On Sunday, Rah and I went to the State Fair. We parked a mile away and walked to the back entrance. I brought a couple stacks of one dollar bills and my camera, so we were pretty much good to go for entertainment.
We drank fresh apple cider, laughed at the truly unfortunate chickens, marveled at the scarecrows and pirate-themed flower arrangements. Then it was time for lunch. I had an absolutely nasty fry-bread taco. The meat tasted like sweet red bean paste, only greasier. After lunch, we had ice cream at the dairy place and hit the midway. Rah rode one of the vomit-inducing rides (I was afraid to stand near it because the gondolas looked like they could come off and hit me).
We threw balls at urns, darts at balloons, and magnets at tiny floating plastic fish. I won a stuffed lion at the fish game, and Rah won a tiger. We put them in my bag and they tried to make ligers on the ferris wheel. We shared a gondola with two teenaged lesbians who made out the whole time.
I rode the Restroom Ride, which had a really long line and wasn't that exciting. I thought the thrill of germs was maybe a little bit overrated. We got on the whirly swing ride (my hair got everywhere and people below were waving at me). When I got off the old dude in charge of the machinery gave me a lecture about how I should never ever cut my hair and that men love it. He was really sweet.
After we used up the rest of our tickets, we went to the bazaar and ogled the fair wares. I bought a little ceramic elephant with terrifying big eyes. I decided I needed it because Mom used to collect elephant figurines, and it reminded me of her.
Next to the elephants were little red Buddhas, and that's when a funny thing happened.
Keep in mind that I do not normally think of fair kitsch as a place to look for signs from beyond the grave, but I'll make an exception here, because I found a laughing Buddha who has my Mom's face. It's the most uncanny thing. When I look at him, I see her smiling back at me.
I wasn't even surprised at the time. It was like, "Well, duh." Mom is exactly the sort of person who would appreciate a three-dollar Buddha with ties to the beyond. And so the Buddha is on my shelf now, along with the elephant. As soon as I figure out which way is East, I'll point the elephant that way. All Mom's elephants used to point East, though I never even asked her why that was.
At the end of the evening, we got Vietnamese egg rolls (a little pasty and bland but still pretty good) and walked back to the car. My feet hurt the entire next day. I'm pretty sure we walked about ten miles at the fair.
I wish I'd gone more than just once. That was a lot of fun, and I'm already impatient for next August so I can go back. Maybe I'll even ride the Octopus this time. Haha, yeah right. I will DEFINITELY muster up the courage to eat something on a stick, though.
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