Thank you for coming to the St. Croix County Fair

We just got back from my family reunion in Baldwin, Wisconsin. It was a lot of fun to see all my aunts, uncles and cousins, and Larry got to meet them for the first time. This is probably a good time to mention that we got engaged about a month ago, so everyone was asking him lots of questions, congratulating us, etc. And of course they all loved him, because really, who doesn't like Larry?

My cousin Jennah was showing her horse at the county fair, so we went over on Saturday and Sunday to watch her and check out the fair. Larry had never been to a county fair, and I hadn't been to one in several years, so we had to go through ALL of the buildings (even the smelly ones), see the exhibits and eat lots of fair food. We took my cousins Brooke and Luke along on Sunday and checked out the rides and games. Word of advice--never ride the Tilt-a-Whirl directly after eating a corndog and deep-fried cheese curds. Trust me on this!

Here are some of my favorite photos from the fair:


Deep fried cheese curds, a Wisconsin specialty


Jennah and Izzy


SO cute!


Brooke and Luke on the Tilt-a-Whirl


Aww, so dainty.


The best slogan ever

It's a slow news day

This summer is the speediest yet--how did it get to be the end of July? This is how I know I'm getting older...not only does EVERY month seem to go by with lightning quick speed, but I think I've written "how did it get to be (insert time of year here) already" in at least 4 other blog posts. Those of you who know me won't be surprised that I'm repeating myself, but this is excessive even by my standards. Oh well--another pleasure of getting older is that I just don't care enough to stop doing it.

I don't really have anything else interesting to say until next week, so I'll end here with a few fun photos that I've been wanting to put up for a while.



My very first lattice crust pie (pre-oven)--strawberry rhubarb with homemade crust, thank you very much. Although the real thanks must go to Christine for her foolproof pie crust recipe.




Larry is always finding new ways to amuse himself on the long (carpool) commute home.




Unbelievably, Zach likes to sleep this way...




...and Nigel just wants to be left alone.

Goodbye, Bubbles

Beverly Sills passed away this week at the age of 78. Not only was she an amazing singer who introduced opera to much of mainstream America, she also directed the New York City Opera for several years and later became chairwoman of the Metropolitan Opera. She will most definitely be missed. You can read her New York Times obituary here.

Another opera singer, the French soprano Regine Crespin, passed away today at the age of 80. You can read her obituary here. My favorite story about her is this tidit (from the NYT obit):

"Recalling her performances at the Met with the powerhouse tenor Franco Corelli in 'Tosca' and Massenet’s 'Werther,' she said he was convinced that eating raw garlic before a performance was good for the voice. But when they sang duets, Corelli would regularly burp. She learned to adjust, Ms. Crespin said."

Further proof that opera singers are a crazy bunch... (and I say this as a member of that bunch, though I don't think I could stomach raw garlic!)

Blah blah blah.

It's been ages since my last post and may be a bit before I have time to write another "real" post, meaning one where I don't just whine about how I'm too busy to post. But seriously, between choir rehearsals 3 days a week, teaching my harmony class once a week, out-of-town guests and the summer barrage of sporting events, I have had almost no spare time. And the spare time I have had was devoted to reading my book club book, which by the way I heartily recommend--it's Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time, about the Great American Dust Bowl. Don't be fooled by the 300 page length, which I thought would be an easy summer read. It's incredibly dense but fascinating and you won't want to skip a paragraph, so don't be like me and only give yourself a week to read it, or you will find yourself staying up late and getting up early to ensure that you finish it before everyone comes over because how embarassing would it be to not finish the book when you're the host?!?

Ahem.

Anyways, I have some fun things I really want to write about, like our AMAZING culinary experience at The Herbfarm or the fabulous Feist show we went to a week and a half ago. Plus I have a couple of delicious summer recipes to share. So stay tuned...hopefully next week I'll find some time to sit down and write something worth reading!