Gotta Do What You Can Just To Keep Your Love Alive

Ok, so this may seem like an odd title to use for my 2012 Tulsa State Fair adventure blog entry, but actually, it fits as you will see.


So I started off with one of my annual favorites, the steak shish-kebob from the stand by the extreme sports centers. So good! ($10) I also got a water ($2)

Walked up the road eating the kabob when I saw......

CANDY BACON!

Yes, it was very good. I have a slab of bacon in the freezer, I think candy treatment is due for some of it.

 

 I walked through the Made In Oklahoma section and remembered that I promised the Sa-Mokin BBQ sauce guys I would stop by and say hi. So I grabbed my ribeye sandwich ($6) and headed over.

 

 

 

Not only did he hook me up with sauce for my ribeye, he handed me a bottle and said "take this with you." OMG free BBQ sauce and it wasn't even their Faire special thing to do for the day for a free one! So the sauce beats Head Country hands down in my book and the owners are cool!

 

So, I wander back outside and see this.... BACON ON ALL THE THINGS!!!!!

I picked the loser. "porkabella" kabobs.

At $13.50 not only were they the most expensive item I found out there, but also the worst choice. The provolone cheese was tasteless! (What there was of it.) Do not buy this, you will regret it. The "bacon" wasn't bacon, it was stringy pork.

If I go back again this year, I am getting the beer battered bacon strips.

Now it was gator meat time!

First bite and my mount went "oh shit, this isn't seasoned."

Gamey, undercooked, and tasteless. Last years was much better. This place also does kick ass shrimp on a stick. I will get the shrimp if I go again.


I found a car sticker booth and picked up a few gifts. I'm sure one may make it north for the ZARV, while one goes to a carny friend. (Save a ticket, ride a carny)

 

 

 

 

 

So I wandered the midway... for about 3 minutes and ran from the carnies.

 

 

 

 

Panorama ftw!

 

 

 

I went inside the main building and got me a soda ($2.50) to wash everything down and found the gemstone guy. A lot of things I bought last year ended up in medicine bags. So I bought more supplies. Carnelian, fluorite, rose quartz and tigereye hearts, turtles, some assorted items and 2 wolves teeth from Tibet. (We won't talk about how much I spent due to 1, it is all for gifting and 2, I don't want to remember how much I spent, heh.)



 



 

 

 

I wandered around for a while more, talking to a few vendors, checking out the sights. I found a guy with Tibetan stuff for sale, I may go back and get a mandala or two to hang up. Or, I may get this mandala coloring book I saw at the store the other day and color my own :)

 

Quick stop by the bulk candy maze to load up for work!

 

$13.50 worth of candy. Used the store card since it's all going in the bowl at work. I swear it is.

 

 

With my back starting to hurt from carrying all my goodies, I headed out.

 

But wait! I forgot the CORNDOG!

 



 

 

Nom, corndog... Grrrrrr

 

 

Had to pick up items for the poker game tonight, so I got a few good items:

 

 

Jumbo bags of cotton candy, chocolate kettle corn and regular kettle corn.




So, I guess you're still wondering where the title fits in? Well, I went to the fair by myself, but I was never alone. A wonderful friend of mine sent me Facebook messages the entire time and we discussed topics such as the past, love, needs, and how wonderful lasting friendships are.



Looking back on the years gone by like so many summer fields...

(and you thought the cotton candy was sticky sweet :p )


Now, for your listening entertainment, Mr. Jackson Browne!



I hope some day you'll join us

For every journey, there is a beginning. Some come with the rolling of thunder, others with the breaking dawn.

The transmission of matter through airborne objects gives time to paws and reflect on  the animals surrounding me and may be presented to me.

Then I eat them...

Arriving at destinations are merely pit stops on the journey. Elation filled moments when seeing familiar forms of transportation carrying Bears with wide excited smiles appear.

A few moments spent sharing joy and exchanging gifts from the heart are critical at these times. You may speak to someone every day, you may ship them something, but even the simplest token passed from hand to hand can mean more than all the treasures one can imagine. It leaves one speechless.

Our shadows remind us of how momentary, yet how eternal these moments are

 

Being able to experience and share a moment in the flesh with something that has only existed in images is a great luxury.

Breaking bread (or legs) with a kindred spirit is among the most bonding elements of ancient society. The share in the Hunt and the Feast is something celebrated amongst backyard cannibals quite often, but noticeably absent from my life.

The Great Bears are satisfied, for now.

Upon approaching another stop along the journey, a gateway to a place is found where Dreams might be made real.

After a n early morning discussion about Balance, a symbol appears.

 Sometimes the most unexpected creatures provide a conduit for a smile and laugh.

 Discovering another one allows for two strangers to share wisdom on meanings and changing seasons. Reminds us that transformation can happen at any time and some of the most wondrous things can be right under foot.

 A simple bridge becomes a gateway to the Temple of Dream Healing (aka the Magic Mushroom) and a leaving behind of old onuses, real and imaginary.

 After chasing after a blue dragonfly with no success, walking across the bridge pictured above lends for a rare intimate moment with a creature of a different color that was more than eager to allow pictures to be taken for long moments. Reminding us that even if we get distracted chasing after fantasies, we may have something wonderful just waiting for us down the path.

 A gateway of color beckons to an area wherein an angry bee sought justice for some unknown past wrongs against a man in a purple shirt (ouch, it did hurt.)

 A moment suspended in time between heaven and earth.

 A journey into another world holds may secrets and great noodles.

 Colorful windows into the subterranean universe reminds us how we are only suspended between what exists below and what hangs above.

Subtle patterns appear in unexpected areas. The labyrinth appears to those willing to weave through it.

A day of memories lain out on the covers set the stage for carrying these times home and expanding in an unforeseen direction thanks to the dream shared by a kindred spirit thousands of miles away.

Seeing these mountains in the distance remind me of how far from home I am, and how strange and wonderful this land is.

 The People of the Moon called these lands home for many generations. Working in harmony with the land and animals, we are left with only still memories of the harmony that once existed.

 Witnessing this magical site in person reminds me how inadequate man's greatest designs are compared with nature's simplest ones.

 Even though I still had journeys to take that day, this being only a small stopover on a day of confusing directions, it is still refreshing to see that a real smile still escapes my lips.

Another gateway into adventure.

 Appeasing the Bear with a good yet simple meal.

I was a bit upset with myself though. This native elder was standing around silently and smiled to me as I walked by to get to this establishment. Unlike many out there he did not ask for money or food. I felt the need to meet this man, but did not want to dishonor him by offering a meal as I would to a beggar. I should have offered it as a friend. I shall remember this lesson.

 Through a journey which I shall blog about later, I was greeted by a badger and he taught me about the nature of badger medicine. Sometimes, Honey Badger doesn't need to give a damn.

 The light at the end of the tunnel is always a welcome sight.

Another stopover seeking direction for the day provides a unexpected glimpse into the world of native art. It does resemble an orca, but the pointed beak also reminds me of the great Raven that had been guiding my journey thus far that day.

 A trip to the restroom provides a history of the day's journey. Good thing I was in the correct place for such a shocking revelation.

I followed the ravens to their rest.

 They gifted me many feathers to use on medicine objects in exchange for picking up debris left by man along my path there.

 Arriving at a friend's house to break bread, a little reminder of community appears.

 Grandfather Raven lights upon the railing to bid me farewell the morning I depart from these lands.

 As I leave, Pacific Northwest weather has returned to the Pacific northwest.

 Fuel prices up there remind me to be thankful of the prices we have. (These were the lowest in that area.)

At the airport, a familiar creature is sighted!

Returning home, it has been tough for me to sleep, though for me to awaken in the morning. I still am wandering through the haze of surreality, or perhaps my soul now knows a freedom to just "be" and now has no desire for the daily insubstantial entanglements of life and wants to keep enjoying the eternal moment. Things are all falling into place for anything I desire as I wade in the Flow.

I will leave you all now with these thoughts and images. Over the weekend I shall share some of the vision journeys I went on.