Thursday, August 11, 2005

Scandi

Unbelievably, it’s mid-August already.  Who hit the fast-forward button on 2005?  This is the phenomenon of middle-age with which I am least comfortable:  the days just fly by, faster and faster.  The more dear they become, the fewer you know you have left, the more they kick it into overdrive and speed by.  Yesterday, my niece looked at me quizzically when I said that a shirt she had bought at the local resale shop would be perfect to wear for a Christmas event.  I said, “I know, for you, Christmas seems like a long time away, but for me, it’s, like, tomorrow.”  And so it goes.

But if the years have to go by so fast, it is good, at least, to have special things scattered throughout the seasons that I can…well, watch fly by with a smile on my face, anyway.  This weekend, we are in Junction City for the Scandinavian Festival.  Above all others, this is my favorite event, and the one that got me started in this business sixteen years ago (another gasp and sigh when I ponder that number…)  Perhaps not completely coincidentally, the Scandi is also the only event we do all year where we make any money.  A lot rides on maximizing our success here.   I’ve toiled for weeks to make product, order signs, spiff up the trailer, gather costumes, tweak the menu; as I sit here clackety clacking away at 6 am, all is in readiness for a day of bang-up business.  

The anticipation and stage-fright that kicked me out of bed at 4:30 this morning will, I hope, be enough to keep me on my feet until 10:30 this evening, when I'll pack the stacks of bills into my back pack and heave myself behind the wheel of “Little Red.”  The drive back to my sister’s house after a fifteen-hour day is magical.  Junction City is out in the middle of Lane County’s mint fields.  This time of year, the mint is ripe and smells heavenly.  The huge irrigation cannons are set to do their work after the sun goes down.  The misty smell of mint on the damp night breeze is what we call the “Scandi smell.”  In days when I am old and decrepit (tomorrow?) and can no longer whip the creaky bonesinto shape to ply my trade, I’ll come back to Lane County in August, and drive down River Road after dark.  And let the memories wash over me like a tonic.  

9 comments:

  1. Time does fly by way too fast. I can't believe it's already August either. Have fun at the festival! ~ Lori

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  2. Mint really is the smell of summer to me as well.  There was a ditch at the very front of my grandmother's lawn covered in mint, and I have so many memories of summer evenings, chasing lightning bugs or counting stars, surrounded by the smell of mint.  Every afternoon on our visits, my sister and I would climb down into the ditch and pluck mint to use in our tea.  That descent was so scary then, and I've wondered just how deep that ditch really was, if it would deeper than I am tall now.  Hope the Scandi fest goes great, and the bucks come rolling in.

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  3. Have a wonderful time at the festival and I wish you much success in all your efforts.  Sounds like lots of fun to me.

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  4.   I can totally relate to you about ageing. Faster and faster it goes!
      I hope you do well with your sales, and make a fortune! Have fun.                     Rhonda

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  5. I have a ton of mint growing in the back yard. It is taking over like a weed. Yet, I can not force myself to cut it back or anything to inhibit its growth.  I love the smell. I know what you mean about a tonic. To me, it smells like a mint julep! Good luck at the festival. Sounds like a good time.

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  6. Sunshine and mint. What a combination.

    Jackie

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  7. Hope you had a very successful venture and a fragrant journey.  Isn't it the most wonderful experience when a scent takes you back in time?  I read that the reason time seems to pass more slowly when we are young is because those years are filled with fresh, brand-new experiences.  As we age and settle into familiar routines, time has the effect of seeming to pass more quickly.  So, if we actually do want time to slow down, we mid-lifers need to do more things for the very first time.  (Personally, Christmas can come as quickly as it can for my taste!) As I have been reading your journal the past few months, it seems like you are always off on different adventures and I'm sure it will be many, many years before you slow down.  (Red) hats off to your entrepreneurial spirit, travels, and joie de vivre.

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  8. There's scent that always brings me back to beautiful Prince Edward Island. Unfortunatley, it's a piggery, but we can't control these things. ;-)

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  9. Hope the Scandi Fest went well.  Send some of that minty-damp Scandi scent my way, will ya ~ all I smell today is rabbits and hay...   ;(

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