“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It Goes On.”
Robert Frost

Friday, September 8, 2017

A Look Back at the MN State Fair

Hey Our Minnesota State Fair has a gopher for a mascot ......
With his striped jacket and his jaunty straw hat, Fairchild the gopher is a bouncy, furry representative of the Minnesota State Fair. He became the Fair's official mascot in 1966, which means he's celebrating his 51st birthday at this year's Great Minnesota Get-Together. I had no idea until this year that he had a name.


Fairchild back in the early years with red stripes. Sometime they changed the stripes to green...? No clue why.

Did you ever see the play or movie "State Fair", maybe the lyrics below will jog your memory....

State Fair
Our State Fair is a great state fair
Don't Miss it don't even be late
(our state fair is great)
It's dollars to doughnuts at our state fair
It's the best state fair in the state
-chants-
OUR STATE FAIR IS A GREAT STATE FAIR IS A GREAT IS A GREAT IS A GREAT STATE FAIR HEY!!
Source 







Seriously though, our state fair IS A GREAT STATE FAIR! We got there bright and early and visited the animal barns. It had been a few years since we'd done that. It was fun but always a bit smelly! I didn't take that many photos as we were in and out pretty quickly.







Had to get a picture of this adorable bunny though!






The  poultry were fabulous and very noisy! We also checked out the sheep and horse barns. Then we needed some refreshment, fresh squeezed lemonade!!




Next we checked out the Creative Arts building for all the prize winning entries. The food was gorgeous! Arranged by type and even color. Cakes and more cakes, and muffins, cookies, breads, pies, jam, and oils.. wow!

























I love how the preserves and oils and vinegars were back-lit so they shown like jewels!


After all this marching around I needed a pick-me-up.  The maple creme nitro coffee did the trick.  You notice it was half gone before I thought of taking a picture!!




Then we had lunch, Tipsy Pies! We ordered two and my husband and I split them. We loved the Boozy Blueberry Lemon and the Onion Gouda! No pictures, we tore into those and well it just wasn't pretty, but it was delicious!!

After we listened to free music in one of the many park/stage venues we were ready to venture back into the Creative Arts building for more cool stuff!!





The button dress amazed me.  I can't imagine sewing all those on, and oh my I bet that it's heavy!



This is adorable, a hand crocheted tea set! It folds up into a tote bag! Maybe for your picnic tea party!



There were many beautiful quilts and of course lots of cute stuff like the crocheted animals below!




Well that's it folks! Thanks for joining me at our state fair!



The pretty dahlia above is in my garden right now. We still have a beautiful month of flowers ahead before the leaves all fall. Hope you have had a wonderful summer.

I'll be around to visit soon! ~~ Diane

Friday, July 7, 2017

Lazy Days of Summer

Summer Days are made for Flea Markets and Tag Sales! Early summer is a great time to get out and enjoy the warm weather and pick up a few treasures whilst getting a bit of exercise too! Here are a few gems I've picked up over the last month.



Wouldn't you feel like a Queen sipping out of this gorgeous Yellow Tea Cup and Saucer? It's a 1950's set by Royal Sealy China. Japanese tea cup set in iridescent luster-ware finish. The tea cup is footed with a yellow and white iridescent finish trimmed in gold. Both the tea cup and the saucer are faceted. The tea cup has 3 geometric gold feet. Wonderful Art Deco style!





Are you old enough to remember these? Found this lovely vintage Set of 4 Metal Snack/Lap Trays. They are Green & Yellow with lithographed roses and leaves. Beautiful bright colors with red and cream colored roses. They're chippy and shabby and perfect for your French cottage, farmhouse, or cabin decor.

They remind me of those days long ago when we kids could grab a sandwich and chips and park ourselves on the floor in front of the TV on Sunday night and watch Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.

I just found this vintage 1962 park map of Disneyland in a box of books that I picked up at an estate sale last year.  Someone from California snapped it up from my shop within a week!




Of course when I think about my time as a kid, I always think of my Mom.  I found this black and white photo of her taken when she was about 6 years old. I played around with the Pixlr photo editor to get the results below. She had the most beautiful captivating eyes.


Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and you're ready
 to take on those Lazy Days of Summer!

See you soon!
Diane