A flash of red

[offcntr]

My stock is so thin, it's getting hard to come up with a theme for the tabletop that I haven't used before. Today, it's just birds featuring a little flash of red: humminbird, tanager, sandhill crane.

In the two weeks since I've done Market last, Fall has arrived. Not that the leaves have turned, or the geese left--though I heard a flock over the house this evening. No, it's that the heat's broken. This morning, when I left the house, I turned around and went right back in. Changed shorts for jeans, grabbed a jacket, put on socks. Definitely feeling the season.

The day started super slow, not even people looking. Also more folks walking around maskless, which annoyed me no end. Don't know if they were anti-vaxxer/maskers, or people who'd decided they were vaccinated, and therefore impervious. In any case, nobody actually came into my booth naked-faced, so I was denied the pleasure of kicking them out again.

The day eventually picked up. Jeremy and Cara came in for their weekly fix--a frog soup bowl. I sold a lot of soups, in fact, ran out of goat and flamingo bowls, and sold the orphaned octopus bowl that I'd been using as a filler. It's a good thing I'm firing this week, and that I haven't glazed bowls yet.

Talked a couple of people who'd seen my tall mugs at Tsunami. One says she's bought six so far, and got another from me today. The other one liked the sea turtle mug she saw there, didn't see anything here she liked better. So she's going back to buy it. I"m fine with this, even if the bookstore gets a cut. The more things I sell there, the more they'll take in the future. Sales commissions, like credit card fees, are just part of doing business.

I also got to show my cardinal pots--mug and bowl--to a young woman with a cardinal tattoo. Turns out she's from Kentucky, and redbirds were her grandmother's (and now her) favorite birds. I told her about my philosophy professor back at undergrad, who used to talk to cardinals and we both agreed it's a shame we don't have them out here in Oregon. (She came back later to get a mug.)

Best random observations of the day: an inconspicuous bumper sticker that read "Montana Is Full (We heard North Dakota is nice...)" and a conspicuous t-shirt that read "Butch Fatale." Also this:
That seems to be a functioning space helmet breathing apparatus. There's a solar panel on top, connected to a fan, little ducts along the jawline leading to filters on the helmet. Also a cushion or air seal in desert camo, presumably to keep breath in/viruses out. Which leads to the obvious question:

Where can I get one of these things?

Comments

[danthered]

Hey, yeah! If you find out where those helmets come from, squawk about it, willya?