The worst craft fair ever and a fun trip to the flea market.

Saturday my husband and son left to go backpacking in the smokey mountains with some friends and I had the house all to myself which means... girl time! Shelly came over Saturday night and we had some wine and some deep girl talk and laughed, oh my lord we about laughed ourselves silly. The following day, Sunday I went to a "arts and crafts festival". I went alone and I'm so glad I did, It was the worst attempt at a festival I have ever seen, I was actually embarrassed for them. It was free to get in but you had to pay $2.00 to park. I was half tempted to ask for my $2 bucks back... yes it was that bad. I even took a picture.

Yep... that's it. No lie.

 So I headed home, on the way I passed by a small flea market that I usually ignore but feeling a bit disappointed in the fair, I figured what the heck, after all it's just down the street from my house and not out of my way.
 The first vendor I encounter sharply barks out "2 dolla" and holds up 2 fingers at me as I pick up an old glass citrus juicer that was coated in dirt, I looked at  him and held the juicer up and asked "does the dirt come with it?" you could tell he was a little taken back by my question and he replied, "uh.. yeah" so I said to him, "well... I'm not interested in the dirt but I'll give you one dollar for the dish", he said ok and I happily went on my way with it. I'd been thinking and talking about making some out of clay and this would be an excellent model for inspiration.

So I moved on and I met 2 of the silliest elderly gentlemen who were both vendors, in fact their booths were next to each other. I walked up and started looking at the first man's flea markety treasures and before I knew it he was out of his seat and talking to me (I'll call him Fred for this story). So Fred say's to me, "Hey how ya doin?" I replied "just fine, you?" then he says, "everything here is for sale, I have a lot of stuff for sale but no one wants it" and he giggled, just then I look up and Fred has the biggest silly grin on his sweet wrinkled face and he only has like maybe 4 teeth, so I giggled too. As I'm leaving and going to his buddy's booth with him on my heals still talking my ear off, his buddy (I'll call him Jack) Jack looks at me and Fred and hangs his head and laughs to himself as Fred is asking me, "where ya from?" I said "Rossville", he replied "Rossville huh? I use to know where Rossville was (it's down the street mind you from where we are now). Being the smart ass that I am I said "yeah? well they haven't moved it, it's still in the same place", Jack is obviously enjoying the banter because he hasn't stopped chuckling. Fred seems to be hung up on Rossville because he's rambling on and on while I'm looking over Jack's junk table. Fred say's to me, "hey now isn't Rossville over yonder?" and he nods his head in the wrong direction so I reply, "no... it's down yonder" and nod in the other direction, Jack tips his hat down and looks at his feet and he is giggling harder then ever. I reach my hand into a bin that held 2 items, a ceramic fish and a odd shaped piece of pottery *bing* I get Jack's attention as soon as I reach out, "That there is just what you need, that fish" said Jack. I cocked my head and looked at him and I said, "now what I'm gonna do with a fish?" (yeah I know... "what I'm gonna do" but that's what I said). Jack laughs and says, "more then I'll do with it, heck I can't get rid of the thing", So my hand slips by the fish and I pick up the odd shaped pottery piece and Jack says, "I don't know what that is, but it can be yours for fifty cents". I said "Sold", as I'm handing him a dollar bill and he starts rooting around in his pocket for change he tips his hat and give me the most curious look and say's in almost a whispering voice, "whatcha reckon that is? a candle holder or something?" I laughed and said, "nope, that there would be a handmade vase", then I told him to keep the change and consider it a tip. Meanwhile Fred is still going on about Rossville, "oh I remember when Rossville burned" he said, I replied "well that's before my time, where are you from?" Just then Jack tightens up and is holding back the laughter which he lets loose when Fred answers my question with "Rossville". We all three just burst into laughter, I told them to have a great day and I giggled the whole way to my car. I just love meeting characters like these guys.  Here is a few shots of my odd little pottery find.

 

It's a bit strange, but I kinda like it, and at .50 cents, I couldn't say no :o)

After I returned home I went straight to my studio and got to work, I had to fire some custom order pieces and I ended up putting in 14 hours of work, time flew and for whatever reason I decided to glaze some  pottery that I had made, some of it had been sitting around for a year on my shelf, shame on me! (59 pieces in all). I got everything I wanted to get glazed done and made it to bed at 4:10am. 

At 9am my sweet 10 year old niece sends me a text message that woke me up, the message said "Happy Labor Day!" I couldn't help but laugh and I replied with "Happy Labor day to you too!" I do believe that is a first for me, I've never been told happy labor day lol gotta love it.