First Days of September

The Taste of September

Summer sun warms the face
Green grass tickles the legs
Waiting is the hardest part
Time creeps by so slow.

The midway roars
The neon lights
The spinning Tilt-a-Whirl
Dizzy children laughing

Pitching dimes
Clinking like bells
Hitting the glass
Scaring the tiny goldfish

Tractors revving
Pulling sleds
Cars crashing
Crowds cheering

Distracting ourselves
Hoping to hurry it
Waiting impatiently
Soon it will be time

Then the whistle blows
The steam engine blasts
Its invitation
To the joyful crowd

The line forms quickly
Carrying platters
Carrying bowls
Carrying bags

Gloved hands fill the bags
Dropping them in
Moving along
The children are eager

Bright yellow burns your fingers
Can’t wait til it cools
Teeth sink in
Butter drips down your chin

The taste of September.


Each year in Central Illinois, September brings with it the sweetest of treats. Sweet Corn. All summer we drive past the waving green fields. High school students earn summer money walking the rows and pulling the tassels. Then September, Labor Day and the Sweet Corn Festival arrives. People come from all over to a tiny town called Hoopeston, Illinois; the Sweet Corn Capital of the World. A carnival sets up; typical small town entertainment ensues with tractor pulls, demolition derbies and a great deal of country music. In the center of it all is a large steam engine. The engine is set up on the fairgrounds by the local Jaycees and its boiler now steams bushel after bushel of sweet corn. The corn is distributed free to all who will stand in line, in whatever amount you request. It is a bitter-sweet time. The lovely first tastes of September mark the arrival of a favorite treat, and the last taste of summer.

Labor Day has given me a change to breathe and to blog. It’s been rather hectic and I’ve been fighting the battle of the migraine. They pulled my previous medication from the market and unfortunately there is nothing else that works the way it worked. Unfortunately my Dr. hasn’t found anything else that works.

This was an enjoyable weekend. The other thing Labor Day brings is Dragon*Con. The second largest sci/fi, fantasy conference in the US; Dragon*Con plays second only to San Diego’s ComicCon. The event used to be a big gaming conference and has since moved away from that with the big focus now being on television, movies and books. In addition to the authors presenting such as Laurel K. Hamilton, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Susan Sizemore, Tamora Pierce and more, there were several fantasy/paranormal/romance authors who had booths set up in the exhibit rooms that had lines forming. It was sad that Ellora’s Cave, Cerridwen Press, and the Lotus Circle had no representation.

Perhaps next year a few of us writers in the southeast could get together and do what the Georgia Romance Writers did. Those who wrote fantasy/paranormal set up their own booth and manned it themselves.

The convention was a delightful opportunity for eye candy. In addition to the scary Klingons and the rather unSpartan-like Spartans there were very Spartan-like Spartans and a good number of rather yummy guys clad in leather with gorgeous tattoos, some real and some not. One lovely young man with long brown hair was wearing leather pants, boots and nothing else but a beautiful green and black tattoo that swirled up his chest and onto the left side of his face setting off lovely dark hair and green eyes. It wasn’t a real tattoo, but it was pretty.

Of course I do have to say thank you to one rather attractive young man who came into my path this weekend. I had a flat tire today on my way back from the local Wally World with the crib mattress in the trunk. I was just trying to figure out how to find a tow truck on Labor Day when a car flying University of Tennessee flags came up behind me. The young man and (I assume) his girlfriend got out of the car and he offered to change the tire. I must admit it was very hard to make polite conversation with her when he pulled off his t-shirt and started to work. He was what you would call a major league hottie. Buff, a few cool tats, a nice sampling of hair on that chest…sigh.

Poor thing got all hot and sweaty changing my tire. *grin* I pressed some cash on him that he refused, but I insisted and he drove off with a grin reminding me to watch the Tennessee football game tonight. I think I’ve just found a good reason to cheer for Tennessee.