Where Has the Time Gone?

Indeed, where has the time gone?

We've been very busy the last few days. Mentioned last week, here is the booth makeover. The highly-anticipated panels arrived on Friday afternoon by UPS. I stayed home waiting, which was challenging as the day was so darn dreary I wanted to get out. I bolted the minute they arrived. One thing about living in Florida is that every day pretty much you can go and do what you want, unlike some places. Jonathan called and the weather in Chicago is brutal at the moment. He described the cold as "shocking". They pretty much holed up all weekend; hopefully it will warm up a bit for the work week. This morning it was in the 40's which is cold to us. I envisioned Jonathan and Alissa leaving for the train in sub-zero temps bundled up and miserable. Happily, they are doing better than anticipated.

Back to the panels. Bruce got up early on Saturday morning intending to put it all together for the photo op. What I mean by that is for show applications you have to send in a picture of the booth. The rules are more stringent than we imagined, saying that your booth is as important as the contents. Bruce remarked, "They should have had IKEA write these instructions!" Unfortunately, they were not that great. As you've already guessed, it took MUCH longer than he thought it would. We then had to hang everything we had to make it look good. Did I mention the weather was damp and cold. Needless to say, things got wet again.

Regarding the aforementioned rules, the instructions for shows state things have to look very similar. As I previously told you, they want me to pigeonhole my images to a theme. I've struggled with that concept.

As it turns out, a show was going on in Indiatlantic which is the beach part of Melbourne. For those who know me, they know I lived in Melbourne my last two years of high school when it was very tiny. It is still not big, but let me tell you, the traffic on a late Saturday afternoon is maddening. I raced over there after dismantling the display to observe in person a show put on by the event company with the rules. Here's what I saw from photographers: beach scenes, beach scenes, animals, did I mention beach scenes? That's not a typo, it is what I saw. Driving home, I puzzled about how I could set myself apart from the beach scene crowd. What do people want for their walls anyway?

I guess we'll have to see if I get accepted. Don't get me wrong, beach scenes are nice, but the world is full of such variety that it seems weird thinking that is all people want. I forgot--there is usually someone who's traveled to Europe with generic travel scenes. I consulted with Maureen about all this, she is of the mind that I just send in whatever I feel like and let the chips fall where they may. Her thinking is that I have an ability to make the ordinary extraordinary and I should exploit that talent.

You won't believe this, but we skipped the market yesterday. My goodness, it was nice. When we woke up it was windy, cold, and dreary; after last week's soaking, we weren't anxious to repeat the performance. Regrouping around here.

I received my first copy of The New Yorker on Saturday, a gift from Matt. I love that magazine and plan to continue my education through its' pages. You, of course, will be learning new, and fascinating things along with me.


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