Long Lapse

I can't believe that it's been almost four months since my last post. I hope I haven't lost all my readers because of this lapse. I have to report that I haven't been idle during this time. I mentioned we would be building an addition on our house for Mom and this is nearly complete. With one of the wettest summers, and I use that term loosely, everything took weeks longer than it should. My photography, too, has suffered due to lack of good light, the expense of driving and the time to set off to search for adventure.
We've also started a side line to my business. Our 7 year old granddaughter, Stephanie, has been taking photographs since she was about 5. This past week, I taught her how to make some of her better and more interesting images into note cards. We spent this past weekend at the Sandwich Fair where she spent time talking with customers who showed an enthusiastic interest in her work Of the 60 note cards made up of nine designs, she returned home with only 36 and was very excited to find that people loved the image of her cat, Mrs B, and her ponies, Fancy and Lily. In the next post, I'll tell you about the foliage season and what's on tap for the next couple of months. The image I've posted is Steph's photo of Mrs. B.

Can't Be Long Winded

I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd poke around the Internet and one of the places I tend to gravitate towards is my blog. It's been way to long since I made an entry and my loyal readers have probably stopped checking on me. I hope this isn't the case because I haven't been slacking. It's just a case of being really busy. Let me tell you what's been happening since Mother's Day. The first few shows of this 2008 season started off on the slow side and I began to regret making the decision to travel farther and expose new people to my work. My faith was rewarded, however, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Londonderry where we experienced not only a resurgence of interest in my work but a better class of campground at Hidden Valley in Derry, NH. In fact, we enjoyed our visit to this area so much, we've decided to attend the two day event the church sponsors in September. Our calendar is filling in quickly now with only a few weekends where we will be staying at home. This isn't a bad thing because my mom is getting ready to move in with us. She'll have her own studio apartment attached to the house by labor Day. That only gives us two very short months to build a 20 x 24 addition. Wish us luck! Meanwhile, the lupine season is in full swing with these beautiful three foot tall spikes waving majestically in the early summer breeze. The three weekends of the Lupine Festival in Sugar Hill, NH just concluded and overall, it was a well attended event. The weather handed us a mixed bag of hot and humid with high winds and torrents of rain thrown in just to keep us on our toes. Next weekend we're off to North Woodstock, NH for the Olde New England Days which includes a micro brewery tasting. Carl is looking forward to this one.

Mother's Day

The suitcase is just about packed and we're headed to North Conway, NH for a working holiday of sorts. It's not really a vacation because Carl will head off to work each morning, I'll still have to cook supper and do dishes and laundry, but, we won't be in our house during this week. We own a timeshare at the Eastern Slopes Inn and we'll spend the next week there. I'll look for something interesting in that part of the country to photograph and we'll take our granddaughter with us for a couple of days which is always fun.

A Successful Weekend

It was a real pleasure to meet and visit with the many hundreds of visitors to the 42nd Annual Maple Sugar Festival in St. Albans. VT over the weekend. The three day event features sugar house tours, an antique bazaar, specialty foods to sample and an entire gymnasium full of eager artisans like myself. The weather was summed up in one word, perfect; a nice change from last year's cold, rainy and downright dismal conditions. For us, it was the third show of the season, but I have to tell you that all things considered, I'd have to consider this event a complete success, both in terms of enthusiastic on lookers as well as sales. We have a few weeks off to ready some new work to be exhibited and while we're at it, the studio could use a bit of tidying up. During the slower paced winter and spring, we sometimes just toss things on a shelf or into a corner instead of finding them a more permanent home. This small intermission before we get going like gangbusters is also being used to prepare the pop up camper for it's "coming out" event which will be on May 17th in Londonderry, NH and May 18th in Manchester, NH. These are both new venues for us and I'm looking forward to meeting new people and introducing them to my work. I hope you're able to stop by...

Maple Syrup Is Flowing

We're off this weekend to the 42nd annual Maple Sugar Festival in St Albans, VT. It's a three day event and if you're in the area, please stop by.

The Catch 22

Today, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and melancholy. I glanced at the rather thick stack of show applications that have been arriving almost daily. These demand my attention both in the filling out and the paying of the requisite fees so that I can fill in my show schedule. The problem is the coffers are nearly depleted so the writing of the checks is nearly impossible. And I can't add more money to the checking account until I exhibit and sell some product. You see my dilemma?This is what is commonly referred to as a "Catch 22". For those of you not familiar with the reference, I'll explain. This was the title of a movie from the 60's or 70's where a guy wanted to get out of the service. He tried to convince people he was crazy so they would release him but in order to be released, he would have to ask to be let go based on his craziness and a crazy person wouldn't know enough to ask to be released. I can't pay for upcoming shows without money and I can't get money without participating in those very same shows. So, here I sit, trying to figure out what move to make next. I think the guy in the movie had the easier task. Now for those of you asking about the latest and greatest of Red Sox nation, I can only give you a sample of the 2007 glory taken in Florida.

Quiet Places In The Sun

As mentioned in the previous post, I did laundry today and then we hopped into the car and headed south towards Key West. Well, we stopped just shy of the keys in Homestead, Fl, former home of the Air Force until Hurricane Andrew wiped most of the area off the map, literally. Instead of rebuilding, the place was bulldozed and the track was put in. We got there fifteen minutes before the NASCAR store closed. It didn’t take long to pick out Dale Earnhardt Jr. souvenirs for my son, daughter and granddaughter. I even managed a Tony Stewart tee shirt for myself. Then we went up to the fourth level of the tower and took a long look at the 1 ½ mile oval, the pit garages, stalls and the start/finish line. I wish there had been one or two cars out there so I could have gotten some idea of the scale of the place. It certainly didn’t look wide enough for three cars to run side by side for even a couple of seconds. I took pictures of the finish line looking down towards turn one. When we were back on ground level, we walked out to the catch fence and found a gate open that lead to the starter’s flag stand. I looked over both shoulders and went for it. The next thing I knew, I had climbed up and was leaning over to get an unobstructed view of turn four and the front stretch. Then I figured I’d better not push my luck and climbed back down. It was exciting to be there when the place was empty. I can only imagine how much adrenaline pumps when the place is crawling and the motors are screaming. Oh, and today was the first day that I’ve taken any pictures.