Four Questions

I saw a man last week at the market wearing a couple of my OCF-related products, a shirt that said "Yes, yes, yes" and a hat that said..."YES". I showed him my delight and he said "I have four questions for you." I'm sure he had perfected that line and was happy to get the chance to use it.

So, Kim wrote in the newsletter that she was looking for candidates for the Beautiful Booth of the Month award, and I volunteered. In all my years of market I have never been accused of having a beautiful booth, mostly due to my propensity for the people-pleasing variety of diverse offerings that pretty much translate as too much clutter. I have always enjoyed a lot of visual stimulus. I like to look at the things I like.

I have been noticing though, that since you only get a few moments of the typical customer's attention, having too wide of an array seems to confuse and overwhelm, so I have been trying different things to simplify. I went to look at the files for Beautiful Booth, and realized she actually does a full profile writeup which is maybe a little intimidating, but with the recent success of my Eugene Weekly appearance, I think maybe I am ready for that.

My booth is not ready, though. I took the opportunity to view it through the photographer's eye, and asked Kim to give me some tips for improvement before she chooses me or decides not to.

It was illuminating. I also viewed the gallery of all of the Holiday Market booths from last year, trying to see what appealed to me in display options, and what didn't work even for a lover of visual clutter. Gradually I have tried to shift things in the direction of simplicity.

I changed my backdrop to a light purple from the turquoise that made it too dark. I have far too many things on the ground, like my bags and my own personal stuff, that all need to go behind a barrier or be hung up. I've been using a really cool grid thing I got from Circle of Hands and I got a brilliant idea for placing it differently that I will try this week, to see if that can solve at least that one problem.

Raven and I put our bikes and carts behind our booths in a really efficient but not so attractive way, and I need to use a bigger backdrop to hide them better. Not having a booth structure is a challenge but now that I have the two umbrellas to move around for shade, I like working without the booth. Of course when it starts to rain again I will have to rethink the whole thing, but for tomorrow I have some new ideas.

Kim says she photoshops things out but customers can't do that. Trying to look professional is worth the effort, and working for the last year or so on beautifying has been gratifying. My sales have increased, and I feel better. No decline or contraction in that aspect of my aging life.

Another of my goals is to actually be set up by 10:00, and I'm getting closer. I always thought leaving things on the hangers was lazy and took up too much space, but I have discovered that it works really well if you have enough plastic tubs. I never wanted to accumulate plastic tubs but now I swear by them. I have also become enamored of zipties. So a little backsliding on the environmental front, but I've heard they have made some reuseable zipties so I will look for them. The tubs stack up well too and although I vow I will not use them as tables, they are good for hiding extra stock and other things that don't need to be displayed but are handy to have on site during the day, like extra grid hangers and such.

My records for last year showed that August was the biggest summer month for me on the Park Blocks, and Tuesday was good this week, so I am all retail, retail, retail. It's fun. The gardens are almost under control, writing could happen soon, and I am again in love with summer. I even put up a hammock and have gotten in it a few times. Still have boxes of stuff to sort from the Fair, but jettisoned a few for my son's garage sale, and the silk studio is almost useable again. No tulips or clematis left to finish those scarves, but there are innumerable other subjects to paint.

Beauty all around. All of the questions have one simple answer.

The Dusty Piles

This week is filled with the slog through the piles of stuff brought home from the Mall of the Woods (and I call it that with the utmost of affections). It actually takes several weeks since I have to sort everything in my shop and put many things away for a year, while getting back into production and catching up with all the tasks that were deferred. Still, the pressure is off and I get to enjoy the heat of summer as I work.

I have to wash the rugs and sarongs and sheets and various decorative items and put them where I will be able to find them for Holiday Market or next year's fair. I try to make notes about what worked and didn't as it is a constant practice of refinement. It worked really well this year! I tried all kinds of new displays and arrangements and almost sold out of hats, once I got the display duct-taped to the post so it would stop deferring to gravity.

Of course like most people I love the pre-Fair days the most, in the quiet and soft woods with all the creatures still in place. It's wonderful to have a home where pretty much everyone I know walks by my front porch at least once, whether or not they stop to talk. Parades twice a day, the ever-amusing sweep in the late evening, so many appreciative customers and the magical dropping in of new ideas and directions all make for a fleeting wonder that really does somehow result in psychospiritual rejuvenation.

My project of the Drenched Wench didn't work, so I jettisoned it on Sunday before Fair and might not ever do it now. I was happy that I didn't print the big pile of lovely shirts I had for it, since my pattern is usually to just power through my assigned tasks without hesitation. I'm finally learning that I want to put the extra effort into things that really make me proud of myself and not just throw stuff out there. I put my Radar Angels glasses on for about 5 minutes and didn't even take any costumes to speak of, and just hunkered down and worked as hard as I could for the duration. It was worth it.

I didn't really have time for a good sauna though, so had to clean mine out and take one on Wednesday night. It was great, but being naked in the dark with a varied group of people all getting clean and rested is a big treat and next year I have to make it a higher priority. No one throws a naked party like the Ritz. I know the myth is that nights at the Fair are the best, but I went to bed at dark on Saturday night and don't regret it. I did enjoy walking the paths in my pajamas and no flashlight, drifting along in the stream of excited young people who feel free and supported, going from jazz to bluegrass to old standards from several decades, just being grateful for all the life.

For some reason death is ever-present for me there, and I always set up a little altar for our departed friends, and make a lot of jokes. I made up a little song on Monday morning about Facebooking me when I am dead, and taking my stuff to the dump. I guess it softens the re-entry into town reality which is so much more harsh. Plenty of death in the newspaper, without as much of the joy we almost get used to out there. It can be over the top. At one point I just went to the spirit tower and cried it out. I have to do something to make sure the spirit tower stays, since I swear I will hang out there after-you-know-when.

So as the afterglow fades, I will post this one great story. A baby bird fell out of a tree right in the path in front of my booth! I think it was Wednesday. Some kids found it and it was put on a pillow and the Wildlife Team called. We had a wonderful time speculating on the type of bird (Flycatcher, or maybe Warbling Vireo), looking for the nest, and listening for the parents. Since we couldn't find the nest, we put it in a box and it went to the quiet of the rehab center to be fed and cared for until post-Fair, when it will be brought back home. I love how thoughtful the Fair has learned to be about such things, even when the thoughtfulness becomes almost unimaginably complicated. So many elegant solutions.

I heard a lot of birds after that and am sure that most figured out a routine for the duration. It must be wild to try to weather that onslaught that swells without warning and then disappears. I hope it rains soon to return all the dust to the ground and feed the salmonberries and other fruit. We were ready for rain this year but luckily we just had heat, and lots of it. One thunderstorm per decade is enough out there.

So now back to town concerns and summer languishing. I plan to read and get after those weeds in the yard, and make some time for writing and coming up with new products. It's a big refresh and reboot and fling and shedding and making of a mark. I think it was my 25th year in my spot. I marked it with a little interview in the Weekly where I told secrets. I hope I don't get in trouble. I didn't tell all of my secrets though. Catch me in the sauna and ask, some summer night. I'm likely to tell, in the dark and the sweat. I have to tell them all before I go, so they can be properly Facebooked. Or taken to the dump.