sydney royal easter show 2009

we did the easter show yesterday, and i had a great time. this time, it was miss c and i who did the show together - miss k opted out.
when miss c and miss k were younger, we always started at the food dome to see the agricultural displays, art work and cake decorating. i always worried about the agricultural displays being a dying art and insisted that my children look at them and try to appreciate the amount of work, dedication and imagination that went into each one. and what do you know? i let miss c call the shots and that's where we went. i'm glad the displays are still going strong; i do wonder how they do the judging.
of particular interest this visit was the cake decorating. i was on a mission this time because i knew someone who had put in entries. a cyber friend had put in 5 entries, 3 of which i was able to find. it's amazing what a difference it makes when there is a connection with someone you know, whether in cyberspace or in real life. while looking for nicole's entries, i also stumbled upon an entry put in by one hana rawlingson. that name rang a bell. i rang blutsie to ask if she went to school with hana.
"yes, why?"
"i found a cake she decorated"
both blutsie and i have long left school, but i believe hana was at school with blutsie since transition. i don't know why i remember things like that, but just do. what's more, i don't think i ever met hana. this is something from decades ago....
miss c also had an agenda. she wanted to find the abbotsleigh cow. we have gone to the show every year except last year, and to date, miss c has never seen the abbotsleigh cow. this year was no exception. we found the frensham cows, which were really beautiful. their hides (is that what they're called? i mean the skin thing with the hair/fur on it....stop laughing now, i can't help it if i don't know; enlighten me if you must) were black and so well tended that they looked velvety. we also found the knox cows, but didn't spend time looking too closely (miss c didn't want me to embarrass her in front of people she may know now or in the future). she did, however, ask the knox cow people if they knew anything of the abbotsleigh cows....."they haven't turned up yet"..... so much for that.
moving on from there, we saw the horses and chicken, sheep and goats, then the alpacas and llamas. alpacas and llamas look so placid and nice....we then stumbled to the alpaca fashion parade. the clothes were interesting, as were the models. the models looked like beautiful everyday people, and that was nice. there was one male model, jason, and he looked like he got roped in - he was a good sport. i hope i don't offend the models, but i suspect they may have been the alpaca farmers' children or similar, and that's what i found nice about it.
also, we did go to the rm williams stable and there was a guy there who really looked like frodo baggins. i muttered this to miss c, who agreed. later, when miss c stepped aside, she saw frodo chatting to me.
"did you tell him he looks like frodo?"
"no, i figured he gets that all the time, so i restrained myself. no, he was just telling me about all the rm williams' stores around australia...."
we made a special visit to the graze at 6pm to watch lizzie's son in his band, kit marlowe. they were very good. the lead singer was excellent - great voice; with a voice like his, he doesn't need to have his hair do the singing (hint, hint). the musicians were great and showed skill and technique. i hope they continue to do well.
after kit marlowe, we moved quickly to the main arena - it was full when we got there, but were lucky to secure two seats.
saw the story of bluey, which was lost on me - was there a story?
then there was extreme motor X, which is something i find really good; does nothing for me on television, but i do enjoy it live.
the fireworks finale was very good. on a smaller scale than what we normally see (we have seen the new year's eve fireworks from both sides of the harbour for so many years, i can't even count). this time it incorporated a laser light display with music.

food?
we had the cheese toasties from coon - $1, which i thought very good value.
2 dozen oysters from de costi's - 1 dozen pacific and 1 dozen rock
1 cheese on a stick, but no corn dogs
3 large lemonades
1 meat pie from someone who won all these prizes....sorry, but i forget the name; the pie was good, very good
and, of course, bits of samples, here and there

we didn't make it into the showbag hall, nor did we get anywhere near the rides. there was so much to see....i wouldn't mind going again to see the things i missed, if i could spare the time.