i went with my parents to the fair tonight. my mom and i did well!
she won yet another best in show rosette for one of her vinegars--her sixth rosette. total of six blue ribbons and two red (second place) out of eight entries this year. she said the victory wasn’t quite as sweet without her friend gail there cursing at her.
i won first place for my apple butter, with tough competition. i don’t know how they judge. also took first for green tomato salsa, and third for both elderberry syrup and dried elderberries. my 3am jellies didn’t do anything. i knew they wouldn’t, they’re cloudy, but they taste complex and delicious and at least they set properly. after staying up all night to make them i felt obligated to enter.
my honeycomb socks took first place, and owl mittens got an honorable mention. not sure what you have to do to place in the knitted mittens category...the ones displayed below are so much better than mine, but they only got honorable mention too.
my ground cherries took first, five-tomato collection took second, turkish orange eggplants second, thai basil cuttings third, sage cuttings third, and white currant tomatoes third. chives and chiapas wild tomatoes didn’t place.
photography was kind of a let-down...two honorable mentions and a third place. there are always so many entries, so many awesome photos, and i have the hardest time picking which of mine to enter. i feel like i could’ve done a better job, but oh well.
we had great fun looking at all the exhibits. people make and grow some amazing stuff. i took away lots of inspiration and ideas, like:
i have to make one of these next year! they’re a little creepy actually...especially the one with bloody innards bulging from its eye sockets...and they remind me of mandrake root people…but still, cool! and not nearly as creepy as this thing:
here i am, aghast, horror-struck before this creature, this abomination, and this woman comes up to me.
enthusiastic lady: “isn’t she cute?”
me: “really? i…uh…it’s…so realistic.”
*clear throat*
*wander off, dumbfounded*
i wonder if the people who make “real dolls” for perverts and the people who make “reborn dolls” for otherwise disturbed individuals (and maybe perverts too, who knows) share the same human-simulation-realism technologies. normally i'm not a judger when it comes to sexual paraphilias and eccentric hobbies that don't harm other living beings, but i'm sorry, synthetic humans give me the willies. to each her/his own, more power to them and whatnot, but, wow. here’s a link to the website of the mad scientist who brought this bundle of nightmare to simulated life. enough photos of faux babies to pollute my dreams for days.
anyone else entering/entered things in your state fair this year?
