i'm back from the land of funnel cakes & ferris wheels

it's time to check in and say "hi"! apparently, my last update was on 8/12/05, w/ my triathlon photo glory and all that. oops! despite good intentions, i've let august slip by. it's been a good but much-too-short summer. this month has been fine too, yet i've been hit with a predictable but huge end-of-summer slump. to top it off, lately i've fallen back into a flare that's left me exhausted to the point of being *beyond* wiped out...too tired to write. and so i've been quiet.

this year's county fair was early�held the 1st week of august! it was moved up due to weather b/c the fair has traditionally been held during the week preceding labor day, but recent years have brought rainy, windy weather & collapsed tents. this year, the county broke that streak. given the after-effects of hurricane Katrina this week (there were tornado warnings yesterday), i think it worked. we went on august 4th, and although it was 95 degrees that day, we were there in the evening, so it had cooled off. we couldn't have picked a more perfect night to go eat funnel cakes and cotton candy (yeah sugar high!), admire the crafts, produce & baked goods, and enjoy pygmy goats, rabbits and adorable, tiny, pink piglets!

however, the best treat of all was when shawn, mary and i rode the ferris wheel. while we were high up in the air, i looked down and suddenly the amazing and bright colors from all the lights below made me happy and carefree. mary changed a couple of settings on my camera that let me better capture all the bright colors in this shot of the fair from above:

the baked goods exhibit was also fun. mary and i talked about how fun it would be to enter the baking contest next year. but we weren't serious or anything. if i ever did something like that, though, i'd probably make some type of berry pie. just talking about all of that inspired to me to make a fabulous raspberry pie recently. the other contest i could enter at the fair is the crafts. knitting or crocheting. but i have no plans. still, it's a more realistic chance for me to win a ribbon at the fair than me winning a hotdog eating contest there, right?

well, it's been so long since my last update, so whatever i probably wanted to write here has accumulated over the past few weeks, and that's overwhelming, no? so before i get overwhelmed, i'll end here and check in again soon as i remember what to say and get my writing rhythm back. and i promise it'll be before another few weeks go by! meanwhile, i'll also go catch up on flickr. after that? bed!