Had a very nice day out with the kids yesterday. As always, it took us a little while to get out of the house. Making sure that everyone has a book to read in the car, that we have some CDs that we all can agree on (or at least some CDs that nobody will actually rip out of the CD player and throw out of the window in a fit of extreme irritation — not that I’d know anything about that) that we had sweaters in case it turns out to be a cold day, that we have some suntan lotion in case it turns out to be a hot day etc etc…
No, that wasn’t the fun bit.
We drove about an hour and a half to go to one of the area’s biggest arts and crafts fairs. That really makes it sound rather smaller than it actually is. There are hundreds and hundreds — thousands maybe? — of artists of all sorts plus games and rides for the little kids. Enormous amounts of food to purchase and a concert in the evening. It’s one of those unusual events that all of us can enjoy — us old fogies, our teenagers and our younger children too. It always reminds me of going to the State Fair in the midwestern state where I grew up, although it certainly isn’t on that scale — I don’t actually think anything could be on that scale.
Anyway, we bought a very nice decorative shelf unit to store the CDs that until recently, have simply been piled up on the sideboard — it’s not huge, maybe it will store a hundred or so, but it will make a difference. It’s stained rather than painted, but it does have quite a distinctive design. Sort of a turquoise blue with a lot of the southwestern palette colours, forming a pattern that runs across it. We bought snow cones and corn dogs, and then ate a particularly delicious variation on cannolis, with a cream filling that was lightly flavoured with Grand Marnier. We had a great time.
More to the point, all the kids were very tired on the ride home. So I got to choose the music for once.