To Washington, with pots

We left for Anacortes on Wednesday morning; set-up isn't until Thursday at 6 pm, but we long ago learned that we haven't got the energy to drive six or eight hours (depending on traffic--and there's always traffic, if not in Portland, then south Seattle) and still set up a pottery booth. Since Denise has a second cousin in Seattle, we'd stop and see Diana, sleep on her hide-a-bed, then continue the next day up north to our motel, to unpack and nap before going into town.

We can't stay with Diana anymore--Denise's knees won't handle three flights of stairs--but can manage an extra night in a motel. Diana's folks have moved to Seattle from Anchorage, to be closer to their only child, so we arranged to join them all for supper at Kay and Al's place. I also learned at the last minute that Debby Glickman, a potter friend from Israel that I'd met in 1984 at Tuscarora Pottery School, was in town, and I had a pottery order to drop off with a customer off Instagram. All in all, it was going to be a busy day-and-a-half.

We got in to Seattle not too late for supper, and got a text from Debby that she was in Ballard, not far from where we were, so Kay and Al invited her to join us for dessert--Kay's Alaska specialty, raspberry-rhubarb pie. (The blackberry pie I'd brought from Eugene stayed in the van, going on to Anacortes.) When we left, they were making plans to see the Blue Angels rehearsal on Friday over Lake Washington, where Debby's family home was located.

Delivered an octopus covered casserole wedding present to the customer Thursday morning, then headed up the freeway to Mount Vernon. (Lodging is at a premium in Anacortes during the festival, so we stay about 15 miles out.)

Booth set-up is a challenge, because we're on the street backing the curb, so I need a huge amount of shimming to keep my shelves level. Came up with a new solution, this year: Lay a shelf on the ground in the footprint of the shelving unit and position shims underneath in the appropriate locations so the shelf is level. Remove the shelf, place the uprights, and presto! Pots won't fall over. It wasn't quite that easy, of course, but it did save a lot of time. Next year, I'll bring box tape to stick the shims together and it'll be that much easier.

You've heard me complain about the wind on my corner in the past; this year, I came prepared. I bought an extra set of booth weights, putting 50 lbs. on each leg, and moved all of my display hardware inward, away from the sidewalls. Thought I'd licked the problem; Friday and Saturday, moderate winds flapped the side walls without effect, and the feet of the booth stayed rock steady. Sunday, the wind tried to kill me.

First, gusts picked up, banging against the free-standing grid panel plate display, knocking a fox dinner plate to the ground. With help from the neighbors, we pulled off all the sidewalls, which helped for a while. The top was still rocking dangerously, though, so Denise convinced me to take the grid panel down entirely. The wind continued to pick up, and while the feet of the booth stayed put, the top was trying to sail away, actually flexing the legs. The only choice we had left was to take the top off entirely, and spend the rest of the day in the sun, trying not to burn, because anything we tried to rig for shade immediately tried to fly away.

Aside from the brief trip to Oz, it was a really good weekend. Weather was mild, low 70s; Saturday was cooler and grey, but never actually rained. No blistering heat, no forest fire smoke. Just lovely.

Lots of folks came out, many of them familiar faces. The woman with the sugar glider did show up on Saturday, so I was able to show her the dessert plate I'd tried to send her last summer, which UPS returned as undeliverable. (And yes, she did actually decide to buy it.) Our friend Lauren came on Sunday, not expecting to see us. In the past, she'd always come to shows with her friend Bear, now deceased, and I guess we only had his address on the mailing list. This time, I got her information, gave her a big hug and a postcard besides.

Lots of nice conversations with other aspiring potters, including a teenage girl who wanted details about my glazing process. I directed her to the "Glaze Recipes" tag here. Hope she finds it.

Our friend Arden came out Friday; she's the young woman who started buying pots from me around age 12, with her lawn-mowing money, and has been coming back every year since, either here or at Edmonds, sometimes both. She sent me a graduation announcement this year, going off to college to study engineering, so I wrote a note on her postcard, telling her to come pick out a graduation present. She picked out a dessert plate decorated in whales, and tried to pay for it, silly girl. What part of present don't you understand. We also inaugurated it with a piece of blackberry pie, and made sure we had her email address at college.

She still bounces on her toes when she's excited, just like that first time back in Edmonds, so many years ago.

On Saturday, a nice older lady stopped in the booth, said she'd long wanted to see it because her family had so many pieces of my pottery. We chatted for a while, gave her a bottle of water--she'd left hers in the car, and the festival had just dropped one off that we didn't need, as we keep a contractor's cooler full of ice water in the booth--and she let slip that we might know her grand-daughter.

Yep. Arden's grandma.

Kay and Al came up on Friday early, also had pie, and walked around the show. They wound up taking a stegosaur bank and an incense dragon home with them, gifts for a niece and nephew.

As usual, Friday was my busiest day, though Saturday came close, and even Sunday was only a few hundred dollars lower. My best weekend ever, I think, by around a grand. Show closed at 5 pm Sunday, and we were packed up just after 7. Had planned on supper at a restaurant recommended by an artist friend, but it turns out they're closed Sundays, so we Googled "Restaurant near me open" and ended up a block away at a new restaurant that was perhaps more aspirational than inspired. Very "Food Network" menu (einkorn and buckwheat in a torte crust?). Denise's second choice, a beef gyro, was quite nice (they were out of the fish and chips), but I'm afraid my smash-burger was less than the sum of its parts. Pickles were okay, but the heirloom tomatoes weren't ripe, the bacon-jam aioli didn't taste at all of bacon, and the patties? Needed salt.

I'm not gonna name them here, because I think this was a soft open before an upcoming grand opening, and they may be still working the kinks out. But it wasn't my favorite meal of the weekend.

Back from Anacortes

We've gone through the mail, checked the answering machine, apologized to the cats.

And picked another two quarts of blackberries, and half a dozen big Gravenstein apples.

It may be pie time again.

Your choice