The Fair

We had a really good time at the fair Saturday. It turned out to be a nice day--hot, but with a good breeze for much of the day, and plenty of shade. We ducked into and out of most of the buildings, checking out the 4H exhibits, and the craft exhibits, and other kinds of exhibits. I especially enjoyed looking at the poultry exhibits--wonderful, beautiful exotic chickens and ducks and geese.

The Poultry building also houses rabbits, at different times, and I'm always pleased when it works out that we're there when the rabbits are there, but the chickens were pretty cool, too.

We got tattoos as soon as we walked in--there was a table right inside the entrance manned by a couple of Missouri Department of Natural Resources volunteers, and they were offering to apply temporary tattoos of the--what else?--logo of the MDNR.

In the early afternoon we went up to the arena building and watched the mule team judging, which was pretty cool, and the "costumed mule" competition, which was pretty dumb, although I did like the little girl dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood, leading a mule dressed up as the Wolf dressed up as grandma . . .

Bob took me out to breakfast before we left town, and then later, at the fair, we had lemonade, and I had a corn dog, and then ice cream right before we left. It was a good day.

I'm reading a book that I really love--The Glass Harmonica, by Louise Marley.

I was looking on Palm.com for a new ebook after I finished Everything's Eventual, by Stephen King (which I enjoyed a lot), and I ran across one that sounded intriguing: The Maquisarde, by Louise Marley. I read an excerpt, and thought about buying it, but it cost almost $20, and that seemed like a lot. So I stewed about it, and looked around to see if there was anything else there that I wanted to read that was cheaper, and there wasn't, really, and then it occurred to me to see if they had anything else by Ms. Marley, and they did--The Glass Harmonica. I remembered picking that book up in the bookstore once, and thinking about buying it, but being uncertain.

But it was something like five or six dollars at Palm, so I thought I could risk that much, and it's wonderful.

It is told in alternating chapters, moving between a time a few years in the future (2018) and Benjamin Franklin's time. He is in the process of inventing the "glass harmonica," a musical instrument based on the music that can be made by moving damp fingers over the rims of glasses filled to varying levels with water. Franklin discovers a young girl playing her glasses on the streets of London, and takes her home with him to assist him in the invention of his 'armonica. And in 2018, a concert musician plays classical music on the glass armonica for sophisticated audiences, and sees a small, bedraggled figure standing in the wings, that disappears the next time she looks up . . .

Part historical drama, part science fiction, part ghost story. It's really wonderful. I'm reading it on my Visor, as I said, which is kind of interesting. I read much slower this way, and I seem to read in a more concentrated manner, that is, I think I tend to skip a lot when I'm reading a book--when I read on the Visor, I savor every word. So it takes me longer, which is why I'm pretty selective about what I read on it. I made a good choice this time.

When I finish this one, I'll probably buy The Maquisarde.