Nicolas did the split last week, after practicing for three months. Dylan is pretty close but does not quite touch the ground yet.  Both are in for a present. Somewhere on highway 70: "Show pigs."And my favorite creek of the circus road: Muddy Boggy Creek, also on highway 70. Here it is: a six o'clock call for the last jump, the home run to Hugo, no hurdles but short of a few people who left for other places last night, until next season farewell, and Dylan wakes up as we settle into our spot in winter quarters and says, "This is my favorite lot." We're home for the rest of the year. October 26, Hugo, Oklahoma (105 miles, winter quarters.) Last show, last pictures, and the usual nostalgia for what's ending. This was a good season for the Kelly Miller Circus, good weather, so little mud it could hardly be called a mud show, a quiet season, and we missed half of it but the boys are five and six and the circus is all they've known, and if this was our last season as a circus family I don't want to think about it

Last shows, goodbye and see you next year, I will cherish this circus family forever and ever, like a children's tale. Last jump, last lot, last town, and the Halloween party.We dressed Dylan and Nicolas as the Vazquez Circus clowns in their Martian act.  They won second place.  It was a great party, and the costumes were better than ever.  The Loyal/Fusco tribe outdid themselves again, as the Flintstones family, complete with a Flintstones foam buggy. October 24, Ardmore, Oklahoma (127 miles, corner of Commerce and Veterans Avenue.) There was a baby shower for Natalia today in the big top.  She is having another boy. Another day, another ninety miles jump. October 23, Prior, Oklahoma (90 miles, fairgrounds.) October 22, Granby, Missouri (89 miles, fairgrounds.) October 21, Eldorado Springs. October 21, Eldorado Springs, Missouri (87 miles, next to Fugate Motors store.) October 20, Pleasant Hill. October 20, Pleasant Hill, Missouri (37 miles, fairgrounds.)

October 19, Warrensburg, Missouri (71 miles, fairgrounds.) October 18, Boonville, Missouri (59 miles, fairgrounds.) In Columbia all day visiting schools and my friend Sally. I liked the school with the poorest ratings the best, the people there, the feel of it; it added a science and math specialization and a new, gregarious and energetic principal a few years back. I like that the school is named after an artist, Thomas Hart Benton, a muralist from Missouri who belonged to the Regionalist movement. October 17, Auxvasse, Missouri (89 miles, Lions Club grounds.) My bad knee forces me to slow down, to walk slowly, and so the proverbial silver lining: I walk mindfully, carefully minding each of my steps, slowly, each step fully lived, like a Buddhist walking meditation, and I stop to think about that, and enjoy it. October 16, Elsberry, Missouri (39 miles, Page Branch park.) October 15, Warrenton, Missouri (29 miles, athletic complex.) We got a little lost on the jump this morning. 

I figure we added about ten miles to the distance, but then again we got to see the rest of the construction around the St Louis freeways, which, like the ones in the Rio Grande valley, seem to be in a state of perpetual reconstruction.dunelm red suede blackout curtainsWe went to the St Louis City Museum last night with John Moss' family, and met Rebecca's family and Tavana's family there.  rhodas curtainsNo need to say the kids just adored it (but maybe not as much as we did.)bryce sheer grommet curtains October 14, Washington, Missouri (84 miles, fairgrounds.)jungle fun tab-top curtains and tiebacks

Rehearsals for next year's production have been going on all week, and Fridman's new act is coming together nicely, hours of daily practice paying off.  The kids are still practicing too, and Nicolas is an inch away from doing the split.the tortilla curtain bedeutung October 12, Troy, Illinois (32 miles, across form RP Lumber.)eclipse curtains thermaliner blackout liner So I have osteochondritis dissecans. It's latin for "Sorry but your bones are dying off." Or, my left knee started hurting badly last night and today I can't walk without limping. It feels just like ten years ago, when my other knee was diagnosed with a rare disease that involves a list of scary phenomenons like reduced blood flow to the knee bone and detached cartilage and bone fragments. 

I had surgery and it didn't work.  My right knee has been bothering me on and off all this time, and now it's the left, too. Mulling this tonight as I try not to panic, and if I'm right in my self-diagnosis, it occurs to me that the first outburst of the disease happened as I was getting ready to move to California from Jacksonville and start a new job at a newspaper there, and that now is exactly one of these times again, a time of change and stress and its cohort of personal upheaval and emotional roller-coaster.  If I am right and this is a recurrence of the disease then all my plans once again are up in the air, as I'll need surgery right away if I am not to walk through life not only being in excruciating pain at every step, but also not being able to work or care for the kids by myself. October 11, Bendl, Illinois (39 miles, Bendl city park.) October 10, Greenfield, Illinois (28 miles, Rives Lake park.) Annual visit to my former home town and "where Fridman and I met" town of Jacksonville, and a pumpkin and garden fresh tomatoes-filled day with our friends Steve and Tiffany.