Everyone, it seems would be much happier with two things– time and sunshine. A 36 hour day would be a lot more productive than a 24 hour one, and then there would time for summer– and for tour guides to dry out and fishermen to sleep and gardeners to garden and us all to hike and paddle and berry pick and make jam and bake pies after work. We’ve been robbed of summer by the rain. The weather has been so awful it has brought more than one usually cheerful young mother to tears. There are more For Sale signs blooming in front yards than dahlias and cosmos. Well, I can’t do anything about time management, since mine is about the worst these weeks as Chip recovers, I still haven’t made my phone calls for the Hospice fair booth, but I have talked my daughters into baking and thank God there are four of them and one is coming up from Juneau with Grandma Joanne on the ferry tomorrow. (There’s still time to bake or contribute, thank you so much if you already have.) I did help clean the booth yesterday and it was fun to wipe and sweep and tidy up with a friend and to complain about the weather and such, which became funny very quickly. Everyone around us was steaming full speed ahead at the bustling fairgrounds. It’s hard to be grumpy when you are in the middle of such an exciting time with so many people running to and fro, building the new kids’ stage, bolting on the ferry-go-round horses and Ferris wheel seats, setting up exhibits (bring your produce, flowers and baked goods today 9-1) hammering and cleaning and judging and displaying– just so we can all have a big town and regional party, honestly, just for fun and in celebration being here, you know? As I said, I can’t give you more time, but I can give you good news about the weather. The forecast has gifted everyone involved with the fair a lighter step– in a word: Sunny. Yup. It’s true. The NOAA weather service printed the word “sunny” for Thursday, opening day– and partly cloudy is in the forecast through Sunday when it’s all over. I have a feeling a vitamin D infusion will make it seem like there’s been a time change- back to summer. One more thing, there are dog lice in town and they are very contagious. It sounds awful, and it kind of is, but people can’t get them, so it’s not as bad as school children and head lice. We had an infested dog once (they multiply really fast) and while it was totally icky (we all itched for days just thinking we saw another one) lice are easily curable with shampoo, meds, and the vacuum cleaner. If your dog has them, call HARK or Dr. Wolfe, thankfully she’s in town for the Fair (and a little office time beforehand.)
