WHAT A NICE DAY

A few years ago I was reading one of our trade magazines. I came upon an article that was written by a 19 yr. old young woman. Her father was an artist and she grew up going to many an art show and setting up with him. In the article she talked about all the places that her parents had taken her. At every show they made an effort to go and see the local sights. She said that she had been to every monument in Washington, DC.
That article affected me. We travel to many cities and up until that point my focus was get there, get in, set up, sell enough to pay the bills, break down, and get home. It was definitely time for a paradigm shift. We homeschool too. Why hadnt' it occured to me to stay an extra day and do something fun and oh-so-educational? We are now the new and improved Terra Family. I try and always book an extra day and to tie in whatever the girls are interested in at the moment into where ever we are. They have seen all of the Smithsonian with some it more than twice. They have been on hikes, to musuems, aquariums, special exhibits, and the Christmas windows at Marshal Fields.
Here are some pictures of what we did the Monday after the Pocono show. I had never been to the Poconos and wanted to go on a hike. PA has a lot of waterfalls!! Anyway, at the show was a forge demo. Really nice guys and they were local. Xan (girl #2 who will now be named) was grooving on the whole thing so we decided that we wanted to go over to their forge in Stroudsburg.

This is Ash. It was really nice to hang with him because he is getting ready to move out to WA state. He's moving to a town called Centralia, somewhere near Olympia. He is taking over some family property and setting up a forge out there. He told Xan that when we get home she can come out and play in the forge. With long pants and closed toed shoes, of course. Ash is also a former Renny and we shared Ren Fair stories. He was showing Xan how to work the steel and the fire. Look at this.

He was making this while he was showing Xan the ropes and then he gave it to her. How nice!
Their space is a big ground floor warehouse. We learned about how the steel arrives in sheets or poles. They have two furnaces, lots of steel tables, and these big machines that can hammer different weights like 25 lbs. or fifty lbs. Andrew showed us their portfolio. Everything from canopy beds to tree shaped spiral staircases. We arrived at the perfect time because they were feeling tired from the weekend and so they had time to hang out with us.

There we are having fun. Xan, Michael, Ash, Andrew (the actual owner) and Josh. It was a great morning! Thanks guys!!!
Andrew turned us on to some falls wich were bigger than the one I was thinking about going to. So around lunchtime we left the Artisans of the Anvil and went in search of the falls. If you link to their webiste check out the furniture in the portfolio. I want that sink!! And the bed!!
And find the falls we did. It was a nice walk/hike up and down the falls.

Here are Michael and Xan in front of Fullmor Falls on Dingman Creek.
After the falls we went into the town of Milford and had lunch at the Milford Diner. We are diner junkies. The waitress complemented me on my necklace. The one that I got from Vicki.
What a nice day.

THE VIEW WAS STUNNING

This past weekend we worked at the Poconos State Craft Festival. Nice show. Good quality art work and we had a stunning view. The show was a bit of bust (more than a bit really). It drizzled all day Saturday and it poured on Sunday. Which means that hardly any customers were there. A lot of sitting around in the damp and cold. We have enough years under our belts now that we take weekends like this "all in stride". I constantly remind myself that there are much worse jobs out there in the big world.
So, I took some pictures to share.

This is a picture of Michael (he's my husband who will from now on have a name) and Poochina. The vendor across from us had a pet capochina. Sweet monkey love. A very dear spirit who grooved on Michael. It drew a lot of attention toward our booth.....alas we were upstaged by a monkey.

This is Vicki. She and her husband are some of my favorite artists that I don't get to see often enough in our show circuit. They do brass sculptures and jewelry. I didn't know that we would see them there, so I was truly pleased to be able to visit with them. We bartered of course.

This is picure of some of Vicki's new work. I got a necklace that is a circle and it hooks together by the end ring fitting into the circle. I don't do her work justice. You can view their website for yourself and see their inspired creations.

These fun "bad day" mugs are made by our potter friend, Helen. She is whimsical and hoot of good woman! On our rainy Sunday I was thinkin' we could have used one of these mugs. Check out her work at her website.

And with a view like this there wasn't too much to complain about. So many times we are at shows that take place in convention centers with concrete floors, piped in muzak, and recycled air. The view was stunning.

JUST LIKE I SAID I WOULD

This picture is for Lisa.
We went out to dinner in Rutland a few weeks ago. All artists, all having fun. The waiter took this shot for us.
So, Lisa, just like I said I would.