PNE

We went to the PNE on Monday. Fiona and her friend Shannon sang in the Talent Show semi-finals. Another performer won, and will move on to the Finals. Shannon and Fi still feel great about making it, and about their performance. They're at the bottom of the age class, and pitched musical theatre against a magician, a jazz dancer, a rock band, a classical pianist and a jazz singer with a band (the winner). We're very proud of them.

After the talent show, Andy stowed the costumes and gear in our car, and we went off to explore the PNE. The girls and their friends went off in one direction and we in another, with an agreement to meet at a central location later in the evening.

Andy and I went with the singing teacher and Shan's parents to the "Marketplace," the building where you can buy everything from massage chairs to cheap watches to fudge to laser teeth whitening (on the spot!). Elaine, the teacher, asked us to help her look at a garment steamer machine to replace the one she currently has for shows and festivals. We got the full demo and sales pitch, which is a performance in itself. Elaine will be back a couple times to cheer for other students in the show, so she didn't buy today, but may later.

After that, Andy and I explored on our own. We decided to do things that we don't do when we're with the kids. The fair was uncharacteristically un-crowded, probably because it was a rainy/sunny Monday. We waltzed right into the PNE prize home without lining up. It's a nice house. You can buy lottery tickets to try to win it. After the fair, they put it on a barge and install it on a lot in Sechelt. We talked about the logistics of having a house in Sechelt. Would we move? use it for weekends? rent it out? sell it? It's nice to imagine a problem like that. It does come with a powerboat, so we could commute, I suppose.

We also looked at the home improvement building, but it looked too much like the marketplace, so we didn't stay long. We didn't go to the Superdogs for a change, but it turned out that the girls did. And they got called to the middle of the arena to do the macarena, and when the host saw their Talent Show souvenir t-shirts, he made them sing their song to the crowd, which is usually pretty big even on a slow day. They got to judge the dogs too. So then we wished we'd been there, but that's okay.

In the meantime, I called Alex to check in. He had been asleep when we left. I called at 4:30, 5pm, 6pm, and left messages. Now I was starting to worry. Usually he wakes up at 2:30. Finally at 7:15 I phone my neighbour Cathy and asked her to go to our house and check, and make some noise to try to wake him. She arrived to find Alex wide awake and laughing about his worry wart mom. He had slept for 12 hours, what's the big deal? I was relieved!

We grabbed some supper from the vendors (smokey for Andy, samosas for me) and sat down for part of the Pointer Sisters concert. They sound and look like they have taken very good care of themselves and their voices. It was a good show. Then we wandered off to see the late show of the high divers. By that time we were tired of sitting on the grass, so we hung back and enjoyed a bench down the roadway a bit. The high dive show is goofy and slapstick, and apparently there's a "cute diver" but we were too far back to know it. The girls enjoyed the show so much they saw it twice.

We had heard that mama pig gave birth to her litter overnight, so we visited the barns and admired the many animals raised by 4H kids. Then we found the pig and piglets. Mama had been sleeping all day, after labouring all night. Six babies were born, and five survived. The babies were about 8 pounds each. One was walking around already. They were very cute.

Outside the barn we found the girls. Together we watched the "Toon Time" parade (they have two friends performing in it) and left for home soon after that. It was a good day at the fair.

question: have you been yet this year?

mompoet - glad I went