It may not have been a MARATHON...
...BUT IT SHO' NUFF FELT LIKE ONE!

As I stated in a previous post, I thot I might go downtown and look at more Art On The Green, because "accidents do happen". And, so I did. "Art on the Green" is a big city-wide event our humble little town hosts every year. You can find overpriced food, trinkets that everyone can live without, grossly priced high-to-the-sky pieces of artwork, and of course, paintings by area artists of dubious talent. It makes me want to buy a dozen tomatoes, let 'em get rotten, then throw 'em at a canvas...then display 'em at Art on the Green. I might win a prize!

No, I didn't go to the College where the main art-on-the-green stuff is located, and I didn't go to the Street Fair (that simultaneous event that consists of artists and merchants who were denied the chance to set up at the original "Art On The Green" thing)...but I did go through city park, which is in right in the middle of it all. "Art on the Green" to the west, "Street Fair" to the east, and "whatever it is in the Park" smack-dab in the middle. In the park, and everywhere else, hundreds of tented booths selling all kinds of crap. There was one booth in the park selling BARS OF SOAP. All kinds of natural-type soaps. Yep, just the thing I'm lookin' for on a 90-degree day in City Park. Another nearby booth was selling overpriced birdhouses. Uh, thanks but no thanks. I then progressed a little further down the sidewalk, and something else at one of the booths caught my eye. A wood-carver-type-merchant had a little wooden footstool, no more than a foot-and-a-half high, going for $145 DOLLARS. Uhhhh...I could probably find something similar at St. Vincent DePaul for 2 bucks.

I was in a fairly curious frame-of-mind, similar to when I'm walking up and down a mall, looking at all of the wares on display. As I walked further down the sidewalk in the park, among the many booths I passed, one featured some fancy three-dimensional metal sculptures of outdoor scenes; "layers" of metal representing items in the foreground of the picture, and other layers in the backgrounds representing faraway hills and mountains, etc. They did look really great. I wouldn't buy one, but they were interesting. At the front of the booth, there was a medium-sized metal "outdoor scene" sculpture...and the price was $745 DOLLARS!!! Just who do these merchants think GOES to Art on the Green? Well, they don't have a clue, so I'll tell ya. Most everyone who goes is on a budget and can't afford $745 for a metal wall-hanging sculpture or $145 for a damn footstool! Other booths had necklaces, earrings, ornaments, books, CD's, clothes, memorabilia, etc. etc. yadda-yadda-yadda. Nothing one couldn't live without.

My ultimate destination was the little concession stand at Memorial Field, across the street from the park. I wanted a German Sausage. In my last post, I wrote about a merchant at "Art on the Green" charging SIX DOLLARS for a German Sausage. HAH! So I guess I had a case of "German Sausage on the Brain"...so I had to have one. But I wasn't gonna pay 6 bucks. When I got to the concession stand, I got a german sausage with sauerkraut and a can of Pepsi for $3.50. THAT'S $2.50 LESS THAN THE "SAUSAGE-ONLY" price of the Sausage vendor in the Park! Six bucks for a german sausage from the park vendor? I never "SAUSAGE" a thing! And I caught the last couple of songs the Dennis Carey big-band group played in the nearby park bandshell. The group was great, but the sound system sounded tinny and cheesy, especially on the vocal microphones. The audio sounded more like a cheap boom-box being run through a microphone rather than actual live performers! But, Mr. Carey's band is talented, and they do a style of music I don't get to hear very often. Their last song was the old standard, "I Ain't Got Nobody"...but I'll bet Mr. Carey doesn't know that David Lee Roth, formerly of Van Halen, record a version of that tune in the 1980s. Mr. Carey probably has no idea who David Lee Roth IS.

Well, I wanted to take a walk through the park, but I couldn't, because after all, all of those overpriced booths full of JUNK lined the sidewalks. So, I got brave (and a little nervy) and walked all the way around the dike road and back, which is probably about a mile and a half total. That's a lot for me, since I've had all of these really bad back problems. I had to rest a few times when my back began to "tweak", but I made it! Of course, when I got back to the park, I just about passed out on the nearest bench I found. As the title of this post states, "it wasn't a marathon, but it felt like one." And I'm finding that when I "tense" my stomach muscles, it's a little easier for me to get up out of a chair or off a bench; that's something my physical therapist taught me. So, I'm having to consciously re-think the whole "standing and sitting" process. So anyway, like "they", whoever "they" are, say, "I'm tired, but it's a 'good tired'". The only thing that marred the weekend, was the smoke and haze that permeated our atmosphere throughout the weekend. Residue from forest fires, perhaps? I'd hate to think anyone was BURNING GRASS FIELDS yet. That's a whole 'nother issue. And this post is already too long. So, instead, I'll end it here, and reward ya with a little picture; after all, you read all of the above diatribe, so here's yer reward...



This is a rather odd little photograph, taken by the legendary Ross Hall; a night-time view of the old White Motel, which (I believe) was located at the end of East Sherman near the cemetery, on the property where the Bee Hive Homes currently are situated. I believe this photo was taken in the late '40s or early '50s; if you look closely, you can see an old car in the background. I haven't been getting a lot of good old photos lately, but as here, I'll post 'em when I gets 'em.
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I've cut back on my posting. I feel I need to for a while. I've always been one of these people who thinks they don't do enough. But don't worry, I'm alive. But I do really gotta go now. After all, a bottle of Powerade Fruit Punch awaits...it's chilling as I speak.