Maple Leaf

Cooper and I enjoyed another lovely Maple Leaf Festival this year.  We bought fudge and a cinnamon roll and a marionette puppet.  We saw the parade.  And for the most part, we avoided the crowds.

One of my favorite traditions of Maple Leaf is that on Sunday evening, when things are starting to shut down, Coop and I have been involved in taking a home-cooked meal to the carnival workers.  It's the same crew year after year, so we've gotten used to seeing some familiar faces.

But this year, the woman who usually was in charge (i.e. -- made buckets of soup and dinner rolls for the crew) wasn't going to be there.  So.... my turn.

I opted to make sloppy joes for 40 people:

THAT is a crapton of ground beef.

But we got everything set up -- sloppy joes, chips, apples, and cookies:

One of the carnival workers was talking with Coop and expressing his appreciation for Coop's help, and then he gave Coop this ginormous stuffed shark:

Coop was beyond thrilled!

AND THEN another worker offered him a hermit crab.  Which meant I had to run to the pet store the next day to be a "crabitat" for Hermie the hermit crab.  He seems quite happy now.  As does Cooper.