Fingerlakes Day Two

After the pot luck dinner I made my little bed in the back seat of the F150. I can stretch out my toes and just touch the door, perfect fit. It was pitch black dark in the field and quiet except for the voices of the lingerers at the dinner. I settled in for the first complete 7 hour sleep I've had in a very long time...but that meant I woke up at 5 am while it was still dark. Nature called, I ignored it, but soon it became imperative that I exit the warm truck. The temperature had dropped significantly and I jumped down to the grass to make myself more comfortable. It is my habit to check out the night sky quite often, and I gasped at what I saw...Venus was positively gigantic and twinkling like a huge diamond. I've never seen anything like it. My first thought was of the Three Wise Men who followed the star to the manger with baby Jesus. Surely they saw something like this. My second thought was of Alec Guinness in Star Wars..."That's not a star - that's a space station!" As cold as it was, I stood on the edge of the cab and watched the shiny planet in all it's celestial splendor before crawling into my bed. Jan had recently given me a down comforter and it was my salvation that night. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I looked at the Princess Diana book AJ gave me for a while with my little Mag light, then went back to a wonderful sleep. I woke up groggy at 8 and was glad the windows were foggy to hide my bedroom. I had changed into the clothes I was going to wear on Sunday before I went to bed so I got up and went to get washed up. The doors to the Ag building were open so I brought my wheel back into my booth and got the booth tidied up for the day ahead. I wandered over to the big Exhibition Building to check out the booths of the women I ate dinner with the night before and marvelled over all the beautiful weavings and other hand made things (along with the "imported" yarn). I had a nice chat with Lisa Merian, who I have not had contact with in quite a while. Vendors were shopping so I thought I better get over to my booth and settle in for the day. Sales were brisk and I was very pleased. My good friend, Laticia, arrived with her husband and brought my two Robin wheels back to me. We had a nice chat and a few hugs and I wished her luck on her upcoming surgery. The afternoon chugged along and sales were steady. I was thrilled when other fiber vendors bought my fiber - the ultimate validation! I was glad I had a good breakfast at one of the food trailers that morning because I couldn't get away from the booth all day. I was gasping for coffee all afternoon but it was not to be. I ran outside and peed on the grass behind a truck because I didn't have time to walk across the fairgrounds to the portopotty. Finally it was four and time to pack up. Took me two hours. I confess I was a bit envious when the Village Yarn Shop husbands came in as a team and packed up their wives' business with impressive efficiency. I nabbed one of them to back my trailer up to the ag building so I could get my heavy tables in without dragging them across the parking lot. When I was finally ready I said goodbye to Phylleri in the next building. She was far from finished and I wanted to stay and help her but if I didn't get on the road I wouldn't have any time to talk to Mia when I got home. Ditto with Lisa Merian. I stopped to say goodbye to her and she was still packing up her enormous booth. Gassed up and headed toward the NY Thruway. My quasi cell phone Matt got me did not have enough minutes left to call home. I had been out of touch all weekend. I headed home in heavy traffic and hoped for the best. Pulled into a rest area just in time for the manager to pull the steel curtain closed in front of the Starbucks store. No coffee all day! Three and a half hours home safe and sound. I hadn't taken out any toll booths or gas pumps with the trailer and I had a wad-o-cash to show for weeks of hard work. Matt had a good weekend at Garden State Sheep Breeders, where, he tells me, many people asked about me and how I was making out on the farm. Mia had held down the Farm admirably as she always does. We talked until midnight or so then I had to go off to bed to get up for work. What a transition from non-stop chatting and selling all day to trapped in the classroom watching other people teach. Oh well, that's my job. Came home hoping for a good meal to top off the successful weekend but it was not to be. I haven't had a decent meal in weeks, it seems, and after giving Matt all the money I made to put in the bank I hadn't kept any for myself to stop and buy something to eat. He had given me the mortgage money and told me to pay it in Norwich before coming home. Mia was gone and Matt wasn't around. It was kind of a let down after such a good show as I had hoped to go out or meet for dinner. Waited a while and played with the critters, took the dogs out, let the sheep out, looked for wool in the tractor shed with the next show in mind, then finally made a pot of rice with a can of kidney beans poured over it. Yuck, Yuck, Yuck. What a let down. Matt wandered in and told me he had not even been to work that day. He was making arrangements for Jan and Dave's perk test across the road. He had even been in Norwich and could have paid the mortgage and picked up dinner. I was kind of annoyed that I had no idea what he was doing or where he was. He likes it that way...I am stuck in the school where he always knows where I am but I never know where he is. With no cell phones he has complete freedom of movement and can leave the job site whenever he wants. He never calls me at work and I can't call him. Can you tell I am not happy with this arrangement?