rhapsodic.org is a weblog by Valette Keller

Forest Fire Festival

I've never been to a folk festival. I had plenty of opportunity in Homer with the KBBI Concert on the Lawn, but paying money to spend and entire afternoon listening to local "talent" with unwashed Spit Rats and aging hippies wasn't my teenage idea of fun. Even if there was Nothing Better to do.

And in a town like Homer, there is always Nothing Better to do.

Now that my voice has finally returned to me I have started making Grand Plans that do not involved cartoons or bendy straws, but indeed things like Going Outside and Standing Up and Not Dying.

There is a folk fest going on this weekend, and I had planned on attending, if only for a short time. What better opportunity to photograph hippies in their natural surroundings? Oh, and, also, the music might be good too. With a lot of emphasis on might.

But! A-ha! No one counted on the season's first forest fire to burst to life last night. It has closed down the highway to Anchorage and has filled my lovely blue breathing air with smoke.

Smoke on top of my already unhappy throat and sinuses. Smoke that makes me close all of windows and doors tight, attempt convincing the dog to take her own self out, shun my bicycle, and not want to go to outdoor folk festivals.

I hate smoke and fire season and wish all of those pesky lightning strikes and illegal fire starters would knock it off already so I can properly enjoy a summer.

Please, just this summer, let there be no more fires and no more smoke. Just one summer, this is all I ask.

For now.
Until next summer.