Weekend fun: Saturday

Well. Let's see. I started this as one post, but I think I'll split it, for reasons that will become quite obvious in a minute.

SATURDAY

was Lady Duck's birthday. Her and my birthdays are four days apart. That makes my birthday...




...this wednesday.

So we had a picnic at Floriade on Saturday. I've been having birthday picnics at Floriade for about 15 or so years now, off and on. I thought it would be a quiet day there, since most of Australia was glued to the tv watching Hawthorn flog Geelong, but no, it was PACKED. Obviously there are a lot of people out there who care as much about football as I do. Which is not a lot. Mind you, Colonel Duck came but ran away to watch the football, as did some other picnic-goers. Never mind.

Anyhoo, the day was gorgeous, we had yummies, and since mum and I are Librans, I gave us cake options, mainly because I couldn't decide which one I liked best and I knew she wouldn't be able to decide either:



These are slabs of Amore Cakes, from the Canberra Farmers' Markets. Clockwise from top left:

-- Ginger and macadamia cake
-- Lemon polenta cake
-- dark chocolate cake (not as sweet as you'd expect; made with Stout, and quite zingy)
-- Clover honey and Lavender cake
-- Sour Cherry cake
-- Pumpkin Lime cake

Gosh, it was fun to carve it all up and sample bits. That box fed lots of people with leftovers for brekkie this morning, it's all so rich!

That was the only photo I took of the actual picnic, because I got so caught up chatting to everyone. After about three hours, it's traditional to wander around the flaars and have a few rides on the fairground things, and then take photos of the annual gnome-painting competition. I remember vowing to enter this some year. This year the theme was Aussie films, and while I didn't enter, I did take photos:


This is what whole swathes of grass looked like, covered in sometimes very roughly painted gnomes (done by little children) and at other times very well-painted gnomes. Somewhere in here is Wally. And the other dude from Where's Wally (Waldo in other climes). Dunno what they had to do with the movies, but they were fun.


These are The Gnomes that Ate Paris. They have everything to do with Aussie film.


Chopper was pretty popular. This was one of the better ones...


...as was this, complete with bleeding ears, lurking in the grass.


Kenny, as we all know, is now completely iconic, joining the ranks with


Priscilla, and


Muriel.

A new, loving addition to the ranks is


Heath Ledger playing the Joker in that cult hit The Dark Gnome. Please note Tina Turner from Mad Gnome III in the background.

I loved the extra thought put into a few things this year, like


Storm Boy! Standing in front of one of umpteen Babes.


And Mr Perceval made an extra appearance, hungrily eyeing off (g)Nemo.



These were in another section that seemed to be devoted to 'random' entries.


And this could be from any movie, your guess is as good as mine, but Zoe and I liked the rendition of their hair.


This was pretty cute...


... as was this, Picnic at Hanging Gnome. If you're wondering why the gnomes are wearing Scout uniforms, it's because the Scouts submitted this and I suspect they've recycled the gnomes from another display. Or perhaps they're making a joke that if the girls had been Scouts, they wouldn't have got lost.

And so we went home, replete and entertained and glowing from a day in dappled shade. Colonel and Lady Duck took Bumblebee (who survived the Big Merino dumping -- sorry to leave him stranded in the narrative back there. His dad picked him up :) ) down to Bega for most of this week, and Best Beloved and I had a late afternoon nap that lasted well into the evening -- you know when you shut your eyes for a minute and suddenly it's hours later and you awake in the dark? I hate those times.