This Week

Stolen from the Fairgrounds FB page.

On Monday of this week, I helped check in exhibits for Extension Homemakers at the fair. It was fun. I got to talk to people I don't always see and also to see a building full of talent and ...

... also while I was there--

• I saw the most beautiful cake decorating I have ever seen in my whole life. Admittedly, this comes from a person who can barely spread canned icing, but those entries were gorgeous!

• I saw a bunch of 4-H members bursting through the doors. It was noisy in there, crowded, happy. It felt like summer in rural Indiana. Kind of like a memories sandwich with all the fixings.

• I saw cornstalks that I swear were as tall as me if not taller. Having grown up hearing the term knee high by the 4th of July, I realized anew that the knees in the saying refer to either an outsized giraffe or a behemoth.

• I got sausage biscuits to go. Need I say more?

I was going to put pictures here, but that would have required stealing (like I did the fairgrounds logo), so I'll urge you to go here and see them for yourself. They are great!

Do I have more to say today? Yeah, but it's already being said by others in better and more knowledgable voices than mine. But I can say that I'm tired of things. Of cruelty, of lies, of collateral damage because something about you displeases someone who doesn't agree with you. I'm tired of people hurting businesses by loud-speakering their dissatisfaction all over social media. (Go to management and voice your concerns--they'll help you if they can.)

But I'm not tired of kids who create wonderful exhibits for 4-H and who care for their animals and learn so many lessons in the raising of them. I'm not tired of kids who are in the circus and work their tails off for the sake of their art. Of kids who are in all the other arts. Of kids who volunteer. I'm not tired of new graduates or of the excitement of their new beginnings. I'm not tired of the adults who've raised them, who help them, who support them, who love them.

So, yeah, I helped at the fairgrounds on Monday for a couple of hours, and I was made richer and prouder by the experience. It made for a good week, too, having started it that way.

I'm always telling you to be nice to somebody, but I neglect to thank the ones who are nice to me, who read the Window and buy my books. I'll do that now, with the hope that you have a good week. And that you'll be nice to somebody.