The Festival

 Autumnal Greetings, One and All.  Today, we bring news of the Monroe County Fall Festival in Ellettsville. 

We were there at noon to watch the parade, featuring Ellettsville Elite.  The grand marshall was a man who owns a small business that sells signs, vehicle graphics and window tinting.  Other paraders included school communities, church folk, tractor drivers, young cloggers, equestrians, parade princesses, and firepeople in sky blue trucks. 

 Missing from the parade:  floats. 

Don't want to be overly critical, but floats are parade essentials.  I recommend a careful reading of How to Organize a Parade when organizing for next year.  This website clearly states:

One exciting element to consider for your parade is the inclusion of floats.

We're not mad at you, Ellettsville, but next year we sure would love to see some floats. Think it over.

On the good side, the paraders threw out gobs of candy.  We stood near a mom whose kids had a whole bag full.  I joked that the mom could use the parade candy for Halloween handouts next month. Mom told me that she was planning exactly that.  Doy. Way to state the obvious, leeway. 

 I nabbed a couple of Double Bubbles. Husbandman scored a mini-3Musketeers. 

After the parade we moseyed over to the festival booths.  We watched some young cloggers and HM ate a pulled pork sandwich.  

It's official.  Fall is here. 

 

The Apple Butter Festival

 We're back from the Apple Butter Festival in Spencer.  Surprisingly little mention of apple butter (ab) there.  We did find one booth selling ab so we bought a jar.  I'm hoping Husbandman can make some biscuits tomorrow so we can partake of this historic delicacy. Come to find out, ab has been around since the Middle Ages.  

The Summer Sorrows

Praying Mantis on the Playground

Nature Art created by 3rdLander

Nature Art created by another 3rdLander

 These are our last days of summer.  3 more weeks of hell.  Hate to pule like a cry baby complainer, but summer is not my favorite season.  6 reasons why summer is bad:

1. ever present sensation that my skin is burning off my bones whenever I risk a trip outside.

 2. disgusting slathering of sticky, smelly sunscreen on my exposed skin that sometimes gets in my eyes causing intense stinging when mixed with sweat.

3. unflattering summer attire, such as shorts and tee shirts. Not a good look for anyone, especially me.

4. irritating sound of bugs buzzing next to my ears as I take the occasional rare walk through shaded forests. 

5.  desperate panicky anxiety about being trapped inside air conditioned spaces (due to bugs, burning bones, sunscreen, etc.). 

6.  overwhelming fear and sadness about my contribution to climate change with excessive use of air conditioning.

Not a comprehensive list.  I haven't included comments about the various summer dangers we all face, such as fires and skin cancer, but I will point out one critical issue with ye olde barbecue grille. We aren't grillers, so we don't have to worry about swallowing wire grill brush bristles, but lots of people are, and do.  Stray wire bristles lodge in the digestive tract and make life uncomfortable for thousands every year.  Stop grilling immediately if you don't want to spend your last days of summer in the ER.  Look for alternatives to the wire bristle grill brushes.  Maybe try grill floss.

To be fair and balanced, I'll now focus on the few things I like about summer:  

A.  I love the summer blockbusters on the big screen. I saw Equalizer 3 last weekend.  Best movie ever. I might see it again before it leaves the theaters and you should too it if you feel like it.  Mission Impossible was also fun.

B. I love to swim.  I'm also quite good at it.  I swam competitively in high school and set records in the state of California on consecutive years. Look it up if you don't believe me. Unfortunately, I only swam a few times this summer because of the heat and the sunscreen issues mentioned above.  

To wrap this up, here's a summer haiku:

Oh summer sorceress!

 My garden cries for water

Why do you burn us alive? 

And ending on a good note:  The temperature dropped yesterday.  Husbandman and I traveled to the zoo.  I wore leggings.  We brought a picnic lunch and ate on a bench near the Kangaroo Crossing.  My mood was calm and cheerful.

Also, just FYI:  There's an International Chimpanzee Complex coming our way in 2024.  Stay tuned. 

Also, just FYI:  #1 Son's new album has been getting some great attention.  His release of Walking On Eggshells is by far the best thing that happened this summer. 

Unbound

Have I told you that #1 Son lives in Asheville NC now?

We read a book about Judith Scott called Unbound in 3rdLand this week.  I had never heard of her before, but now I'm a wee bit obsessed.  She could neither hear nor speak.  She had Down Syndrome.  She was institutionalized for 35 years, separated from her twin. When she moved to California  to live near her twin at last, she spent her days at the Creative Growth Art Center.  Drawn to fiber arts, she created non stop for the next 20 years. Her work became famous and is in museums all over the world. And now for the good part.... There's a Judith Scott exhibit.  In Baltimore. Right NOW.  If you feel like it, you should go to Baltimore to see this exhibit. 

 I am still mad at Oakland because of this summer's smashing and grabbing, but I have to give that city a big fat 5 on the Fist to 5 for being home to 50 years of Creative Growth at the CGArt Center.