First of all, a great big “Thank You” to all of you who have welcomed me back to the pages of the Torrington Telegram. I hope I can live up to your expectations. If not, know it is not from lack of trying. Probably more to do with getting back in the swing of things. They definitely are not what they used to be
however, onward and upward.
There are so many new faces in old places. It will take a while to keep everyone straight. And it won’t help that I’m going on a week’s vacation the week of July 23. But it was a promise to my youngest son and his family last winter, and I intend to keep it. After all, their oldest daughter will be a senior this coming fall, so the chances of her being around for another family vacation next summer are slim. By then, she’ll probably be well into plans for furthering her education and/or a job.
According to the last plans I heard, we’re going to roam the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Three generations. It should be fun.
And somewhere along the trail, I need to catch up with my daughter and her family, who are in Denver for a few days. Daddy’s new job is there, but Mommy and Julia are going back to California so the tiny tot can start kindergarten. She called gramma Sunday evening to announce that she is 5, and won’t be 4 anymore! But she will be 6, 7 and 8!
Remember when?
And school is one of the reasons for the timing of the Rockies adventure. Have to squeeze it in between summer activities and the start of school.
So, I’ll miss the Goshen County Fair for the first time in 17 years (at least). I don’t always spend a lot of time there, or participating in fair activities, but I make a bit of time for it. Have to take in the parade, and enjoy some of that Corn Crib corn. The school exhibits are fun, as well. I think I have a few of those treasures stashed in a box somewhere. Not mine. The kids’.
Do you remember when they used to fry the hamburgers on a hot grill next to the various booths on the midway? Even today, I long for the smell of frying onions and hamburgers every time I walk among the booths.
And once upon a time, as an adult, I even got brave enough to take some chocolate chip cookies to the fair. And I earned a blue ribbon!
I probably took cookies or muffins, or something like that, as a 4-H project once upon a time. I was in a cooking club. Since we lived in Sterling, my parents would take me to the meetings in the rural community where my aunt and uncle and cousins lived south of Fleming.
One thing I remember about those trips. The walls of tall sunflowers flashing past the car windows, made visible by the headlights. They were magnificent during the day, too, blocking any view beyond the edge of the gravel roads.
And we didn’t have air conditioning in cars! Open the windows and let the wind blow, unless the blowing dirt was too thick.
I guess it’s all part of living in rural America. It’s the little things that count.
