Topsfield Fair

Topsfield Fair is a New England tradition that has been running annually since 1818, with an exception for a few years of interruption during the Civil War and WWII.

On Friday the 30th, at 1PM, it opened its gates for the 186th time, and I was there with my boys.

Opening Friday is a great time to go if you're ever visiting.

Too early in the day to speak of any crowds.

No lines or obstructions.

They didn't even charge us the $10 for parking.

Nice, because it cost $30 for the three of us to enter the fair.

Yikes!

We started out with our favorite part of the fair... the animals.

Some hairy sheep.

And some naked sheep.

We watched sheep being sheared both the old fashion way with sheers,

and with electric clipper shears.

Here's a cow with cute curly bangs.

Or, is it a toupee?

An alpaca with a cute nose.

A beautiful draft horse enjoying some green grass

outside the Fruit and Vegetable Exhibit.

The horse looks so muscular and strong,

and I like their hairy hooves.

My son said it looks like they have boots on.

Yeah, maybe, like those furry boots people have in the Alps.

Moving on...

To the inside of the Fruit and Vegetable Exhibit.

Above is the "Best Home Garden Display".

Wowsers!

Those are some large pumpkins!

Very nice "Ribbon Worthy" produce.

But, what's in the bucket?

That's not sage, is it?

Moving on to flowers.

My favorite part of the Flower Exhibit was the Dahlia displays.

Below is one of several.

The blue glass bottles looked especially nice with the orange toned Dahlias.

Nice to see the wide range of size, petals, and colors displayed like this.

The boys and I also spent a little bit of time in the

Beekeeping house.

Look at the range of color in the honey jars!

From light, almost citrusy yellow colored honey,

to a very dark, amber color.

I wish I could have sampled them.

My son got to make his own beeswax candle (for a $1).

And if you'd rather buy them, you could have done that too.

Here is the duck race.

Volunteers from the crowd get to race mallard ducks.

Kind of fun, but over before you know it.

Besides, they were from New Mexico where duck racing,

according to the announcer, is very common.

I guess there was a pig race too,

but we missed that one.

Hand carved Welcome signs, anyone?

Or how about a cowboy hat?

With a pair of cowboy boots?

Not particularly New England:ish, more Texan, I'd say.

Here's a part of the fair that we covered quickly, the carnival.

It was actually a bit of a turn off walking through this part.

The workers at the attractions don't spare any tricks to lure your children in.

I was close to picking a fight (well, perhaps more of an argument)

with a worker

about their sneaky methods at the balloon and dart stand.

But, I figured it wasn't worth it, and we left.

The boys did try a couple of the games.

But the games are over quickly, cost a lot,

and the prices are so tacky,

that they soon wanted to leave this area.

There's no mistaking that food is a big part of any fair or carnival.

Topsfield is no exception.

All kinds of food options line the paths to every exhibit,

and the smell of fried foods lie like a heavy blanket across the fair ground.

Okay while you're hungry, but then it becomes almost nauseating.

Although dogs are prohibited from entering the fair,

there was some fun and fancy food to purchase and bring home to your pooch.

Does a dog really care though, what the food looks like?

I think this dog food mostly entertain the owner.

I seriously don't know how these bmx guys fit in to the agricultural theme.

But,

they were AWESOME!!!

We really enjoyed their performance.

Their tricks were high flying and fantastic.

I don't think I was the only mom

that gasped and held my breath a few times.

Last,

but NOT least...

The Big Pumpkin Weigh Off

This, my friends, this...

is what I came for.

This trip wouldn't have been complete

If I hadn't gotten to see these fantastic, giant pumpkins.

This year's winning pumpkin, announced last night, weighed 1,668.5 lbs,

and was grown by Mr. DeNigris and Mr. Moore of Gloucester.

Congratulations to the two of you!

All in all, a fairly fun visit.

But, I think, to enjoy it more next time, I need to let go of my romanticized images of what an agricultural fair should be like. In my mind I see an agricultural fair the way it might have been about 50 years ago. Less commercialized, more genuine, and more... agricultural.

I am not alone

Do you ever have the feeling that you are not alone?

That someone is watching you?

I find that I am surrounded by little critters and creatures in my garden,

and that my family and I are not the only residents on this property.

Sometimes their presence is not obvious, you have to really pay attention and see.

Can you spot the three birds on the tree above?

Some creatures are fairly stationary and melt in to their surroundings in terms of shape and color. Others provide plenty of movement and and beauty and are impossible to miss.

Others exhibit behavior that is bold, energetic and sometimes a bit loud and mischievous.

Their presence is most often not deterred by my presence.

Then there are those that melt my heart every time their feather light body swoop in and lands on a flower stem to have a snack. I want to thank them for choosing my garden and tell them to "go ahead, eat as much as you want".

There is one that always puts a smile on my face because when it spots me, it freezes and thinks that if it doesn't move, I won't see it. But I do, I saw it first. And to this one I want to say "Go ahead, eat the clover but leave my flowers.".

And lastly, the mystery residents and visitors.

Sometimes you see traces of activity, but you just don't know who or what.

As I was gardening one day, I was stepping on some ground-cover to reach some weeds. As I stepped back, I noticed some movement. For a moment I got a bit worried wondering if I had possibly upset some kind of hornets nest in the ground and contemplated running inside. Then I saw how it moved and figured it might be some kind of tunneling animal, like a mouse or something. I have lots and lots of little entrances on my flower hill, probably close to one every square yard. And I imagine that I have an underground tunnel system more impressive than the London Subways.

I have long suspected chipmunks or voles, but never seen anyone enter or exit these tunnels until the other morning. And I caught it with my camera. I think this is an infant vole.

I am afraid I might have a fairly large population of these. Fortunately, they have not been bothering my plants or their roots... yet.

Well, that was one mystery solved.

All these critters and creatures are part of what makes my garden alive and "homey" to me.

Annelie

Egg Sale

I finally feel that spring is here to stay.

The days are longer and warmer.

My garden is turning from sepia to color.

And the birds are chirping like crazy at dawn.

At Clover Leaf Farm,

the chickens (there's 24 of them) are beginning to lay eggs again,

lots of them.

This family of six gets more eggs than they can consume.

In two days they got two dozens.

They just had to start selling some.

I just jumped right in to the car and zoomed over after N posted on Facebook that the egg stand was open, and her kids were selling as long as the eggs would last.

At $4 a dozen? (They sell for less at the grocery store.)

But for farm fresh and organic eggs, from free range chickens,

sold by the cutest kids on the block...

Absolutely - gladly paying.

Aren't they beautiful?

And they taste great too.

I just read in a Swedish Magazine that eggs contain the HDL (the "good" cholesterol) and egg consumption can actually lower your LDL (the "bad" cholesterol). I just thought I should share because eggs have always had a bit of a bad rep for it's cholesterol.

Moreover, an egg is an extraordinary (I really had to contain myself not to write eggstraordinary) little power food. It packs a lot of protein, vitamins A, B, D, and E, iron, calcium and zinc, good healthy fats, no carbs, and... is absolutely yummy.

It's been a month since I last posted, I can't believe it, a whole month. Time flies...

In my defense, my parents came to visit from Sweden for 3 weeks to be here for my, ehm, 40th birthday (shhh... don't tell anyone). Actually, turning such a big number wasn't as hard as I expected. In fact, it was great. I don't think I've ever felt so special in my whole life with all the attention and sweet birthday wishes that I got.

My awesome husband decided to splurge on the camera of my dreams. I am so happy, this camera is fantastic, love it. I get a little excited just thinking about it. Good thing I also got two big books on the camera, because there is so much to learn. I hope to share some pictures with you soon.

Annelie

Today...

...is Thanksgiving Day.

About the turkey,

• the wild turkey is native to Mexico and northern United States
• they have great hearing, but no visible ears
• they have great vision (but not at night) and see in color
• domestic turkeys cannot fly
• wild ones can fly, but only for a short distance
• wild turykeys spend the night in a tree (how do they keep from falling down?)
• they can drown if they look up while it's raining (really?)
• they're heads change color when they get excited (me too)
• Sesame Street's Big Bird has a suit made of yellow-died turkey feathers
• male turkey is called a Tom, the female is called a hen
• as male turkeys get older, they start fighting a lot, and may even attack humans
• male turkeys grow a beard (of longer feathers) on their chest (like humans, except for humans calle it chest hair)
• very few hens grow the beard (just like very few female humans grow chest hair, Thank goodness!)

Acording to the Department of Agriculture, more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten on Thanksgiving Day, and right now my husband is preparing ours.

To all my fellow bloggers, American or not,

have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Above facts(?) are from following websites:

http://10000birds.com/turkeyfacts.htm

http://home.aristotle.net/Thanksgiving/turkey_facts.asp

http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/thanks/tkyinfo.html

The picture is from Wikipedia

Boston Common and the Public Garden

Blogging has obviously been on the shelf while I've had family visiting. I haven't shared much. But I wanted to share some of todays pictures from Boston. It was such a beautiful day, cold, crisp and sunny.

Boston Common and Public Garden are adjacent to each other and provide 75 acres of green space in the heart of Boston.

The Common with its wide open lawns are always full of activity, great for people watching.

I LOVE people watching.

Today, the Frog Pond ice skating opened for the season.

I didn't skate, but I watched.


The Public Garden on the other hand is more formal and ornamental. Very beautiful.

It is particularly beautiful in the summer time when the flower beds are exploding with color and nice form.


Here is a curious tree that caught my attention. One of its branches is kind of "resting" on the ground.


City squirrels are always fun for the kids (and me) because they are not shy at all. They'll come right up to you, hoping you'll have some treat for them. I'm guessing they'll have no trouble surviving winter, they're pretty fat compared to the squirrels in my yard.

Oooh, and I must share, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw cherry looking blossoms on a tree. In the middle of NOVEMBER???

Thanks to the Gardens labeling I found out that it is an Autumn Cherry Tree. Cool!


Well, that's it for now. Over and out...