Monthly Archives: September 2009

Again at the Big E

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I had such fun at the Big E last year that when my friend Anne suggested that we should go again this year, I jumped at the suggestion. But both of us remembered how we were stuck in traffic for hours when we went on a Saturday last year, so we decided to plan for a weekday expedition this year. The weather forecast wasn’t great for the 30th but that’s the date we settled on. So this morning Anne and Hugh picked me up at my house at 10 am, and we set off for West Springfield.

Once we crossed the Connecticut River from Springfield, there was a line of cars waiting to make the turn from Memorial Avenue, but in no time we were flagged into a space in the official parking area near Gate 9A, and within a few minutes, we had purchased our tickets to the expo, along with 54,000 other people.

We do enjoy the Avenue of the States on the far side of the fairgrounds, so that’s where we headed first. Of course Anne and I had to have a Maine potato — what a delicious late morning snack that was.  From there, we began our wanderings into every fair venue:  we strolled through Storrowtown Village and then stopped at the Coliseum, where we watched some of the hunt competition.  In the Stroh Building, we admired agricultural exhibits, and I bought a jar of local honey.  We also spent a lot of time in the Better Living Center, where I bought a back support and a vegetable peeler; we also tried “whole body vibration” on one of those expensive $2000 machines.   From the program booklet, we extracted a coupon for an elephant ear, so Anne and I had to have one of these.  I got powdered sugar all over my face, hands, and clothes, but mine was well worth it and kept me going all day.  Late in the day, we emerged to watch part of the parade past the Court of Honor stage.  Today was Agawam Day, so the marching bands were mostly from that city. My favorite sight was the Clydesdales, though: they are simply magnificent animals.  Our last stops of the day were at the Young Building, and finally the Mallary Complex, where we saw more animals, though a lot of the farm exhibits were in transition today.  At the door to this building we saw a sculpture made entirely of butter, but the batteries in my camera were dead by then and I couldn’t take a photo of this amazing sight.

Hugh is a vegan and there wasn’t much for him to eat within the fair, so after we were done for the day, we found a good Italian restaurant on Elm Street and had a satisfying dinner there at Bella Napoli.  The sky remained cloudy and overcast but it didn’t rain.  As the day turned into evening, it did become chillier, and I wished I had worn a sturdier wrap.  It was late in the evening when we returned home, but we all had a very good time.

I’ve realized that people are more interested in looking at photos than in processing text, so I’m pandering to the tastes of my readers (if there are any, that is) with these.  Enjoy.

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Left: Hugh enjoys a vegan pizza at the Vermont pavilion
Center: Show horses strut their stuff for the equestrian judges
Right: Giant pumpkins!  Need I say more!

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Left: A mother pig and her brood in the Farm-A-Rama
Center: The llama has been domesticated for thousands of years
Right: One of the many adorable rabbits on display

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Left: Dairy herds are a mainstay of agriculture in New England today
Center: Everyone loves a parade, especially one which includes marching bands
Right:  Here come the Clydesdales!

Monday on the Swift

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I met my friend Steve at 9:30 this morning at the Swift River Boat Ramp at the intersection of Cold Spring Road and River Road in Ware.  Within minutes, we had donned our PFDs and unloaded his tandem kayak, which is light-weight but very stable, into the placid waters.  We decided to first paddle upstream toward the Quabbin, then drift with the current back to our starting point.  Around noon, we were back at the boat ramp where we got out to stretch our legs and eat our snacks.  Then we headed down the river toward Palmer, paddled around a quiet backwater, then again headed back to the ramp.

It was a beautiful summer day, and we saw quite a few people on the river banks or out on the water, either fishing or paddling their canoes and kayaks.  It remained sunny all day but it was not oppressively hot, and although we occasionally saw clouds of insects, they didn’t really bother us.

I was amazed at how clear the water was; it’s quite shallow for most of this stretch of the river, and I’m sure we saw trout or some similar species of fish.  At one point, we watched a snake swim across the river and slither up the opposite bank.  Other animals we noticed in this riverine habitat were dragonflies and damselflies, turtles, ducks, and a great blue heron.  On the banks, there were goldenrod and asters aplenty, and we also saw a patch of gentians (Gentianaceae).  In the cove where we turned the kayak around, we saw both water lilies and a pond lily.  According to a map I consulted, most of the land we saw is part of the Herman Covey WMA, a Commonwealth designation, I think.  North of the put-in, the WMA begins on the western shore and south of it, on the east.

As I’ve said many times before, I’m not a photographer, but I had my camera with me and felt compelled to snap a few photos.  Here are the ones I didn’t delete:

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Left: This is a typical view of the river, looking south; you can see the tip of the kayak at the bottom right (I sat in the front).  Center: We saw a number of downed trees, most of which we could avoid, though some create snags for the unwary paddler.  Right: This is my homage to Monet; I call it “Water Weeds.”

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Left: A raft of ducks (possibly Aix sponsa) rested together at this juncture.  Center: I tried a close-up of an individual.  Right:  We saw many water lilies (Nymphaea odorata, one of the oldest of the flowering plant lineages) but a single pond lily in bloom (Nuphar variegatum).

Thank you to Steve for inviting me to join him on the Swift River.