4H County Fair-2013 Edition

The N-boy and I went to the 4H County Fair last weekend, which definitely felt like it was part of one last "huzzah for the midwest" act since we're moving to California. Although the N-boy assures me that California will also have agriculture and animals and 4H. Still, the county fair feels VERY midwestern to me.

This year we were smart and planned ahead by looking online at the fair schedule to make sure we'd see everything we wanted to. We've learned from past years that you can't go the first day, because the animals aren't there. And you can't go the last day because the animals aren't there. Since clearly the animals are on of the main highlights for us, this was an important lesson to learn (and it only took us four years!).

This duck made me smile. He looks like Mozart to me. 

Please tell me you've seen this video. Pretty sure we need a goat if only to do this in our spare time. 

We get a little overly competitive about ski ball. We tied this year, each winning laffy taffy on exactly one round. And losing on the every other round. 

 Twist ice cream cones are my absolute favorite summer treat. Let's not talk about what is going on with my medusa-like hair in this picture. It was windy.

Goodbye, 4H Fair. 

Art Beat

Yesterday we braved the 90 degree heat and walked to downtown South Bend for Art Beat 2012. Art Beat is an event held each summer that features culinary, performing and visual artists all from the Michiana area. The Momcat and I actually thought about trying to exhibit our fabric bowls from Prairie Sewn Companion there, but decided that we weren't quite ready for that yet, especially for a show that took place so soon after Orientation.

Looking towards downtown. 

Last year the N-boy and I were quite successful at Art Beat coming home with about six new pieces of art for the house, including urban decay photographs by Stephen Martin for the living room and urban graffiti by CAD for the addition. This year...not so much. We did get one more urban decay piece for the living room, but that was it. It seemed like there was A LOT of jewelry this year. It felt like they expanded the number of artists overall, and maybe they expanded too much too fast.

We ended our adventure down at the culinary artist tent where we each enjoyed a frozen slushy (coffee for me, watermelon for him) from the Purple Porch Co-op. We also got information from them about how the co-op works, as we're looking into getting some of our food there.

 Slushy from locally grown watermelons. 

Overall Art Beat 2012 was a little disappointing, although perhaps some of that can be chalked up to our great success from last year and the oppressive heat. I'm still happy we went though, since it was one of the items on my Summer 2012 Bucket List and I always enjoy the energy that surrounds events that highlight local artists. 

Garden Bounty.

Our garden is finally coming into its own. We've been picking banana peppers for about a month now, but it's like these last two weeks have really sent it into overdrive. The N-boy and I spent a couple of hours on Saturday rescuing it from the weeds.

A very superfluous cauliflower plant. And a tomato plant with a mind of its own.

The weeds have no chance when the N-boy is in action. Especially in his cute hat. 

It's hard to see in this picture, but there are at least six eggplans on this one plant! And more on their way. 

Banana peppers by the pound.

We have two more raised beds that we didn't use this year that we started prepping for next year.

 Highly exciting moment-using some of our compost for the first time! 

Next up: canning our great supply of banana peppers!

Festive for Friday-finished!

Orientation is OVER! Everything went pretty well. No one died. Nothing caught on fire. No one was hit by a bus or deported. In our office, that counts as a win.

I did run across this card from someecards tonight while I was slouched on the couch attempting to find the energy to get up and brush my teeth and go to bed. It seems to express where I am this week.

Manners Central.

We had a celebratory cookout with our friends Sam and Jane on Tuesday in honor of some highly festive and positive changes at work. The weather has started to cool off a bit (although it could turn around again), and it was nice to sit outside and relax. 

Not entirely sure why my Gin and Tonic is in a Winter glass.

But I do know that I have the festive lime zest because I refused to drink it without one. This is why they love me. 

Peaches on the grill are super good. Super super good. 

Calvin the Kitten has no manners. Jane kept telling him this was "manners central," but he didn't listen.

BBQ Chicken, Corn on the Cob, Grilled Veggies and Grilled Peaches.

Peach Cobbler with Ice Cream for Dessert.

Into the Woods.

Wednesday night the N-boy and I headed to the South Bend Civic Theater for their production of Into the Woods. Going to the Civic Theater was one of the items on my 2012 Summer Bucket List, and I was excited when I saw this show was part of their summer season.

I'd mentioned to him that I wanted to see this show a couple of weeks ago, and even went to far as to mark a tentative date on our calendar and then completely forgot about it. So it was a pleasant surprise when the N-boy told me on Tuesday that he'd remembered to call and get tickets for the Wednesday evening show.

I perhaps should have mentioned to him a littler earlier than when the house lights were going down that it was a musical. Oops. Luckily he'd caught onto that already and knew what he was in for.

Overall, the show was quite enjoyable. I'd seen it once before as a child, but didn't really remember much about it except that it was kind of a fractured fairy tale motif. The story is a weave of several traditional fairy tales: Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel. They're all tied together with another story about a baker and his wife who are unable to bear a child (a storyline that seemed similar to both Rapunzel and Rumplestiltsin).  My one objection to the show itself is that I wish it had ended with the first act. The first act ended with all of the stories wrapping up quite nicely, ending all of the stories in a nice traditional way. The second half, well it kinda lost me at some points. I didn't really enjoy the songs as much, especially those sung by the witch. It wasn't the actors, but just the whole second act that I wasn't a huge fan of.

The acting was pretty good for the most part. This is community theater, and the cast and crew are all volunteers from the community. One of my colleagues is frequently involved in performances at the theater so I know how much hard work goes into each show. My favorite actors were the two princes-they really seemed to embrace the roles and took them over the top without being obnoxious.

It also didn't hurt that one of them looks very much like Captain Mal from Firefly (Nathan Fillion). You can't go wrong with that.

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Weekend Recap.

Friday

Cambodian Thai. 

Saturday

Sunshine with a book. 

Silverhawks Baseball.

This is the "Oh not another picture for your blog" face.

Sunday

Peppers from the garden. 

 Ribs on the grill. 

 N-boy. The grillmaster. 

Silverhawks baseball game.

So after our failed attempt to go to a game on Friday night we made it last night for the Silverhawks verus the Peoria Chiefs.

Swoop. He's a little creepy. 

We're a little creepy too. 

It turned out to be a beautiful night for a game-not too hot. It was also nice that the stadium wasn't too crowded. And that the Silverhawks won. 

It was also a good night for yummy ballpark food.

I'm not actually sure why the N-boy likes going to games with me. I get rather distracted and don't always pay the most attention to the game. I have lots of fun, but it just doesn't hold my attention the same way that hockey does. 

The below look is either right after I started my tirade (again) about why I think that the RBI statistic is stupid (Think about it-they get credit for the guys who are already on the bases. Which really comes down to how good the coach is at lining up the batting order). Or when we were discussing if I or one of my other coworkers would made a better war lord. 

I feel sorry for him too.

Despite my random observations at the game, we both had a really good time and enjoyed getting out of the house on a Saturday night. It was a festive evening, and nice to do another activity from my 2012 Summer Bucket List.

Potowatomi Zoo.

Last Sunday morning the N-boy and I headed out to do one of the items on my our 2012 Summer Bucket list: the Potawatomi Zoo. We live within walking distance, so we just headed out the front door and got there within half an hour of opening. 

There were several highlights of our adventure. The most obvious, of course, were the flamingos. 

Don't you think this one wants to come home with me?

Or I could take the whole flock. 

I also insisted on going into the petting zoo. 

Eying the goat to make sure he was safe. 

Mr. Goat is my friend. 

There were LOTS of tortoises. Which seemed random, but made the N-boy happy. 

The coolest thing by far (after the flamingos, of course) was seeing the lion roar! It wasn't at all like I expected but was still highly festive. It was fun because we can hear the lion roar from our house, so it was really cool to see him do it in person. There were actually two lions in the enclosure and this one started roaring first, and then the other one started in. A little lion duet. 

Roar!

We were at the zoo for about two hours, and both agreed that it was worth the $8/person admission fee. It was definitely fun, and the zoo was pretty good for a town the size of South Bend. 

We heart madison.

As on previous trips to Madison we stayed at the Arbor House in the Monroe Neighborhood during our three nights in Madison. This smaller establishment labels itself as an "environmental inn," which means they have plenty of sunny indoor spaces, sustainable business practices and absolutely scrumptious food. 

In addition to a full breakfast every day (with an ever changing menu depending on who's cooking that day) they have a small cocktail/wine spread each evening, and a "sweet treat" every night. It's also great that there's a full kitchen that you can use (great for storing and eating leftovers) along with hot/iced tea, filtered water and lemonade always available. They also have a sauna, which we always intend to use but have never actually made it into. We really love staying there (this was our third visit) and will definitely go back again. 

Summer Road Trip-St. Louis Zoo

Saturday morning dawned with another day of high temperatures, but that didn't keep us from heading out to the free St. Louis Zoo. 

We didn't make it past the parking lot before the N-boy's true nature came through. 

We started the zoo adventure with the new sea lion exhibit where we could walk through the underwater tunnel and watch them swim over us.

Next, sister-in-law-in-law (my brother in law's wife) and BabyNiece headed into Build-A-Bear to make her a cute little sea lion! 

His name is Seeley. 

 We also hit the puffin and the penguin exhibit, where the N-boy and I did our puffin impersonation.

Puffin! 

BabyNiece insisted we see the flamingos.

They were quite pink and festive. 

After several hours at the zoo the baby was starting to get a little hot, as were the rest of us, so we headed out of the zoo to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt. It was really similar to the place we go to in South Bend, but they had almost twice as many flavors.