Riley County Fair 2015...

Given how much I was looking forward to taking Jimmy to the County Fair, you'd think I would have had the photos up the very next day...

Clearly not. Let's blame the heat, shall we?

It is nearly 3 months since the Country Fair and here they are, with a few words sprinkled in between. I find it strange to look at them now, Jimmy's hair damp with sweat because it was after 7 pm and still well over 35 C - although it's still not cold here yet, it is hard to remember how hot it was in July. Anyway... Photos!

Dinner... Our neighbours, the ones who took us to Wamego and who we celebrated the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with, were heading to the Fair in the evening, aiming to meet up with some other friends, catch the barbeque dinner, and take in the Rodeo. We went along but were not committed to going to the Rodeo - we have a restless two year old...

After dinner (thanks to local pork producers) we found refuge from the heat (and it was hot...) in the air conditioning of Pottorf Hall, where we admired the displays, enjoyed feeling normal, and I struggled to get my camera settings right... Arg...

Oh, just, you know, the biggest kohl rabi ever! Well, at the 2015 Riley County Fair...

Jimmy perked up and found some energy... It was hot outside, even after 7 pm, even after 8 pm...

This cardigan and yarn caught my eye, but no one would need either of them for a few months.

Insect collections... I'm going to have to start one - if 4H members can do it, then so can I.

After looking at all the displays, and realising that we had to get Jimmy away from the cakes that he wasn't allowed to eat (they were entered into the cake decoration category and they were very good), we extracted ourselves from the aircon and made for the animals... It was worth it.

And then my camera battery died. I had thought it would happen, but hadn't acted on the thought to charge the battery, because it seems to last forever, until I'm somewhere were I really, really, want to take photos... Ah well...

So, with no camera, Michael was on camera duty, so this one (above) and the last one (below) were taken by him. The light was fading, the sun setting and we didn't go to the rodeo. We checked out the rides, but didn't go on any of them.

It was still hot.

Jimmy was ok, tired but ok. We thought about walking home because Jimmy was asking to go to home, but it was too hot... so we waited for our friends and neighbours to return from the Rodeo.

As the night wore on, Jimmy forgot his fatigue and decided that he'd investigate the 4H dance: he wandered away from where we were sitting and didn't look back until he was halfway between (and we played a cruel trick, and were hiding behind some trees, clearly watching him). We caught up with him before he reached the entrance and we returned to our little spot and watched the fireflies, while keeping hydrated. It was still hot.

Here are last year's photos.

And if you don't believe me when I say it was hot go here and skip to July 24, 2015: 39 C... hot.