August 5, Woodville.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
The girls.
August 5, Woodville.
All the circus kids were at the playground behind the backstage area; Yolanda asked for a souvenir of her girlfriends at Kelly Miller.
Then the girls rushed off to the finale.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Short nights.
August 5, Woodville.
We moved off the island last night and the backlog at the ferry was such that we didn't leave until almost one o'clock in the morning. We arrived here past two.
It was a long day, and an even shorter night.
We moved off the island last night and the backlog at the ferry was such that we didn't leave until almost one o'clock in the morning. We arrived here past two.
It was a long day, and an even shorter night.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Aerial act.
August 3, Kelleys Island.
The mayor of Kelleys Island agreed to take me on his two-seat plane to take an aerial picture of the circus for next year's program. Right before the end of the first show Nicolas fell asleep while eating dinner, Dylan went with Courtney backstage, and I went up in the sky.
It is an unusual setup for the circus (we are parked in the middle of the midway, for example, when we should be backstage, and the rest of the non-performers' trailers are beyond the midway, at an angle, when they should be set back a little on one side of the circus,) but it was fun to see it from above - that and the first Canadian island three miles away.
Circus nation.
August 3, Kelleys Island.
Min (far right) with her three children: "It's part of an American tradition of family gathering."
Kelleys Island again.
August 3, Kelleys Island.
We moved last night to the island via ferry. It would have been lovely by day, the way we did it last year, unfortunately this time we there last of lasts since Fridman drives the tire truck closing the circus caravan.
We got to the lot at midnight and all the welcoming crowds were long gone.
We met a lot of the circus at the beach, and so far it's even sunny. If it weren't for the four shows this would feel like a real summer holiday.
And, as always here, business is great. In many ways this is the high point of the year for the Kelly Miller Circus and all of us working for it.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Circus nation.
August 2, Lagrange.
Bob: "Animals. It's nice to see elephants and real horses and real things that we don't get to see much of."
Arrivals.
August 2, Lagrange.
Little sisters Priscilla and Jo arrived today. They will be with us for a month or so, possibly until the end of the season.
Yesterday Renzo and Zefta also came back after staying with their mother in Florida.
Little sisters Priscilla and Jo arrived today. They will be with us for a month or so, possibly until the end of the season.
Yesterday Renzo and Zefta also came back after staying with their mother in Florida.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Circus nation.
August 1, Richfield.
Mindy: "The circus means family fun to me. It reminds me of when I was a little kid and I 'd come with my parents."
Circus nation.
August 1, Richfield.
Erika: "As entertaining as watching all the performers it's watching all the behind the scenes people that's interesting."
Circus nation.
August 1, Richfield.
I started another project, asking families what the circus means to them and taking a snapshot of them.
Grandmother: "The circus makes me feel young again."
Three shows.
August 1, Richfield.
What a day.
Not only did the sponsor sell fifteen hundred tickets in advance but the circus was packed earlier today and the second show has just started with more people being turned away again, so management has decided to add a third one.
Let the good times roll. And it's finally summer, sunny and warm, and people are everywhere you look, pacing the backstage area, programs in hand, kids in the rides, at the playground, kids eating cotton candy, Mom and Dad taking pictures, summer at last.
What a day.
Not only did the sponsor sell fifteen hundred tickets in advance but the circus was packed earlier today and the second show has just started with more people being turned away again, so management has decided to add a third one.
Let the good times roll. And it's finally summer, sunny and warm, and people are everywhere you look, pacing the backstage area, programs in hand, kids in the rides, at the playground, kids eating cotton candy, Mom and Dad taking pictures, summer at last.
Crowds.
August 1, Richfield.
The sponsor sold fifteen hundred tickets, and a lot of people came out to see the elephants this morning. The show should be just like the rest of the season so far, surprisingly successful, with better attendance than last year, in spite of the lousy economy. During the Great Depression the circus didn't fare so well; the period heralded an end of the heyday of the traditional American circus.
Battery power.
July 31, Sagamore Hills.
An incident that could have been serious turned out to become instant circus kids folklore instead. Yolanda and Channing drank a milkshake tainted with a battery after Dayesca somehow found one and put it into the blender, unnoticed. The firefighters were called but nobody was hurt.
John Moss joked afterward that now the two girls would now go on and on and on and on.
An incident that could have been serious turned out to become instant circus kids folklore instead. Yolanda and Channing drank a milkshake tainted with a battery after Dayesca somehow found one and put it into the blender, unnoticed. The firefighters were called but nobody was hurt.
John Moss joked afterward that now the two girls would now go on and on and on and on.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Life.
July 31, Sagamore Hills.
(The picture was taken in the park adjacent to the lot in Chesterland.)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The Lunas.
July 30, Massillon.
Yolanda is leaving soon too, to join her mother and another circus in California.
Carousel.
July 30, Massillon.
It took fourteen years for Clark Haynam, of Massillon, to build his carousel. There was no model, he says, it just evolved.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Jason.
July 29, Willowick.
And Jason's children, Wesley, five, Brooklyn, three, and Kinlee, nine.
They'll go back to their mother's after Kelley's Island, next week.
Pat and Mike.
July 28, Chesterland.
Pat and Mike joined the circus back in Massachusetts; she's been working in the office, he at the door. They'll soon be going back home to Mission, Texas, down in the Rio Grande valley, after a square dancing detour in South Carolina. They are retired school teachers, traveling the country in their RV, and they love the circus, so for a while they took a funky holiday on the road with Kelly Miller.
They are gregarious and easy-going. He favors cowboy boots and hats; she is a casual dresser, but neat and precise. To me they're the all-American grandparents.
Mike will give you a 'It's a beautiful day' greeting every morning.
I'm alive! he says, if pressed to elaborate in light of yet another rainy day in what has been a straining rainy season.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Dumping mecca.
July 26, Conneaut.
En route we (and the rest of the circus) made the familiar visit to the mecca of RVers the country around, the Flying J truck stop.
Lake Erie.
July 25, Conneaut.
We moved tonight after shows at eleven and two o'clock, and arrived to discover the circus parked on a park that bears its name well, at the edge of Lake Erie. We chatted a long time with Danny and Tavana, who were sitting on a bench waiting for the sunset views over the lake, people were out everywhere enjoying la noche libre, the generator was even turned on, all we needed was smores and it was like a summer holiday at the camp.
Along the route driving out of Middlefield Amish families waved us by standing in their driveway by the road.
Teenagers.
July 24, Middlefield.
The show was booked, the Amish came out in droves, filling the tent with straw hats and turquoise blue hues, and they were a great audience. The clowns brought down the tent; it was a treat to see and hear.
During intermission boys and girls stood in the midway acting like typical teenagers, but in distinct groups, never mingling, and the boys were all swagger and attitude, and the girls all gigglish laughter, only they were dressed from head to toe in conservative Amish attire, making the spectacle all the more enjoyable for being so anachronic.
The boys all smoked, too, and some of the girls, and a cloud soon formed above the midway.
The show was booked, the Amish came out in droves, filling the tent with straw hats and turquoise blue hues, and they were a great audience. The clowns brought down the tent; it was a treat to see and hear.
During intermission boys and girls stood in the midway acting like typical teenagers, but in distinct groups, never mingling, and the boys were all swagger and attitude, and the girls all gigglish laughter, only they were dressed from head to toe in conservative Amish attire, making the spectacle all the more enjoyable for being so anachronic.
The boys all smoked, too, and some of the girls, and a cloud soon formed above the midway.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Heartbreak.
July 24, Middlefield.
Your heart just stops.
How do you take a child' mortal illness? What kind of a god does a mother turn to? There can be no justification.
The world spins inside your skin and dissolves, and in its place there is agony. Someone called me yesterday morning, out of the blue, to tell me that Nicolas could have eye cancer; he had seen a picture of him on my blog where the pupil in one of Nicolas' eyes was white, he said that could be a sign that there was something severely wrong. He talked about eye cancer, I listened in growing disbelief, thanked him for his call. I looked up online and found that indeed the flash picture taken of Nicolas during his first birthday party, buried like a time bomb, back in April of 2008, perfectly matched the ones on the web sites dedicated to retinoblastoma.
We went to the doctor this morning and he's fine.
The world filled with color, breathing is no longer a conscious effort.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The way we are.
July 23, Cochoranton.
It has become part of life on the road by now, as far as we can remember, the incessant rain, pouring like last night and into the morning drive, storming like the day before, drizzling sometimes, but always there it seems since we left the Rio Grande valley back in March, always there for a fact since the beginning of June, following us like a faithful fan, in truth working to the circus' advantage most of the time for kids out of school for the summer don't have much else to do but come to the show when it rains and rains in those small towns.
No complaints then, not even with the pan on the bed to collect the water from the leaks, no complaints then, just the raindrops on the roof, the way everything shines so, even with the mud, towing the trucks over and over again, the discomfort, the extra work. During our audio interview Casey said how he gets wishing he were doing some other work when he's stuck on the side of the road in the rain, say, only to love it all over again the next day, mud and all.
Circus people are like that, this is their life, it's tougher than most and they don't know how it could be any different.
It makes them stubbornly endearing.
It has become part of life on the road by now, as far as we can remember, the incessant rain, pouring like last night and into the morning drive, storming like the day before, drizzling sometimes, but always there it seems since we left the Rio Grande valley back in March, always there for a fact since the beginning of June, following us like a faithful fan, in truth working to the circus' advantage most of the time for kids out of school for the summer don't have much else to do but come to the show when it rains and rains in those small towns.
No complaints then, not even with the pan on the bed to collect the water from the leaks, no complaints then, just the raindrops on the roof, the way everything shines so, even with the mud, towing the trucks over and over again, the discomfort, the extra work. During our audio interview Casey said how he gets wishing he were doing some other work when he's stuck on the side of the road in the rain, say, only to love it all over again the next day, mud and all.
Circus people are like that, this is their life, it's tougher than most and they don't know how it could be any different.
It makes them stubbornly endearing.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Catapult.
July 22, Union City.
Same town, same place as last year - and I got a jolt as I turned into the street leading to the lot this morning for then it was yesterday.
Same town, same place as last year - and I got a jolt as I turned into the street leading to the lot this morning for then it was yesterday.
Familiar territory.
July 21, Warren.
We're re-entered Walmart country, as Tavana noted the other day. The warehouses will now be as familiar as road signs, inexorably dotting the landscape all the way to the Pacific ocean.
We're re-entered Walmart country, as Tavana noted the other day. The warehouses will now be as familiar as road signs, inexorably dotting the landscape all the way to the Pacific ocean.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
More rain?
July 21, Warren.
Chris after parking me under a steady downpour: What would we do without rain?
Chris after parking me under a steady downpour: What would we do without rain?
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