Candy-Colored Carnival

As per local tradition, on the heels of the harvest moon comes the carnival. Aliens seemed to be a theme this year. You know times are tough when people are volunteering to be abducted.

 Glittering neon gears competed with the brilliant sky.

And while we weren't quite lost in the funhouse...

 ...we were quite lost in the mirror maze.

We had corn dogs and funnel cake, and bought a space hopper for the youngin. And then at last we walked back, through the dark streets, past the silent school and the glowing lamps and the dry leaves skidding along the pavement.

And with that we mark another ritual of the turning of the year.

Festival Of The Liminal Space

 

At the carnival, in the Autumn, at twilight.

Carnivalia

 It's county fair and carnival time again - at the proper time of year, not Winter, like Victoria (seriously, Victoria,WTF?) No, it's after a long hot summer that communities traditionally gather to judge each other's vegetables, sheep and pies. Also to blow wads of cash on midway games.

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After visiting the petting zoo and the art display (where my son took home first prize - congratulations L.!) we rushed to hit our favorite part, the carnival.

One may reasonably wonder why, at my advanced age, I'm still enamored of thrill rides. Well, there's no instantly transformative experience like defying gravity. The moment I think I'm too old for carnival rides will be the moment I'm officially no fun any more. You might as well pack it in.

Anyway, it's hard to be miserable when you're whirling around in a giant teacup.

I do love carnivals for other reasons though, something more Bradbury-esque.  Just at the time when the year begins to wind down, this strange, transient world appears under cover of darkness. It's all light and color and noise, when the day before it was only dusty ground. It's like a portal of sorts, into something most unusual.

And even if you aren't trapped forever, the mirror maze will force you to confront your mortal image...

at the end of September, when the veil between worlds grows thin.

Tornado, Sizzler, Kamikaze, Viper

Carnival Rides

I love the space age looking aperture atop the sizzler. It could have come straight out of the Jetson's.

Lessons learned: ghouls drink rum, bees are friendly, and if you star in a mega-blockbuster film, 30-some years later they will still be painting odd caricatures of you in your role. Seriously, I swear that's the same Odyssey 3000 funhouse I recall from third grade. In which case it would have held up preternaturally well, since I'm no spring chicken. :p