Friday morning I had everything ready to go. Bruce managed to find a flight home, which is a long story in itself; you probably would cringe to hear it. I was expecting him home around 10 in the morning. The weather was pleasant--not too hot, not too chilly. The sun streamed through the kitchen window and front door which I had open for the breeze:
This, my friends, was no ordinary rainbow. No siree. It was a full arc with brilliant colors. Plus, it stayed around awhile. This photograph is taken as I walked down the street toward the lake, tugging Baxter all the while. My intent was to get to the lake in time to take a photograph over the water, however, our little doggie had other intentions! No matter, I was happy to get what I did, not to mention that in person, it filled me with joy.
Around 3 in the afternoon Bruce and I loaded the vehicles and off we went. Rain had come and gone throughout the day, but thankfully it stayed away as we put everything up. Actually it was a very easy set up for once--great grass, perfect location with our vehicles just steps away, and cooler temperatures. Plus we set it all up in the daylight unlike last year when we did much of it by street lamps. We were done by 7, heading home to eat. So far so good. Bruce, after getting about four hours of sleep the night of the missed flight, fell asleep on the couch just after 8. Obviously, he'd had enough.
It must have been about 3 in the morning that the rain woke us. Although we have sides to our tent, constant rain is not welcome, not one bit. Bruce was agitated, worrying about our set up but finally managed to get back to sleep. Did I tell you the rain was loud and strong? I should have.
The alarm went off just after 6; Bruce was in his clothes in no time, heading off to see what had occurred overnight. Years ago, when I embarked on this craziness, I read somewhere how important dressing for success was for a vendor. As such, I did what I could, thankfully wearing a long sleeved blouse and capris, along with a touch of makeup. I say thankfully because around 2 in the afternoon when I was chilly due to being both wet and miserable, I was happy I'd chosen to wear what I did. While I was sprucing up, Bruce called saying things looked pretty good--no real damage. He was hunting a hardware store to buy some supplies to make a bit of an awning. When I arrived things looked like this:
The big white lump below is the chair with our print baskets as well as the canvases that were to be hung on the outside wall facing Park Avenue.
You see the front panel closed in the second photograph--that's the front of the tent which at this point was holding off the rain from pouring in. When we left the prior evening we had high hopes of hanging canvases on the outside of the above pictured wall. Well, that was not going to work! My corner booth extra cost for naught.
I can't stress enough how lucky I am to be married to Bruce, who among his many talents, has experience camping. It certainly comes in handy during times like these. Here he is a little later after fashioning an opening so if there were any customers whatsoever, they could peer in if they were so inclined.
I'm sure you know what he's got in that left hand of his--hot tea!! Plus, he bought some darling little pastries from the nearby French patisserie. Although he wasn't anxious to leave me alone I told him I'd be fine. Which I was for a bit, but then I got, not only cold, but my darn phone was almost dead. Before he left I was almost in tears, but I got a hold of myself. Good thing I had an excellent short story collection to keep me company. If you can imagine there were some hardy souls who braved the weather, which by the way was a record. Wouldn't you know it--a record held for 60 years had to break on the biggest day of the year for me. Not to mention the other 149 artists, many of whom have to live on the income they make at shows. Plus, some of them traveled hundreds of miles. Seriously it kept raining and raining and raining. All the while the canvases were getting wetter and wetter. Good thing they can take it. I, on the other hand couldn't, calling Bruce with the little bit of charge I had left. The darling man came to my rescue bringing the charger and a jacket. Plus I was hungry and wet and just plain miserable all around. 5:00 could not come soon enough. We skipped the fancy dinner, instead coming home as soon as possible. Pajamas and socks were my garments of choice once we arrived home. Somehow, despite the conditions we eked out $90 in sales. Pretty sad. As I mentioned earlier, this show is equal to about two to three months of going to the market. Now you understand.
After an early bedtime on Saturday night, Bruce awoke early. He currently has 10 jobs, in several states, under construction, so you can imagine how much work that entails. His inbox usually has 300 or so emails he needs to answer. While tackling that task, he had the weather on the television which stated that the rain was continuing through Sunday. Prediction--100% chance of rain all day long. When little Miss Sleeping Beauty finally awoke, he gave her the news. Around 7 we headed over to take the whole set up down, along with many of the other artists. The rain won. Once we returned we put fans going on all the canvases which are lined up in the sun room and the guest bedroom. The prints got wiped down. The sadness on my part increased.
Throughout the remainder of the day there were periods of sun (very brief) and showers. You would have thought we lived in England! There were times when I thought we should have stuck it out and others when I thought it was the right decision. Matt called in the afternoon, reminding me that I have all those canvases for a reason. Good point son.
Where there's a will there's a way, however this time our will was broken, unlike this wily squirrel who is undeterred by anything I've done to date to keep him away from the birdseed!
What could have been worse? My prints could have gotten wet, there could have been lightening, one of us could have been in an accident going to and fro on the wet streets. Lots could have been worse. So, although I was a bit teary eyed in the afternoon, I'm getting over it, starting with writing this blog post which I couldn't do earlier in the day. Time to look ahead! Saturday is another show.
I wrote this last evening before an early bedtime--you know mental exhaustion and all. For some reason I couldn't get it to publish so this morning I've copied and pasted the whole thing into Firefox. After a good night's sleep I'm getting perspective which I'm sure you're most happy to hear.
your out and about photographer,
Gail
