We took the kiddies to the fair on Saturday.  We ogled the animals, watched the pigs squeal around the track, and cheered for duck #88, who won by a bill and collected his prize of cheese puffs.  We ate foot-long corndogs, and steak on a stick, with fresh-squeezed lemonade to wash it all down.  With our stomachs chewing on this healthy repast we were ready for the midway.

Our daughter rode a roller coaster–a chinese dragon–without any family holding her hand, and grinned so big I was afraid she’d catch bugs in her teeth.  Our son had a great time on the bumper cars.  I’ve pushed back his aquisition of a driver’s license until he’s thirty-two. 

They got their picture taken in front of a pumpkin the size of Rhode Island, and played ‘guess that vegetable’ amongst the prize-winning veggies.  Wonderfully twisted gourds, decorated pumpkins, and gleaming purple eggplants were artfully arranged.  Beside them were row after row of apples, every one just like the others.  We paid a quarter apiece and munched into their surplus of Galas and Romes.

We wound the day up in the ‘Village of Yesteryear’, which sounds like a snooze but was actually the coolest part.  A sculptor was giving her pottery wheel a rest, so she molded us some demon-frogs by pinching and poking bits of clay into tortured shapes.  A gentleman spun us a top on an old-fashioned lathe while we watched.  Then we moved on to the lady folding origami earrings, the artist painting delicate designs on eggs, and the kaleidoscope-maker.  The kids topped it all off with a could-have-been-Mr. and Mrs. Claus couple who helped them make rag dolls shaped as a snowman and a mouse.

Best of all, we darted out before the fireworks and by so doing avoided the late night stampede for the gates.  The only thing we missed out on was funnel cake.  But we watched the cook make us mini donuts instead, so we’ll count that a draw.