August Nights

Pearl on the Tornado, NW Fair 2009

Summer is winding down. Two weeks to go until school begins. A week ago I could feel the cool underneath the warm afternoon air, the leaves are starting to drop from the trees. We are having a mini heat wave, the last gasp of a perfect summer season. The air tonight, as I walked the dogs was thick and still. All the smells hung in defined spaces too heavy to move, even the dogs who usually charge out to meet us barking, came slowly as if walking in cement. The good smells of berries and skunk cabbage were stronger and the noxious smells of silage and fabric softener wafting from neighbors trailer homes made me hold my breath as I passed.

We went to the Fair last night an annual late summer ritual. It was just Pearl and I this year. I was worried we might not have as much fun on our own but we had the most fun we've had in years. I was surprisingly relaxed and in the moment and she was content with the agreements we had made ahead of time about, food and rides, and the budget. This was the first year we rode the big rides, and not just the Ferris Wheel which I explained to Pearl was just a baby ride on a grand scale. She is a dedicated fan of spinning around and really dug the Sizzler, Tornado and especially the Tilt A Whirl, she rode it twice. I laughed hysterically on all of them, letting my body relax into the centrifugal force, closing my eyes I felt like I was spinning upside down. We stayed until after dark, ambling back to our car eating Poffertjes off a toothpick with a fancy cellophane end, Pearl chattering away about all we'd experienced in the course of 5 hours and $60.