Hello, Autumn!
It was such a great weekend at The Common Ground Country Fair. I've been going to that fair for as long as I could drive myself to get to it, each year it becoming more and more of a sign of autumn to me. This weekend I was thinking about how the time I spend at the fair has changed so much in those years. From the first years of sitting at the NOW table in the social and political action tent, to the year I sat in a rocking chair nursing my new baby in the Ballard House birthing center booth chatting with other new mamas, to now; when most of my time is spent either hanging out staring at the oxen (a family favorite, because they all want to be Almanzo in Farmer Boy days), waiting in line for food (because they're hungry...again), or in the beautiful, colorful and sometimes overwhelming busyness of the children's area.
While waiting in a very long line for face paint, I stared longingly at the varied Agricultural Demo titles that grabbed my eye, dreaming of the days when Steve and I could together sit at such a workshop and participate. Processing Acorns Into Flour, Grandmother Herbs Counsel the World - so much great stuff. Quickly though, with a tug on my shirt that it was his turn to be turned into a tiger, I was brought right back to the Now, remembering that those days will come once again. Later. For this year, there are rabbits (and their all-fascinating poop) to check out and admire, contradances to dance in (from the side where it's best for little ones and all their mimicked 'spinning'), and hills to slide down on cardboard. Oh yes, the fair is many beautiful things...and like our family, no two years will it ever look the same to us.
