Typically Rob and I spend the last day of the Fair slowly wandering around the Fairgrounds, revisiting favorite displays and animals, having last treats, saying good-bye to friends. I’m always sad and wistful and grateful on the last day of Fair. And I’ve never made it back to Woodhaven without some tear stains on my t-shirt.
It’s a little different this year, but not entirely. The activities today were different but the emotions are much the same. I ended my Fair At Home surrounded by friends in the warm summer air as the sun set over our rural neighborhood. It was a great finish. And my t-shirt is mostly dry. Mostly.
Quarantine Life: The Musical
When I asked my neighbors last month if they would be interested in Fairing with me, I was blown away when Bonnie sent an email offering an outdoor musical performed by one of the premier youth theater groups in our county.
What?!?! YES!
Bonnie’s adult daughter, Annalisa, is one of the instructors for the theater group. With quarantine shutting down all performances, the kids were itching to have something to work on and an audience to perform for.
And thus the Driveway Troupe was born, with a one-night-only performance of their timely play “Quarantine Life: The Musical” scheduled as the Grand Finale for our Fair At Home. Is that awesome or what?
Neighbors started gathering in Tim and Karin’s expansive yard a little after 7:00pm, toting lawn chairs and beverages and grandchildren.
Annalisa introduced the play featuring six pre-teen and young teen performers. The play – set to pre-recorded music – was based on the kids’ experience of the past five months.
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| They are eager and available for more driveway performances until September 7! |
The 20-minute, 5-act play spanned the initial excitement of a seemingly endless summer vacation to the panic of running out of toilet paper to the crushing loneliness of being separated from friends to the mind-blowingly boring Zoom calls for school. It ended with hope and longing for the future when all this weirdness and distance is behind us.
It was funny, sad, poignant, and real. And far better than some performances we've seen in the Grandstands (The New Cars, anyone? Ugh.).
The kids did a fantastic job. They danced, they used props, they jumped in the air. All while wearing face masks and performing inside carefully spaced boundaries marked by tape on Tim and Karin’s driveway.
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| Dancing with toilet paper! Hysterical and perfect! We are living in such weird times. |
After the applause died down, Annalisa shared that the entire performance had been learned and practiced via Zoom. They had only gathered together in person for a total of 3.5 hours to rehearse as a group. That prompted a second round of applause.
Thank you, Annalisa! Thank you, Driveway Troupe! Thank you, Bonnie and Dennis! Thank you, neighbors! Sitting outside in lawn chairs surrounded by neighbors watching kids get to do something they have worked so hard at and love so much…well, that pretty much is THE definition of Fair.
My heart is so happy!
Hamster Obstacle Course
Several weeks ago, I learned that 12-year-old Karoline is the proud momma to a new hamster named Pocket. Karoline was trying to teach Pocket some tricks.
“You need to make an obstacle course for Pocket! For the Fair At Home!”
Apparently I am persuasive. Or my enthusiasm is contagious. Or Karoline is bored beyond tears. Either which way, I GOT TO WATCH A HAMSTER ROCK AN OBSTACLE COURSE!!
The cardboard course was impressive! Featuring a maze, a ladder, a balance beam, a water feature, a ball to push, a slide, and LOTS of hot glue, Karoline’s creation was definitely a blue-ribbon winner.
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| Karoline's dad is an engineer. I think it might be genetic. FANTASTIC construction and attention to detail. |
Pocket was all sorts of adorable. She was tiny and silky and soft. Her coat is currently black and silver striped, but in the winter her fur will reportedly turn white. Something about the colder temperatures and she being a “Winter White Hamster.” Dad offered to put Pocket in the freezer to verify this chromatic party trick; Karoline rolled her eyes. Dads are the best!
Click here to see Pocket finish her obstacle course with style
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| Isn't she just the cutest little thing?? Dawwwww!! |
Best Laid Plans
On Day 1 of the Fair At Home, my friend Shannon suggested we have a virtual Watermelon Eating Contest. It sounded like a hysterically messy challenge so I added it to the line-up.
Unfortunately, Shannon was the only one of my friends to sign up. Not much of a contest with only one contestant.
I reluctantly cancelled the contest, but Shannon loves watermelon…and competition…too much to let that get in the way. In a matter of hours, she wrangled her friend Raheli and Raheli’s 7-year-old daughter Ashlyn to join in a race to inhale half of a watermelon.
Yes. Half.
The original plan was to only eat 1/8 of a 10lb melon. But Shannon and Raheli are hard core and quadrupled the challenge.
You can watch the 15 minutes of juicy slurping here – it is quite entertaining. Don’t worry -- Shannon kindly ended the recording before any of the watermelon made a repeat appearance.
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| These gals were ALL IN. |
One of the benefits of doing the contest via Zoom was that the three ladies could talk to each other between bites. Some choice quotes to give you a flavor:
“I’m so glad I did my make-up for this.” -- Shannon with her face covered in watermelon
“This is very primal” – Raheli following the rules of not touching the watermelon with her hands
“This is SO GOOD!” -- Raheli with all sincerity as she was about half-way through her second slice
“I’m a MONSTER!” – Ashlyn as she dug into her second slice
“Do you have another hair tie, Mom?” – Ashlyn’s sibling off camera. “Busy.” – Raheli with her head bobbing in the watermelon like a chicken eating feed.
“So much water.” – Shannon. “We’ll be peeing quite nicely.” – Raheli
“I don’t think I considered this when I was eating breakfast.” – Shannon. “I fasted for this meal.” – Raheli
“I just had watermelon shoot out of my nose.” – Raheli
Thank you SO MUCH, Shannon and friends for joining in the spirit of Fairing At Home!! And thank you for not sharing the aftermath.
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| The pain was real at the end. And likely in the middle as well. And probably for several hours after. |
FAIR AT HOME STATS!
Today’s t-shirt: Today was the first time I have worn this shirt! I excitedly bought it at the Iowa State Fair last year, washed it, and carefully tucked it away in anticipation of wearing it proudly around the Clark County Fairgrounds. Next year!
Today’s earrings: Ferris Wheel, in honor of Rob’s and my traditional Last Evening Ferris Wheel Ride. Rides were one thing I just could not figure out how to replicate with Fairing At Home. The closest I got was when my friend Pam was telling me about how she trims sheep hooves. She places the sheep in a contraption call a “Tilt Table,” straps them in, and tilts the table sideways to allow easy pedicure access. When I eagerly said, “That sounds like a fun ride!” Pam blessedly saved me from myself, quickly explaining the table wasn’t easily accessible so I couldn't check it out. My back and my husband and my doctor thank you, Pam! To see a sheep get tilted, check out this video.
Today’s hand sticker: A slice of pepperoni pizza that is ready to duke it out. He looks tough…but is he tougher than yesterday’s Pissy Little Taco that stayed on until 9:58am this morning, finally crumbling amid a swirl of shampoo bubbles?
Time today’s hand sticker finally bit it: Clearly having it in for the Pissy Little Taco, the Lookin' For a Fight Pizza Slice is still hanging on strong. I suspect he will get the shampoo treatment tomorrow.
Number of steps walked: 4,897!! And all without any Durable Medical Equipment! I currently have an ice pack on my foot, but all is good. YAY!
UnFair food consumed: I ran out of bananas so no breakfast smoothie today, so it was a Kind Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter bar instead. Dinner was the delicious remains of Friday’s yakisoba noodles from Patrick’s.
Best House to Ditch Your Diet At: Tim and Karin’s daughters are 4-H bakers, among other things. Because you can’t have a play without snacks, Makayla and Karoline baked up a table of award-winning treats (all ribbon winners at past Fairs) for tonight's musical. I have only sampled the incredibly moist and potentially addicting Blueberry Zucchini Bread so far. SOOOO GOOOD!! They sent me home with a doggie bag of the other selections. I am so grateful I don’t have a doggie I feel obligated to share these with. I have the best neighbors!!
FAIR FOOD FEAST TREATS! |
| All about delicious safety! |
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| I don't like zucchini bread. At least I didn't think I did. WOW!! And the blueberries! So dangerous. |
Dollar Tree Corn Dogs
Desperate for a corn dog but too doggone tired to head to the other side of the county to check out a tavern reportedly offering them for Fair Week, I was excited to discover a frozen version at Dollar Tree yesterday. Branded “State Fair” corn dogs, they seemed a perfect consolation prize for the tasty ones at the Lion’s Booth in the Fair’s Food Court.
Verdict: The box came with two corn dogs I would put in the “smallish” category. But for 50 cents each, I would deem these corn dogs an unexpected winner! The hot dogs tasted like hot dogs and were much better than I feared I would get for four bits. The corn batter, while a little soft and mushy, was definitely acceptable. The dogs are small enough to fit in our little deep fryer, so that might be worth trying sometime in the winter. All in all, though, a nice surprise for 50 cents!
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| Just out of camera range: my third Smasher! This one was just straight lemonade, which I had never had from Stan before. It was very tart, which was a bit arresting at first but then I started to really enjoy it. It was a great companion on a hot little walk around the neighborhood. |
Fair At Home Corn Creation
On Day 7, my friend Tom suggested that my corn experiments really should have been Mexican Crema instead of mayonnaise. He described Mexican Crema as “kind of in between butter and sour cream.”
With two ears of corn and a half-full tub of sour cream left in the fridge, I decided to get super brave and experimental in the kitchen. Me! Cooking-ish!
Most of the recipes online for Mexican Corn told me to go buy crema, apparently available in a jar. Cotija cheese was mentioned, as was that chipotle chili powder stuff I never knew existed. When I head to the grocery store to replenish my bananas tomorrow, I’m definitely checking out the spice aisle.
With no enthusiasm to go the store today, I used what I had on hand and created my own Fair At Home Corn Concoction. GO ME!
I rubbed the cooked cob with some butter, then slathered on a nice coating of sour cream, and then sprinkled it with feta cheese crumbles since feta cheese sort of looks like cotija cheese. Later Googling suggested my tub of shredded parmesan would have been a better choice.
With no chipotle chili powder on hand, I considered my array of spice mixes that I like to use as condiments. Deeming “Slap Ya Mama” too Cajuny and “Cookies’ Flavor Enhancer” too Midwesterny, the clear choice for seasoning my lazy girl’s Mexican crema corn was Tajin…the chili limey stuff that tastes particularly good on fruit. I also had a bottle of lime juice on hand since that seemed to be a popular ingredient, too.
Verdict: For improvising and having no clue what I was doing, this corn experiment wasn’t bad! The sour cream was definitely better than mayonnaise. The feta was fun but it was too mild to add much. A saltier cheese, like parmesan or perhpas cotija (hey, there’s an idea!) would have been better. As for the Tajin, I liked it! But I wanted a little more heat, so maybe Slap Ya Mama would have been better.
The bottom line, though, is that I COOKED! Like, I didn’t follow a recipe and I used stuff I had lingering in my kitchen! Yes, it was only to top corn but hey, a kitchen-wary girl has to start somewhere.
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| I took off my glasses because I have learned from experience that corn juice on glasses requires much more than a t-shirt to clean. #ProfessionalFairGoer |
Not quite The End just yet
After I get some sleep and catch up on a few Life Matters, I will post one more blog to recap and reflect on the past ten days. And share the winners of a few other contests that happened this week. And pass along some recipes. Ok, maybe two more blogs.
I will say it again soon, but I want to thank you so very much, my fellow Fair Fan, for reading along, commenting, commiserating, laughing… for Fairing…with me. It has been an absolute blast.
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