Great Day at the Market

Did I tell you I bought my first pair of Converse?

Kinda fun aren't they?

News Flash!!! A sales rebound was experienced by fledgling photographer, Gail Peck of Out & About Photography, the weekend of October 3 and 4, with 26 prints of various sizes finding new homes.

When you are a sports fan you are bound to get hurt. When you are a sports nut as our son Jonathan is, you run the risk of major pain. This football season the pain has been practically mortal what with the Seminoles playing increasingly poorly and the Bucs losing all of their games. After Saturday's market I was excited to get home in time to watch FSU, only to have to turn it off because they immediately showed they couldn't stay in the game. I hurt too when the team embarrasses itself which sounds pretty silly, but that's the way we fans are. I can only imagine Jonathan shouting at the television screen!

So that meant we were free to leave the house. We took off for the Maitland Art Festival to check out my competition. Last year they decided to join some other festivals with nighttime hours, meaning they are open until 10pm both Friday and Saturday night, which explains why I had no interest in applying. I told someone I'd need two weeks to recover! I am so glad I didn't because it was very slow; almost all of the artists we spoke to had little or no sales by 6 on Saturday. Not only is that demoralizing, but it is boring as well. Shows such as this one cost $40 for a jury fee and upon acceptance you must send a check for another $225. One artist had two booths, sculpture and pottery, with no sales! I felt terrible for him, and wished that we could have found something both Bruce and I liked to end his sales drought. I can only hope the two festivals I'm slated to be in have better attendance.

Did I tell you I finally had my highlights done? Oh my, when I saw the foil coming off in the mirror I was dumbstruck. "Melissa!!!!" She reminded me that if I hadn't let my hair grow for eight months it wouldn't come as such a shock! Maybe she's right!

Last week I finished a charming book set in rural France which I may have already alluded to. Here's a link:The Matchmaker of Perigord Probably the darling little cover illustration made me pick it up and it did not disappoint. The descriptions of the local food is worth the read. An unusual technique she uses that some may find a tad annoying is her penchant for repeating phrases--for some reason it added to the story for me, but don't say I didn't warn you if it bothers you. When I was young I finished every book I ever started--not so anymore. I think I realized more than ever that time is fleeting. I nearly finished this book:Honolulu, when I decided I'd had enough. Most of it was fascinating learning about Korean picture brides but it seemed to lose steam. I'm looking for full speed ahead in my reading!! A note to Matthew, I've ordered Home by Marilynne Robinson from the library. In the meantime I've got a new stack so we'll see if I have any winners in the bunch.

I was so hoping to be going to DC with Bruce for most of this week but it just didn't work out...

In a crazy six degrees of separation kind of thing, on Saturday a young woman was perusing my overfull baskets, and she asked if one of them was from the National Cathedral, to which I answered yes. I explained Bruce's situation and of all things only a week prior, while she and her husband were there, they remarked on the Capital Grille sign! It's a small world friends--these days shrinking all the more with the
world wide web. I wonder about that name--did anyone envision how connected we would all become, or was it a coincidence of sorts? Hmmm.....

How about that Internet?

In Humanities we have been studying the period when Gutenberg invented movable type and the impact it has had on history. I'd say we are in a period like that right now with the influence the web has made on our times. In the future, students will be studying our use.

I have been working on a little grouping of growing fruit; Bruce wanted me to add strawberries to the mix ; I went to Google to searchfor a farm nearby. Sure enough, I found one in Oviedo, a suburb of Orlando. It used to be all farm land and such, however, that way of life is almost a thing of the past as people move further out of the city center for affordable housing. Anyway, it is the country to me, and I took advantage of what is left of the rural life. I not only picked strawberries--something I have never done, but I came across horses and cattle that I photographed. I might as well before it is all gone!

On my return trip I stopped at a sandwich shop called--Big Apple Bagels. The counter help had an Irish accent ; I asked her where the name of the shop came from. She explained it meant New York, to which I replied: yes, I'm aware of that, but surely you are not from there. She explained that she and her husband were living in England and found the shop to buy on the Internet. Who knew that folks would leave the safety of their homeland to buy a bagel shop in Oviedo? The Internet is surely changing the way we live.

Tomorrow is Matt's departure.