I loves me some jonquils/daffodils. I think it has to do with my dislike of winter and these flowers being the first real sign of spring every year. I also love the wacky festivals with their weirdo crap for sale and the great people watching. So we hit one of our favorites a couple weekends ago: the Jonquil Festival at Old Washington State Park.
I rented a high-dollar lens, the Nikon 16-35mm f/4, so I could see how the other half lives. It was the first time I’ve ever shot a gold-band lens and, from the technical point of view of image quality, those damn things can make you lose your mind and end up spending a bunch of money against your common sense. Unfortunately, we were at the festival at the worst time of day for photography and the skies were cloudless and the sun strong. So I didn’t bring home what I would consider great photos, but they are damn sharp from corner to corner. I was looking to get some shots of Abby in the festival namesake flowers, which are everywhere of course, but she got sucked into the vortex of bouncy houses and I didn’t see her for most of the day. The festival went all out on the bouncy houses this year. There were four of them and Abby got herself a day pass to use them all. While Gina kept the bouncy-house vigil, I wandered around the grounds. This particular festival is especially nice because it’s in a state park that’s a partially restored historic antebellum town. There’s a lot of building tours and interesting historical sights.
I stopped by the blacksmith demonstration and caught this guy’s concert of the porch of the blacksmith shop where the Bowie knife was invented.
Then I ambled down to the Pioneer Cemetery to check out the fabulously old tombstones. I was once told that some relations of mine were buried there, but I couldn’t remember their names or the details of their connection to Washington.
The tractor/car show field is always good for some overcompensating patriotic displays.
The music tent had a pretty good crowd on hand to see this group playing some Darling-family style acoustic jams. I should’ve requested “Never Hit Your Grandma With A Great Big Stick.”
I met back up with the girls in the dusty food-vendor lot where I witnessed the genius Bucket O’ Fries people do their thing.
On our way out, Abby insisted on getting something from the vendor who sells these branch sculptures. I wanted to buy this wooden stringer of fish as a gift for somebody, but the price was pretty steep. Abby got a wooden miniature turkey. God only knows why.