Canal Days Review

I bought this wall hanging yesterday at Fairport's Canal Days. Those are handpainted on wood with silk leaves - my beloved hydrangeas! It's about 10" long I guess. The leaves have little drops of water on them - must be glycerin or something. I have it hanging on my studio door but I think I'll be moving it to the family room. Which means I'll have to move something to make room - and I like everything I have in there. Oh well, rotation is good.

This artist does the most amazing work - her use of color is outstanding. I saw her stuff before the sale started and had planned to buy Christmas presents for Mom and Gretchen later. But when I went back, I didn't have enough cash so I just bought something for myself instead! But I have the artist's schedule of shows so I'm sure I'll see her again. It's too hot and I'm too tired to go back to Canal Days today. I'd tell you more about her work but don't want to give away too much in case I do end up buying more pieces.

Yesterday it was definitely cooler than today but still humid. There was the tiniest sprinkle in the morning and a fairly serious looking threat of rain in the afternoon but nothing ever materialized. It was mostly cloudy - but still, with a nice breeze occasionally, the weather was quite pleasant. Picked me up a nice sunburn, I did.

I had a lot of fun working in MJ's booth with her husband, selling her painted glassware. I'd met Ken once before and I wasn't sure he had much of a personality - but he does! And he's knowledgeable about MJ's business and did an excellent job. And boy did she have sales! And people were buying large items, which surprised me. Ken said so too, that he'd never seen so many sales of large items at a show before. I thought Canal Days was mostly about smaller items, for one because people don't like to carry around a bunch of stuff.

As mentioned in the last entry, Ken mostly ran the cash register while I wrapped the glass and schmoozed. It turns out I'm a good wrapper/schmoozer! Question. Why do people ask me if I can pack the glass really well for them?

Just once I'd love to say:

Customer: Are you going to wrap that really well?

Me: Hadn't planned on it.

I took my camera but never took a single picture. I've posted pictures of MJ's booth before so I didn't feel a need to take a picture of that. And I didn't spend that much time walking around. I do wish I had a means to capture the aromas and post them here. It must have been our location combined with being in one spot for so long - damn, the air smelled delicious! I bought Kettle Korn of course and had a Dakota Wrap for lunch. That's a green flour tortilla (spinach? Basil?) filled with grilled chicken, barbecue sauce, Cole slaw and cheddar cheese. A little drippy but most delicious. Ken and I both had hot fudge sundaes in the afternoon, which must be why I never ended up buying a smoothie. I drank a lot of water, trying to stay hydrated - guess I forgot all about the smoothie.

I saw a friend I haven't seen in 15 or more years. And a customer told me I looked very familiar to her so I told her my name. She mentioned my ex-husband and that we adopted a baby boy so she clearly knew who I was. She finally figured out a mutual friend - but how she remembered me, I'll never know. Her name is very vaguely familiar but I couldn't have met her more than once - close to 20 years ago. I'll have to ask Lee about her. It was weird because I generally remember people. Saw another woman who had come into Celebration Gifts when I worked there, who grew up in the same neighborhood that I did. She was a year or two older and I was surprised she remembered me since our only interaction was riding the same bus. A couple of friends from work stopped by. Nantz and her family stopped by - did you read yesterday's comments by her?

The two cards I posted yesterday were for an order for Nantz and her husband. The one was a high school graduation card and the other was a special card from her husband to her daughter, Fred's step-daughter. Jessica has recently started calling Fred "Dad" and it was very meaningful to him, how close they've become over the years. That's what she was referring to in the comments yesterday, saying they all cried when Fred gave Jess the card right after they picked it up from me at MJ's booth. Fred hadn't even seen the card yet but I could tell how moved he was, he kept thanking me over and over for making it for him. Nantz is as big a crier as I am, so it doesn't take much to get her going. Her heart is just as big as can be. I'm so happy they are happy. Maybe I should consider a new slogan: Pine Tree Designs, making families cry, one at a time.

So it was a good day. Saw some people, ate some food, bought some art and got to help MJ out (she pays me - and even gave me a 20% "tip" yesterday because sales were so good). And had fun all the while. I was glad to get home to my air conditioned house and put my feet up though. (I brought home two roast beef sandwiches from the Red Osier stand, for dinner for me and Steve.)

We had a house full last night - Lizz and Erick were here for a while, and Simon had DJ and Paul over to spend the night. So they all hung out together for a while, played some pool and yakked it up. I love overhearing their conversations. There's lots of, "Remember that time...." and talk about people in school - and of course, they give each other lots of shit, as friends do.

Steve and I watched a movie. We watched downstairs in the rec room since the kids were all upstairs. It was one of Steve sports movies, Take Down, about wrestling. It was pretty old and had a made-for-TV quality to it. There isn't any good light downstairs so I couldn't needlepoint. Which reminds me! After all my quandary about what thread cutting implement I could take on the plane to NYC - I only needlepointed one night while we were there. The other 3 nights I was either too tired or was busy reviewing all the literature and brochures I had picked up that day. I'm happy to say that not once in 4 days and 3 nights did Gretchen and I turn on the TV in the hotel room. That certainly isn't the case when I'm anywhere with Steve! Anyway, I haven't needlepointed in about 3 weeks and was looking forward to totally vegging last night and working on that. I'm just happy I was able to stay awake during this lame movie. Believe me, it was touch and go for a while there.