end of summer

Attending the PNE is always bittersweet for me. It's a big attraction that I look forward to all summer long. But when it's on, I know that my summer days are numbered.

I like to see and eat everything at the PNE. This year was no different - Superdogs, RCMP musical ride, giant Clydesdales pulling wagons, Peking acrobats, Motorsport show, and lots and lots of animals. There were a coupla giant bunnies that weighed more than Ricky!


This is a giant eco-sculpture of a Carousel Horse. All the plants are alive. The City of Burnaby makes several of them and they are on display all over the city.

The PNE hosted a sand building competition. This one caught my eye:


If you are a Terry Pratchett/Discworld fan (I am cuz I had one of his books in my backpack), you'll know why I took this picture. He looks just like the Librarian (who through an unfortunate accident was turned into an orangutan). I asked the sculptor if it was the Librarian and she said no. I showed her my book and she promised to look it up.

All the sculptors contributed to a huge display to commemorate the 100th year of the Fair:


It was ginormous!!! And so detailed. I am very glad that we got to see it because it was pouring rain two days later.

So what did we eat? Our weight in mini donuts. I had my choice of deep fried delicacies - butter, jelly beans, and oreos. I've tried the oreos before. The jelly bean reviews weren't favourable. And deep fried butter?!?!? I settled for funnel cake and a whale's tail (a big triangle of deep fried dough with your choice of topping).

Also signalling the end of summer is my raspberries. I picked these today - just over a pound. I'm getting that amount of raspberries every 2-3 days for the last 3 weeks.


This might be the last batch. It is getting rainy and cold outside and it doesn't dry out enough between rain showers so the berries are getting mouldy.

Ricky loves this time of year. It means that his beloved sunshine is back and he can sleep in it again.