This past weekend my husband, myself and two of our best friends set out to explore the Puyallup Fair.  This is “the big one”, as fairs go in this part of the country and the experience is as much about the thrill-seeking rides and packed performance schedule as it is about the exhibits.  For me?  Not so much…

It was a beautiful day - blue, blue skies and warm temperatures; just the September we deserve here in the Pacific Northwest before dark gloom and impending rain descend on us in the coming months.  None of us had visited the Fair in quite some time.  I think my son was an infant the last time I was there!  Now he has facial hair!!! 

It was with great anticipation that we set out to explore classic fair standards… Miracle creams for dry skin, cookware that just about makes dinner for you, foot soaks and teeth whitening, wondrous chamois, kitchen mops and jewelry cleaners.  Deals on new windows for your house, tractors for your lawn(?!?) and questionable appliances that will grant you every leisure.  It was all a bit much, and before long it felt like my head was going to explode.  Although I’ll admit they had me with the fancy food mill - until I saw the price!!!

As the day progressed and the crowds grew in number, things took on an even more hectic air.  I ask you -why do they even offer those noise-making horns?  What says “country fair” about their screech…and WHY do parents cave in an buy them for little ones???  They know they’re only going to blow them incessantly!!!  I’ll take the call of the “Carney” vendors any day.  That food mill was really, really cool… 

We escaped to the barns and grange exhibits and there we discovered the heart of the fair still beats warmly.  Lumbering dairy cows contentedly chewed their cud as their 4H handlers brushed them, braided their tails and refreshed their sweet hay.  Those eyelashes and big brown eyes were enough to win me over to country life…on the cows, not the 4H kids, who tended to be somewhat tough looking and well, high school-like; heavy makeup, baggy jeans and tight sweaters.  But dedicated affection and commitment to their animals shone through their worldly ennui. I adore my highly capable and responsible children but I just don’t see them maintaining the necessary and routine care of large barnyard animals!  Feeding the cat on an irregular basis is considered a chore.

My favorite moments of the day?  Well, the teeny, tiny, oh-so-pink, 2 day old, piglets were a riot and we saw some quilts that were truly humbling in their craftsmanship.  Hint: one of the titles was “OCD isn’t always a bad thing”.  We perused displays of jams, jellies, pickles and jarred meats, as well as slices of pie, cake, brownies and something called “cereal bars”.  But at the end of the day it was the vegetable displays that won my heart, closely followed by the floral exhibits.  The colors, textures and utter variety was staggering and to me represented the daily devotion and countless hours invested by honest gardeners up against whatever the season was dishing out. 

So, leaving nothing but footsteps and taking nothing but pictures (and a certain caloric load!!!) here are my snapshots from our day at the Puyallup Fair.

a veritable rainbow of veggies!

award winning flowers!!

It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look.  To affect the quality of the day - that is the highest of arts.”  Henry David Thoreau

I must have been desperate for a change of scenery because a couple of weeks ago, at the last minute I joined my husband, son and a couple of other brawny teenaged boys for a trip to Crankworx, a once a year world class competition of mountain biking’s best and brightest (?!?) involving death-defying mountain runs, truly suicidal stunt jumps, dust, blood and pain.  While my boys were mostly observers, every time they suited up in their protective gear, helmet, gloves, pads and body armor and set off on their bikes for a little audience participation I got a wee anxious.  By definition: if you have to wear something called “body armor” it’s too dangerous for your mother to watch.  Fortunately it was impossible to pick out my loved ones amidst the 20,000 or so people  on the mountain.  Mostly I just scanned the walking wounded on crutches and wheel chairs, wrapped like mummies and braced in slings to see if my anxiety was for naught.  Me, I was just along for the weekend at beautiful Whistler Mountain, loads of reading and lots of relaxing.  Did I mention that it was 34 Celcius?  Hot -  very, very, hot.

Saturday, in an effort to escape the stifling heat, the above mentioned crowds and our (unexpectedly, non-air conditioned)condo my husband and I took a gondola and then a chairlift to 7,000 feet.  Ah, somewhat cooler.  The blindingly bright sun was intense and the landscape was magnificent!  Among the fields of wildflowers I saw lupin, penstemon, creeping phlox, tiny yellow aquilegia and others I couldn’t even begin to identify.  It’s humbling to be in nature and realize that most of my horticultural knowledge (and I can bore most people to tears!) is strictly limited to ornamental and domesticated plants.

Along a rugged path along the ridge of the peak we came upon a series of small cairns, a traditional alpine trail marker to indicate safe passage.  I smiled.  Even here in the  midst of NATURE (writ large) - snowy peaks, miles of view and beautiful forests - someone had found a way to leave a mark, indicate their presence and intimately participate with this magnificent landscape.

A milky turquoise alpine lake was so cold I expected it to be viscous.  With my head in the blazing sun and my ankles freezing to the point of numbness I figured I was getting a cardio workout just standing there.    Little kids played in the remaining slushy snow fields (did you know that the pink cast on the remaining patches of summer snow indicate the presence of a fresh water algae that thrives in low temperatures?  It’s commonly called “watermelon snow“, and apparently gives off a slight melon-like fragrance.

An impressive number of hikers of all ages were out enjoying the day and escaping the heat and crowds, not to mention the blood and danger, on the mountain below.  The hardcore could be identified by their boots, walking sticks and the fact that they were coming UP the slopes while us day trippers - in sandles and a skirt - were headed DOWN the trail.  It’s not as easy as it sounds!  My poor 40*cough* knees were screaming with pain as I minced down the last few hundred feet to the lodge for a much deserved lunch and a cold beer!

…better than a superstition, almost a religion, the lily of the valley is celebrated on the first of May.

-  Colette, Flowers and Fruit, United States: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc., 1986, edited by Robert Phelps

H.L.Mermod, a clever Swiss publisher, approached Colette in 1947 with the following proposition - “Once or twice a week,”…”I’ll send you some flowers.  When one of the bouquets inspires you, you’ll sketch its portrait, and after a year or so, we’ll make a little book.”  The result was Pour un Herbier, Mermod, 1948, portions of which are included in Flowers and Fruit.

Nice gig, don’t cha think?!?  Happy May Day…give flowers.