I am way behind on my email and a few other things, but I will catch up tomorrow. Just got back from a faculty meeting at the other campus, snuck out early to get to my night class on time, and then realized it's an hour later than I thought. So I have an hour free that I'm keeping all for myself.

I had this note in my Palm Pilot about something that popped into my head...

I was going to the coffee shop Saturday morning. It was pretty early, the sun had just come up, too early for most of the people in the neighborhood to be out and about. I went the long way around so I could walk by the lawn and the trees instead of through the parking lot by the other stores in the plaza. It had rained overnight and there was this really nice smell all around. The coloured leaves that had fallen off the trees were on the ground, and they were all shiney from being wet by the rain... the musky-wet-leaf smell was so nice.. if you could taste that smell, it would taste sweet and mild, like sugar water. I think it has to do with the air in this town.. When I lived downtown in the city, musky-wet-leaf smell was more like old-garbadge-and-something-dead-rotting smell. I like this town's musky-wet-leaf smell much better. I took a walk down the side street and back, then lingered by the trees while I drank my coffees...

The fall always reminds me of the fall fairs they used to have every September in Milton. It was your typical small town back then, and we were almost typical small town kids then, too. I remember the fairgrounds would be totally dead and grey all year, and then suddenly for one weekend in the fall they were alive with joyful noise and colour. The Conklin midway would be all set up with the same rides and games every year -- that ferris wheel with the coloured umbrellas, and the salt-and-pepper shaker that was filled with urban legend about people falling out of it, so that only the brave would ride it (I *always* rode it -- I wanted to be one of the urban legends that fly out of it, soaring through the air and disappearing into the clouds...) They had the long sheds filled with contest entries for *everything* -- crafts, food, whatever... They had the animal shed with all the animals in it, so you could go in and touch animals you'd never seen before (or hadn't seen since last year) like llamas and pot-bellied pigs, and you'd get to step in shit you'd never stepped in before (or hadn't stepped in since last year).

The best part of the the event was the Saturday night when they would have the demolition derby... our high school, which had a huge vocational school in it, had this big auto mechanics program so we always had an entry, and that's who we always cheered for. The bleachers would be packed, so you would go stake out your spot a couple of hours before the event started. We would grab some fries and cotton candy and a bunch of balloons and kill time eating and entertaining ourselves by sucking the helium from the balloons and seeing who could make everyone else laugh the most... When it was dark the cars would start smashing into each other and we'd encourage them and cheer them on like bloodthirsty fans watching gladiators. During the breaks between heats people would sneak under the bleachers to smoke a spliff or two, and everyone, whether you were above or below, would go home smelling like pot!

Life was so much simpler then..!

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