When I was but a Wee-One…. I was terribly afraid of the certain rides at amusement parks.  Oh, there were the usual suspects.  Any roller coaster, or log ride… or anything that was high up in the air, and dropped quickly to the ground.  These things scared the holy-smacker-oly right out of me.

But nothing, I’ll tell you….. NOTHING…. scared me more than the dreaded, and horrifying…. Merry-Go-Round.

Creepy through and through.  I would not get on one.  For ANY amount of Salt-Water-Taffy-Bribery.

Those horse characters were creepy.  Their little horsey faces seemed frozen in horror.   The music was creepy.  And the fact that it just went around and around… in endless counter-clockwise circles… I think there is something terribly wrong with that.

The Merry-Go-Round…or rather… Carousel… got its start rather early in history.  The first known instance of one… is in a Byzantine painting… dating back to about 500 A.D.  It shows riders… in a bunch of baskets…. suspended from a center pole.  The visual I get of this…..  is…. creepy.

The word carousel originates from the Italian and the
Spanish.  Both languages have words which describe a game.  It was sort of a battle preparation game.  Played on horseback, it helped with combat training…  with swords and such.   Off with their heads.

And… it was also a training device for something called the ring-tilt.  They used these wooden horses suspended from “arms” and these arms branched out from a central pole. They aimed spears at rings as they went round and round.  This disturbs me too.

As things evolved in history… the old Carousel shifted away from being about swords and spears… to more of an entertainment venue.  They became… well… if you can picture it….  “Horse Ballets.”  Quite popular at court festivities for special occasions…. such as royal weddings.   They adding music to the deal.  And fake horsey characters.
For some reason… all of this still gives me the heebie-jeebies. Even as I write.

So. By the early 18th century carousels were being built and operated at various fairs and gatherings in central Europe and England.   And there you have it.

Now we have them at amusement parks, and city parks, and festivals and fairs.  When I shot this photo… I got all queasy inside.

I rode one.  Once.  In Montana.  As an adult.  I tried not to let on to anyone that I was scared witless on the inside.  Yeah.  I didn’t sleep that night.  I kept hearing the music.  And seeing the screaming horse faces.

Nothing “merry” about these things.  No way.

A lot of people like a Carousel Ride.  But it is just not for me.  And I’m not horsing around about this one.

Most counties hold an Annual Fair, I think.  The County Fair.

They are all over the place in the summer time.  And yes, we have one here in Preble County.  It opened today.

The County Fair can be quite the deal, I’ll tell you.

Looking at the history of the whole shebang… is an interesting thing.  They Fayre, as it used to be called from the 15th to the 17th century… was associated with food and drink.  Hence, fare.  To Fair.

In that dictionary book, the word means “a gathering of stalls and amusements for public entertainment.”  Hmm.

But back then… in Roman times…. fairs were typically considered holidays.  And on those days.. there was a break from every day activities.  Big Markets were held.  They were temporary venues… and they were highly important for international trade.

Sometimes.. .    wholesale traders travelled for days on end to get to a Fair. The dates and places would be pre-arranged.  And then, the traveling Snake Oil Guys could be sure to meet those they needed to buy from or sell to.

A lot of times… back then… they were tied to a a special Christian occasion.  Saints’ Feast Days… and such.   Tradesmen would bring and sell their wares, even in the churchyards.

Since that time… the Fair has transformed into a wide array of things… all over the world.  There are County Fairs, Art Fairs, Food Fairs, Fitness Fairs, Music Fairs, and on and on and on.

But in the small town… all across the U.S…. there is the plain and simple County Fair.  Sometimes… the town shuts down for it.  Other times… the town barely blinks an eye.

But be sure of this.  There are people who truly care about “Things of the Fair.”  They show their Farm Animals.  They bake pies, and grow vegetables.  They wash their tractors.  They make art.  They sew.  They sing and they dance.

All out in the great wide open.  With the grand stands, and the make-to fences, the dust of the fairway…..  where the wind comes whipping down the plains.

Yes.  The County Fair is in the hearts of those people.  And that part of it… is fun… and lovely… to see.

“The heart has reasons that reason does not understand.” – Jacques Benigne Bossuel

I feel a little guilty tonight.  A little.

Perhaps even a bit remiss in my duties as an American.  The opening games of the Olympics started tonight.  Yes.  Those Grand Christening Ceremonies of the Summer Games… in London, England.

The media has been pitching it in the news, and on TV.  So… I guess I should have watched it.  I tuned in for a little minute.  The “Big Show” seemed somewhat non-sensical to me.  Maybe even a little “forced” or grandiose without good cause.  So, I grew weary of it… pretty quickly.

You see…. other things were calling me.

Chiefly, the Corn Dog Stands at the Preble County Fair.

Oh, I know. I know.  I’ve heard all the angles, from my friends….  “Corn Dogs.  Yuk. Gross.  Do you know what is in THOSE things?  I can’t believe you like Corn Dogs!”

Well.  The low and behold of it.  I don’t like them.  I LOVE them.  I love them with both ketchup and mustard mixed… and slathered on them.  That is my go-to way to snarf a Corn Dog.

Yessirrreeee Bobby.  The Preble County Fair opens tomorrow.  So… before all the crowds got there, I had to swing by the Fairgrounds, and ferret-out all the prime locations for all the Corn Dog Stands.  I checked their set-ups… their warmers… the whole nine yards.  This is important business I’ll tell you.

I made a diagram, and a map.  I’ve got them geo-located on my iPhone.  I’ve texted myself notes.  I think I am good to go.  This was Training Day.

How does it go?  “Always Be Prepared.”  They say that in Boy Scouts I think.  Or it could be the slogan at the Olympics… maybe that’s where I heard it.

Nonetheless.  I’m ready.  It is Corn Dog Week.  I’m going for the Gold.  Gulden’s Mustard… that is.  And if I fall behind… I will try my best to Ketchup.

Oh… for crying out loud.  I guess maybe I shouldn’t eat any Corn Dogs.   It appears that… quite possibly…. I am corny enough.

“Chance favors the prepared mind.” – Louis Pasteur

I can be a bit of a Homebody.  Sometimes, I am a little introverted and need solitude.

I’ve been a Homebody since I was a little kid.  Whenever I had to be away from “the familiar” as a child… I would get pretty dang upset.

One summer, I spent my days with my good pal Sharon at the Boys’ Club Center.  It was a place for city kids to go play, and do arts and crafts, and those sorts of things.  Smack-dab in the middle of downtown Dayton, Ohio.

Funny little runt, I was.  They had a sleepover camp for those who wanted to go.  It was probably like a 3 night deal.  Well… I got pretty “sick” on the very first night and they had to call my parents to come pick me up. No Hand-Print-Ashtrays for Mom & Dad that summer! Or woven potholders.

So to this day, I would rather be at home than anywhere.  And sometimes… I enjoy a little sequestered alone time.

Yet.  Yet. Yet.  When I am with people, I love people.  I have fun, and enjoy the experience (most of the time).  I like the way it all works… when people interact and share their people-ness.  I like Community.

Yeppers.  Community is such a good thing.  I have been reminded of this the past two evenings.  I’ve had separate Board Meetings each night.

As I sat in both of those meetings… it struck me how important community can be. Like a colony of bees.  There is a feeling of fellowship with others.  And, it is a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.  Commonality.  Necessity.  Cooperation.

It can be a Swirling Dervish sometimes.  Yet the whole thing has the ability to be a well orchestrated dance.  I like it when Community has the adeptness to dance together.  Nicely.
I am always amazed too, how such a mixture of “individuals” can come together, and share resources, deftness, and intelligence.  Ideas.

Things come up in community… thoughts, and plans, and postulations… that we may not have visualized on our own.

The good thing, is finding balance between the two.  Being comfortable in your own skin… and having the competence to join in collaborative community.

Every once in a while though… you will encounter a bee in the swarm with a really big stinger.  Or perhaps…. one that is WAY too busy.  But none-the-less…. you’ll never find your honey unless you join in the hive.

“A healthy social life is found only, when in the mirror of each soul the whole community finds its reflection, and when in the whole community the virtue of each one is living”  – Rudolph Steiner

“A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess.” – A. Phillip Randoph

Motivation is an important part of life, I think.  If we had no motivation… for anything… we’d be between a rock and a couch potato.   A hard place, no doubt.   Motivation is… after all….  the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.  Anything.

Now with that comes those people who are willing to spend good money to get motivated.  There are things called “Life Coaches” now.  Personal Trainers.  Diet Consultants.  You name it… they are out there.  One genre that has been around for a while are those “Motivational Speakers.”   There are lots of those guys that get up and talk the big talk.

Some are good, and forthright.  It just depends.  A few of the big names are Zig Ziglar, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield, Stephen Covey, and of course… Tony Robbins.

Most of the time, I am a self motivator. So… I have never attended a talk from any of these individuals.  But… I don’t  think I’d get pulled into it, so much.

Here is the latest deal that makes me think that way.  Fire officials said 21 people at an event hosted by motivational speaker Tony Robbins suffered burns while walking across hot coals…..  and three of the injured were treated at hospitals.  That’s right.  Walking across a bed of hot… white hot… coals.

This happened a couple of days ago… in San Jose.  Robbins hosted a deal called “Unleash the Power Within.” Most of the people who were hurt had second and third degree burns.  I bet they released a lot more than the power within.

Robbins convinces these people… who go to hear his talks… that walking across hot coals provides an opportunity to “understand that there is absolutely nothing you can’t overcome.”

I’d like to think.. that if I DID attend such a roust-about … that I would be able to say to Mr. Robbins:  “My mind is SO focused and in tune right now… after your marvelous speech… that I can overcome ANYTHING.  And that would include overcoming your ridiculous suggestion that I walk across hot coals which are probably in the vicinity of 1500 to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Yep. It is just a matter of “Mind Over Matter”… and Mr. Robbins… this little seminar doesn’t matter that much to me.  And then I would walk out on my nice healthy little feet.

Oh.  That is what I say I would do.  I’d like to think so.  But the truth of the matter is… in life…  we never really know for sure… how we will react in ANY situation.

It is the old “Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” axiom.  We just don’t know… until we are actually in the reality of it.  We try to imagine our reactions in certain situations.  But truthfully, until we are “actually in it”….. well… we just don’t know.

But with the Robbins’ thing….  I’m just saying.    I’d like to think I’d have enough common sense, conviction, and courage… to simply say ……  “Uhhhhh…  Robbins old buddy …. You got any Marshmallows?   These coals are just perfect for S’mores.”

“Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where you backbone ought to be.”
– Clementine Paddleford

Dear Polly,

I know you’ve mentioned that you like birds. What is your favorite kind, and why.  Are they any birds you don’t like?

Soaring,
Marge P., East Berlin, Pennsylvania

=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=

Dear Feathered-Friend,

I am pretty fond of most birds.  I absolutely love to watch them fly.  Sometimes, I wish I could fly like the birds.  Simply to hop from where I am standing, spread my wings,  and fall into the breezes above.

But back to the matter at hand.  It is worth two in the bush.  I DO like some birds more than others.  At this moment in time, I would most certainly have to select the Pelican.  What is not to like about a Pelican?

Now… before I met them, I had a lot of favorite Ohio birds.  Flickers are stylish.  I love a little dapper Wren.  The Nuthatch, Titmouse, and any Woodpecker, all rank pretty high with me.

My long term favorite.. the old standby… is the Crow.  (Okay.  Before I get a bunch of flaming emails about Crows, let me say this.)  They are smart.  Smart as a whip.  Jimminy-Cricket-Cracking-Smart.

Crows are considered to be among the most adaptable and intelligent birds in the world.  They have a varied and evolved language. They can mimic the sounds made by other animals.

And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better than this…. Crows have been shown to use tools in multiple ways, and not just to get food.

There’s one more thing… they collect bright shiny objects.  Bobbles.  I too, like shiny objects.  And…. yep.  For that reason, I like a good crow.

But back to Pelicans.  They are awkwardly graceful.  Trendy, you might say.  Stylish.

The first time I took notice of them is in flight.  They skim stealthily along the surface of the water.  They fly fast.  They have to do it exactly right… because Pelicans have this monstrosity of a beak at the end of their crooky-rooky necks.

But then, when you least expect it… kasploooosh!  They flop recklessly into the water.  When they bob up to the surface, they take a brief second to right themselves… and then…

And then….  they knock back their heads like somebody sitting at a bar doing jello shots.  Or even someone at a Raw Bar… kicking back Oysters on the half-shell.  It is so much fun to watch.

Pelicans are friendly, social birds.  But they are so nice… other birds try to steal their just-caught fish right out of their big-pocket-beaks.

There is something terribly wrong about that.

So yes.  I like the Pelican.  I could go on and on.  But enough.

Let’s see.  Birds I don’t like…… Maybe……   Lame Ducks and Bird Brains.

“If you cannot teach me to fly, teach me to sing.” – James Mathew Barrie

This is a little known story.   It happened not so long ago… July 23, 1957…. as a matter of fact.

The place was Plineyville, West Virginia…. and a circus came to town.  It was a big dang deal for Plineyville.  Not a great deal happened in those parts.  I’ll tell you that much right now.

Most of the shops locked their doors at 5 p.m. sharp.  The only thing to do in the evenings was to stroll down to Paget’s Ice Cream Parlor… and have a double-dip of Millie’s Fudge Ripple.

So when the Mantegna Brothers’ Traveling Circus and Grand Menagerie came to town… it was one big whack-a-doodle-do.

They had everything… elephants, jugglers, knife throwers, trapeze artists, magicians, lions, and tigers, and bears… oh my.

Everyone in Plineyville was elated.  I mean.  They were going to shoot a guy out of a cannon!

Well….

The night before the circus was to open, the lock on the lion’s cage door was unlatched.  To this day… no one is quite sure how it happened.  A mystery.

But the lions escaped.  And… they were angry lions.  The kind that had spent too much time in cages… and the kind that didn’t like standing on pylons and getting hit with whips.

So when they got loose, it spelled trouble.  They went on a rampage at the circus.  They ate the lion tamers, the mind-readers, the trapeze artists… just about everybody.  They even ate the guy that worked at the corn dog stand.

The only ones the lions spared were the circus clowns.  Yep.  As it turns out…. the lions said they tasted funny.

“Meddle not in the affairs of the dragon; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.” – E.P. Lenwood

A lot happened today.  It seems that is the way of the town… where I am right now.  Lots of things happen here.

Yep.  The way of the town.

It is sometimes stimulus overload.  Sights. Sounds.  Ideas.  A windfall of boons.

By 9:00 a.m…… by the time I took my last bite of amazing grits at breakfast… I felt like there had already been more swirling goodness than one day ought to have.

Around every corner… in all the nooks and crannies… there things.  The Way of the Town Things.

Police and Cheerleaders.  A Razorback Sock Monkey from Arkansas… a flying sock monkey… at that.  Great friends.  Good stories.  A visit to Calhoun’s Grave.  A crazy seagull.  Kids in strollers.  Ocean breeze.  A dog named Bentley.

As the morning progressed, I walked the city.  I found a lot more treasures here and there.  I met a fly named Wade.  He likes carcasses.  He showed me how much.

I talked with my ex-cat.  She flipped me off.  She hates me.    I did not let this spoil my mood.  I focused my positive energy on other things.  The flying sock monkey… in a cape.

There was so much more to see.  Like the nails on the wrought iron fence.  The ones the Basket Ladies use to hang their wares.

It was all just something.  Truly phenomenal… each little thing in its own right.  But then…. they were all mixed together in one single day.  Kapowza….  These are the things that make me happy. These are the things I am grateful for.  They many not be much to someone else.  But to me… they are very fine and splendid.   Dazzling.  Yes.  They may be small.. but I think they are remarkable.  These….  things of the town.

“In the year of 1657 I discovered very small living creatures in rain water.”  -Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

“Whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof.”  -Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

This is a spacey kind of day.  July 21st marked several galactic milestons for the U.S. Space Program.  In 1961, Capt. Virgil “Gus” Grissom became the second American to rocket around the Earth.  He was flying on the Space Ship called the Liberty Bell 7.  I think they should have named it Skippy.

Then eight years later to the day…. Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off….from the moon …aboard a lunar module.  They had a bunch of moon rocks in their pockets.

One of the early pioneers….    Astronaut Alan Shepard died on this day.  He passed away in 1998.  (He lived 74 years.)  I bet he owned a moon rock or two, too.

And sadly… for NASA… In 2011…. the space shuttle program came to an end after 30 years.

Now… here is one more thing about NASA.  For the first time….ever in history, NASA decided to beam a song out into deep space.  They picked The Beatles’ “Across the Universe”….  Seriously.

(They started this in 2008.  The transmission over NASA’s Deep Space Network commemorated NASA’s founding and its beginnings.  It was also the 40th Anniversary of the song being written.)

The transmission was aimed at the North Star, Polaris, which is located 431 light years away from Earth.  That is a fir piece away.

The song will travel across the universe at a speed of 186,000 miles per second.

Now… this bothers me a little.  It is a great tune and all… but we simply don’t understand all there is to know about space.

In fact… as the Star Trek dude used to say… it IS the Final Frontier.  So, the truth of the matter is… I reeeeaaaalllllly don’t think we know what we are doing there.  Or who might be listening.

If there ARE other life forms out and about … what happens if they can’t stand the Beatles… or even just don’t care for the way Ringo Starr looks?  What if music in general bugs them?  Period.

Or what if our English Language translates poorly?  What then?  There may be intelligent life forms.  Sure.  But my guess is… they probably don’t speak Oxford English.

We shot this song out there toward the North Star.  But who knows how that sound will travel out into space.  It could ricochet terribly.

I… for one…. think we are REALLY ASKING FOR IT.    Heaven only knows  what we have done, exactly.  The ramifications of this could be endless.  And the words.  OH the words of that song….

I don’t understand the first thing about that song.  What the heck is somebody like E.T. gonna’ think?

Let’s just keep our fingers crossed on this one folks.  Hopefully, they are British Aliens.  But if they are Lawrence Welk fans… we are in BIG trouble.  Big Trouble.  Bet your bubbles on it, Skippy.

“Images of broken light, which
Dance before me like a million eyes,
They call me on and on across the universe.
Thoughts meander like a
Restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe.

Jai Guru Deva. Om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world”

“Across the Universe” – The Beatles

One can learn some important things while traveling.

A walk through the woods, a flight, a short visit to a movie theater, or a 15-hour drive.  All travels. All have lessons.

I know that life is filled with many blessings.   Friends… our closet friends… are golden.  That is one lesson.

There are bumps in life.  It is okay to stumble on those bumps.  Just don’t fall down… to a place so low that  you can’t get up.  That is another.

Find joy in the little things.  They are really big things.

Tell that person you love… just how much they mean to you.

Life can change on a dime.  Yet another lesson.

Be grateful for the beautiful things around you.  There are lots of beautiful things around you.

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” — Henry David Thoreau

“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” – Yogi Berra