Heat waving

[offcntr]

It was kind of Serengeti out there yesterday. Temperatures in the high 90s, with a kind of orange cast to the afternoon light, haze or smoke in the air. A whole bunch of vendors decided not to come out, large patches of both blocks left empty, particularly in the center, where the shade doesn't reach.

My booth gets reliably shaded by a big magnolia tree (we've been here long enough to remember when it was a small magnolia tree), so I didn't do too badly most of the day. Even had some cool breezes in the morning, as hot air rising from the road drafted cool shady air into the booth.

For all that, it was really busy. People came out early, 9:30 am we were already crowded. I had some special orders from last week's firing to pick up, and most of them showed up. Also had someone looking for a bear platter finally connect--we'd been playing tag for three weeks--and decide he not only wanted the platter, but also ordered a polar bear pasta bowl. A young woman getting married in two weeks stopped in for a gratitude present for her mother, who's been so much help in planning the wedding. She settled on a mother/daughter pie plate: a rather sweet painting of a doe and fawn.

I only brought a few things from the new firing, but already sold two: a lion tall mug to my booth neighbor for her son's birthday, and the cheetah dessert plate. And I have to bring in the other lion tall mug in two weeks for someone's uncle Leo, who is, zodiacly speaking, a Leo, and kinda leans into it.

Saw a couple of geeky tee-shirts. One had a picture of a cat in a square frame, with the legend, Wanted: Dead or Alive--Schrodinger's Cat. The other had a three-circle Venn diagram marked Life - The Universe - Everything. The intersection, of course, read 42. Said he got it for his 42nd birthday.

Had a little girl in a dinosaur jumper, so I asked if she'd like to pet the dinosaur banks. She petted the T. Rex, then the Stegosaur (agreeing that it's much spikier) and the Brontosaur, and asked her mom if she could get one. I don't think we can get it home to Seattle safely, said Mom. Told her I'd be in Anacortes the following weekend, and even gave daughter a spare postcard with the show dates and information, so I might just see them up there.

I generally get half a dozen postcards returned every mailing, as my list is getting old, so I just black out the address and give them to kids for the cute bear picture. Every now and then, though, they're good for their original purpose. Had another Washingtonian stop in the booth, so gave out two for the day.

Around 2 pm, things ground to a halt, but we got a little cloud cover around 3:30 that lasted through load out, though it was still stiflingly hot. Got the van loaded up even a little early, ready to go home to a cold shower.

And the damn thing wouldn't start.

It had been running a little rough in the morning, coughed a little when I brought it down from the parking structure, but now it didn't even do that. Battery was find, it cranked like a champ, but though it smelled like gas, it apparently wasn't getting into the cylinders to go boom. I hailed Dave, from the site crew, to ask if he knew anything about motors; his knowledge level was about the same as mine, but he was able to recruit some of his workers to help me push it across the street to a legal parking space. Gave it 15 minutes in case it was flooded (is that still a thing?), but when it still didn't start, I called Denise to come pick me up.

Came back after supper with the car, and managed to fit all the pottery boxes inside, handtruck bungied to the roof rack, so at least I didn't have to fret about someone breaking in overnight and stealing my pots. It coughed briefly again this morning, then refused to catch, so tomorrow bright and early I'll have to get it towed to my mechanic, where hopefully, they'll be able to fix it before I have to drive up to Washington state on Wednesday. I did not need this.

But at least it happened here at home, and not somewhere out on the road.

Comments

[anais_pf]

Car troubles are the worst!

[james]

The smokey haze is apparently from the California wildfire (McKinney I think?)