Weekend Recap

Technically, since I’m retired, every day is a weekend. But my wife still works (sort of) so weekends still have a different feel. Plus, a lot of stuff happens just on the weekend.

We made our first trip to a flower place on Saturday. There are about three places we like to go for different reasons. This is one of those pop up garden places where they take over a section of a parking lot and set up a greenhouse and sell flowers for about six weeks.

It is still too early for me to put flowers directly into the ground but my wife has several rail planters on the deck and several more large pots around the house so that was our first goal. Last year, most of the annuals I planted turned into deer food so I’m a little leery but I’m going to try again. You need to have some color around in the summer when most everything is green. So there will be many more trips to buy flowers in the coming weeks.

Saturday night, the studio was doing a dinner dance. They started this a couple of years ago and the big attraction is that we students get to do demos so I guess it is similar to some kind of recital. Its a warm up for Showcase later in the year and a good opportunity to get out and perform something in front of a crowd because it is always different when you do something “live” as opposed to practicing in the studio.

To get people to come, they include a dinner and a lot of time for social dancing. Plus, they toss in a couple of professional demonstrations at the very end and that’s always a highlight. It still amazes me how many people are closet performers like me. It is a relatively easy way to do something outside your comfort zone because there is a very supportive audience and life does begin outside your comfort zone.

Kind of interesting to see the breakdown of how people dress. There seems to be a pretty clear age gap. I don’t wear a jacket or tie but I’ve got enough vests that I typically toss one on for events like this. Most of the guys near my age have a jacket and/or tie. The younger guys all seemed to just be in a dress shirt. Also a different in the ladies dresses as well but I’m not enough of a fashion expert to really speak intelligently to that.

It’s not really pitched as a “formal” event so I guess to each his own. It just kind of caught my eye. Personally, I’d prefer the less formal but since I’ve found these relatively cheap vests on Amazon, they are less burdensome than a tie or a jacket. So I can step up a bit.

Sunday morning was kind of a combination day. The temperatures were near 80 (might have crossed) which is more typical of later in the spring than now. But there was a very nice breeze which is more typical of early spring. The wind can be friend or foe. In the winter, the cold winds make things feel more miserable. A breeze in hot weather can make things feel much more comfortable.

Anyway, we started off at the hardware store to buy some more potting soil so my wife could fix up the pots she didn’t plant on Saturday. They had their outdoor section full stocked with flowers and perennials and bags of dirt and mulch. Plus, a wide selection of wind spinners and chimes. I’m a sucker for things that move in the breeze. I’d put up a heck of a lot more except my wife has drawn the line. Something about watching them move that is relaxing. I could have packed a chair and sat in the shade and enjoyed the breeze and movement all day. The hardware store probably would have kicked me out but I would have enjoyed it.

But the big event of the day was an international food festival hosted by this big international grocery store we go to. Its an interesting story. Two brothers started a couple of locations in town and then they opened one up by us. They took over an old Target store and it seems like this is the biggest space they’ve got so I think they want to make it something of a showplace.

They did one of these last fall and I don’t think they had any idea what to expect and it turned into a madhouse. We arrived later in the afternoon and there was no parking and a lot of the vendors had run out of food. Since it was so successful, they decided to do another on this spring and turn it into a twice a year thing. Plus, it ran on both Saturday and Sunday as opposed to just one day last year.

We got there at the opening on Sunday just in case things weren’t any more efficient but they learned a lot from last fall and made several changes. They moved it to one end of the parking lot and set up overflow parking nearby so getting in and out was much easier. The number of food trucks increased as well.

I think they needed more space because they set up a big tent in the middle with some seating and some other vendors. The lines from some of the food trucks and food vendors stretched out into the tent and seating was limited although we always found a place to sit – at an event like this people are fine sharing tables.

There were highs and lows with the food. Some really good stuff and some that was just so-so. That’s to be expected I think. But the variety was great and the weather was perfect. We ended up having a light dinner because we ate so much at lunch. Can’t wait for the one in the fall!

All in all, a very nice weekend.