Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Green Tomatoes - Green Peppers & Big A** Angels

Before the crucifixion, Jesus spent his last evening in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew what was around the corner, and even though part of him was unnerved, I think part of him was jacked up as well.

He politely asked his crew if they could stay awake with him, but you guys know how friends can be.

So for a couple of hours I imagine his thoughts were pretty intense.

Tomorrow starts Klecko's State Fair experience. It's pre Fair set up day.

Although your favorite baker won't be subjected to questions,requests or insults...it will mark the official beginning of this marathon event.

Today was the last day off that I will have until I put in about 150 work hours.

A prudent person would probably use this time to complete a list of tasks that they won't have time to mess with for awhile, but like the Savior....I opted to sit in a garden, my garden.

I almost never "sit" in the garden, I am more of a "maintain" the garden guy. You know, you water it, pull some weeds. Throw down a little mulch etc. 8 minutes here,12 minutes there.

But today I decided I was going to sit in that garden,take time to look at all the miracles that came out of the soil and do a little reading.

If you've ever lived with a cat or certain breeds of small dogs, almost every time they bed down they go through a ritual where they claw at the ground, while rotating their body in an attempt to become comfortable.

For whatever reason, they simply can't just plop down.

That's how Klecko gets when he and silence are about to collide. It is an unnatural act, so some spastic ritual takes places where I kinda rock back and forth before I am able to open my mind.

OK....so now I'm looking around, and the first thing I focus on is the Spanish Moss Roses. Many young couples have songs that define their love, but me and Sue McGleno are bound together by this wonderful flower.

I have them pouring out of a huge cement rabbit planter that she donated to commemorate the massacre of my rabbit warren earlier this year.

Spanish Moss Roses are a good choice to signify my marriage. The are good looking, fun, but also very resilient. Even an idiot can't kill them.

Next I thumbed through a huge tomato bush that has 15...18 golf ball to tennis ball size fruits on it, but dude.....they seem to get greener by the day, for the first time this summer, I am starting to lose hope.

The David Austin Roses are doing good though, and for that matter, so are my Bell Peppers. I will actually use these throughout the Fair during my savory French quick bread demo's.

After surveying the bounty of my flowers, herbs and veggies, I pulled out a poetry book recently written by my writing mentor Mike Finley.

The book is called "Big Ass Angels" and it's title track is going to be my theme for this years Fair.

You see, no matter how much a person loves events....if you put TIME-PEOPLE-OPINIONS and MONEY into a Yahtzee cup, and shake it up, the sum can sometimes be disappointing.

20 wonderful conversations can quickly become nullified by the rantings of just 1 savage soul.

And as each day passes, the buildings seem to get a little hotter. The dirt seems to move faster than the janitorial staff. Enthusiasm becomes replaced with robotic actions and attitudes.

My biggest fear each year is that my crumpled energy might create a snarky retort that will send somebody home with a conception of me that has been altered by fatigue.

I just have to remember that everybody deserves equal attention.

BIG ASS ANGELS
By Mike Finley

Beauty has always distracted us from the truth
Adam in Eden was misled - deceived by Eve's eyes

Was she good or did she just look that way
A man never certainly knows

Artists likewise get taken in
Given a choice between naked beauties
To base saints on
And lumpy people from around the town
You know which way they are going to go

Women of the world, take heart!
From knowledge the masters were blind to
That no one is prettier than anyone else

Did you think that after wading through this life
with all the misery caking its sides
that heaven would taunt us with nubile starlets
With halos taped to their heads

The eyes tell lies, what we call beauty
Is just temptation
Is just a lie

Help is coming dearest friends
A bell will sound and all will know
What we hoped was true
But couldn't quite believe

We are beautiful,beautiful, so beautiful
And then we are beautiful
Beyond even that

Unpluck the eyes of the peevish heart
And all swims into view


I'll be at the Creative Activities Building

Show-times are 11-1-3 and 5 daily






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