Community Fair, take two

Fall, of course, isn't just about football and tailgating.  Fall is also about beautiful foliage, plentiful harvests, and community fairs.  Last month we attended the Chelsea Community Fair, and September is when Saline traditionally takes its turn at displaying its seasonal bounty, including champion steer, large melons, and crazy carnies, all of which were also available last month in Chelsea.  Saline, however, does have one major thing going for it over Chelsea, and that's Preschoolers' Day.  While at the Chelsea Fair it took a small fortune for an evening of entertainment, today at the Saline Fair Preschoolers' Day it took all of seventeen dollars, and that considerable sum got us in to see the animals, the produce, and the carnies, and also included a one hour concert by Gemini (our favorite!), lots of tot type games, and all the rides a toddler could care to enjoy.  Since the weather cooperated we were able to enjoy all of the above.  The Percheron stallions were my favorite animal, I think, while Calvin enjoyed one particular goat, and Gram seemed to enjoy those noisy, feathery roosters.  Gemini was a huge hit, of course, to the point that the woman in front of us asked if Calvin had the CD at home, since he obviously knew all the songs by heart.  As for the rides?  We happened to know, from the small fortune spent in Chelsea, that those would be a hit, and he's never been one to disappoint.  This one goes in the books as a real gem of an event.  Too bad it only comes once a year.

There's no sugar in wooden eggs

Halloween, that sugar laden pinnacle of the child's fall calendar, has come and gone, blessed by the orange rays of a miraculously warm fall sun. We're holiday fans here, and Halloween is no exception, so after breakfast we packed up and headed into Ann Arbor for the costume parade and trick-or-treating along Main Street.  Calvin chose his own costume this year (from an array of offered ideas, of course), opting to be a scarecrow - the easiest (and cheapest) home cooked costume ever: I got a number of fabric swatches from my godmother, Lonnie, and used thick thread and large stitches to put patches on a $2 resale shirt; for his head, a $1 straw hat to which I added ribbon from my craft collection and a couple of additional patches; and for the icing on the costume cake I added handfuls of straw (from the farm down the road) to his sleeves and hat. He was pretty excited about the costume, and everyone else seemed to enjoy it, but he was nervous about approaching strangers to say trick-or-treat.  The candy collecting process, however, was a big hit. In fact, having made rounds in both Ann Arbor and later in our own neighborhood, he came away with copious amounts of candy, none of which we thought he needed to eat. In the end we made a deal with him and he traded in all of the candy he collected (which we promptly passed back out to kids at our own door) for the opportunity to pick out a new toy. Therefore, today, instead of a sugar rush, he has a brand new carton of wooden eggs for his kitchen, with which he is at least equally as happy (the toy lasts longer anyhow) and we are much happier.  I think next year we will be the dreaded house in the neighborhood that passes out raisins.

More pictures in the Halloween 2008 album.

When toddlers dress themselves...

Fall Leaves Fall

By Emily Jane Brontë

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night’s decay
Ushers in a drearier day.

The joys of fall

Pumpkin patches, hay rides, hot drinks, stews, cider mills, and doughnuts, just to name a few. Fall is my favorite time of year and my list of favorite things during this season could rival even Julie Andrews. Even this morning's bright white frost, which made me move my morning run indoors to the treadmill, brought a smile to my face. That's what a crisp fall day is all about. So we spent this crisp fall day (which, at nearly 60 degrees, wasn't all that crisp later in the afternoon) taking in the many joys of this rich season. The first three, and more, we covered this morning at Wing Farms (the same place where we picked up all of our free rocks this summer!) with a farm animal visit, a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, and hot cider with fresh doughnut to warm up. Calvin, who is going to be a fall lover like his mom, enjoyed every bit of it, even the rough kisses he received from Champ, who, incidentally, was the cow who taught him to moo this time last year - the only real word he was saying at the time (I double checked my dates on that one - could it really have been only a year ago??? Yes). Both Champ and Calvin are much bigger now, and possibly equally more vocal! We came home from that excursion toting two bundles of corn stalks, a bale of hay, and two pumpkins, all of which now grace our festive front porch.

And after a refreshing afternoon nap (for Calvin, that is, since Jon and I spent that time weeding gardens and spreading 2 cubic yards of mulch) we climbed back in the car and headed to Spicer's Orchard in Fenton to meet with old friends, John and Ashley, and their two boys. Spicer's didn't have a Champ, but they did have a "train ride" (think hay ride, only the wagon looks like a train), a big (and messy) sandbox, and really, really good pies. Since fall is also about warm homes and warm hearts, we ended the evening with great company, great dinner, and one of the aforementioned great pies.  Our friends' oldest son, Noah, is only seven months older than Calvin and the two of them played together wonderfully, even well past their bedtimes, allowing us adults to share some stories, some laughs, and some wine before calling it a night.  Yes, fall is one of my favorite things.