latest "daycation" with you. By reading this sign, you can see where I went yesterday! To the most popular Fair on earth! Clint and I finally had a day off together and so we went over to Hillsdale to the fair. This has become a family tradition that my Dad startedyears ago. We don't make it every year, but we try. I love the picture of the little girl with the lamb! There were other vintage posters I photographed, but this one became my favorite because of the lamb!

 

 

Next are pictured several bags of judged and priced fleece for sale! I just about couldn't tear myself away from this area where a spinner sat in the sheep barn showing people the art of spinning wool. I finally left the fleeces without purchasing, but not before talking for a long time with a friendly sheep who loved having her nose scratched. I wish I had gotten a picture. Also loved the picture of the sheep and swine barn!

 

What a cute sign hanging above the sheep stalls!

 

Here is a picture of a horse being warmed up for a race. The weather was perfect and so enjoyable to sit in the grandstand and watch the races.

Loved this sign since my grandma always used to say that if the cows were laying down it was going to rain. I always wondered if it was true, but maybe she was right? After all, she grew up living closer to the land than I did.

Loved this pretty canning display. Could only get a small portion of the antique items in the picture. The sign reads, "Have you gotten out your canning supplies lately?" That's almost a joke at my house. Sometimes they stay out this time of year for days or weeks!

 

The pretty Grange Hall. I love the architecture all around Hillsdale and the fairgrounds are no exception. Some of the prettiest old buildings you'll see! I wish the picture hadn't been "blue." The sun was very bright and I had a hard time getting a good shot of this beautiful building. Apparently people sometimes rent this building for weddings according to pictures we saw inside.

Here is a beautiful example of the Grange displays. I remember seeing multiple displays like this in our Grange barn when I was a little girl. It was my favorite part of the whole fair--isn't that kind of unusual for a little girl? I think the "farm" was deep in my heart even way back then growing up in a small town. Each town in our county had a Grange group. They all had displays like this in the fair. The Grange displays were a composite of member farm families' efforts at everything from every possible canned good imaginable to all kinds of needlework and farm and orchard products. I think this is America the way it used to be! I kind of miss it!

 

I love the antique tractors! Which do you think is the older model--me or the tractor? Post a comment, make a guess, and I'll reveal the answer on the next post!

I love sign pictures and thought this was as cute as could be!

 

I hope you enjoyed my day at the Fair! I surely did!

Blessings, Lori

WILL SHE WIN OR WILL SHE LOSE--PART 2--THE RESULTS

SHE WILL WIN AND WIN BIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray! Well, at least on the flowers! I got a blue ribbon and the Judges' Choice! I work hard for Judges' Choice ribbons since they represent what the judges think is the nicest in a category and carry an extra $10 premium prize!

 I also got a blue ribbon on some of my canned meat. Not as many blue ribbons as some years, but that's ok. I also got another blue ribbon on my pressed flower pictures plus a 2nd place Judges' Choice on those ($5 extra premium). I couldn't get a good picture of them while on the shelf so will include one later in the week after I pick them up.

 Next is a picture of some items in the display we spinners have in another barn. I've been there demonstrating spinning almost every day this week. Walked over yesterday on my lunch hour and got in about 45 minutes of spinning. This little antique wheel is the one I purchased a year ago at a local sale. It looks great draped with a needle felted Santa made by one of the group members. You can see other handmade items (many handspun) in the background. A braid of burgundy roving ready to spin adorns the wheel also as well as a blue ball of roving and some socks.

 Here I am holding some locks of wool ready to be processed for spinning. Can't remember the type.

 A pretty bad looking picture of me and Nellie, my spinning wheel at the spinner's booth. The lace scarf on the wall behind me (far right corner) is one I spun and knitted.

 Some Icelandic yarn I finished this week. Brought it home and washed it last night.

 The same yarn pictured on a porch chair. I spun more of the same today as well as Cormo. It was a blessing to have other spinners there to help me today since I consider myself a novice. I had pretty much every imaginable issue going on today. Inconsistent spinning, problems with plying, yarn from an unused bobbin spinning accidentally into another thread, etc., etc., up to and including keys locked in car and dead cell phone as well as the grounds being soaked in rain, mud, and all that comes with animals walking back and forth for the events, if you know what I mean! Well, we all have those days, but I kept thinking how happy I was about the two Judges' Choice ribbons and it was all worth it! Blessings, Lori

WILL SHE WIN OR WILL SHE LOSE? YOU BE THE JUDGE!

WEll, it's that time again! Time for the annual St. Joseph County Fair in Centreville, Michigan!

This year I decided to post a different way. You get to see at least one of my entries before the judging. You can decide if it's a winner or a loser!

This carnival glass dish was a wedding gift to Clint and I 31 years ago. Several years ago I started taking floral arrangements to the fair in this dish. The category is THE MORNING SERVICE-arrangement for a church.

My first attempt back then was GORGEOUS! However....I used the wrong floral foam and the water dried up within hours and it never made it to judging with a flower still alive! Some of the workers informed me of my mistake and thought it would have been a winner otherwise. The next year I tried very hard to get the right foam and re-create the piece. I failed again, with a second purchase of incorrect foam.

The other arrangements were basically the same as this one, only with lots more pink (zinnias). This year because of the late drought I was literally searching my flower beds for any available blossom (except the profuse marigolds) and picked the very last of any pink or purple flower on the property. Even those were shaggy and almost gone, but somehow, I made it work.--complete with the RIGHT FOAM!

When the people in the flower barn saw me coming today, they began recounting the story of those other arrangements and how they had been so pretty! So will we win this year????

RIGHT FLORAL FOAM--ALMOST NO FLOWERS

YOU BE THE JUDGE!

I used a profusion of sage leaves to fill in the holes. Do you think that little touch in lieu of flowers will put me over the top?

REPORT AT THE END OF THE WEEK! I also entered a crocheted shawl, a scarf, a jar of canned venison, black raspberry jelly, two pressed flower pictures, a card of antique buttons, and a box of tiny darning threads, also antiques.

WILL SHE WIN OR WILL SHE LOSE???

Blessings, Lori

JAMMIN'

Suddenly we had an amazing multiplication of peaches from a tree we planted in our yard several years ago believing it was a weeping cherry. After a few seasons, I began to wonder since it never really looked like a weeping cherry!

 

Suddenly last year we noticed two peaches on the tree! We picked them and watched for a few more. I think we harvested 21total last year and they were delicious!

 

This year I picked two plastic grocery bags full! They are little but delicious and have a beautiful "blush." They seem to be a free-stone variety and I wish we had taken time to spray and water. They were so nice untouched that I wonder what they could have been if they had had lots of care!

 

So I decided to make jam--three batches so far! It's quite tasty! Glad the tree wasn't a weeping cherry after all!

 

Blessings, Lori

A PRETTY COUNTRY WEEKEND AND TWINING, VINING THINGS

I AM IN LOVE WITH THE WAY THE FLOWERS LOOK THIS TIME OF YEAR. THE MORNING GLORIES ARE PUTTING ON A SHOW IN THE CENTER OF THE GARDEN WHERE THEY WERE NOT PLANTED. RATHER THAN REMOVE THEM, I ADDED A TOMATO CAGE AND GAVE THEM SOME SUPPORT SO THAT THEY COULD SHOW OFF.

HOW CAN YOU RESIST A BEAUTIFUL SUNFLOWER? IT'S LIKE SUNSHINE IN A GARDEN!

THE 'GIRLS' LOOKING OUT OF THE NESTS. CURIOUS CREATURES!

WOW! I LIKE THIS ONE! MRS. WREN'S HOUSE WITH A BEAUTIFUL COLOR COMBINATION OF MORNING GLORIES. I THINK THIS IS A NICE DECORATION FOR A BIRD'S FRONT DOOR!

I WAS NOT SORRY THAT I PLANTED NUMEROUS PACKAGES OF LATE-SEASON BARGAIN SEEDS (10c/pack), ALL AROUND THE RAISED BEDS.

I HOPE YOU HAD A LOVELY WEEKEND. Blessings, Lori