MY BOOTH TAKES FIRST PRIZE

Yesterday was Holiday Faire at Cascade College, their, oh, I don't know, forty-somethingth annual sale, and my third at the college. It may be the last one for both, all, of us. The college will close at the end of the spring semester. Feels weird, to think the college I attended won't exist anymore.

This being my third year, I knew one very important thing: The gym, where they hold the sale, is large, but quite dark. The first year I did it, it felt like having my booth set up in a garage. Off-putting atmosphere for shopping, and I didn't want to repeat that.

Last year I brought an LED light strip and a couple of battery-operated LED spot lights. It wasn't enough, and the batteries died before the end of the day.

This year I was prepared. At every estate sale I went to for weeks this summer, I kept my eyes open for those clamp-on work lights. I now have five, and paid a dollar each for them, and when I set up my booth Friday, one went in each upper corner of the booth, and then a string of mini-lights went the length of the two tables, the red bulbs surrounded by "silk" poinsettia petals. That was a Goodwill score--$2.99, and really pretty! Oh, and I didn't put the canopy on, to let even more light in. The organizers like you to set up an actual booth, to create sort of a "village" look, so I put up just the frame, and wrapped tinsel garland on the front and open side.

I was glad I took my camera, to get pictures. Here's the booth:

Long shot of my booth




A stand of China and Mega Blossoms




The Gift Bags table




Gift Bags, closer


They really do encourage decorated booths at this event, to the extent that they give awards for the best three. Guess what? Mine took First Prize! No actual prize attached to that, but the ego stroke works nicely for me.

The last shot shown here is of the new gift bags. They're lying flat in big flat baskets (another Goodwill find, and again, just $2.99 each. Yay!), but I put items in all three bag types to show how the gift bags looked when you did them up. I was a little surprised to see how many people still needed an explanation/demonstration, but was happy to give it, of course, and later one of the other vendors came by to tell me that a woman who'd bought several of the bags was so enthusiastic about her purchase that she pulled them out to show off and demonstrate herself! Cool!

Now all I have to do is get them photographed and up on Etsy.

The sale went well, and three of Mama's aprons sold (YES!!) as well as a goodly amount of my own stuff. It took several hours on Friday to set up, and I had an unexpected VERY late night, got up early and was at the venue by eight am, without benefit of breakfast or coffee (thank goodness they had coffee there!). I subsisted on coffee and cheese sticks until the show ended at four, with tear-down afterwards, but enjoyed the day.

Three of my grandkids were there, which was wonderful, and we got to visit for a while. Justin cracked up when he saw the tag line for the Coffee Pot People--"Inside every coffee pot is some poor soul standing on its head"--and I turned one of the little guys upside down for Adrienne, because at eight years of age she wasn't quite getting the joke.

"If this coffee pot were in someone's kitchen," I explained to Adrienne, "it would be like this." And there was this "person", coffee pot now right side up, but face and body upside down, standing on its head. "Imagine spending your whole life like that!" I said, eliciting a delighted exclamation from her.

There were other people there from my student days, which was sweet, and we visited. In the background of each conversation was the knowledge that we usually see each other only once a year, at this sale. The school is closing. Will this be the last visit in a long while?

By the time I got home, I was too tired to fix dinner, but Bob wasn't hungry, so I ate reheated soup, wine and cookies, and was so tired I went to bed before seven. What a day!

WINE RED

It's that time of year again. The leaves, with their brilliant autumn colors are falling, catching my eye, making me reach for my camera. I spotted this one the other day as I was walking through the yard. It had floated down from its perch in the maple and taken a seat in a rusty lawn chair.



Wine on rust




Tiptoe




Ruffles




Textures of Autumn

This was a lovely day. I drove out to Dundee to take care of my granddaughter, and after a brief snuggle on the sofa, catching up on what she'd been up to, and meeting her new "baby", a teensy white stuffed mouse that still looks like cat to me, we chose flowered tights to go with her dress and put those and her shoes on, gathered up a small bucket of toys she wanted to give to her second cousins, had a bite of breakfast, and headed to my Mom's.

I had the singular pleasure of teaching her a few more words. Megan had asked how soon we would be at G-ma's (G-ma=Great Grandma), and I told her we'd be there after we drove through the woods, the forest.

"Nana," she asked from the back seat, "What's a fowest?"

It instantly struck me how many things we take for granted, such as assuming a four-year-old knows what a forest is. I explained it to her, telling her, "Watch for a whole lot of tall trees. We're going to drive right through a whole bunch of trees. That's a forest. That's the woods."

Then I sang a snippet of "Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go," and told her we'd do that, too--go over a river.

"Nana. I don't know what a wiveh is. What's a wiveh?"

Why was that so sweet for me, teaching her those terms? I don't know. Maybe it's just that I love her so much, these small conversations are all precious.

Once we were at Mom's, it was, as usual, pretty pandemonious. (If that isn't already a word, it should be!) It had not registered with my niece, Cat, that we were coming, but she and her three little ones were home, and the four children played happily, running up the stairs to join Mama and me whenever they could "escape", and Mama and I fairly tore through our respective to-do lists--bring in the Christmas gifts I'd picked up for Mama, show her how to change her online user name for her banking account, go through the box of costume jewelry inherited from Auntie Jewel, have a bite to eat, run to the post office--we never do have enough time.

Mama wanted to take me to The Elks thrift store, so I could see what they'd done with their recent upgrade/remodel. It's much cleaner, and more open, but it isn't as much fun as it used to be, when it was packed with racks and bins, and they've raised their prices. Still, I did find three painted metal trays for Mega Blossoms, priced "low enough".

As we walked out, I told Mom, "Give it a little time. It will go back to where it was after awhile."

We did have some down and damp and mildly grubby fun. One thing new is a big bin of clothing they put in the covered alcove outside. Anything in that is free, and Mom and I went through the entire thing, picking out a couple of dozen garments. Some of them are so nice that Mama will wash and/or iron them and take them to the consignment store in McMinnville. Others had pretty buttons to cut off. Oh, and they're put a waterfall rack out, too, such as you'd use for displaying purses. I disassembled it and put it into the back of the car. Store fixtures for free are, like, unheard of.

Then it was back to her house, to gather up Meggie, and head on home. Too short a day, by far, but dear.

Now I'm home. DH is asleep beside me, the political shows are chattering at me while I type. Time to say, Good night.