What I did on my summer vacation - part 2: Oregon Country Fair

For years, Fair was the hub that my year circled around, the one weekend a year that I got to live in the world as it could be, the closest I've come to the world I want to live in... Tourists at the Fair don't see the structure that allows it to happen, but for all the just-growed-ness of the organisation, it is the safest sanest city I've ever visited. There are thousands of residents that make it a temporary home for the weekend, vendors and entertainers and staff, and then there are the additional thousands that come as visitors, (this year I heard there were 19,000 through the gate).

My first Fair was in 1985, and there have been many changes over the last twenty-four years. I remember before the fair owned their site, before the water system, before wristbands and capped attendance. I worked Security for years, at the main entrance from midnight to six. I met Bill there one year; coming through the entrance he sold me a fibula and the story of my life turned, again. There were several years where I worked both my security shift and helped with selling jewelry during the day (sleep, what sleep, I'll sleep when I'm dead), and several more years (after I gave up my Security volunteering) when I was Bill's "lovely lady assistant". Our paths diverged, I juried my own artwork in, and on two different years tried to sell my enamels, but for the last few years since I moved to Acorn Cottage have chosen to stay home in July.

Thanks to a fortuitous combination of circumstances, I had the opportunity to return to Oregon Country Fair this year (the 40 year celebration)...

carved melon at one of the fruit salad booths

I arrived on site on Thursday afternoon, and after a not very long wait to check in and get "banded" (the wristbands this year were the kind of changeable design that shifts as you tilt it) I found my friends inside the Fair. Bill and Ariadne brought Ceilidh (Karen's niece) with them this year; she is 11, and it was her first Fair. I really enjoyed having her as a tent-roommate, and that I got to spend a lot of my time that weekend hanging out with her. 11 is a little too young to just be turned loose at Fair, and so in answering her questions, I got to see the site, and the sights, as if new.

winged clockworks stilt-walker

ferrocement and mosaic mushroom sculpture outside the Ritz Sauna and Bath-house

Friday night, she and Ariadne went to the the Carmina Burana fire opera show, I was just too tired, after helping Bill put the cart and stock away, I went back to camp and fell asleep. I don't have quite the stamina and resilience I did twenty-odd years ago, they have been some odd years indeed. I think I had more time to chat with folks and friends at Fair than at most SCA events, and I even found time to take a handcraft class at the Archaeology/Native skills booth, where I learned how to weave a bark basket from stirps of willow bark. I love basketry, though it is very hard on the hands and wrists, there is something so very primal and satisfying to me about it, every time I have done any basketry, it is as though my hands know they have done this before, in some other life...

On Sunday the skies opened, with thunder and lightning and a frogstrangling downpour. All day on and off rain made moving from one part of the Fair to another quite challenging. Six inches of rain turned silty fair pathways to sticky slippy mud, and the low ground into mud-wallows.

an appropriate song for Sunday

By Monday the rain had stopped, so tents were dry-ish for tear-down. The roads were so muddy that all gear needed packed out to the truck by handcarts. We stopped on the way home for a rejuvenating soak at Onsen, before the long drive back to resume our regularly scheduled lives...

OCF:organic material+dust=compost (or) don't ask about my lungs

Here is a picture of my little wooden cart all dressed up in Fair finery, doesn't it look cute? (I'm thinking about an alternate set of flags and pennants for the cart to wear at SCA events);
I'm not quite sure why the image is a little catty-whumpus, but I always feel like that after the Fair...

It was a good time, mostly, especially considering how little notice I had, and I have successfully maintained my status as an active juried crafter. The booth location was good in that it was shaded for most of the day by a large oak tree, and a bit difficult in that it was at one of the far ends of the Fair, behind Chela Mela Meadow. So not too crowded, but also fewer public folk/shoppers. My eventual goal is to get strolling vendor status, which would allow me to wander with my wares during the Fair.

Having my entire display on the cart meant that I could stroll around with my wares before the Fair opened to the public in the morning, and after sweep in the evening, and only needed to be in the booth during the public hours from 11 to 7(Most of my sales are to Fair family, who have as little time as I do to wander around during the Fair) I ended up making a bit over my costs to attend, so that is good, some money to put into the rebuild-studio fund. Came home dog-tired, bug-bit and in desparate need of a good massage, with a number of fun ideas for new artwork and a clearer idea of what I need to do next year to help maintain my balance and equanimity in the SOOoo intense atmosphere of OCF.

Woke up this morning at 5 AM 'cos I heard the sounds of rain! rattling against the window awnings. This got me to leap out of bed and out the door to harvest my garlic in the early wet dawn light. The garlic was almost ready before I left for Fair, with the ground nicely dried out by the days of awful hotsunny weather. Once the garlic is "ripe", if it gets wet the bulbs swell, split apart, and get moldy. Hence my early day leap outside... I did come back inside, wash and doze off a bit afterwards.

too hot to handle

It is at least 100 outside Acorn Cottage. I went out and swapped the chicken water for cooler water, and sprinkled the hens with water as well, they were walking around and panting! Most of the time in the heat they hang out under the arbourvitae on the side of the yard, in the shade, but when I show up they think it is treat time and come running...

The word is in, I'm basically on my own at Fair, as none of the possible helpers could make it. I've got an extra camping pass and no one to use it. It will be okay. My friend Maeve will come by and give me some breaks from the booth, so I will not have to sucumb to the dread floating-yellow-eyeball syndrome (as in need-a-biffy-break-now!). Hopefully I will have a chance to take enough of a break to maybe catch a show or two, and see some of the rest of the Fair. And hopefully folks will feel like shopping...

It is so hot now that my neurons don't feel like they are firing properly, everything takes waay too long to figure out. Right now I'm on my way to housecleaning work this afternoon, and when I go home it is back to the rest of the Fair prep....


8:12 pm: further update, hold the presses, this just in...
Jen suggested that I call a friend of hers, another student, Alihandre (not sure about spelling). She is really excited about coming to the Fair, and we worked things out over the phone, plus Jen filled her in, as much as you can without having been there, about what kinds of things happen at Fair... So, I have five folks coming to stay at Acorn Cottage tomorrow night, and I'm out rounding up enough sleeping-pads so everyone will be able to bed down comfortably, and hopefully get a good night sleep before heading down to Veneta on Thursday. Well, except for my house-sitter... who is planning a Joss Whedon DVD marathon, between making sure my home and critters are okay.

Ups, downs, and Nimblefoot spews fluid!

Friday night I woke up at 3 AM thinking "business cards!" . Rather than leap out of bed, and alarm the dog, i simply added it to the long list of Country Fair prep errands scheduled for Saturday.

I started the day by heading over to Mill Ends for satin rattail cord, and stopped at the giant garage sale at the home Conor and Liaden. It was fun to see so many of my friends, and I also ended up buying a white tarp plastic dayshade, which I intend to re-configure with bird-netting into a British style "fruit cage" to protect the future berries I want to grow in the backyard. Between the jays and the squirrels, fruit wouldn't stand a chance currently.

At a stop light on Grand Avenue, I noticed that Nimblefoots' temperature gauge was becoming too warm, so I turned off the air-conditioning, opened the window, and turned on the heat. That was when I noticed the bus driver next to me was pointing at me and waving his hands. I rolled down the passenger window to have him tell me "lady, you just lost your radiator, coolant is spewing all over the road" and then I noticed the steam suddenly billowing from under Nimblefoots little grey hood...

After an AAA tow to the mechanic, I was rescued from the long walk and busrides home by the kindness of Rafny.

On the way home, we stopped at a favorite shop of hers in Southeast, with admirable Asian furniture both antique and reproductions. My real find, though, was a stash of old house windows piled behind the shipping cartons. I'd been thinking about making one of the window-mirrors to hang on the shiplap wall sheathing behind where my washer dryer will live once I get the plumbing fixed. The old sheathing is a lovely rich brown wood, and I have no intention of putting sheetrock over that chunk of wall, but it is the darkest corner of the workroom, and my friend Rois suggested hanging a mirror there to gather the ambient light and brighten the space. Now for only $5, I have a lovely old twelve-pane window to convert into a mirror. And though I've been trying not to bring home any more projects to an Acorn Cottage already too full of projects, this is an exception. I already have ALL the materials and supplies I need (ie a jar of window putty, a glass cutter, and two catty-whumpus closet mirrors that the former owners left behind), and I don't need to learn a new skill to make it happen. So some weekend in the not too distant future, I can bring light to a dark corner.

In the last day and a half, I've been busy customising my little sales cart to make it more festive for the booth at the Fair, and to come up with display options that are a bit more secure... I've added skinny six foot tall bamboo poles to each end of the cart, with a strand of small tie-dye pennants hanging between them. I found some old painting-on-silk art that I did several years ago, and am turning them into small rectangular banners to hang from each pole, in a vaguely Japanese-military-flag-sort-of way. I found my old string of bells for hanging from the woodwork. And to securely display the stock, I've come up with a kind of wirework grid of delicate black steel wire and fishing swivel snaps. I need to finish the wire grids, and make a signboard, and I think the cart will be ready. (Pictures after the Fair, the cart looks really cute.)

Waiting to see how the helper-at-the-Fair thing sorts itself out. Due to unexpected family issues, my current arrangement may not work, and it is really short notice to find another assistant. I am doing my best to remain positive about it all working out well. The only other time I was in a booth at the Fair, (rather than helping Bill with his strolling vendor cart), the hardest thing was not having another person there to help me. Somehow it will all come right in the end....

I've got folks coming through on Tuesday and on Wednesday on the way to Fair, so I'd best get on home and do a little cleaning and picking up, so there is room, and Acorn Cottage doesn't look too scarey....

~~ the return of Nimblefoot! ~~

Now back and better than ever...my tiny car is repaired, hooray! I have the best mechanics, they did their best to get the car fixed so I would have a few days in Portland just to "make certain" nothing else needs help before the drive to Fair. And with the forecast for temperature over 100, I'm really grateful not to be on foot tomorrow. Still have waay too much to do, but things are looking improved. and all the fixing was less than 500$, which is more than I can easily afford, but not so much that I will have to bail on going to the Fair.

better late than never

Doing my best to get things ready for going to Country Fair. Those who know me , know that I do not like doing things at the last minute. I did find suitable (non-SCA-awards) stock for selling at the fair, and am planning on divvying up some of the pairs of earrings to sell as tiny pendants. Which will give me more pieces at a lower price, which sounds right to me. If it wasn't so HORRIBLY hot I'd think about trying to make something spectacular for display. but working in front of a 1500 degree oven just isn't appealing with the inside-my-house temperature being over eighty.

The important thing is that I did find space to be at Fair this year, which means that I maintain my juried vendor status. I'm looking forward to getting to know new people; I'm going to be sharing space with the folks from Holy Lamb Organics. They're from Olympia, and my friend Ariadne suggested that I contact them.

All I need to do, in between working, is:
rebuild my display with new more functional panels, attach the bamboo pennant poles to the cart, find or buy bits of fluttery bright silk and make pennants, create a sign for the cart, get shiny cord for pendants, go to the fishing store to get little snap-hook-things to keep jewelry from walking away, muck out Acorn Cottage enough so that my housesitter can get from room to room, write up instructions for critter care, arrange for camping space at the Fair, pick up my housesitter at the Greyhound station, and go grocery shopping so the dear girl won't starve while she is sitting on my house... oh, and pack everything.

I can do it. Even in 90+ degree heat. (drink water, drink water) Somehow everything that needs done in the next few days will get done. (Deep breath, deep breath) I'd like to find time to get Nimblefoot in to the mechanic for a look-see before travelling south. I am worried about leaving for the Fair on Thursday though, since that is assuming that there will be no last minute glitches, or horrid traffic.

nature channel news and more

This morning, when I stepped outside the front door to start my day, there was a whole assortment of little brown birds on my front lawn, picking up nice soft nesting material. Smokey is deep in the middle of the shedding-of-the-fur, and looks like a molting caribou. Yesterday, before going back into the house from our evening walk, I stood her on the front lawn and plucked out handfuls of nice soft grey undercoat fluff. (don't even ask about the state of my carpeting!) Had been intending to rake it up and put it in the compost, but didn't get to it... now some baby birds will have nice soft nests...

Here is a picture of the completed Scythian horse pendant, that I posted the whole series of pictures about earlier. I'd been meaning to let you all see how it turned out.

Oh, yeah, and this news just in ~
I'm going to Oregon Country Fair this year!

I am actually a juried crafter there, as of 2004, but for those of you not familiar with the craft scene there, jurying in doesn't get you a space, just the right to sell IF you can find someone willing to share space with you. In 2004 I was very fortunate, and was offered a bit of shared space. The following summer I lost my place of residence, which threw my life into utter chaos, and the Fair was not really high on my list of priorities. Last year I wasn't able to find shared space, and I was beginning to doubt that I would for this year either... (You need to be present and selling you craft at least once every three years , or you lose your juried status, which requires going through the jurying process all over again, with no guarantee of getting in again. I was lucky, it only took me two years of jurying to get accepted). I'd resigned myself to going through the jurying again, when one of the folks I'd contacted a while back had a space open up.

SO In the past I've taken at least a month or two to prepare; now I have less than two weeks to get ready for a major craft fair, wheeee! Fortunately, I've been able to get a good responsible house sitter, the daughter of an old friend, to come and stay at Acorn Cottage. So I needn't worry about Smokey and the hens. All I need to do is create an appropriate display and sign, and make sure that I have enough suitable stock for three days (I don't think peerage medallions will work....)