the county fair

Our county fair has been the high point of my summer for nearly a decade.

It smells of dust and dry heat and leather, tastes of greasy curly fries and Pepsi, and sounds of creaking saddles and laughter and animal calls. We get up at 4:30 AM to clean stalls, sweep alleys, and wash lambs for the first two days; after that, we get to “sleep in” until 6 or 7.

It’s hard to describe if you haven’t been there and done it. It’s definitely the type of thing that anyone who doesn’t love it will hate. Even those of us who love it have our not-so-thrilled moments (like when the neighboring campers’ generator runs all night, or it happens to be the hottest day of the summer so far), but all in all, it’s a pretty awesome place to be.

One of my favorite things is watching the grand entry of the rodeo. I get chills watching the flag carried around the arena on horseback during the National Anthem. And I love, love, love roping. Breakaway, tie-down, team roping—in any form, it’s one of those things that I’ve always wanted to be able to do.

Bull dogging is pretty cool, too, but it’s not something I have any desire to do.

I just love it there. A lot of days, I could do without the sheep showing part, but it would be hard to miss the rodeo events and the cattle work. I love that stuff. Someday, I want to be in it.

In addition to my lambs, I entered 30 photos and received four awards:

top of show – youth open class

I did these photos as a series.

 top of show – 4-H

lot champions – youth open class

So another county fair has passed. They all go with a tinge of melancholy, but this one more than the others because there is a definite possibility that I won’t be participating in next year’s. As my grandma often says, “This getting old is for the birds!” :)

PS: My Windows Live Writer, which I usually use to construct and publish blog posts, isn't working... so posting could be a little erratic for awhile. :(

red, white, and blue

Happy Independence Day! This week’s “I heart faces” challenge is non-judged, so I can post as many pictures as I like :). The theme is, of course, red, white, and blue—although I think the pictures would have fit just as well with a theme like “The Wizard of Oz”! I’m going to give you the full continuation of this post.


Red shoes, blue checked dress, and a red bow. :)


Not to mention Amy’s little red bike.





I had way too much fun with this… but I’m pretty sure Amy had even more!

favorite photo from june

Not a really easy theme for this week’s Little Somethings challenge… but a good opportunity to whet your appetites (again) with a picture from yesterday’s “red shoes” photo shoot. Full post coming next week. :)


Difficult decision, but I think this really is my favorite. :) I'd love to know which June picture you like best!

 One more to link up with Black and White Wednesday. :)

whimsy

I honestly had to look that word up when I decided to enter this week’s “I heart faces” challenge. I had an idea of the meaning, but wasn’t totally, concretely sure if I had it right. I think I had it about half right.

whim·sy

   [hwim-zee, wim-] –noun, plural -sies.
1. capricious humor or disposition; extravagant, fanciful, or excessively playful expression.
2. an odd or fanciful notion.
3. anything odd or fanciful; a product of playful or capricious fancy.

(thanks to dictionary.reference.com)

So, going from definition #1, here’s my picture for this theme:

(more to come, hopefully :))

Do you think that fits?

snow on the mountain

 

Not literally… although Mt. Adams does have an above-average quantity of snow right now for this time of year. What I really mean is these teeny white flowers, which go by the name “snow on the mountain.”

Linking the above photo to this week’s Little Somethings photo challenge. The theme is macro. :)

wednesday

Bloggers really seem to have fun with Wednesdays. So many link-ups and photo challenges occur here, in the smack-dab middle of the week, on the day with the weird name. I always have to mentally sound it out when I spell it, because nobody (that I know of) really says Wed-nes-day. It’s more like Wendsday. Kinda like February is usually said Febuary. Right?

Anyway. I decided to join in on some of the fun, if for no other reason than to give myself a blog topic. :)

First off: Lovely Photo Wednesday at Aspire.

I thought this sheet music looked cool… it’s a Keith Green song that my brothers and sister like to play. :)

Next, the weekly Little Somethings photo challenge. This week’s theme is “little.”


And finally— “what I’m loving” Wednesday at littledaisymay.blogspot.com. I think this is kind of cool because it puts me in a positive mindset, thinking about things that I am happy about instead of things to stress about.

I’m loving that I have finished my 4 hideous British Literature 205 finals! I even kept my grade a shade over 100% in the class. Now I’m free!!!

I’m loving that I can now run 3.1 miles.

I’m loving the awesomeness of seeing my brother’s mechanical engineering graduation this weekend AND spending a few days at my best friend’s house!!!!

I’m loving the view from our living room window. I think I fall in love with it over again every time I see it:

What about you??