Wilbur

I went to the fair today (technically, yesterday) and had a fantastic time walking the Midway, riding a Ferris wheel and getting my fair-food fix -- lemonade, french fries, fried cheese, fried pickles and, of course, an elephant ear.

But it was the animals at the fair that particularly made me smile. To be precise, it was the piglets.

Let me back up and tell you that we saw the horses and cows, sheep and rabbits, guinea pigs and chicken. We pet quite a few goats (and one of them nibbled at my purse). We oohed and ahhed at llamas and alpacas (which looked exactly like walking stuffed animals) and giggled at turkeys and ducks.

But in the back of one of the barns were two sows, each with a number of piglets -- maybe 10 for one and six for another. They were pink and soft and tiny with big eyes. Both sows were sleeping; one was surrounded by sleeping piglets (and the poor piglet that found itself under her neck when she went to roll over! -- my, what a squeal) while the other had piglets clambering all over her in search of food.

Nursing piglets are way too cute.

The nursing piglets had a definite runt of the litter, a pig that was half the size of the others. It made me think of Wilbur, which wasn't much of a leap since county fairs already conjure up Charlotte's Web images.

A fair is a veritable smorgasbord, orgasbord, orgasbord...

My sister's awesome

She just is.

(She told me to say that. But it remains fact.)

Tampico

This is why I love love love the Big Band station.

It played a version of this song, which I was merrily humming along to, when all of a sudden the (redundant) lyrics changed... to "we're getting sick of this song" and "it's repetitious and long." All in a very cheery, Big Band-y sort of way. I chuckled. And tried to find the same version at home, but couldn't.

How 'bout that?

I drove home super-psyched after bowling with a friend tonight because not only did I break 100 in all three games -- 112, 116, 102 -- but I bowled a turkey, a definite first. But then, 116 is also my high score.

So there I was, thrilled with my bowling victories, about to pull into the driveway, when I was blinded by a bright light right on the curb. We're talking bright lights. Like, the kind they use to make it look like daylight during road construction. And there was another one on the neighbor's lawn, and what looked like a giant projection screen, too.

I decided to go explore.

It turns out that my neighbor works for an ad agency and that the lights (and plastic forks stuck in the lawn) were part of a campaign they're filming for Hot Pockets. It has something to do with senior citizens who are mad that people are eating without utensils and stick forks in the lawn (Oh, the beauty of Google) to protest. If you see it (I think they said it's for the Web, not TV), you should watch. And send me a link, so I can see how it came out.

I talked to one of the senior citizen (his words) actors, who's a civil engineer by day and has done seven commercials and roles as extras, this year, by night. It's a little random for a Wednesday night, but certainly cool.

Although I'm still proud of my turkey.

I think I can

It wasn't The Little Engine That Could, but I think the transportation story can be extended to boats.

While having lunch at the river today, I saw a tugboat pushing a barge (we'll pretend that I know the different names of water-faring vessels and that I got that one right -- which, if Wikipedia is to be believed, is a possibility). The barge (for lack of better knowledge) was rust-colored, low and long, while the tugboat was bright red and looked just like a bathtub toy.

It was groovy. And it was totally this boat. Which, for the record, is also the one shown above.

Come fly the friendly skies

In case any of you want to come visit (hint, hint), the Akron-Canton airport and AirTran are offering $25 off your next ticket to or from our lovely metropolis. And there's even an AirTran sale for the next few weeks! Get it while the getting's good.

You just have to travel by the end of January.

Aaaaand we're back

Getting let out of work early on Friday afternoons.

Strange farmers' market finds -- such as the husk cherry, a fruit a friend said tastes like buttered toast. I'm still not sure that I see it.

Tea at the Ritz, followed by a (touring) Broadway show.

Interesting books. Beach. Cooking. Conversation. Company.

Meaningful moments with friends. Random moments with friends. Being butted off of Twister boards by friends.

Knowing that friends care enough to show up, even with little notice.

Good news. Good food.

Tourists trying to tip a trolley driver because he chatted with them about Asheville (where they're from) and gave them some suggestions about what to do and where to go.

Air conditioning. I contemplated driving around this afternoon, just so I could have it. In the end, the book I was reading won out.

Church bells

I managed to time the drive home to be outside a church at 6, when the bells began to toll. It's a lovely sound. Wind blowing through windows, music in the air. I like it.

Pineapples

I had a late meeting today and ended up walking back to my car from a direction I don't usually come from. As I headed past a gated parking lot, I noticed that the fence posts were topped with pineapples.

Psych always has pineapples, too.

Often, it's the little things.

From scratch

I came home one day last week to a new oven, which is enough to put a smile on anyone's face in and of itself. I had company, and we inaugurated it with brownies-from-a-box. Which were good. But for some reason, I was feeling slightly more ambitious today.

I'm going out of town (again) and have been trying to eliminate some of the perishable things from the fridge before they, you know, perish. So I had one egg left in a dozen. Since I've also avoided going to the store to add more things to the list of items I must consume, I ran out of junk food to pack in my lunch. Baking chocolate chip cookies, then, was the perfect solution to both of those problems.

This certainly isn't the first time I've made cookies from scratch, but it has been a while. And they turned out well, if I may say so. If you see me in the next week, ask for one -- they're chocolate chip-pecan, and most delectable.

Better than a mullet

I was distracted from the Indians game I went to tonight (we lost) by the man who sat down in front of me late in the game.

He was in his late 50s or 60s with glasses and a grey mustache -- unremarkable. But his hair... oh, his hair. It was solid grey, bordering on white. It was buzzed to the crown of his head and on the sides. But from the top of his head to the nape of his neck, there were long, flowing grey locks. It was scraggly and ended midway down his back. And it was the most bizarre haircut I have ever seen.

I was at the game with my grandfather, and had to point it out. He was also confounded.

Funny story

My parents are vacationing in the Seattle area (at least that's where they started out) and called to ask for help finding a hotel in.... Forks, Washington.

Sadly, the significance of the location was not lost on me. Although I don't think they'll be making use of any of the themed tours. God, I hope not.

Movies under the stars

Atlanta has this event, Screen on the Green, that I looked forward to every summer. It's just as it sounds -- a giant movie screen on Piedmont Park, a picnic dinner with your friends and thousands of people screaming, "Don't open that door!"

Tonight, I went to a Cleveland event called Wade Oval Wednesdays (both of these happen multiple times throughout the summer) -- and despite the amount of fun I always had at Screen on the Green, I think WOW has Atlanta beat.

From 6 to 9 p.m., there was an Irish band. There were falafel, pizza, popcorn, gyros, fresh-sliced watermelon and odd-flavored (but tasty) ice-cream sandwiches to eat. They sold beer and other beverages, alcoholic and non- (and my blueberry beer had a handful of blueberries tossed into the glass!). There were local vendors selling jewelry and t-shirts. The sky was a gorgeous shade of purple. The air was warm.

Then, right as it was getting dark, The Goonies. Everybody laughed in all the right spots, booed in all the right spots. But it wasn't as crowded (we're losing population, after all!) and the city provided chairs. Less to lug and better traffic when you left.

I didn't like The Goonies the first time I saw it (before you start throwing things at me, appalled, remember that this was just two or three years ago -- I didn't grow up with it as a child), but it was lovely under the stars.

Free money

Technically, I earned it. But the check was still unexpected.

Every once in a while, money falls from the sky. It's nice when that happens.

If only they weren't gelatinous

My brother, walking into the room with a bag of them: "Marshmallows always make me feel happy when I'm feeling bad."

Job well done

I'm pretty psyched because now I can say I'm an award-winning journalist. I won several awards -- jointly, individually and as part of my paper's staff -- for coverage of a big story on my beat last year. And since I took over in the middle and was still learning the ropes, it's all very cool. Not that it wouldn't be cool if I'd been doing it a while.

But I was also excited because the awards -- and the subsequent story the paper wrote about them -- garnered me a few e-mails and one note of congratulations. The notice is nice, of course, but what was even cooler was the sentiment expressed. The CEO of a company I write about sent me a letter that said, "It's nice to know (my company) is being covered by someone with your talent." Pretty rocking.

Also, I'm really pleased with some digging I did on a story this week. It's been a little while since I got to break news.

Huzzah!

Shout outs

To awesome friends. One helped me break into my house last night (my climbing through a window in a skirt is a very elegant sight, let me tell you) and another is giving me his keys so I have a place to stay on this trip, even though he's out of town.

That's some pretty good friend-moves for 24 hours. Thanks, dudes, (and all the rest of you, too) for rocking my world!

Away, away

Just a quick note to say that computer annoyances and travels will be making me scarce. Hope to add grins when I have the chance, but I can tell you in the meantime that despite what anyone may tell you, any town that has a dedicated golf cart parking lot at a place of employment, an ice cream truck on the real streets and a lemonade stand set up on the golf cart trails is officially adorable. Even if it does make some residents feel like they're in a scene out of A Wrinkle in Time (pretend I put links in appropriate places).

It was good to see those of you I saw on the last trip and I'm looking forward to the ones to come!

The oh so most joyful!

Seeing Rel, even if for less than 24 hours.
Oh, and flavour tripping.... with Rel, none the less!
AAAND golf-carting with Rel!

Tasty

I picked strawberries this weekend, and woke up early Saturday to go to the farmers' market. Only the brie I ate for dinner (and the olive oil I cooked some veggies in) came from the grocery store. And that was a pretty exciting thing.

Relatedly, I also had my first cooking foray into exotic mushrooms. I've eaten some before, but never by my own hand. And my goodness, were they delicious (brown oyster mushrooms on toast, sauteed with olive oil and garlic scapes). Plus, the mushroom man at the market said they were a good "starter" 'shroom. So y'all should feel free to experiment with brown oyster mushrooms. The dude says it's cool, and I say it's delectable.