"Anyway, I think I have something even better." I took a deep breath and let it out. "The Sequim Lavender Festival."
"What's a sequim?" Tess asked.
" It's a town in Washington state," Rosie said. "It looks like it should be se-quim, but it's pronounced squim. You know, that's not a bad idea. It's the lavender capital of North America. I hear that festival is fabulous."...
"It's the perfect trip for us", I said, "and I know we'd have a blast..."
" I hate that," Tess said. "It's such a rip-off. Especially to go to a place  called Squid. They should at least change it to Calamari."
"Squim, "I said. "It means quiet waters."...
... so I kept talking. "Thirty-five thousand people from all over the world attend the festival, and eight separate lavender farms participate. Buses take you around to tour them all... There are different demonstrations at each farm, everything from growing to cultivating to products made with lavender. Plus fields and fields of lavender and lots of other things like beekeeping, pottery, and craft demonstrations."
Tess pretended to snore.
"And there's a street fair going on at the same time, with a hundred and fifty craft and lavender booths, plus music, and food..." I close my eyes for a second and try to remember what I'd read last night. "Grilled lavender pepper sausages... sundry tomato lavender barbecued chicken... levered lemon sorbet... white chocolate lavender raspberry cheesecake... honey lavender lemonade... lavender black currant champagne."
"Lavender black currant champagne?" Rosie said.
I went in for the kill. "Oh, and we can also tour six award-winning artisan wineries while we're there. It's part of the festival."
Tess stopped walking. "Wineries?" she said. "Oh, I am so there."
"It sounds perfect," Rosie said. "I can't wait."
"Okay," Tess said. "I'm almost on board...
Tess sighed. "But after we go to Sequim, we have to do something about world peace, okay?"


Since I read this lovely summer novel "The Wildwater Walking Club" by Claire Cook several summers ago, I have been dreaming of attending the Lavender Festival. Luckily, unlike Noreen (the main character of the book), it didn't take a strategy to persuade my family and friends for a trip to the Niagara Lavender Festival this past weekend. In fact, there wasn't any need for conviction, I had them at "Niagara-on-the-Lake"( one of our family favorite destinations) and "lavender." 
It wasn't a festival of the caliber of Sequim, but it didn't disappoint at all - still everything I expected, and even more. Purple flags were welcoming the guests to the NEOB Lavender , presenting the festival for a third year. Lovely lavender fields filled up the air with a soothing scent. The market area featured vendors and special artisans selling unique lavender creations from lavender scented sachets and pillows to sock monkeys stuffed with lavender. The friendly co-owner Melissa was giving the guests a tour of the greenhouse, explaining the plants they grow, the difference between French and English lavender, details about the distillation process and the product line (the lavender-rosemary shampoo is fantastic and I am not being paid to say this). A wonderful antique store was waiting for those who love antiquing. This year, NEOB was giving away 10,000 Niagara Lavender plants as a part of the charity "purple flower program".
There wasn't grilled lavender pepper sausage, but the lavender pizza from Canuck Pizza Truck was amazing. We enjoyed lavender coffee, lavender crepes, lavender lemonade and even lavender root beer... lavender macaroons and tea biscuits... the peach-lavender ice cream tasted divine... the music was lavender, too (read relaxing). At the culinary demonstrations, we learned how to prepare lavender herb butter panini and poached lavender pear salad. Oh, yes, there was wine tasting as well. But my favorite part of all was strolling through the rows of undulating full bloom lavender, inhaling the aroma and gathering bouquets. You get as big a bouquet as you can get the twist tie around. My husband loved the challenge... 

We had a blast!
And our home smells like lavender, everywhere... 








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