Kids and Balloons go Together - Especially hot air Balloons!

Summer vacation is coming to a close. I sit counting crows near Cottage Lake Park after the final concert of the season. Flocking crows noisily herald - ‘The end is near, fall is just over the horizon’. In two weeks school is back in session. There is still time to take some time with extended family. It is lovely to be able to do that in the age of re-location. Lucky for the Fiorda family, three generations that arrived early for a picnic and stayed ‘til the end.  Nana (Donna Skiba) and three grandchildren got up and danced to the rhythms of Night and Day playing ‘Beer Barrel Polka’ and ‘Kansas City’ among other standard dance tunes.

It was sort of a surprise concert being that Night and Day, the trio that was rained out in July came back this past Thursday to entertain a couple of hundred folks. The real surprise appeared above the tree line north of the park at mid-concert.  A bright canary yellow hot air balloon drifted by to say hello. There was plenty of time for everyone to wave greetings back and forth and to snap photos of the surprise guest and its occupants. . Jamie Fiorda shared his photos with me.

We are in the waning days of summer but:

For every memory

One leaf will drop

And be swept away...

But don't mourn

The Last Days of Summer

You will remember them

Brighter than they were,

Vermeer lit images

Sanded smooth and lacquered

A jewel box of treasures

The heart and mind will

Remember in your winter leisure.

©2011 Diana Mercedes Howell

See you next year at the Cottage Lake Concert Series!