Flu Shot - Check!

This.Tune.Has.Taken.Over.My.Brain.

Being a  stay at home mom at the moment, and homeschooling the little boy, and having him around while I make meals and like that, means that I get to watch and listen to just about everything he watches and listens to. There are pros and there are cons.

The Teen Titans Go! series is one of his most favorite shows out there, and one of the characters on there, Cyborg, is a huge 80's fan. I mean, who wouldn't be, aye?

ANYWAY, his favorite song on earth is "When the Night Begins to Shine", and the story arc spans over 4 episodes , and it is so 80's catchy, and Now It Is In My Brain Forever! ( and to quote one Youtube comment, "And I Don't Want It To Leave!" )

Happiness is..

when you unexpectedly find some delightful morsel that reminds you of home, in the place you least expect it to be.

I found some SaQiMa/ Sachima at Walmart!

The hubs and the little boy had some, and declared that it wasn't nearly as sweet as American Funnel Cake, for which I was quite grateful.

I don't even know when the last time I had some sachima was.., but I savored every bite...

Shin Kicking Indeed!

I am unfortunately on the 3rd to last episode of my beloved Lark Rise and Candleford series, where the writers have to try to reconcile the little Hamlet and The Town, as they have done episode after episode, and try to provide closure for the umpteen story lines.

The series has taught me many words and bits and pieces of the history of late 1800s England, and in this last episode, they were indulging in a sport I had never in my life ever heard about.

Shin Kicking.

Imagine that. Grown men, kicking each other in the shins till one of them falls down.

"Why, I never!"

My Colonial Past is Showing

I still say "brackets" or "inverted commas" or "full stop" in my head before I have to very quickly change it  to "parentheses", or "quotation marks" or "period" before the thought exits my mouth..... lest I get a "look".

:D

Expanding one's horizons.

I'd been watching the ill-fated one-seasoned Crimson Field, with its in-the-field tent hospital setting during WW1,

and now the delightful Lark Rise to Candleford, set in the 1800s, in all its costumed glory, thanks to Amazon Prime. *whoop*

As I watch the series, I have the closed captioning on because I do not want to miss any nuances ju
st because I missed a word here and there.  Also, I'm usually doing something else at the same time - like preparing school work and the like. 

So now, I know what a workhouse is,  what a squire oversees, what temperance and penny reading means, as well as various and sundry other words that I might never have encountered.

Fungi Frenzy

It had been raining and raining just about all of last week, and we've had a sudden outcropping of lovely 'shrooms :)

Connections

We had to go meet Mike to pick up something from his "lumber yard" the other day.

Mike was really sweet to come out in the rain and "chainsaw" us a Chopping Block's worth of tree. 

Thank you, Mike!

The Smithsonian's in town!

Well, their traveling exhibit is, anyway. BUT STILL EXCITING!

The Texas State Historical Association, along with some local groups, have helped bring the traveling Smithsonian exhibit, Hometown Teams, to Abilene!

And how convenient for us, they are hosted on the 2nd floor ( I would have said 1st floor, being Malaysian and all, but I would have to hear about it from the hubs ) of the main Abilene Public Library branch downtown, where we go every week.

After the little boy and I had explored a little, we went back downstairs to get the hubs to come have a look.  He found lots of things that interested him, being the sports fan and all,

while the little boy and I were more enticed by the hands-on exhibits :)

You know it is football season when.....

at the grocery store, there is THIS display.

Cats. They defy you to your face.

West Texas Fair and Rodeo Part II

We went back a few days later, and this time many of the items that had been sent in to be judged were already there and displayed.



However, there were no enormous pumpkins or watermelons that we could see...
I have to admit I was a little disappointed.
I like gasping at how gigantic the pumpkin entries have been in the past.

One thing the little boy  hadn't seen before, though, were the Piggy Races.

They had several shows a day, and the time we were there wasn't at all crowded.

The little boy even won a prize after the pig he had been assigned to root for, won the race!

He was quite proud of his Pig Snout and Oreos prizes. :)

We continued on to revisit the exhibits that we had just rushed through the other day, and got a closer look at Mamo's quilts.

She hadn't known that 2 of her quilts were the year's Chairman's Choice till we told her about it!

I had packed a dinner for us, and the lady in charge of one of the exhibition buildings was ever so kind and let us eat at the kitchen area.

We made sure to clean up thoroughly after ourselves :)

We managed to catch the participants who had brought their llamas, showing them to the judges.

It was quite an eye opener. The llamas had to go through several obstacle courses and show that they trusted their owners and had a camaraderie with them.

The little boy, though, could not wait till the midway was open :)

On a side note, we did see the local TV station setting up base and I was quite impressed by the satellite/antenna that they had for such in-the-field purposes.

Oh, and then there was Granpa Cratchet and his traveling automobile thingy.

He was quite taken with the little boy's choice of hats,

and stopped long enough for a photo op by an over eager camera trigger happy mom :)

When the rides were finally open to the public, the little boy knew exactly which one he wanted to start off with first.

This year, we let him ride on a few on his own, and he was brave and glad to do it.
We aren't too helicoptery anymore.. we are learning too :)

I DID ride the bumper cars with him, though.. TWICE.

Just because I didn't want him to waste his bumper car time getting stuck in a jam and not
getting enough mileage out of the tickets!

He had often wanted to do the Fun House "rides", and this year he finally got to do a few, but the hubs wanted to make sure that I would be there along.

I do not have the stomach or inner ear, apparently, for the rides that have a G-Force above a certain number, even though when I was young I would have gone on them over and over and over.

We sat on the relatively mild swirling puppy dog, and even THAT made me a little green at the gills, I am sad and embarrased to say.

Granpa Cratchet had a puppet show on top of the mobile puppetry he drove around, and we made sure to be there in time to catch it.

Then we were off to the Petting Zoo, which was FINALLY open.

And what better fair food than FUNNEL CAKE???

We were too early to catch the rodeo, and were a little sad we had to miss it,

but the little boy sure had a splendid time going on the rides over and over......

....to his little heart's content, even if he DID have to close his eyes the whole time he was on the mini gondola thingy :)

Till next time, West Texas Fair and Rodeo.