Big Tex

big-texWhat little kid doesn’t like a fair?   The Texas State Fair is the Grand-daddy of them all!  Texas always boasted of having the biggest state fair in the U.S., and I suspect this is a true claim. I was fortunate as a little kid to get to go to this attraction every year.  I don’t think my husband, who grew up in west Texas, ever even made it to the fair.  Located on a sprawling, 277 acre campus in southeast Dallas, appropriately named Fair Park, the fairgrounds include the livestock pavilions, museums, exhibit halls, the world-famous Cotton Bowl, and every kid’s favorite, the Midway.   Visitors to the Fair are greeted by Big Tex, a 55′ tall talking and animated statue dressed, of course, in blue jeans and a western shirt.  Imagine a Howdy Doody puppet on steroids, and you get the idea!

The State Fair was so important to Dallas that we even got a day off from school in October to attend.  When we were younger, my parents dutifully took us every year.  By the time I was in 7th or 8th grade, my parents let me take the bus to the Fair.  This entailed a lengthy bus ride from northwest Dallas to downtown and. Transfer to another bus to southeast Dallas.  As I look back at this, I must admit that I am somewhat surprised that they allowed that.  In today’s seemingly more dangerous society, that might be a high risk kind of adventure!

Nonetheless, when my friends and I arrived at the Fair, we dutifully traipsed through the various exhibit halls.  We looked at the cows and horses and even the pigs!  We surveyed the handmade quilts, jars of beautiful jewel toned jams and jellies, and yummy looking pies.  I would have loved to be one of the judges for the pies, but, alas, they never asked me!  One of the first things that used to greet visitors near the front entrance was a little “house” where Elsie the Borden’s Dairy cow lived with her husband Elmer, and their offspring Beulah and Beauregard.  I assume, like Borden’s Dairy, they are all long gone.  It never occurred to me then, but I have to wonder if Elmer was actually a steer rather than a bull? midway

The Midway was, of course, our favorite place to stop.  All of those glorious rides! For .10 or .25 a ride, you could ride endlessly or so it seemed.  Besides the rides, the Midway featured a number of booths where you could win an array of cheap prizes like stuffed animals and little plaster “stuff” of various kinds.  There were also a larger number of side shows being hawked by the carneys!  I wonder if they are still around today as by today’s standard they were so politically incorrect!  There was the bearded lady (Poor thing probably just needed some hormone therapy!), the tattooed man (Today he wouldn’t even get a second glance; just look at professional athletes or many of the visitors in any US mall for tattoos!), and the sad animal examples of anomalies in nature like the two-headed snake and so on.

On one memorable occasion, my little sister was on the kiddie ferris wheel, the kind with little closed cages, when the ride stalled out.  Soon the entire air was permeated with the sounds of wailing little kids!  Much to the consternation of the operators of the ride, my Dad and my uncle, who was visiting us from Philadelphia at the time, climbed up the outer structure of the little wheel and proceeded to hand down the bawling little ones to other father who jumped in to help out.  These days in my adult mode I always wonder if the operators of these rides are sober and haven’t had a few puffs of weed or a quick hit out of a flask and when was the last time the ride was thoroughly checked out for safety!

Then there was the food, of course–sticky cotton candy, greasy corn dogs, drippy ice cream bars, and hot pretzels.  It was a wonder that we didn’t all go home with an upset tummy, or maybe we did, and I just blotted out that memory!  I probably haven’t had cotton candy or a corn dog in over 40 years, but in those days it all tasted pretty good to me.  One of my favorites was a stand that sold a box with a couple of pieces of fried chicken sitting atop some soggy French fries and a very flat slice of white bread.  This delicious box came with a couple of packets of honey, ensuring that we were completely a gooey mess by the time we finished.  Remember this was before Colonel Sanders became a household name!

Does the mystique of a State Fair still enchant new generations of kids who have grown up with Disney World, Universal Studios, and Six Flags over Texas?  I hope the fun of going to a State Fair still entrances them!  This is truly a little slice of the American heritage that we need to hang on to!

©The Eclectic Grandma, 2016

The Moments of our Lives

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Popcorn Balls

After my last somewhat somber blog about the election, it’s time for a lighter note!  Today’s blog is dedicated to my wonderful, loving husband.  A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog recalling the Halloween celebrations of my childhood.  A friend of mine mentioned that it made her recall her Mother’s yummy popcorn balls when she was a kid, which in turn reminded me of a long-forgotten (or suppressed) incident.

popcorn-balls

When we first got married, my hubby used to rave about his Mother’s popcorn balls.  One day I decided I would surprise him with some homemade popcorn balls.  I bought popcorn, white Karo syrup, sugar.  I was ready to roll!  Now today I would just google “popcorn balls” on my iPad and up would pop 20 or 30 recipes for popcorn balls.  In those days, of course, no one had ever heard of iPads or smart phones!  How difficult could it be?

Humming happily in the kitchen, I popped the popcorn, mixed up the Karo and sugar, and got ready to form those tasty, crunchy balls.  I had squares of cellophane ready to wrap them up.  But wait–something was wrong!  The balls just weren’t holding together properly.  Finally in desperation I took Bill a large bowl of very sticky popcorn along with a spoon to eat it with.  Somehow, he wisely managed to keep a completely straight face and asked me if I had cooked the sugar-syrup mixture long enough.

Cook it?  Slowly the light dawned.  I had left out one very crucial step in the process!  I must confess that was my first and last venture into homemade popcorn balls.  I don’t even particularly like them anyway, and if we get the urge for some Halloween popcorn balls today, there is always the Popcorn Factory!

©The Eclectic Grandma, 2016

Reflections on the Election

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Happy Halloween

I recently saw a news story saying that Halloween is the second largest holiday in terms of money spent, about six billion dollars annually.  It is right after Christmas in terms of dollar volumes.  Now I find that to be quite interesting!  October 31 has certainly morphed from just a little kid’s holiday into an adult holiday.  It does make you wonder why so many adults go all out for Halloween with decorations, elaborate costumes, parties, and bar crawls.  Of course, there is the old idea of any excuse for a party!  I suspect that much of the attraction of putting on a costume for Halloween may be due to the desire to slip into some sort of alter ego, at least for a period of time.  Why else would seemingly sane adults suddenly become the naughty upstairs maid, Darth Vader, a super hero, or even a presidential candidate for an evening?  It is reminiscent of the masked balls of past centuries at the English and French courts.  If no one knows who you are, perhaps you can get by with acting in ways you normally would not do.

halloween-jackolantern-ab

Historically, Halloween was the night before All Saints Day, the night when ghouls, goblins, and the spirits of the dead were thought to roam the earth. Over time All Hallows Eve evolved into the holiday we know today replete with lots of tricks or treats.  I think I was fortunate to have experienced Halloween as a little kid before the evening got hijacked by the adults.

In my childhood we didn’t have the plethora of ready-made costumes to choose from like you see today.  We actually had to make our own.  These could be fairly simple or elaborate, depending upon your creativity and your Mom’s sewing skills.  An old sheet could quickly become a ghost.  Highly popular among the little boys were hobos and scarecrows.  An old worn out jacket of your Dad’s and some black smudges on your face, and you were all set.  For girls it was usually the princess or the gypsy queen.  As for me, I was always the gypsy.  A long flowing skirt and a white ruffled blouse with elastic sleeves that you could pull down off your shoulders constituted the basic costume.  Add some of your Mom’s make-up and lots of dangly jewelry, and you were all set.  Oh, I was so glamorous and sexy!

When my boys were little, I tried a couple of times to make their costumes.  One year they went as ghosts with giant jack o’ lantern heads out of felt.  I thought they were quite adorable.  Unfortunately a few of my neighbors wanted to know why my kids were dressed as tomatoes!   I guess my felt wasn’t quite orange enough.  Another year we had great success with the head on the plate.   We covered a large box with a small tablecloth and cut a hole for the kid’s head to stick out.  Then we cut a large paper plate to go around the his neck.  Next we glued on some silverware, salt and pepper shakers, and a nice parsley garnish.  Finish with some ghastly facial make up complete with blood trickling out of the corners of the mouth, and you’ve got it!

In the days when I was a child, people actually felt free to hand out homemade goodies—popcorn balls, cookies, or caramel apples.  Today, any cautious parent quickly disposes of any treat not commercially packaged and intact, and many hospitals offer free x-rays of the little ones’ candy to ensure that it is free of needles or razor blades.  What a sad commentary on today’s society.  I don’t recall any sort of serious vandalism when I was little.  A trick might be turning over a garbage can or leaving a burning paper bag full of dog poop on someone’s porch, not wreaking havoc in the computer lab in the local elementary school.

So whatever your plans for Halloween, enjoy the evening and watch out for those evil spirits.  I have to run now and go plan my gypsy costume!

©The Eclectic Grandma, 2016

 

Blind Dogs See with Their Hearts

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