Magnolia day

[offcntr]

Well, that was fast.

Last Saturday, the magnolia tree behind our booth, that we've watched grow from a sapling, was just beginning to bud out. Weather was still cool, damp, cloudy and variable. Classic winter-into-spring Oregon weather.

This Saturday, it nearly hit 80°, and the blossoms are already on the ground.

I guess it's summer?

Eugene Marathon was in town, so lots of thin, fit people around. Gave business cards to folks from Texas, Idaho, hoping for follow-up orders, since no one seemed to have room in their carry-on luggage. Sales otherwise were pretty sparse, though our neighbor, who does beautiful lampwork glass pendants, seemed to be doing well. I guess portability was the key.

A few booths down, Danny had a bit of a fuss with his Square. Typing in a forty dollar sale, he accidentally hit an extra digit and charged them $400.07. I showed him how to check Transactions to see if it actually charged (it did), then how to give a refund. They wound up paying him cash rather than risking another credit adventure. The one bad thing about the whole transaction is that Square just changed their refund policy. They used to refund their fee when you refunded a sale, but no longer. You give the money back to the customer but they still charge you the transaction fee, so he'll be out about eight bucks on the sale. Teach him to check the numbers before swiping the card.

People coming into my booth for the first time will comment, "That looks like a lot of work," because there's so much, and so many different items and patterns. I usually quip, I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. Nothing will ever be that much work again. Today, a young woman said, "I'm from Wisconsin, too!" She grew up in Appleton, where much of Denise's family is centered, went to college at UW-Stevens Point, where my brother John started out. Got a degree in Forestry, and now works out here with the Coast Range state parks.

Was going to make today's theme "spring," with baby chicks and bunnies, but realized as I set up that, with all the athletes in town, I could feature Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers...

With a transitional form in between.

Comments

[anais_pf]

My magnolia tree only has about one full week of bloom each year, too. Does yours usually last longer?