affection is a conviction

A platypus hat?

Perry the Platypus hat?

The more they feel the same?

Roseburg was... familiar. They'd rearranged the layout a bit, to take booths out of the completely unshaded (and frequently blisteringly hot) center of the park, which meant my booth moved about 50 feet east. Still along the south edge, backing on Harvard Avenue, by choice. Can get extra heat in the afternoon, but I've got a silvered mylar blanket on the outside of my back wall that cuts the sun a bit, and we can open up the back of the booth, to take advantage of any breeze, and the extra two feet of box storage space. We put ten pounds of ice in our contractor's cooler and kept adding water all weekend, to keep hydrated.

Friday started a little slow, but steady. Saturday was all the familiar faces, people who'd been buying my pots for years dropping in for their yearly fix. I don't get names--or don't remember them--now that everyone's gone over to tap cards. I can't surreptitiously read names off the credit card or check. So I remember circumstances--the family of red-headed dad and mom, with four kids, who all get to consult on this year's choice. The young woman who first came into my booth as a girl, declaring I love this store! has finished community college and police academy and is in process of being hired by Gresham PD. She's also bought a house, but is waiting to furnish it until she's done with the drywall--she's tired of all the dusting. The couple who had a custom carpentry booth--beautiful tables--last year, who admired my stuff all weekend, before finally buying a mug each at the end. They didn't have a booth this year, so came just to find me. In fact, a bunch of folks said they came only for me, which made me feel a little weird? Like I'm somehow stealing other vendor's opportunities because they don't hang around and browse?

I dunno, maybe it's a midwestern thing.

Not a lot of potters there, and about half of them were "this-is-my-first-art-show" quality. The ones with more polished and professional work, I think were all down from Eugene. Though I did pick up a tip from new potter Sahalie about how to make mustache-mugs that don't crack or split around the rim: Throw them as closed forms, like I do with banks or butter dishes, then cut away some of the top. (Not that I ever plan to make mustache mugs.)

Sunday was the hottest day of the weekend, and correspondingly slow again. Sold to a lot of other vendors, including a woman who'd bought the new pheasant-pattern mug for her dad in thanks for his help at her booth. She'd got it at the end of the day Saturday, came back Sunday to get the turkey mug for herself. Her domestic tom had run off with a flock of wild hens; not sure I'd want that kind of reminder on my breakfast table, but it is a pretty mug.

Sale runs from 10 am to 8 pm Friday and Saturday, which makes for some long days, especially since I usually come in a couple of hours early. Friday I have to put out pots and organize the booth--the canopy and shelves got done Thursday evening. Saturday I like to walk over to the Farmer's Market, although this year I discovered they'd relocated to downtown, so I had to give up a lovely parking space to drive over and buy my cherries, berries and peaches. Always worth it, though. Roseburg is a couple of weeks earlier in the growing season than we are, and fruit is a couple of bucks per pint cheaper as well. Sunday was another early day, bringing in the empty boxes to stage for load-out. So it definitely got a little drowsy around the slow, hot middle of the afternoon. Really miss the Umpqua Dairy Ice Cream stand at times like that--perfect cold/sugar bump for the 3 pm snoozies.

Ashley, the director, swung by late Sunday afternoon to see how Denise was holding up, and incidentally buying herself a stew mug. Tried to sell her on a pair, but she says I have to come next year, so she can add to her collection. Show closed at 4 pm, and they coned off the street at 4:30. I concentrated on packing pots and stands, and by the time I was ready to dismantle shelves, most of the neighbors were gone and I was able to park right behind my booth to load out. Finished right at 6 pm and treated ourselves to Chinese buffet before heading for home.

Sales felt slow, but when I checked my records, we were only down about $150; last year, we were a little over $3000, this year a bit under.