We took a trip to New Hampshire in September 2007 and have such wonderful memories that I want to document it before I begin to forget things! Since it will be a large project, I will take it in small(ish) bites.

We stopped in New York on the way up. Fortunately, it was uneventful, although the potential was there, like when Mike left the car unlocked with all our belongings in it when we parked and walked several blocks to a restaurant (he RAN back, just before the entrees arrived). AND we walked in Central Park after dark (talk about living dangerously)! Proof below:


I haven’t been to a fair in years, and it was so exciting to go to the Rochester Fair on opening night! Mmmmmm....the smells - fried dough, pizza, pigs, goats, lions, sawdust, sweat, french fries. We walked along the midway, breathing that intoxicating air, marveling at the sight of all the little children dressed and made up like teenagers (times sure have changed), and enjoying the sensory overload of noise, lights, music and odors.

At the entrance to the harness racing area sat an old blind man, playing an accordian with an empty soup can attached for tips. My husband remembered that the very same man was in the same place every year when he was a kid, AND later we found out that my mother-in-law also remembered him from when she was a child.

We met hubby's folks in the grandstand, where we sipped lemonade and munched on fried dough. Mike knew right where to go. I asked him how he knew where they'd be, and he told me that they had been sitting in the same area of the grandstand every year since he was a little kid. Now there are only a few of the family left. Mike's dad, uncle and aunt were all that came that evening, and mixed with the nostalgia that they felt was a marked sadness that time had marched on and a tradition that had covered three generations was ending. But they laughed and chatted and placed their $2 bets, and Grampy suppressed his normally exuberant cheering and yelling so that he would not embarrass his dear granddaugher!

I think my favorite part was walking through the farm animal pens. Four-horned sheep (who knew?), cute little chicks, baby pigs (and some HUGE porkers, too) and big-eyed cows all on display for us city folks to admire. I daydream about living on a farm, a highly idealized version, that is.

My fantasy of farm living includes that wonderful thatch-roofed farmhouse in the movie Babe and a gaggle of cutie-pie animals that take care of their own meals, hygiene and surroundings. Gardens would flourish, vegetables would can themselves, the sun would shine every day and rain would fall every night!

Here are a couple of eye-catching signs:

The evening made a wonderful memory for all of us. Funny how ordinary things like pigs, lemonade and family can make extraordinary experiences.