September 5, 2009
Wow, that was a quick summer!
The show and the Folk Fest came and went. I never did get to the show at the City Arts Centre or hear how it turned out. I haven’t even looked into getting the tea set back yet. The Folk Fest was good. We sold pots, made some money and made some good connections. We would love to do it next year.
We had a wonder holiday and trip this past summer. It was our first real holiday since 2004. The Folk Fest ended August 9, the 10th we packed up and August 11th we set out on a road trip. We have family in Chesapeake Virginia. Jim’s son Torrey is in the US Navy and we drove down, or across, to visit him and his wife Carrie. The first day we got to St. Lewis, 36 hours and then the Friday the 14th we were in Virginia. We spent a week there and had a wonderful time. Torrey gave us a tour of his ship, the air craft carrier Harry S. Truman. It is huge but must be very crowded when all 5000 people are on board. We saw where the USA began. Went up to Washington DC and saw the president drive by in his motorcade. That was a rush. When we got there a number of men in black suits with wires in there ears were all around the White House closing down access. Now there are a bunch guys who take themselves seriously. Then suddenly all roads were blocked and out of the back of the White House sped the President and his entourage. It was cool.
Obama in the back seat.
We swam in the Atlantic, got beaten by the waves and after a week of fun, family and history we headed southwest for Nashville.
The family in the Atlantic.
Torrey and Carrie at Williamsburg VA
Williamsburg VA
We drove through the Smokey Mountains and spent one night in Pigeon Forge. That was a bit of surprise. Dolly Parton came from there so we expected a…. not sure… small town with a monument or something. Coming out of the back woods of the Smokey Mountains into….. well….. Vegas, just no gambling. Lights, nightclubs, restaurants, hotels, shopping, street performing Elvis impersonators. It was more than weird.
It became weirder the next morning when we thought our daughter Kaileigh was in the car and she was standing beside the car leaning in to talk to us and we ran over her foot. It broke nothing, pulled nothing and now, just two weeks later the swelling is gone, just a bit of bruising left and she is walking normally. When we were in the docs office just after it happened I asked her how she was doing,she said the blood pressure cuff hurt more than her foot????
You can see the tire tread marks….ouch….
The holiday went on for almost 3 weeks. I will talk more about it later.
The Clay Teacher is getting calls, emails and bookings. We are confident it will do very well. It is really exciting. I love the building of a business. When we opened a studio on Fort Road 10 years ago, it was a real rush to set it up, get equipment, attend shows, and build the wholesale cliental. We then moved to Jasper Avenue and opened the Gallery. It too was a hoot to get that started. We moved walls, well hired people to work, picked out flooring and paint. Once we were open we found artists, clients etc. A part of me will always regret that it didn’t work out. The much larger part is glad we are free from the daily responsibility of retail. The Clay Teacher gets off work at 3:00 and doesn’t work weekends.
That’s enough rambling for one day.
Until next time
Cindy
The Clay Teacher
