Saturday, June 7, 2008

Saturday Markets and Things That Go Bump In The Night

Brace yourselves, I've got two stories for you today. :)

So last night around 11:00 we were in bed and both of us were just right on the verge of falling asleep when suddenly a noise that sounded like a tornado came rushing through our bedroom, followed by a huge crash. It seriously scared me SO bad that I just about hit the ceiling. So of course we jumped out of bed in a panic and flipped the lights on to see what had happened.

We looked out in the hall and there were both of our cats, their tails and fur poofed up higher than I've ever seen it looking TOTALLY freaked out. We couldn't figure out at first what had happened, so we looked all over to make sure that nothing had fallen off the walls or anything and everything looked fine. It was actually really weird.

So here's what we THINK happened. We have an old cranky cat and a very spunky kitten who don't get along very well. Our old cat hates everyone, and I think the kitten is at the top of her list. They mostly ignore each other, but every now and then they get into a tussle. All we can figure is that the kitten must have been really wound up and been trying to chase the old cat and they both came flying into our room at top speed, where one of them ran over a stack of binders that Shawn has been using for a project he's working on, skidded on them and then went crashing into a small garbage can that we have in our room, knocking it over. That doesn't seem like it would make such a loud noise, but we've searched everything and we can't figure out what else it could have been. Both of the cats were totally freaked out for about 20 minutes after it happened. I was freaked out for about an hour and a half. I don't like loud crashing noises in my house in the middle of the night!! Nothing phases Shawn so he went right back to sleep but it took me forever to calm back down. From now on I'm feeding sleeping pills to the cats before I go to bed.
(OK, not really.)

Story number two is much more exciting than story #1. (Well, to me, anyway, it still may be snore fest 2008 for you. I don't lead an exciting life, so you might as well get used to it now.)
I recently became aware of a REALLY cool Saturday market that they do in downtown Boise. We live way out in the suburbs, so we don't go into downtown Boise very often and every time we do we feel like we're on vacation. (What can I say, we're not city people. We're easily amazed by lots of buildings and people.)

Anyway, the Saturday market is this really great place where all sorts of crafty people get together each Saturday in the summer to sell their stuff. There are fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers and all sorts of fun arts and crafts for sale. It's awesome! What I discovered is that there are lots of artists and photographers that set up booths there to sell their art. I realized that I can do this!! Woohoo, look at me, I'm selling art! :) I'm going to sign up for a booth in the next few weeks and then park myself in the Saturday Market for the day and see if I can sell some of my work. I've sold quite a few pieces over the past several months, but mostly over the Internet and to people I know. I've never had strangers browse my work in this type of setting before, so I'm a little nervous. I figure that it's a good way to get my name out there and maybe make a little money though. It's really inexpensive to get a booth and it looks like a lot of fun. There were a TON of people there today.

Wait, maybe I have three stories today. No, let's just call this two stories and a tangent.
While I was at the Market I discovered the booth of a local artist who makes pottery and I discovered Ikebana vases. They're Japanese, apparently. Am I the only person that has never seen those?! They're so cool! They're shallow round bowls with plastic spikes in the bottom. You fill it with water and then put fresh flowers in the spikes and it's really beautiful! The idea is that when you put fresh cut flowers in a regular vase, the bottom of the stems shrivel up and they won't suck up water. When they're sticking in the spikes it keeps the stem open, so the flowers will last longer, and plus they're just really pretty to look at! I bought one and then ran right home to cut some flowers from my yard to put in it. All I have blooming in my yard right now is Iris, so I now have some pretty Iris in my vase. As the summer goes on I'll have roses and other flowers in my yard that will look pretty in my vase. I'm really way too excited about it. I'm so easily amused.

So there are my two stories and a tangent for today. My house isn't crashing down around me, I'm going to sell photography at the Saturday Market, I'm the proud owner of a new vase and my living room smells like fresh flowers. All in all it's been a pretty good day. :)



Edited to add a photo of my new vase! :)

4 comments:

The Mommy said...

Hi Wendy!! That vase is awesome!! I have never seen those, or heard of them!! I'm off to google! I have to have one!! :) I think your photographs will sell like crazy, you are talented!! I LOVE lookin at your pics on the BHB and the photography board!!! Good luck and please keep us posted! I love your blog :)

Shawn said...

love your blog. You are very entertaining.

Shawn-o

Nurse Heidi said...

Those are fascinating looking vases. The concept sounds ingenious, and I'm curious to hear how well they work. You ought to do a side by side comparison.

Watty said...

Very nice vase! I wish I was in Boise to see you at the market..I LOVE outdoor markets! You'll do great! :)