This morning, Kristi and I drove Mom out to the local orchard to enter her apple pie into the 4th Annual Apple Pie Contest at the Apple Festival. Mom has been practicing her pies all week and we were confident in her ability to win.
Some of you may remember that Hugh has been a judge of the contest for the past three years, and, that this year he was unable to fulfill the duty because EMT school conflicted with the festival. This was probably a good thing, because we wouldn't want anyone to accuse him of favoritism if he judged Mom's pie.
As it was, the new Petticoat Junction Chief of Police stepped into the role, as did the kids' old PE teacher, who was replacing a woman who had also judged the contest since the beginning.
While we waited for the judging to begin, we took in the attractions, including the old cider press, which Kristi found fascinating.
We also sampled the juice that was pressed fresh that morning.
And, took some pictures for posterity.
Once all the pies were entered and accounted for, we settled in to watch the judges do their thing. Kristi was super frustrated by the poker face nature of the PE teacher's facial expressions, which made it impossible for her to discern what the woman was thinking. This cracked me up.
In addition to the Chief and the PE teacher, there were two additional judges this year, so the decision came down a lot faster than anyone was expecting. In fact, Mom and I got back from a trip to the porta potties just in time to hear her name announced as the third place winner. Her prize was a set of ceramic soup bowls, which she appreciated.
Unfortunately, since the schedule of events had said that the announcement of the winners would be made at 1:00, and the actual announcement was made a full hour early; the Man-Cub and the Daughter-in-Love didn't make it in time to see Mom take her prize (nor did either the first or second place winners, who were not present at the time. I imagine they were quite disappointed).
Since they missed it, we decided to have the kids judge a sample from each of the pies (all entries are dished into bite-sized samples for the festival-goers to enjoy), and, not surprisingly, Mom's pie was their favorite, so she's a winner any way you slice it. Ha! Pie humor!
After we finished our pie sample, Kristi, the kids, and I went on the hayride through the orchard, where we got to stop to pick apples. We gathered enough for Mom to bake at least one more pie. Or, apple fritters, which are a specialty of hers. We also got enough to dip caramel apples later in the month, so we are set on apples.
It was a great day, and I know Mom will be scheming ways to take first place next year.
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