Sunday, August 05, 2007

Due to the near-daily reminders from Willow, we ended up at the "summer fair" this weekend (actually, the Santa Clara County fair). We arrived around mid-afternoon, with Willow and Sophie in tow and a hundred bucks in my pocket, and left several hours later with three dollars and some change. There have been a series of articles in the local paper about the imminent demise of the fair, which hasn't broken even in years, and in my opinion the coffin is being nailed shut by prices that border on extortion. It gives one the illusion of single-handedly helping the fair break even every time a soda or water is purchased, not to mention parking and entrance fees.
Still, the girls had fun until the money ran out, at which point Sophie had a fit. Willow, for her part, was saddened by the fact that she isn't quite 42 inches tall and therefore too short to experience the ferris wheel.
Both girls liked the pony rides, even though one of the "ponies" was very obviously a donkey. They also liked the trampoline/bungee cord thing that propelled jumpers high in the air. I liked the... I don't know... the indefinable feel of history one associates with octogenarian quilters and pens of farm animals. Not to mention the midway, with its small-town carnival feel.

I can see why people are fighting to keep the fair alive for another year, but I can also see why any such effort is doomed to failure.

On a somewhat unrelated note, while I was talking to a family after our summer camp's barbeque and skit program (talk about another old-timey americana holdover), a Great Horned Owl flew over us, probably about thirty feet up in the darkening sky. Although we were in shadow, the owl was high enough so that its underside glowed orange with the light of the setting sun. We went quiet as we watched it disappear into the distance.

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