I went to Austin today to fetch sewing machine needles [it was a dire situation; my last one had snapped mid-quilt] and to return library books. Oh so exciting, right? I went to the fabric store. La di da. And then I went to Target because Target is right next to the fabric store and why oh why would I not go inside to see their fall decor on clearance? [scored: a black metal jack-o-lantern lantern for 70% off]
Next I drove downtown towards the library. As I drove past the Hy-Vee and neared my turn, in the open part to the my right was a hot air balloon. You know – giant. ‘uge. I thought, well, that’s cool but nothing much beyond that. I’ve seen that before. Kept driving.
I returned my library books and as I was walking to my car again, a stranger – an older gentleman – was a couple cars away from me. He yelled to me, Look! A pie in the sky. I first I thought, wow, this man is crazy and yelling about pie. I followed his finger pointing to the hot air balloon, now floating above Austin. Okay, pretty cool. I smiled at him and said something lame about it taking off from over by Hy-Vee. He said again, It’s a pie in the sky.
He was so surprised by the sight. He was so excited about it that he shared it with me, a perfect stranger, in the library parking lot. But he wasn’t the only one taken by the balloon. As I drove away thru downtown, people had spilled out of the VFW and other businesses to stare up at the pie in the sky. [This makes Austin seem pretty boring, if people go out of their way to watch a balloon. SPAM, we need some excitement.]
It was like a small child seeing Christmas lights, or an airplane fly overhead, or the delight a kid gets from seeing polar bears wrestle at the zoo. If only things surprised us like that more often, eh?
there's no place like gnome. 
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