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I had the most amazing experience in the Fine Arts building at the Minnesota State Fair last Monday–an experience that might be the biggest clue as to why I come to you with this blog each week. There, a piece of art captivated me with its complexity and multi-layered visual expressions.

It’s time to clean up at the state fair and send the last of Minnesota’s students back to school. There is still a lot going on in Saint Paul amid the detritus of the Great Minnesota Get-Together, even as we return from the holiday with that on-a-stick hangover ringing in our ears. Just as the fair is a great local tradition, this week we will be living one of ours.

The Great Minnesota Get-Together is still happening, and there are still seats available for that ride. There is a lot to see there. There is a lot to see everywhere else in town, too. I have a little sample.

Early last week, we got a taste of autumn, not the one with the golden sun shining on the amber landscape. The one with the cold rain that, when near the equinox, knocks the leaves off the trees and mocks us with visions of winter’s starkness. The message? Enjoy the summer.

Hello, readers. I have nothing to say. I am speechless, mostly because I heard that many of you were watching cat videos on your own instead of the safer option of watching them in public at CHS Field. As I write, I will have to fight through the disappointment to deliver this week’s events.

I am thinking of all the stories that have been created this summer. I am thinking of the ones that Storymobile collected at last week’s Little Mekong Night Market, or ones we will celebrate with next month’s Almanac Book Release Party at the Black Dog, or the ones we will create in the sun, rain and thunder of the next few weeks before the State Fair shifts our consciousness to whatever our modern urban version of harvest looks like.

The night air is feeling wonderful these days. Getting slathered with humidity and heat might take a little bit out of our limp sails, but there is something about the evening air and a blue moon that makes these waning days of summer worthwhile. That and the fact that there is art to see, hear, and feel in the midst of our atmospheric reality. I hope you can join us for a few of the frolics.

I can’t believe that summer is almost two thirds over. I can’t believe that it has already been quite full. It is not over, thankfully. You could think awhile about how to fill the rest of the summer, but I have done a little of that for you–at least for this week.

It’s another full week. I have not wilted from the heat yet but have had to turn on my air conditioner at home only twice so far. Maybe it is because I have been taking in some of the great views the city has to offer in the performance, art, and community venues that keep me from noticing it is getting to the hot part of the year.