Eat Eat

Happy 150th Birthday, Nebraska. What better place to throw a statewide party than the fairgrounds in Grand Island? And what a party it was! We had a blast! We met The Sower from atop the Capitol building in Lincoln, though he was the silent type and didn't have much to say.  There was even a display devoted to me!   It was also "Older Nebraskans Day" which meant I wasn't the oldest person in the room for a change.  The fair had many educational exhibits...  I'll say that's a small animal...looks like a single cell to me. The winners from the horticulture division. Creative use of junked auto parts in woodworking (I loved this). But the real reason we went was to gawk at Danny's entries. These four were his including the best of division. In total, he had 57 ribbons-23 of which were blue. It would be an understatement to say he's over the moon. We are too, but we were already proud of him, ribbons or not. This here is what's left of the poppy seeds ...

As luck would have it, drop-off day for Danny's state fair entries was the day of the eclipse-and Grand Island was smack-dab in the middle of totality. After getting his entries in, we stuck around in town to join everyone else in hoping the clouds would clear in time for the eclipse. They did-and it was two minutes of breathtaking viewing. I didn't think fiddling with my camera was how I wanted to experience it, so I just watched it instead??. Here, Danny is showing you with a kolache what it looks like when you see the sun's corona around the moon. You get the idea.  Yeah, that was cool. The five hour drive home through standstill traffic on I-80 was a drag, but in the end, obviously worth it. We go back to Grand Island next week with my pies for the live event, and we'll be able to find out how Danny's entries did. I'm expecting he will be bringing home some ribbons.  When the fair opens, the hall will be filled with exhibits. This is Danny's beehive hone...

I've been going through my wardrobe looking for appropriate clothes to wear for my trip to the island.  Well,  Grand Island . More like an island in a sea of prairie grass, but I still need something decent to wear for the Fair at the end of August. The pies are judged on stage so I can't show up looking a fright. I cannot begin making my yearly State Fair hat until I know what I'm wearing, and I'm stumped. August in Nebraska is beastly hot. I have a vintage Lanz gingham dress from the 50's, but it is not the most comfortable thing I own.  Photographing gingham is a special sort of hell. The fact that I haven't worn it since 2013 is a good indication that it isn't easy to wear. On the other hand, should I just suffer through it so I look great holding a pie? Optimistically, if I win a ribbon and get my photo in the newspaper, vintage gingham Lanz is going to make a terrific photo...unless the photographer can't take a good photo of gingham either, in whi...