Hi there, guys and dolls! As some of you more ardent fans may have noticed, I did not post yesterday, but I had a wonderful reason. Yours truly was at the fair! I had such a lovely time.

Now where my girls Andrea and Heather live, they have a wonderfully long-running traditional provincial rather than state exhibition. It’s called the IPE (Interior Provincial Exhibition) in the charming nearby town of Armstrong. The fair is one of the grand ones, with still all of the farming, baking and preserving competitions along with the usual assortment of carnival amusements and games, a rodeo and breathtaking skill contests. How fun, thrilling and romantic all at the same time!

I’m sorry to find out that some of these local community events have lost some of their more homespun qualities. Some of them have dropped the domestic and agricultural aspects of the jam-packed parties. Now that’s just sad and oh so wrong. Those were the reasons why these gatherings started in the first place and no matter how advanced and modern we would like to be, let’s not go backwards and lose touch with all of our earthly roots and beginnings.

You see, people of all ages put their hearts and hands into growing the best tomatoes, raising the perfect calf, baking the tastiest tart and sewing the perfectly pleated hem, eager to show the world the talents they have been given and how they have cultivated them. Just as yours truly feels about sharing my Santa Lucia in my Poppy Cove Mysteries, just as my dear writer friends feel the same about the worlds they bring to you, dear readers.

Toodles,

Barbara Jean