Yard Sale This Sunday

Here's the link to the merchandise I'll have in the yard sale, Sunday, October 9th.
Location: Essentially Yours Salon - 61 MacInnis Rd. Whycocomagh, NS.
Time: TBD  (Not too early, probably around 10am.)

More details to follow...................

See merchandise >>>>>  http://ow.ly/6Milb 

Grand Opening at the Farmers' Market!

Here are some of the stretch bracelets I'll have on display this Friday, 3-7pm, during the Bayside Farmers' Market Grand Opening.

 
 
 

We're living on the boat so making this batch of bracelets was a real challenge. Space is at a premium and I had to do some serious thinking before I brought the beads onboard. At the house I can spread things out on my work counter and extend the drop-leaf table to fit the project. On the boat I have to put EVERYTHING away EVERY NIGHT. I get a corner of the dining table as a work space, or, if I want to work in the cockpit, I bring up one of the door panels and balance it on my knees while I work.

Plaster cliffs along Island Pt. off Boularderie peninsula.

There’s no television to amuse me as I work, just the natural beauty of our outdoor setting . . . water whooshing against the sides of the boat, a bird swooping here and there looking for food. On the bad weather days at anchor I put in an audio book and listen while I work. Right now it’s R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones, Book 2.” I’ve never been one for fantasy, preferring the reality of here and now as a setting. But, ever since the Game of Thrones Book 1 ran on HBO, I’m a big fan. As a writer I’m amazed at the degree of imagination involved . . . a fictional land, a variety of peoples, each with their own history and laced with enough real world history to make it all plausible. 

A "Levelheaded" Kind of Cool

We’ve officially moved onboard for the summer. It took almost a week to haul gear, clothes, food, and linens for the transition, yet it took only one weekend on the water to create a new list of things I “just had to have.” Funny how the apple corer, a certain spice blend, and a favorite pair of bedroom slippers can make a place more like home.

The life of sailing we originally dreamed of so many years ago has undergone some major alteration. Instead of our plan to spend every sailing season doing an offshore cruise, (like Newfoundland, PEI, or the Saint Lawrence Seaway) we’ve had abbreviated seasons of sailing without going outside the Bras D’Or Lakes. There have even been a few seasons of no sailing at all.  Life, and weather, and mechanical difficulty kept getting in the way. 

When we first learned to sail in the mid 90s, we went out no matter what the weather. Everything else on the schedule was set aside. We were so excited about learning to sail, it took priority. We never thought about the weather and looked on rough seas as part of the challenge. Now we're happy to hole-up in a cove waiting for the skies to clear instead of pushing out into a blow just to make a few more miles. And if the forecast shows strong winds, or winds coming from the wrong direction, we’ll stay put instead of risk a pounding.  We’ve morphed into “fair weather sailors.” It’s not that the thrill is gone. More like the extra risk isn’t worth the outcome. We’re now more content with the journey and less concerned with the destination.

It’s a cool change for us. Not a “hip” or “fashionable” kind of cool, but more the “serene,” “calm” and “levelheaded” kind of cool.

For Love or Money?

The first week of the new Bayside Farmers' Market was a big success. Some of my Inverness Market customers were there as well as many of the Whycocomagh neighbors I see in the Post Office or grocery store but never formally meet. I connected names with faces and had lots of fun.

With the new Bayside market and my regular participation in the Inverness Cottage Market, there comes the question of how much is too much? I've already turned down two invitations to fill in at the Baddeck Farmers' Market. It wasn't just the three hours of market plus travel time and gas, it was the time needed to make the jewelry. Then there's the cruise ship market in Sydney. It' a full six hour day, plus the two hours of travel time. Sales are irregular. One week fantastic, another week, hardly enough sales to cover my table cost and gas . . . and that doesn't factor in the cost of my time.

So, I'm faced with a dilemma. Is jewelry crafting a hobby that just happens to make a few dollars? Or, is it a serious business that just happens to be creative and fun? I've been pondering this for a couple of days, thinking about time and how I want to spend it. How to parse out the hours to get the right mix of work at home, play with Melvin, creative endeavor, and community involvement.

To all the philosophers out there: Now is the time to impart your wisdom. Non-philosophers comments are welcome too. This redhead is in a quandary!

 Here are a few of my latest pieces. 

Bracelet. Copper wire & beads w/turquoise nuggets.

Black glass pearls connected by chain. Necklace or belt.

Hammered copper pendant.

43" Jasper nuggets & chips.  Necklace or belt.

Back To The Future

After dinner last night I fired up the laptop to do some work. Unlike several months ago, I wasn't settling in to draft a new story idea or edit an earlier crafted passage. I was writing an update to Marilyn MacDonald, the market manager for the new Bayside Farmers' Market in Whycocomagh. I was giving her the results of contact I had made with potential vendors.  In essence, I was writing a sales report.

With that done I went on to the next thing, sending media releases to the local newspapers. Then I worked on my route for next Monday, the day I deliver market posters to island welcome centers and hotels. I went to bed feeling very youthful, mainly because I had spent the evening doing the same things I had done in my twenties and thirties . . . sales, promotion, and publicity.

I remember fondly the time I spent writing fiction. Maybe I'll go back to it some day. For now, I'm enjoying the ease of a game I grew up with, applying the skills I learned back in the days of faxes and phone calls to the world of e-mail and web content.

Look for news and photos from these adventures, (like this photo taken at a recent Inverness Cottage Market by my friend, Clare Pothier) as well as pictures of my jewelry designs and snaps from market days. I'm tripping back to the future and taking this blog along for the ride. It's a very cool change! 

Reading Group via SKYPE - Definitely Cool!

Tomorrow, with the help of SKYPE, I'll take part in our monthly Sparta, NC, reading and discussion group. So far we have read Blink, Tipping Point, Connected, and The Man Who Moved a Mountain, and I'm very eager to discuss this month's book, A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink.

Our group is facilitated by Julia Simmons & Pat Bird, two sisters who consult with business and organizations on issues of effective communication. Dialogue Matters helps groups improve productivity by raising the quality of communications, and Julia and Pat bring the same skills to our discussion group. We review the concepts covered in the selected book, then discuss how those concepts play out in our personal and professional lives. We then turn to the community and discuss ways to apply the concepts to situations in our Alleghany County area. "Lively" and "thought provoking" are terms that could describe our discussions and positive change is a long-range goal.

With a recent experience in customer service related to my Verizon phone problems, I have much to contribute regarding the benefits of the "whole new mind." It was the relation-based supervisor who not only understood the technical aspects of my problem, but "felt my pain" and solved the dilemma with grace and wit. Jim in Verizon's AZ call center definitely has both his left and right brain running on all cylinders!

Discussion group via SKYPE. That's my Cool Change for the week! How about you?

This Week's Cool Change

Saturday was my first craft market of the season. The nasty weather cut down on the traffic, but I still had a good day. The celtic bookmarks were a hit, which means this evening it's jewelry pieces strewn all over the sofa as I work to replenish inventory for next weeks's market.


There's another pile on the dining room table. It's the notebook and photos of antique pieces I plan to sell before we move. I'm not looking to make big profits on the sale, just cover the purchase price (and maybe a few pennies.) These are my favorite pieces: 

So, I'm adding antiques dealer to the list of activities that are part of my "cool change." Right under  real estate copywriter, which I became yesterday when I submitted the real estate listing copy for our Cape Breton property. Here it is >>>http://www.capebretonrealty.com/listings/l0632.html. 

Here's the house >>