Towns

Everyday we drive about 50 miles to a new town , all 95 of us . We set up the big top , we take care of the animals , the children each other ( I use we collectively ) we do 2 shows and tear down and drive to the next town the next morning . Somedays we go for a walk to see the town ..

Margy and me

I really should be putting on some make up BUT we just had the greatest visit with my childhood friend Marguerite .I remembered all those great chilhood adventures that you want all children to have !! Margy gave me a haircut (catastrophe !), she brought me to gymnastics, we shared great novels , we danced, we had insane jump rope games, we painted, did calligraphy, had the best lime rickey in the world at the drug store on Thayer Street . I can't summarize my early magical childhood but there was a huge emphasis on the arts HUGE ! how great and important is art on this planet ? without art we are without expression..

Shipmate Ruby called for duty

Shipmate Ruby was called to action . She got a little cranky for a minute because hard work does not agree with her . After she looked at the big picture and thought about things she was very happy that at this moment in time she is , to the naked eye and as far as she knows , healthy .

Family

Nothing brings back family memories more than a cup of joe .ok , maybe I am excluding other things like oysters and swimming and being incredibly hysterical and loud at the dinner table. I am lucky my wonderful family brings me coffee when we are close by ( and the other stuff too)The last week has been filled with family and memories .
How lucky am I to have family and treasure chests full of memories .

Dunes

Horseneck Beach , Walden Pond..

Field trips..a field trip is anywhere off the circus lot. Many times it means going to a mall kind of place, because teens love that stuff. I decided as a responsible adult we needed to see some places that I thought had some kind of importance . It's the least I can do .I have a mission "we have to go there because it is fantastic and I love it"! First on my list was/is Horseneck beach, it is so beautiful , the dunes , the grasses , the smooth rocks, the strong current . Going to that beach was a major treat as a child , I loved it more than going to Newport , I loved the crazy intense riptides , the undertow, the crashing waves. We spent our summers on the Sakonnet River . A salt water river with a ho hum current and NO WAVES unless we had storms . Field trip # 2 Walden Pond !! HELLO , can you say Thoreau ?? When I wasn't wrestling bluefish or riptides in Buzzards Bay, catching eels and quahoging or swimming across the Sakonnet river ( only 1/2 mile from Common Fence Point to Tiverton, RI ). I would have somehow wrangled a ride to Walden Pond with all my teen friends. We never swam at the public park . We would walk halfway around and swim where it was dark and dangerous and probably forbidden.Going to Walden with friends today was just lovely.. I didn't realize what a mecca it was..what do I know ?

It wasn't like this when I was a little girl...