Warmth, Despite the Cold

Soren
November 2009 Outside Raleighwood, NC
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An entry or two ago I mentioned that the final show of the year was not exactly the barn-burner that we were hoping it would be. (Heck, I didn't even see a spark nearby some dry brush and kindling)

Still.

While talking to a friend on Friday about something completely unrelated she told me that she and her husband were going to be doing a small "First Sunday" street show in a nearby town. She said they had done pretty well at the show the previous month, despite rain and small crowds. Good enough for me. I contacted the person running the show, received permission to set up and talked to Bonn about it. Bonn was done with shows for the year and said I could do the show on my own if I wanted to -- and so I did.

I like to think of myself as a Participant/Observer of Arts and Craft Shows. I like to think after 15+ years of doing shows and selling our handmade jewelry that I know what I'm doing. Then I insist on going out on a freezing cold day, set up on a small town sidewalk and wonder why people don't seem too interested in buying jewelry.

Here's a clue: jewelry sells when women try it on.

And when it's really cold out, low on the List of Things Anyone Would Like to Do is fit a cold piece of metal to their arm.

At the end of the day I packed up and made the long drive home in a car without a heater, feeling pretty ridiculous for having spent a day out in the cold making slightly more money than if I'd stayed at home and not sold anything. I was so beat by the time I made it home that I almost fell asleep waiting for the (anticlimatic) finale to this season's Amazing Race.

On the way to bed I stopped by my computer and checked Facebook where I found this entry by Bonn:

"Tom drove away this morning alone to do a show in Pittsboro- he's so stubbornly, maddingly, hopelessly wonderful...sigh."

And that made the entire day worth it.

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