 |
Sorry, Wawa.
It sucked this year.
That is all. |
The
signs are there: back-to-school
sales, high school sports practices, orange-tinged leaves, Hoagiefest’s end, Eagles
training camp, lack of interest in the backyard pool, leaves beginning to fill
that same pool, college tuition bills, season finales of those dreadful summer
TV shows, and frenzied plans to get back to the Shore “one last time.”
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"And, when I'm done?
I'm comin' for your eyes, tubby.
Haven't you ever seen Alfred Hitchcock?" |
Quicker
than a seagull on a box of fries, summer has flown by.
It
seemed like only yesterday we were bemoaning the fact that, despite a
relatively warm winter and tease of a few hot April days, it would never warm
up. Summer clothing mocked us from
our closets as we pulled on yet another fleece hoodie throughout a string of
wet, dreary days. We yearned to
open our pools, host backyard barbecues, and take in a game at Citizens Bank
Park, where professional baseball used to be played.
Now? The approach of Labor
Day, while certainly an occasion for backyard camaraderie and last chance at
the pool, heralds the arrival of cooler days. Cooler days which ultimately lead to the dread frosts of
winter nights. While I get the thrill of downhill skiing at
Camelback-orthopedic concerns notwithstanding-I much prefer tubing down the
Delaware River.
Bottom
line, I’m not too happy.
 |
"And it ain't over now!
Well, except me.
I'm dead." |
Luckily,
as that great thinker, Bluto Blutarsky from Animal
House, said, “Over? Did you
say over? Was it over when the
Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”
Okay, that Germans and Pearl
Harbor thing doesn’t make any sense.
But, despite the fact that snow blowers will soon be on sale at Home
Depot, summer still has a few tricks up her sleeve.
One
such “trick” is the Dublin Firemen’s Carnival in...uh...Dublin. Pennsylvania. Try and keep up, huh?
Held
for two weeks each August, this annual (annual meaning “yearly” for those whose
high school diplomas are on an Etch-A-Sketch) event provides a wonderful
farewell to summer.
Called
the “best carnival in the area” by my son (who’s an engineering student, so he
should know), the Dublin Carnival is truly a treat. It combines the thrill of amusement rides with food that
probably wouldn’t hold muster with a nutritionist, games of chance that offer
the opportunity of hauling around a pink teddy bear the size of Andy Reid, and
local entertainment such as Bill Clinton and his Band (good to see the
president is keeping busy). The
very best in good ole fashioned Americana, it’s a bittersweet finish to the
summer season.
So,
c’mon Fall (or Autumn, for you high brow types)! Old Man Winter?
Keep your mittens to yourself.
I still have a few months.
You two don’t scare me.
 |
Dylan Thomas
Author of Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.
And the less popular, But You Go Can Ahead and Lay on a Path and Creep Out Hikers |
For
despite the melancholy which threatens to overwhelm me, I will not go gentle into that good night.
I’m
going to the Dublin Carnival.
Where
I hope to keep that funnel cake inside of me when I take a ride on one of those
spinny upside-down thingies.
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| "If you lean wayyyy out, you can spit on Clinton's head." |
