In honor of that tradition, Rob and I had a slow, easy Fair day today filled with fun conversations and aimless wanderings. It was wonderfully relaxing just to BE at the Fair today.
“Hey, I like your hat!”
There’s a Greek food booth at the south end of the Food Court that has a purple octopus as its logo. Not sure why (is octopus the same thing as calamari? Cuz calamari sounds Greek to me). In any case, the googly-eyed octopus stands out and is sort of adorable if not a little sleepy.
The food booth’s primary decorations are a bunch of purple octopus headbands hanging above the registers. They are there every year and yet for some reason, THIS year I casually mentioned to the wind that the headbands were cute and it would be sort of fun to wear one around the Fairgrounds.
And so last night, while ordering our Grand Funk Railroad Garlic Fries, Rob took the hint I hadn’t realized I had dropped and spontaneously added a headband to the bill.
I put the headband on and posed for a couple of photos.
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| Now that I look at the logo more closely, the octopus actually looks a lot like Grimace. |
I then gave the octopus to Rob for a photo op. I never got it back. For reasons we never discussed, Rob wore the plushy purple octopus on his head for the rest of the night. Maybe because it matched his shirt?
Startlingly, pretty much nobody mentioned the octopus nonchalantly plopped on Rob’s head. Not the two friends that we bumped into just moments later and chatted about college scholarships. Not the security guards in the grandstands. Not the arcade guy we bought a stuffed llama from. Not the gal at the Deep Fried Heaven Truck. Not any of the friends who saw this photo on Facebook:
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| Eventually three friends asked about the octopus on Facebook ....but it took hours. I guess our friends just expect this sort of randomness from us?? Actually, I'm totally OK with that. |
Our friend John at the Mt. Hood Territory tourism van briefly acknowledged the octopus on Rob’s head and then amazingly took it and Rob very seriously during a political discussion (I sort of checked out – there’s no politics in Fairing as far as I’m concerned. But it was quite fun to watch Rob speak so earnestly and adulty with a purple octopus on his head).
Today it was my turn to wear the octopus. I lasted less than an hour. Like all headbands, this one pressed on my temples and gave me a headache pretty much immediately. The weight of the octopus and my sunglasses’ temple pieces didn’t help.
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| Finally, an appropriate expression for when one is wearing a purple octopus as a hat. |
Deciding it was easier to wear the headband rather than carry it, Rob reinherited The Octopus. And for the rest of the day, he was greeted with:
“Hey, you have an octopus on your head!” and “Did you know there’s an octopus on your head?” and “Nice hat!” and “I love your hat!” and “Is that a spider?”
A number of people didn’t actually say anything but smiled a bunch as they walked by while staring at Rob's head. Little kids were especially excited; they pointed and laughed at Rob all day. It was great fun! Maybe even for Rob, too.
Meanwhile, Rob walked around the fairgrounds with an air of confident assurance that it was totally natural and perhaps even expected for a 52-year-old man to sport a purple octopus headband.
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| Nothing out of place here whatsoever |
I kept trying to bend the wired-filled arms to make it look like the octopus was waving. Rob kept bending them back because he wanted it to look like the octopus was swimming on his head. We never came to a consensus on this.
Did I mention it was a slow day at the Fair?
Somewhere along the way, a googly eye became detached. We debated going back to the food booth to ask for a replacement headband. Instead, we decided a Sharpie would do the job and give the octopus even more character.
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| My Sharpie solution looks a lot better when I take my glasses off |
We are going to let the headband rest at Woodhaven for a few days, but discussions are underway for a return when a certain llama arrives at the Fair. The Certain Llama wears lots of headbands but never one featuring a purple octopus. Yet.
I wish they had 4-H for grown-ups
Just a quick but heartfelt shout out to 4-H. I am so dang impressed by the values, work ethic, responsibility, and commitment that this program helps instill in kids. I am consistently in awe of the 4-Hers I get to know. They have a sense of duty and community and team work that many adults could learn from. Myself included.
Case in point: Our friend Xander. He’s 12.
This is Xander’s second year in 4-H. Last year, a goat in his family’s herd got sick right before Fair and none of the goats were able to come to the fairgrounds. It was a HUGE disappointment, but Xander and his sister rallied and decided they needed to come to the Fair every day to help support their club and teammates even if they couldn’t compete in anything. I’m pretty sure I was nowhere near that mature at 12. Or 30. Not taking bets on 50 either.
This year, on the second day of the Fair, Xander’s best goat buddy, Atlas, got sick out of nowhere and had to go home immediately. It was pretty scary for a few days but so far it looks like Atlas is going to be OK. But that means that for the second year in a row…and the only two years Xander has been in 4-H…Xander can not compete with his goat. The goat he has bonded with and worked with and trained.
And then today, this happened.
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| Kinda hard to read -- it says "Grand Champion" on the top and "Showman 2018" on the bottom. What a cool prize! |
A teammate let Xander borrow a goat. Xander had two days to meet the goat, work with the goat, convince the goat to trust him. And the two of them won Grand Champion in Pack Goat Showman…which is essentially an obstacle course for goats where both the goat and the person are judged. Xander and the borrowed goat also won a couple other competitions and have the super fancy ribbons to prove it.
Two years in a row, this young boy had every right to stay home with his quarantined goats and let the Fair happen without him. Instead, he had a sense of commitment to his club and a determined tenacity to do what needed to be done and showed up. Showed up big time.
Clearly, if Rob and I had kids, they would be in 4-H. I would be one of the exhausted moms sitting on the sidelines in a camp chair, wearing a Club t-shirt, desperately counting down the days until Fair was over but also super sad that it was going to end soon. But I would be so dang proud. Actually, I already am. Even if I don’t have a camp chair or a t-shirt.
4-H kids…you ROCK. I hope to be like you when I grow up.
DAILY STATS:
Number of miles walked: 3.0 miles
Re-entry hand stamp: a horse that looks more like a giraffe, stamped on the top left hand
Earrings: corn dogs! One earring is a full corn dog; the other has a bite taken out of it. I’m tempted to order a second pair so I can have a set of half-eaten corn dogs. Because that’s really closer to my reality. Unbitten corn dogs don’t last very long in my Fair world.
Random freebie: Clippy badge lanyard handed out by a local tire chain at the entrance to the Fair. It's sort of odd timing to hand these out on a Monday when most people who have jobs and could therefore use the lanyard are instead at said jobs and not attending the Fair.
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| You know what would be great to clip to this? A punch card for eating at all the food booths at the Fair!! Oh, wait...that doesn't exist. Grumble grumble grumble. |
Number of friends we said hi to: 22! Or actually 23 if you count our favorite waitress from our favorite Mexican restaurant who looked totally out of context in her breezy summer street clothes. Thank goodness she made a point to stop us and take off her sunglasses so we could recognize her. And thank goodness we didn’t click into autopilot and ask her for a refill on chips and salsa.
Time crawled into bed: 1:38am. Sleep is a glorious thing!
FAIR FOOD FEAST PARADE:
It was a good eatin’ day. And still no Tums! WHOO HOO!
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| Getting my bubble fix with an Apple Bubly. If you are used to these fizzy waters, you can convince yourself this tastes exactly like a Green Apple Jolly Rancher. If you are Rob, you gag and wonder how anyone can drink this swill. |
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| I realized I haven't had any protein in 4 days so a Ms. Burger was in order. Best burger at the Fair. Juicy meat patty topped with deli-sliced ham. I allowed them to keep the mayo on it, too. SOOOO GOOD!! |
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| Helping Rob eat his fries from the Lions booth. They are the best regular fries we have found. Crispy on the outside, nice and potatoey on the inside. And perfect with ketchup. |
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| Ditched the octopus and had a NW Berries Smasher. I could truly have these drinks every day. And so far, I am! |
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| Today's milkshake special: Cherry with Ghirardelli Chocolate. It was as delicious as it sounds. Mmmmm! |
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| My neighbor Makayla made a fruit salad for a 4-H Kitchen Demonstration Project. Her mom was kind enough to text me when it was ready for sampling. This is me telling Makayla that her strawberries-blueberries-cream cheese- and-vanilla-coffee-creamer concoction is honestly REALLY tasty. It was refreshing and somewhat healthy but had that cream cheese and creamer thing going on to make it appropriately Fair Worthy. I have the best friends! Thanks for feeding me, Makalya! |
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| Still snacking on the White Cheddar kettle corn. The bag looks fuller than it really is. Sure is handy carrying this around for when I get snackish but don't want to stand in a line. |
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| Dinner! The North Carolina Dog from Dogville. It's a hot dog topped with coleslaw and BBQ sauce. I've had this in past years and this year it's even better. They upgraded the bun (much more chewy and fresh) and the dog tasted like it was an all-beef dog. Very tasty and not nearly as messy as I was fearing. |
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| Evening treat: a donut sundae from the new donut truck outside the food court next to the coffee kiosk. There were several small donuts in the bottom of the cup. Then vanilla soft serve ice cream, strawberries, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and another small donut as the cherry on the top. Rob and I shared this. Verdict: pretty good but not spectacular. I actually would probably enjoy the donuts by themselves better, or topped just with the strawberries. However, since we can't find Deluxe Elephant Ears on any menus (the place that had them burned down during the off-season), this might be the next best thing. |
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