Back in the Saddle Again

I'm getting ready for the Gathering. I will miss not having two friends with me this year. My friend Susan is teaching a class at the Gaston School for the Arts during that week and my friend Mallory is up at her daughter's condo in St Paul, helping (which is a very good thing!). Lillian and I will be traveling to Rochester, NY by car. OMG! - a bona fide road trip....but with a destination. I consider it a road trip if it takes more than four hours to get there. I think it's going to take about eight as the bird would fly.

I'm going to be in the Bead Bazaar on Saturday of the conference and Lillian has graciously agreed to help me out with it. It will be fun. Not the setting up or the taking down but the middle part. Since the DH and I did art fairs all over the country for over 27 years I know all about the setting up and taking down, all I can say is ICK, Poo, Spit - hate it!

Oh Yeah, the first few years you enjoy the anticipation of it all. Each show is a beginning; an opportunity, and that part doesn't go away. But, it does get to be the dregs packing, throwing the gear into the car and trekking it into a show space to set it up. Literally, you are setting up a storefront weekly. And, when you are done with the set up you have to work all day - usually more than one day - and usually about a 14 hour day. ACK! For most of those 27 years I managed it and looked darn perky doing it. Today, I'm a little concerned about getting my "perky on" for a day after setting a booth space up in the morning. After seeing my friends in Ann Arbor looking a little worn at the edges on the first day of that show my imagination's running in overdrive.

Luckily, it's not a full outdoor booth. Just a table booth and not terribly complicated....but I still have concerns about the perky part. I count on my friends for the perky part - I'm the quiet one. Yes, I'm social but I'm not going to take any awards for standing out in a crowd with a look at me attitude. I'm the one blending into the wall paper and pretty happy about it too. If I could find a top to match my table cover so you wouldn't notice me I'd be so ever delighted. I'd also prefer to do it the way some corn stands do. I'd gladly put out a jar and you could drop in your money if you decide you'd like some of the tasty goodies. Nothing is ever that easy!


In a previous post I was off to make some earrings. Since my booth "buds" aren't going to be at the Gathering I figured I'd better make some jewelry. They are both very prolific jewelry makers so it filled a void (uh, empty table space) when I'm being lazy. Now what???? Who's going to CYA (my buns have avoided finishing objects for awhile now). Okay already...I thought sincerely of dropping out of the show. That was a very real possibility - I procrastinated like the pro that I am. I have not done a single (as in solo) art show in a good ten years or so. I actually think maybe I'm having a panic attack about all of this. Really! There is no good reason to be having one. My skills are competent in glass and metal.

Are you enjoying this discourse? It's like thinking out loud - a inner discussion spewed out so I can move forward by convincing myself of something I already know. It's all going to be okay! The photo is of some of the earrings I made. A small handful. It's not that there will be a BIG handful at the Bead Bazaar...more like...WYSIWYG. What jewelry there is to exhibit will be cleanly accomplished - I'm tidy, what can I say. And, the inner critic hopes you will like it. It's been a long time between solo flights.