Bigger Isn't Better

 This past weekend we did something we have not done since before the pandemic. We went to a Home Show. Actually, we went to two of them.  The first one was held in the community centre in Prescott, Ontario. The second was a huge affair at the EY Centre in Ottawa.  Both had displays promoting businesses and products, but that's about where the similarity ended.

I had looked forward to the Ottawa show as it's a Home and Garden Show, which usually has great displays of gardens and landscaping and sometimes even tiny homes. It also has just about any product or service you might need if you are thinking of updating, repairing or renovating your home. This one had an over-abundance of fence and rail products. If I were in the market for such a thing, I would have found it hard to make a choice. The thing this big show definitely had, and I could have lived without, was a lot of high-pressure salespeople.  I did discover that if you looked even slightly interested, they would keep lowering the price and throwing in extras to reel you in. I wasn't biting, but it was amusing to see, and I now know that I would definitely hold off on buying until they reached their best deal.  Hey, one even offered to let me buy the product at a "dealer price" after I mentioned that I often write reviews. She figured I might be good for her business. That would only work if her product worked for me, and I wasn't convinced that it would.

The Prescott show was much more low-key, and the people presenting there were most interested in just letting the public know they existed. There were no high-pressure sales pitches, but there was a lot more swag.  The presenters were quite happy to talk to you, make recommendations, even if it was for something other than what they had available, and most of them had things for you to take home. Some even offered you swag even if you looked like you were about to walk by without giving them a second glance. 

There was an entry fee to attend both these events. The Prescott one was less than half as much, even though I got the Ottawa tickets at half price for buying early. I felt like I got my money's work in swag at Prescott, but all I really got out of the Ottawa one was a bit of exercise from walking up and down aisles in a big hall, and a bunch of pamphlets to take home. The Prescott show was more fun, and more worth my while. They didn't have any dealers with the one product we were looking into though. The Ottawa one had a couple. Still, I think we would rather deal with businesses closer to home. I'm not sure I'd bother going back to the Ottawa Home and Garden Show unless I had some major project in mind. 

I did enter a lot of contests, and can now expect to field a lot of phone calls, I suppose. I have a much better chance of winning something from the Prescott show though, as there would be a lot less entries. I've won several things from past shows such as this. Wish me luck.

Local Rambles

Part of the idea of this blog was to let you in on some of the other things I do, besides geocaching . I guess I haven't been very good at that, since I've been on several interesting outings since I started this. There's no sense trying to go backwards too far, as that's what caused me to stall out on the other blog, so I'll just give you a bit on the most recent activities.

On February 16th, a group of Red Hatters came up from Ogdensburg to celebrate the anniversary of their group, and they invited my group (yes, I am Queen here) to join them for lunch at a local restaurant. They even hired a musician for the occasion, though we were likely all so busy visiting we didn't really pay that much attention to him playing in the background.  The Ogdensburg Mad Hatters are a lovely bunch of women, and I understand they come up this way quite frequently, so I do hope we can get together again sometime.

On February 23, the New Horizons Club held a Medieval Festival. We were encouraged to dress up for that, and while it was clear everyone had their own idea of what era they were supposed to be in, a good many of them did take part.  There was a tax collector who set about relieving those who didn't dress up of some of their gold. There was food and games and a lot of good fun.

Yesterday (March 5) we attended the annual Soup Fest in Winchester Ontario.  Many of the restaurants from miles around that area gather in one hall, and offer samples of their best soups all for one low admittance price.    This year there were 16 restaurants represented. That's down somewhat from last year's line

up, but still enough to fill you up and test your sense of adventure.  There was everything from a cold cucumber avocado soup, with a kick of jalapeno peppers, to a very popular Mexican offering that was more like chili than soup.  It's great fun to attend this fundraiser for TLC (True Love in Christ) Ministries, especially if you go with others, so that you can discuss and compare your views on the various offerings. Amazingly, we don't always agree on what we like, but we all get to vote on our top three favorites. There are official judges too, including some very prominent chefs and other celebrities.  Chef Michael Dunn, for instance, was once the Royal chef to Queen Elizabeth.  We like to take this opportunity to gather other family members for a good chat while tasting. It's becoming an annual family event, and we're already looking forward to it again next year.