The Artisan Show Adventure

By February of every year we set our winter market schedule.  We typically do our favourite three markets and stick with that schedule.  One year we did every craft show we could find filling every Saturday/Sunday between November 1st and Christmas – you can imagine the good times had by all.

This year we were sensible, only sticking to the three with the thought that perhaps if one juicy show came up and we got in, we’d take it.  Last week at our outdoor market this sweet, very, very old lady ambled up to our table.  With a sweet wrinkly face and beautiful smile she stood back and exclaimed in a perfect Downton Abbey type British accent, "oh girls, what a lovely table you have".  We melted, we swooned, we kept her talking just to hear that accent.

And so began the story.  Did we know about the craft sale at St Luke’s and all his Angels Hospital?  Well, she only had three tables left and the soap maker who does brilliantly at it had to cancel this year and we would be the only ones.  And she’s talked to Sarah the artist over there and she’s coming and Laurie the jam maker over there is coming, did you want the very last table?  She clutched the application in her hand, the very last one that she was offering to us.

"YES YES" we exclaimed, gushing our appreciation, of course we know the location, oh thank you for thinking of us.  She even bought a bottle of our hand lotion to seal the deal and we were enthralled with our new friend.  She told us where to bring the application back and with the fee and we listened attentively while she scribbled down her phone number in case we had questions.

 The following day we drove down to the location (I had completely confused it with another place so no idea where we were going).  Found the entrance and sent the little bloom in with the application and fee since there was no parking.  15 minutes passed and just as I was considering going in, the little bloom returned looking flustered.  The entrance was rather maze like and while dozens of patients sat entranced at a giant tv, no one was able to offer her directions.  Upon finally finding the right office to hand the application in, there was great discussion on who it should actually go to, from there others were brought in for consultation and the little bloom was finally able to leave.  What no one bothered to mentioned was the little trick to get OUT of the door.  Despite pushing the out door repeatedly it wouldn’t budge.  No other exits were seen and the little bloom started to panic thinking she’d be stuck in the hospital with all the other patients.  Finally, a small plaque near the door advised that there was a code to punch in but you had to punch it in backwards!  The little bloom quickly punched it in and ran out to find me and honestly, I haven’t stopped laughing.  We’ll let you know how the actual show turns out.