Last Saturday, 5/11/24, there I was at 8:15 am unloading a table and two tubs of pottery, mine and Cathy's. They didn't weigh much actually.
Here Amelia stands in our booth.
I was able to pull my car over close to where our booth was, and fellow Mud Buddy, Amelia had already set the tent up. I brought the sign but we couldn't find the bungie cords to attach it to the front of the tent.
Now retired Mud Buddy, Bette Potter Jones, has the cords, and will bring them next week, she told me when I phoned her. (After all she just turned 90!)
Cathy's pottery in the foreground. Since she's still healing from her dislocated shoulder injury, she has not been making pottery. This was all she had left from last year.
So we're sharing a table...and I have only pottery that's been on shelves or tubs in my home for 4 years. Nothing new at this point. (I'm currently making flower pots and dragons.)
Amelia's table, with too much reflected sun off the red canopy cover! Most of those pink mugs were really white with red and pink floral designs. On that side we had a new bakery with lots of goodies for sale...they always do well. So while people wait in line, we hoped they might see some interesting pots...
Our next door neighbor had crystals and jewelry for sale.
Before the market even started at 9 am I walked over to Belly Full Plants and purchased the one and only apple mint plant! Peggy (on far right in the back) is a good friend from climate change work in the past.
Another good friend was the musician for the market. Bill Altork has a kind of country twang and writes a lot of his own songs...and he also has been a handy man for me several times. Musicians usually have a second gig, don't they?
I was surprised to see this well stocked pottery display by John (blanking on last name). He is the son of Elaine who usually has the biggest display of flowers for sale, but she was busy elsewhere with Mother's Day stuff, so he got her space as a day vendor. He just graduated from Warren Wilson College, a wonderful work/study farm school nearby.
This couple was assessing the mugs for his mother, on each table. And you can see how white Amelia's are now! Which one would keep coffee warm longest? I answered, they're pretty much the same. (some denser clay holds it better, some shapes do, but we didn't have any way to test. And the young man chose one of Cathy's rather than one of Amelia's.
We have a friendly competition, and I'm pretty sure nobody tries to push their own pots on anyone. (Except when someone under-sells things with really low prices, then we all suffer.)
I didn't make it to the far side of the market. Except to make sure there were no gardenia plants for sale. I do have my eye out for another of those. I can't make a big enough pot for one, so will gladly purchase a big pot if only I can find one. But, tis the season for garden sales at all weekend coming up!
This is my Mother's Day photo for the year. This mother (on l) was holding her twins in 2 little slings, and her older three daughters stood eating something while she conversed with the other woman.
I had to take a photo of Nantucket MA resident Diane's Bloom County tee shirt...and she only had $20 for my $25 bowl. She had daughter and son at market, and none of them had $5. Honestly there was no way I'd discount it $5 either. So the woman at the next booth called to them and said, just Venmo me $5 and I'll give you the cash.
Yes, this was our sad loss of several sales because we weren't set up for credit cards. I'm working on it. I thought I could get Venmo, but my bank only uses Zelle. I've got that set up now, but I know people just want to flash their plastic. We should also do like several local restaurants do, offer a discount for cash, because credit card payments come out of our profits (little as they may be!)
Today's quote:
Who are we but the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves, and believe? -Scott Turow, author and lawyer (b. 12 Apr 1949)
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