jaeleslie

It would be nice to get all these boxes out of here today. I've been at the art fair pretty much all weekend, and haven't put anything away yet. It was possibly more successful as a social event than as a sale, because Chris comes from Milwaukee and we make it a bit of a party, but I still need to get to the bookkeeping today.

I might have had even more visitors while we were sitting in the mall, but Saturday afternoon Marcia & Chris took care of the booth while Mr S and I were off at a fortieth wedding anniversary party, for his friend M that shares the machine shop. It was a nice party, thrown by M's son & daughter-in-law at their house out in the country (off 14 south of Oregon off Old Stage Road), where Mr S has helped with turning the tobacco shed into a garage and is now helping build another storage building. (Horsies next door!) I knew hardly anyone there, but found myself saying things like, I haven't known M very long -- only fifteen years! Plenty of food and more than enough drink. The happy couple were both sporting fresh leis that their younger son had brought from Hawaii, a pink one for mom and an elegant manly ti-leaf lei for dad, and the wedding photos (from 1963) featured very stylish gowns.

Sunday afternoon at the mall was enlivened by a visit from bibliofile and juliebata, with plenty of talk about the Halloween party I had missed. No sooner were they gone (and my customer disposed of) than who should appear but intelligentrix's aged parents. They bought lots of cards and bookmarks and then settled in on the bench for a long visit, as they often do. We had a good gossip about the recent news that has come out, of what my friends and I were getting up to in their house thirty years ago when they went off for the summer leaving their seventeen-year-old son to keep house. There have been any number of movies made about this scenario, so I will leave it to your able imaginations, but they seemed somewhat stunned at the information. So I refrained from pointing out if it hadn't been their lovely italianate victorian mansion, it would have been the back seats of various chevies and public parks and roadsides. I did my best to provide them with as little more information as possible, just explicating what they already knew of our shared histories -- as far as I could manage since we were all somewhat the worse for reeling and tottering under the influence of our various pains. (They are both due for joint replacements.) Old age is not for sissies. I promised them a seasonal visit, with offspring, when I get back from Britain.

So I didn't get any shopping done at the mall, as I had planned, because we talked for an hour and a half until it was very nearly time to pack up. It is probably just as well. But if I can get the bank deposit completed today then maybe I will stop back at Hilldale for a treat.