Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The State Fair

I started the weekend off with a trip to Terra Firma. As I like to say, "all roads lead to Terra Firma", since more than once, while out and about, I found myself turning onto Reisterstown Road and heading in that direction! This is Bill Rinker, the awesome owner. You can't go there and expect to be in and out in 10, even 20 minutes! Plan at least an hour, because you will be sure to run into someone you haven't seen for ages, or find a book or tool you can't do without! The new bead room (I say new, but it has been a year, I think!) always has something new, and I am hard-pressed to just get ONE thing! If you haven't been, check out http://www.tfeinc.biz/ for directions.

Saturday brought the Baltimore Bead Society Annual Board of Directors Pot Luck/meeting to start planning for our new year starting with the September meeting. Nancy, our fearless leader, was also our hostess and great food and lively discussion ensued. We have some great programs planned and will be having another Winter Bead Show in January, so keep your calendar free the weekend of January 17th & 18th - last year was a blast, and this year will be even better!

Sunday my BFF David and I went to the State Fair. I had a hard time deciding which pictures to post, there are so many great animals and other candid shots...I was a little distracted and did miss out on some as I think back on it! Dept. of Natural Resources had their new Scales and Tails exhibit hall open and this red tail hawk was featured outside.

I always try to get there in time for the chicken and bunny shows, and as usual, there were some fabulous chickens. It's hard to decide which is my favorite, but I am drawn to the Dominique, one of the older breeds. I did get a pic of this amazing gal, not a Dominique, but with the fuzziest white feathers - more like fur, actually!

The "petting zoo" is a crowd favorite, and those darn little rugrats kept getting in my way! (just kidding!) But I did quack at the duck and had the most majestic Llama pose just for moi!
















Last but not least, we passed the track just as another race was starting, and watched some beautiful thoroughbreds strut their stuff. It was David's FIRST horse race! The speed and power of those horses just makes my heart flutter! At the Timonium track you can stand right at the rail, even chat with the jockeys as they amble by winding their way around to the starting gate. Very "up close and personal", charming, really. It is amazing how perfectly groomed they are as they go by to the gate, and one mile, and a few minutes, later, yuck! more dirt and mud caked on horse and rider than you can imagine! ...and it was a dry track!

1 comment:

Kim said...

I am so glad I looked at your blog and websites, they are lovely! I love the fair too, and the animals are my favorite part. I won't lecture about the races, but I rode extensively in my (mis-spent) youth and hated the way the horses were treated... same for greyhounds... but I really love the hawk pic. I am about 2/3ds through the alpaca cria fleece. I have way too much fiber too, but still love to buy it. I must spin more though...