Today's news: Big Tex burns at State Fair of Texas

Big news today in DFW: Big Tex, the 60 year old mascot of the Texas State Fair caught fire today.

Here it is, burning:

Here it is, done burning:

Here is a video form of it, from YouTube:

The story is that his jaw mechanism mis-fired somehow. Big Tex "talks" and "waves" to the crowds. "Sigh." I'm going this Sunday, the final day of the Fair--it won't be the same wihtout Big Tex looming, in a kind of scary, crazy way, over the crowds.

State Fair, Part II

As promised, here are the quilts:

Aren't they gorgeous? It's hard to see in these pictures--far away, little hand camera--but the applique and hand-embroidery is just as beautiful as the piecing and the color choices.

There was more though (this is, after all, the TEXAS State Fair).

Clothes for Barbies--which reminded me of the clothes my own grandmother used to sew for my dolls--and other dolls.

These are older dolls that have new clothes or have been restored. I have several of this kind of china-head doll from my maternal grandmother.

Also, preserving:

These shelves are full of jars of preserves, jellies, jams, pickles, and so forth--and there was another set of them to the right.

But these were my favorites: handmade children's clothing.

The bodice is smocked and embroided (chickens to match the fabric print). Gorgeous.

Pearl

Texas State Fair

On Friday, I went to the Texas State Fair with friends... or perhaps people I thought were friends, given the amount of fried food they allowed me to ingest in a six-hour period!

Here they are, contemplating our next fried adventure.

Here we are near Big Tex, the annual dual mascot and welcome wagon. You can always find yourself at the fair by examining your relationship to Big Tex... literally and metaphorically.

The fair is out in the State Fair grounds, permanent structures that remind me of NYC's Rockefeller Plaza: art deco and monumental...

with lots of exaggerated, symbolic maidens...

and hard-working blue-collar guys...

We saw butter sculpture: this year's entry was a complete Old West Saloon scene, with butter bar, butter bartender, butter saloon girl...

butter dog and walls...

and butter fireplace, table, and stools (the "brick" thing on the left was the fireplace, complete with faux fabric flames).

Forgive the flash lights: it is all behind glass, and I took terrible pictures!

We also looked at the women's handwork: quilts, clothing, and so forth, with handsewing, crochet, knitting, embroidery, needlepoint, crewelwork, and any other kind of handwork you can imagine. Gorgeous stuff, that reminded me very much of the work my grandmothers, aunts, great-aunts, and mom taught me.

 

This is three quilts, hanging 'way above our heads. I'll include more of them in a later post, because they are simply spectacular and should get the attention they deserve. The colors, the quality of the quilting and applique, all of it was incredible.

We also saw the work of the Master Pumpkin Carver on two massive pumpkins. Here's the less scary one.

We also ate our weight--or perhaps cholesterol count--in fried foods, but that too is another day's tale. I'll simply leave you with this: fried pickles, fried green tomatoes, fried butter, fried Oreos, fried potato laces, fire-and-ice (fried pineapple), and fried bacon. That's right: deep-fat-fried bacon.

Mmmm, good.

Pearl