Tag: bowling

The Western Montana Fair

Friday, August 14, 2009

OK, The Best Aunt in the World just took the cousins bowling (an excellent choice since it is raining.) and I finally have a moment to myself.

We went to the fair yesterday.

It was not a fair day.  It was raining when we walked the kids over to swimming lessons at Splash Montana.   My Kid’s teacher was surprised that all of her students had shown up.  There they were in the water swimming back and forth just the same as on a sunny day.

The rain didn’t change our plans, only slowed them down.    Because it was raining there was no crowd to beat so the kids took their time showering and warming up and getting dressed.  I pushed My Kid over the edge by insisting on combing out her long hair for the first time in 3 days.

 My sister, The Best Aunt in the World was going spend the day with the kids at the fair.  But in the end we all went, 3 generations grandparents, adult children and grandchildren.

It was a big year on the midway for the kids.  They have all outgrown the kiddie rides.  In fleece jackets they braved the August rain to ride as much as they could on their all day passes and  saw the rain as an advantage because without long lines they were able to ride the Tilt-A-Whirl and the Tornado again and again.

There were experimental forays onto the eggbeater which Boy Cousin is barely tall enough to ride without an adult and the giant pirate ship swing.  Of course we had to ride the ferris wheel in order to get a good look at the fairgrounds and surrounding town and mountains.

We went on the Storm Trooper.  Big mistake.   My Kid started hesitating as we neared the gate.   Her cousins were enthusiastic.

“Come on. It’ll be fun.” I said.

She slid onto the seat and the bar was locked.  

She frowned and sank into herself.

The ride started spinning us fast enough to feel the centrifical force pushing us into the seats, pushing my stomach into my legs.  I  have never felt this way without being either pregnant, hung over or in bed with the flu.  My kid started crying “I hate you Mommy.”

When we called Daddy to tell him about our day My Kid announced:

“Mommy made me go on a scary bad ride and I cried and Mommy threw up!”

 Well, the bunnies in the 4-H barn were really cute!

Character study at the bowling alley

The woman behind the counter of the snack bar at the bowling alley (where My Kid and I joined several other mothers and classmates of hers on this mid-week Veterans Day off) was the slowest counter person I have ever seen in my life. She was a cross between Carol Burnett’s Mrs. Wiggins and Tim Conway’s Mr. Tudball, a careful, deliberate, woman with a comb-over making orders of french fries and other pre-made frozen snacks one serving at a time. When it was my turn she put the frozen breaded mushrooms in the fry basket, cooked them, put them on a paper plate, and THEN put the french fries in the basket, and then the mozzarella sticks. She did this with each person’s order which she wrote out on the order slip without abbreviating any words. The kids bowled all 10 frames including the extra time spent trying to program the scorekeeper, waiting for assistance programming it, and arguments about which boy would bowl on the same lane as the girls Even then the chicken was frozen in the middle.
The woman had thin pale yellow hair, combed over and teased and sprayed and held in place with dark bobby pins. She looked to be in her 70’s (though probably closer to 80 than 60) and moved so slowly and deliberately that another, more competent senior citizen came behind the counter to assist her with the “rush”. I suppose, the Veteran’s Day holiday brought more business to the bowling alley than the Tuesday afternoon staff is accustomed to in this Brooklyn bowling alley that was last decorated in the 1960’s with pink bathroom tiles and primary colored rows of asphalt tiles.
I hope that lady is working for companionship because she’s been enjoying that bowling alley for the last 50 years and going to stop coming just because she can’t bowl anymore. I hope she doesn’t and she need the money.