Mendocino County Fair

We went to the Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show in Boonville yesterday.  The drive up the Redwood Highway (aka Highway 101) was beautiful with golden hills dotted with vineyards and coast live oaks.  As the fog burned off, the temperature was perfect in the mid-70's.  At first, the Fair seemed small with not many people.  Then we realized we came in the back way, through the Exotic Animal (snake) exhibit.  There were a variety of food booths, selling mostly fried food, a Carnival Park full of rides for children, the requisite animals, the hall of ribbon winning vegetables and fruits, another hall of ribbon winning flowers and gardens and best of all, a hall of Wool and Fiber Arts.  In this last hall, at one end, there were four or five rows of chairs around a stage where sheep were sheared as the entertainment.  It was inspiring to me to see all the various fleeces and brightly colored wools for sale.  I couldn't resist buying some.  After three hours at the fair, our friends texted us and we met them and followed them to an apple farm down the road to Philo and then on to nearby Hendy State Park, an amazing redwood forest.  Walking through the thousand year old redwoods, it felt like being in a cathedral with streams of light coming down to the quiet peaceful forest floor.  It was a great day up North.

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A Really Good Day

Day 6 was our first great day on the tour.  Each of the 3 gardens we visited was outstanding and they were all close to each other and our hotel so we spent little time in the car.  What a delight!!  We stood in line at the first garden, Wakehurst, an affiliate of Kew Gardens in London, to get in at 10 am.  There was way much too much to see on it's 500 acres.  It is the home of the Kew Garden Millennium Seed Bank.  It was a very impressive facility, extensive, with a brilliantly interpreted viewing for public viewing.  It houses more than 2 billion seeds from 180 countries.  But the walled garden was my favorite.  It is my favorite garden seen so far because it was all in glorious flower but the beds weren't edged with hedges so the garden had a sense of freedom about it.  Beyond, we wandered beyond past vast green lawns with different trees of varying shapes, sizes and colors delighting one's eye. I could have spent all day there.  Next we went to Sussex Prairie Garden.  One of the founders of it, Pauline, explained the Garden's history to us.  She said "we're just ordinary people, not Lords or Ladies" but they were extraordinary horticulturists.  The Garden is 8 acres of grasses and prairie flowers planted in curving beds.  I asked her what her favorite flower was and she immediately answered Rudbeckia because it is "like sunshine on the ground."  The Rudbeckia stole my heart.  Lastly we went to Nyman's, a National Trust Garden with a spectacular Summer border garden on a long walk leading to the house.  In the parlour of the house there was a piano with a really, really old lady sitting at it.  I asked if she played and she played a Schubert piece for us.  Watching her very deformed arthritic hands, I was very inspired by her.  We need to keep doing what we love as we get old and share it with others.  Erik and I walked to a pub about 1/2 mile away for dinner, finishing up a really wonderful day.
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