decoration season

Now that I've seen the first full-flung fall decoration of the year, it's time to make some generalizations and set out some goals for the season. Generalizations first.

It's not that the Christmas deco has abated any, it's more that the fall deco has really caught on. There are lots of possibilities: ghosts, dead people, zombies, monsters, skeletons, etc., lots to work with. It's a season when people are out, enjoying the fresh air and the turning of the trees; in fact, the turning of the trees adds something to the general effect. The zombie/death themes really appeal to a whole generation of decorators who, like their parents, have nothing better to do in a small town but decorate the heck out of things, but who, like their peers, reject all traditional methods and really want to take off on their own path.

I sensed that people couldn't wait until Sept. 1 to get started, but I didn't see my first fall deco until about Sept. 1. That's two months early. But no problem, get it on up there so we can see it. While you can only do Christmas lights in red and green, in fall you can use purple and especially orange, and blood colors, and go to town. So get it on out there and we'll come around and look.

The first full-fledged one, a whole yard-full, is on Monroe just south of Fremont, on the east side of the street. I'm not sure if it's the first one altogether. I know of one in my neighborhood, on Cedar between Osage and Fremont, and when that guy gets going it's something to see; he'll probably give us a yardful. I say get it out there. It's artistic; it's expressive; if you're all about death and vampires or zombies we can handle it. We can at least judge and evaluate on our own terms.

Here are my goals. It's kind of like being stuck behind a train, looking at the graffiti, and saying, I really want to know more about this so I have some idea of what I'm looking at. We can all start with what we like, and say, that one's nice. We can all admit that we have no idea of what it actually takes to construct a zombie that will hold up to the weather and still be haunting, glowing, etc. But I'd like to use this site to explore some of these questions. I think we probably have as good fall deco as any town and I'd like to just point out where it's good, keep track of it, commend its artists, etc. I'd actually like to do the same for train graffiti but I assure you I'm nowhere near close to qualified. You'll have to accept my spontaneous offerings and random opinions about what's good and what's not. I have no hostility about it whatsoever. There's no point in telling people they should stick with mangers and Christian scenes; some people even sport Trump flags like there's some sense in letting the country be run over by a rapist pedophile fraud draft dodger. In light of reality, what harm is a few zombies?

So let's get on with it. Go out and deco. I'll be watching. I am, after all, a door-dasher, and I get on a lot of these streets, often. My goal is to ultimately know what I'm talking about,

Dasher's dilemma

Here's a dasher problem, and kind of Galesburg-specific geography question. I have a woman's order, from Wendy's, going out to a nursing home in Knoxville, the one that's out Market Street a ways. The dasher app sends me south on Henderson to the end of the road where it will turn me left on highway ten and go to Knoxville that way. It sometimes, in similar circumstances, will put me on the interstate which is how I might have done it if I were alone. But I usually do what the dasher app tells me to do, figuring it's better to be able to say, when it's all over, that I was doing what I was told.

So a little ways past Monmouth I get a call from the woman who says, when you get to this nursing home, find the visitor parking lot over on the side. I've pulled over a little to take the call but up ahead I see this train, crossing south Henderson, and this is the crossing that's way out south by Louisville. It's way out south. Not pulling over would not have got me past that train; I would have to wait.

Two problems I could see right away. First, it was going slowly. Not too slow, and not slowing down, but very slow, maybe ten. It was actually speeding up a little, but not much. But the second problem was the big one - it was HUGE. It went forever, with no end in sight.

Now you give the train about double the time since he's going about half the usual speed; it's going to take twice as long. But this was longer it seemed than even your usual double train, which has engines in the middle and which happen when they combine two mile-and-a-half trains together. This one seemed to be three or four trains long, with no sign of engines in the middle to pick up the process.

The dilemma is this: way out before you get to that train track, if you give up and turn around, how do you actually get to Knoxville? I couldn't come up with a solution. Going out Monmouth would be the wrong direction and might not assure me that I even got past the train. Going back to Main and ambling through downtown would take forever, but at least would get me under any oncoming train; then I could take Seminary or Grand but it just seemed so long. I just sat there. Maybe to my peril.

When I got out to the nursing home there was no visitor lot in sight, nothing. I drove around twice. I got it to her eventually but felt bad 'cause it took so long. A cold Wendys. At least she got one of those magical-colored drinks they're all making these days. A bad dash, you might say. But I've actually had pretty good luck lately, just staying in Galesburg.