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It was 45° F. when I left for Market yesterday. I was all in flannel, wool socks and hat, heavy denim over-jacket. Fingerless gloves in my pockets, just in case. Wishing for a wooly coat, like a llama, or a mountain goat.Of course, once the sun was properly up, I was too warm. Lost the coat and flannel half-way through set-up, though I kept the hat and socks until late afternoon. Fall weather, man, it's all over the place.
Students were back, which is always nice. Packs of incoming freshpersons, goggle-eyed at their first visit to Saturday Market. I have a lot of fun talking with them, even if they're mostly buying watercolor cards to frame as tiny art. A couple of groups stopped early to talk and look, then returned at the end of the afternoon to pick out a cup or stew mug. I also sold three pieces to a young couple who'd just moved into their first house. Got a hundred-dollar bill as a housewarming present, and used it to buy two stew mugs and a tall mug from me.
Mom and little girl came in for soup bowls; mom picked out a heron and salmon, asked daughter to pick the third. Daughter wanted the hen and chicks, adamant when mom asked if she'd rather have the rooster. No, this is perfect, I said, She (mom)'s the hen and you're the chick. No, she said, I'm the hen, she's the chick. Then we got silly, guessing how old she must be if her mother is her daughter. 80? 90? Much giggling, and a nice sale.
Lots of Wisconsin connections: a couple from Antioch, near Kenosha, was Chere's first sale of the day. Later spotted a girl with a University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse sweatshirt--I did my undergrad in LaCrosse, and in fact took a math class at UW-L. She'd never been, though she visited Lake Geneva last summer. And one of my last sales of the day was to a new student and amateur potter with most of her family in Madison.
I seem to have lost all ability to judge ages. All of the freshmen look like pre-teens to me; one new student I talked to turned out to be an incoming graduate student, and the very young-looking woman with the American Mathematics Society tote who I talked with about my undergraduate math major turned out to be on the math faculty.
I am so old.
Bullhorn evangelists were back after a blissfully long hiatus, because nothing will draw students to your cause like shouting at them on the street corner. Fortunately, the music mostly drowned them out from my booth, especially Kef, a Balkan dance band.
Had to hurry my takedown a little, they were closing 8th Street at 5:30 for the Light Parade. Was a bit of a scramble, everyone seemed to be parking in front of my booth, but I finally managed to back my van up and load out with 5 minutes to spare.
