Family & the Harford Fair

 On August 22 Mom celebrated my birthday by hosting a luncheon at Patsel's Restaurant near Scranton.  This is where we have celebrated all the Robinson birthdays in PA.  In honor of the occasion, Beren, Arlene, Calder and Oriana stopped in for one day and two nights on their way from Guelph, Ontario to Chapel Hill, NC, where Beren will be spending the academic year on sabbatical.  Catherine, Miro, Zax and Anaya drove up from Philadelphia for the day.  Bob, Markus, Mom and I took the day off from working on the house (in the case of Bob and I, insulating every space in the roof with pink solid styrofoam).  The work on the house is proceeding and we can really notice the change in temperature in the upstairs due to the 6-8" of insulation.  Bob and I also tore down the walls and ceiling in the north dormer and put in the last window.  Bob installed two octagon windows way up at the peak of the roof on each end to provide more ventilation.  Every day we measure and cut insulation and pound it into place and end the day covered with pink styrofoam fuzz.  None of us had met Anaya (who was born in February), here held by her Mom.  Her name means God's Gift (or something similar) in an Indian language (and she was really such a gift to her Mom who wanted a girl).

 Arlene and Anaya (we spent a lot of time sitting on the porch chatting).

 Oriana heading off with Miro and Zax to catch frogs in the pond.  Oriana is very good at this and Miro caught two frogs too.  I spend quite a while with him swimming while he searched for frogs.

 Zax and Miro.

 Beren and Anaya.  Beren, Arlene, Calder and Oriana left very early Thursday morning to drive all the way to Chapel Hill.  We sent them on their way with a good breakfast,

 On Saturday, Bob, Mom and I went to the 155th annual Harford Fair, an old-fashioned country fair about an hour from Tunkhannock.  We have gone almost every year.  Here is the winner of the weird vegetable contest (we think it's a cucumber about 3' long).

 I always find the decorated cakes a riot.  Here was one decorated for a shower.

 We visited the animal barns and the 4H sheep auction.  Here is a blow dryer used on the animals (in this case cows) prior to being shown.

 There was quite a collection of cars for the demolition derby in the evening.  They have their gas tanks in the center of the car, surrounded by steel so that they aren't punctured.  The bumpers are often chained on and there is a lot of testosterone evident in the revving of engines as the cars were checked in.

We also watched the remote-control cars, helicopters and planes exhibit.  Here you see a car (orange on the left) that is about 1' long that has gone off the ramp.  It was a hoot and a lot less dangerous than using real cars.  There were guys of all ages (and the rare woman) driving these things.