Ah, today was wondrously cool and breezy (blustery, even). Sure, we’ll be seeing warmer temps at the end of the week, but the promise of autumn is here.

And with the end of summer/start of autumn comes festival season. Two weekends ago was a great start to things. Friday saw Downtown Troy have their “Final Friday” with stores staying open late and lots of local musicians playing outside of shops/restaurants. Some of the local artists were out as well. No street vending of food, but the folks and I sated ourselves with pear hard cider from Leaf & Vine, sangria from the furniture store (that combo made me drunk – I am such a light weight!), and Chinese food from Tokyo Peking.

Saturday, I had agreed to be the DD for my folks and their friends for the FareFest in Versailles (pronounced as spelled). This was the 3rd year of this festival, but the first time for us. The folks and their friends split the cost of my food-only ticket, while they all got their special wine glasses and all the wine, beer, and cider they could drink. Several local restaurants and caterers were there with food as well. The food was excellent and I hear tell the wine & beer was good as well. I got everyone home safe und sound.

The folks and I also attended the downtown concert on the square that night, which was excellent. The brass (and percussion) section of the Air Force Band performed quite a few numbers. I even turned to dad once and said “this group would be great doing a Spike Jones piece” and two songs later, they did a Spike Jones piece! They did Pal-Yat-Chee, which was brilliant. One of the best shows this summer.

Then this last weekend (Labor Day weekend) was a nice end of summer weekend, with all sorts of weather available. Friday was stonking hot, so I stayed inside with my lovely air conditioning. Saturday was nearly as warm, so I went swimming with mom. Our last time in the pool for this year. *sniff* Sunday was a cookout at mom & dad’s cottage at Lake Loramie with my dad’s family. We had an excellent game of Shanghai Rum (I didn’t win, alas) and dad grilled us a fine assortment of tube steaks. Although it had rained (stormed) earlier on Sunday, it left us alone, for the most part, at the cookout.

Labor day was our day at the Piqua Heritage Festival, one of my favorite festivals. I had already felt bad for the folks who camp there the whole 3-day weekend due to the really strong storms early Sunday and the horrid heat of Saturday. Monday was a whole different kettle of fish. It barely reached 60F that day. I was optimistic that it would hit high 60s, but it didn’t, so I was a bit chilly in my t-shirt. Still, the crafts were neat to see and the food was tasty. I had corn on the cob, strawberry lemon shake-up (needed more sugar), fried catfish & fried tater tots. And to top it all off, battered & deep-fried peach. Now THAT was tasty! To take home, I bought kettle corn, saltwater taffy, cinnamon roasted pecans, and a CD of local music (Celtic Bluegrass, I believe.)

Later that afternoon, when I was relaxing with the cats, working on a website, and finally thawed out, mom called to say that we were invited to a cookout with her family – right now. So I finished the website update and headed out (this time with a jacket) for dinner with the Andersons. It was lovely to see folks again, and the food was tasty. My cousin, Gregg, grilled sliders and dogs, both nicely done.

So now, summer is over but for the equinox. But thankfully, festival season has only just begun!