is on today! Your one-stop shop for well-scrubbed pigs (maybe; not sure how the foot and mouth business has affected all that side of things), runaway dogs competing with small children on a sugar-high for most badly behaved in show; the scent of fried onions and candy-floss; vintage cars and face-painting; fudge stalls and baked potatoes; the Doctor Who travelling caravan display; the judging of home-baked pies, honey, jams and wines; enormous chrysanthemums and pert young carrots; WI Corruption in the cake-competition (my sister has never entered again; not since the Great Dali-cake outrage of 2004), corn-dollies, the carousel and the tunnel of goats...
Oh yes indeedy, tis that time of the year again! We were there early so my sister could enter her home-made wine; she cleans up most years, having taken the Big Silver 'You won more rosettes than anyone else here; Smug Git of the Show' cup two years running.
We met other victims of the Great Exhibit Theft of 2006 when setting out the displays this morning; a woman who lost an apple pie and a jar of lemon curd and a man who had a bottle of mead pinched; Hilary lost a bottle of damson wine. A filthy footpad made off with a ton of the exhibits after judging had closed - a large percentage of the first-prize edibles, in fact. This was Big Stuff for Penistone and made it on to the front page of the Chronicle. I'm amazed they didn't bring Special Branch in; amazed CCTV isn't installed this year. ::she smirked sarcastically::
Hoping the weather holds; 'tis very hot and humid, but clouding over ominously. I'm not going back till about 2pm when the horsey stuff comes to a close and the amateur dog shows begin. I may take pictures tobore dazzle you all with later.
ETA: We had a great time; ate fudge, took pix... Hilary's wine took 3 firsts, 2 seconds, a third, the trophy for best wine in show and, yup, the 'J.E. Depledge Perpetual Trophy' - again. ::Is looking forward to sampling some wine tonight::
Oh yes indeedy, tis that time of the year again! We were there early so my sister could enter her home-made wine; she cleans up most years, having taken the Big Silver 'You won more rosettes than anyone else here; Smug Git of the Show' cup two years running.
We met other victims of the Great Exhibit Theft of 2006 when setting out the displays this morning; a woman who lost an apple pie and a jar of lemon curd and a man who had a bottle of mead pinched; Hilary lost a bottle of damson wine. A filthy footpad made off with a ton of the exhibits after judging had closed - a large percentage of the first-prize edibles, in fact. This was Big Stuff for Penistone and made it on to the front page of the Chronicle. I'm amazed they didn't bring Special Branch in; amazed CCTV isn't installed this year. ::she smirked sarcastically::
Hoping the weather holds; 'tis very hot and humid, but clouding over ominously. I'm not going back till about 2pm when the horsey stuff comes to a close and the amateur dog shows begin. I may take pictures to
ETA: We had a great time; ate fudge, took pix... Hilary's wine took 3 firsts, 2 seconds, a third, the trophy for best wine in show and, yup, the 'J.E. Depledge Perpetual Trophy' - again. ::Is looking forward to sampling some wine tonight::
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And okay, what the *heck* is a 'tunnel of goats'? ::looks at you a little fearfully::
And WI Corruption; the Great Dali-cake outrage of 2004 -- you can't just leave that as a teaser...
"A woman who lost an apple pie and a jar of lemon curd..." -- I don't know why that tickles me so much -- I mean, the tragedy of it and all, I should be more respectful -- but somebody making off with a jar of lemon curd, well... (and I love lemon curd, that's not it, it's just, you know... oh forget it...:-)).
(Candy-floss is the same thing as cotton candy, right? And you have baked potatoes at a fair like this? Wow. I love the differences between what I grew up with at small-town and county fairs, and this. I really wish I could be there, soaking it all in...)
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A tunnel of goats ::giggle: doesn't exist, at least, I hope it doesn't; it was one of the 'attractions' at the fair that came once a year to Craggy Island (if you've ever seen Father Ted?).
WI corruption... heh heh. My sister bakes *the* most amazing cakes; they truly have to be seen to be believed. Every year she'd enter - one year it was an amazing 'Jolson' cake - all black and white, with music and a Jazz Singer poster painted on it.,.. another year, she had a sugar Bugs Bunny, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, leaping out of the cake - never *ever* was her cake placed, instead the most dire, truly scary cakes would win. People walking past the exhibits used t stop and wonder on 'how did that cake not win first prize?' Hilary was told by another non-winner that the Women's Institute had it all 'stitched up'; that you had to be a member to get placed; outsider's need not apply. 3 years ago, she did the most fantastic cake; Dali's clocks, all melting off the cake and off the plate - it truly was a work of art. No prize; a hedgehog cake with chocolate buttons for spines won that year. That was the last time she entered. We've always found it hugely amusing; it became the highlight of our day to see what disaster in cake-form had taken the prize each year. I started writing a sitcom about it once; never finished it, alas.
Lemon curd? Nothing wrong with giggling at a jar of lemon curd; I find Damson cheese unbearably hilarious.
And candy floss = cotton candy, yup (though cotton candy sounds so much nicer). Baked potatoes are unusual? They're a bit of a mainstay at fairs here; baked potatoes, chips (fries), donuts and the beer tent.
Green with envy, huh? Hmmmm. Well, we always enjoy a good laugh, it's true; and the dogs; there are always lots of dogs. The dog show ring is always an object lesson in chaos theory. It usually ends up a something like a canine re-enactment of Lord of the Flies. Always my favourite part of the show. (o:
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*twirls you*
Have a blast and eat something yummeh for me!
You have carved butter???
::is eating maple-pecan fudge as I type::
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And I'm in need of knowing about the goats too...
:oD
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Must hear about the Great Dali-cake outrage! Spill!
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I gave the Dali-cake outrage tale in detail to T-Verano, above. (o:
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Laurie
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How can you live like that? (o: No demolition derbies here; Yorkshiremen are way too mean to deliberately crash a car.
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and alas, it's all acadamic to me anymore. I have an ear disease that imitates the worst hangover you can imagine (or recall) and drinking alcohol can set an attack off. so I haven't had booze for about 6 years.::mourns for lost marguerita's and daqueries).
Laurie
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O am sorry about the ear disease; that sounds awful - is it labyrinthitis? I had that once; once was enough.
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Laurie
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Enjoy your wine though. :oD
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I'll pass on the congratulations. At the moment, she's mostly embarrassed at winning the cup again, and having to clean it for another 12 months.