When the circus season ends, the showfolk scatter. Some go home; others head for indoor dates or other types of gigs.

But one thing you can be sure of: they never say "goodbye." But if they never say "goodbye," what do they say when the season ends?

They say, "See you down the road."

Goodbye is too permanent, you see. The wonderful thing about being troupers is that you always see each other, whether it's on the same show or a different one, at a county or state fair, or perhaps just mingling when two shows play close by. When you leave one group, you join another; many times you'll be with one or more folks you've been with before.

I learned this very quickly When the first show I worked for closed down. After spending the winter with my folks, I joined a different show, based in a completely different part of the country. When I arrived on the lot, I was delighted… Read More

My son's career makes me nervous.

It's certainly not what I envisioned when he was a little guy. I thought perhaps he'd be an artist, maybe a writer; after all, he loved to draw and he wrote the cutest little stories. He even drew a comic strip for a little while!

Later, I thought he might be a teacher. That would be great! I could see him in a classroom, helping children learn.

Or maybe he'd be an athlete. He… Read More

This afternoon I indulged myself. I watched three movies that always make me tear up. Well, actually, I watched the ends of two movies and all of one - but the ends are best parts!

I turned on the tube and there it was - the last 30 minutes of Moonstruck, one of my favorite romantic comedies ever. I came in on the part where Loretta (Cher) goes to the opera with Ronny (Nicholas Cage). The parts that make me cry? When… Read More

I take lots of digital photos. I want a place where I can store them, retrieve them, print them, and share them.

There are a whole slew of photo sharing-storing-printing sites out in the internet ether. I've tried lots of them, but my favorite is Flickr.

Flickr, a Yahoo company, is ridiculously easy to use. You can upload digital photos one at a time or in batches, you can add titles and descriptions, you can organize your photos in sets… Read More

It's summer, and time to indulge in that ever-present amusement available at all fairs, festivals, carnivals, and street parties: face painting.

Ah, face painting! I love watching little kids sport butterflies, kitten noses, and tiger stripes as they race around in the heat. Some even have fairies, or bats, or superhero masks applied. Whatever the design, kids love having something special on their faces.

As someone who painted up her own face in clown makeup for several years, here's how to make… Read More

We have an unofficial pet. He's a little black cat who lives in back of our house, the son of a mamma cat who has since disappeared.

We've named him Inky.

Joe started feeding Inky last fall, hoping to tame him enough to get him to the vet. At first, he would ate at night, creeping up on our back stoop after we went to bed.

One day I was sitting at the computer when I glanced outside. Inky jumped up… Read More