I considered writing this post on Tuesday morning, however I anticipate being in a bit of a food coma by then, so it seems safer to do it now.  Lucky you!  Also, I suppose I could actually make this work related by letting you all know that both Lola & Emily shops will be closed on Labour Day Monday.  Phew.  Now I have legitimately earned my pay. 

So…

It’s Labour Day weekend, and that means a couple of different things for me…

1) It’s my Mom’s birthday, and depending on whether she has done her first big Lola & Emily shop yet, it will be the difference between my having a whole store full of sweaters that she will love to choose from for her gift, or actually having to look outside of these four walls for an appropriate present. As it happens, she came in on Tuesday and did a sweep of the store, stocking up on amazing Ca Va de Soi sweaters, a couple of pairs of shoes, a Something Else jacket and a couple of little gifts. So, thanks, Mom. Now I have nothing to give you. That’s not true, actually. After she had spent a good deal of money here, I basically threw a scarf at her and told her it was her “gift with purchase/birthday present”.  Anyhow, happy birthday Mom!  I love you more than I can tell you, and yes, that scarf was your birthday gift.  I am THE BEST DAUGHTER.  Actually, I am. My sister used to give my Mom whatever she had won playing Bingo at the Big Brome Fair a couple of hours before her birthday dinner…

Which leads me to…

 2) The Big Brome Fair. This is a Labour Day tradition for me and everyone that I grew up with in Knowlton. My God. We used to literally spend Friday night through until Monday afternoon here.  Although a good deal of that time was spent plotting how we were going to sneak in without paying.  In hindsight, I’m not sure the 2 hour trek through the bog and cemetary, rounded out with some covert ninja style rolling, diving and ducking behind rocks in people’s backyards was really worth saving that $10, but we were young and had time on our hands.  These days, I admit that I am lucky if I can make it through a full hour there. 

First, and most importantly, because I’m not 15 anymore.  I know, I know… that’s hard for some of you to believe, but it’s true.  Basically, that means that the rides don’t really appeal to me because they are either for kids under the age of 10 or SO sketchy looking that I choose to stay away.  We used to joke that the Zipper ride there was held together by a tic tac and an elastic band… and then it came out that it was actually pretty much held together by a piece of duct tape, and was shut down.  I may be making that up, but it’s not there anymore, and that is the ONLY reasonable explanation I can come up with.  I mean, seriously.  Does this look safe to you?  And now that the Zipper is gone, this other ride has popped up and let’s be frank… that looks pretty sketch too.  It’s basically a combination of the Spider, that Umbrella ride and the Teacups… and would probably not end well.

 

Next, I am quite severely allergic to many different animals, including horses and hay… so a walk through the stables and barns is pretty much a recipe for disaster for me.  I mean, there are always the bird barns, but really… ew.  No offense to birds or poultry lovers… but ew.

Finally, all the crap that is sold there either used to be MUCH better crap, or my taste has evolved.  It’s hard to say which is the truth, really, because I remember we always used to buy these little clips that had feathers and beads on the end of them and put them in our hair… turns out they were ‘roach clips’ but we didn’t know any better.  I haven’t seen any of those there in the last 10 years, and while perhaps you would interpret that as there being better crap now, you would be wrong, because I would TOTALLY buy colourful feather roach clips, and wear them in my hair, today.  Riiight?

Now don’t get me wrong, I do love seeing my nephews and niece and all my friends’ kids just SO excited about the fair, but really, only for  a little while. 

Like when we get our airbrush tattoos…

Or when they are crawling all over the tractors…

Or playing with giant inflatable hammers…

Otherwise, here is the sum total of how I will spend my time at the BBF (Big Brome Fair) this weekend:

Start off with some mini donuts. Then corn. Build up my appetite again by getting an airbrush tattoo.  Lunch, which will no doubt be a combination of poutine, bloomin’ onion, and burgers.  Next troll the crappy merchandise stalls in search of roach clips.  Followed by perusing the mini baking contest winners.  And finishing it all up with… you guessed it… more mini donuts.  Which is only fitting after looking at all the mini baking… but also makes the donuts seem more ‘regular’ size, less ‘mini’… see?

Right there in the bottom center of the pic?  Those mini donuts are like the size of my thumbnail.  Whereas the mini donuts that we actually buy to eat are like the size of a Ritz cracker.  Not so mini or fun anymore.  Now they’re just donuts.  But I will still eat them.

And now my one hour is up.  And even if I didn’t have a watch, I would know that the time was up because my tummy is upset, I have a wicked 5″ tiger tattoo on my forearm, as well as a slight tickle in my throat coupled with itchy eyes because of all the livestock milling about, and have sent and received about 35 text messages from friends and family all of which pretty much say “I’m at the mini donut stand.  Where are you?”  Now that is a tradition worth keeping.  See you at the BBF!

Filed under:
Animals and other cute stuff, Dave, Mom and other people we love, Delicious, Events, Weekend by Marnie