It's a steamy sauna at the farmette today - 22C at 7:30 a.m.! Hoping for some rain to break the sweatiness.
It's fair season in rural Ontario, and Rob and I had to choose between attending our local (Durham) and Meaford, where my niece was competing with her horse. Since we'd been many times to the Durham fair, we jumped in the Miata and headed north yesterday.
Rachel is dedicated to her horse and trying her best in barrel and pole racing. She's pretty successful, too. Yesterday, she and Trigger snagged a second in the former and a first in the latter.
The fair is officially sponsored by the Meaford and St. Vincent Agricultural Society. What it lacks in size it makes up for in enthusiasm.
Take, for example, the livestock competitions. Lots of 4-H kids were there in their whites displaying their carefully buffed and polished cows and their handling skills at the same time. I had to get a pic of this beautiful little jersey. Wish I had these eyelashes!
Being a four-footed fan, I especially like roaming around the animals. The miniature horses are the cutest things on the planet and this one had obviously been trained to put his best hoof forward.
Next up was the poultry barn, where chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons, doves and just about any kind of feathered friend you can think of were being exhibited. Had to capture this rooster digitally because, despite his teeny size (about a foot tall), he really acted like he owned the place. And why not? Take a look at the size of that regal comb!
The curling club was temporarily turned into a restaurant where you could get coffee and homemade pancake breakfasts upstairs. Downstairs, where there's a lot of ice and rocks and brooms in the winter, were rows and rows of tables laden with the products of rural folks' efforts over the past year. Breads, cakes, pickles, flowers, photos, knitted sweaters and hats were carefully laid out and took up every inch of the fairly generous space.
I especially liked the quilts, and being a storyteller, was pleasantly surprised that some of them actually came with the history of the homemade wonders. This intricate quilt top was made early in the last century and has been in existence, carefully preserved, for four generations. Amazing.
It was a great morning out, topped off by a lovely lunch at the Bruce Wine Bar in Thornbury with my sister Sandra and her husband Brian.
Until next week.
