Market Day

Today was market day and I decided to change the colour of the top drape for my booth.  A lot of people have been complaining that the white is too bright in the sun in the afternoon - now that we finally have sun here in the northwest. I had a lovely white on white brocade top drape, but if it is too bright it will put the customers off.  I really like this plum colour, and I used it for the first time today, and of course someone had to drip grease on it in two places - grrrrrr!!!!  I don't have time to wash it before tomorrows market, but I can turn it around front to back - sure hope the grease comes out.

The other pictures are of the other market stalls before all the customers arrive - and it looks like I caught someone in the process of just setting up.

The flowers are sold by the lady next to me - The Cookie Lady - she makes the most delicious cookies, and is my downfall.  She also brings fresh cut flowers in the summer, and I spied a lovely purple bouquet that would have looked great on my table, but by the time I had my wallet out someone had already bought it - drat!  I'll have to be quicker next week.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Daylillies, Poppies and Hydrangeas

I had planned to be back in the studio making beads this week - however I seem to have picked up a bug this last weekend at one of the markets, and it has put me "down and out" so to speak.  Hopefully I can get out there tomorrow.  I do have some new beads I made a week or so ago to photograph, so I will post those just as soon as I get the photos taken.

I took my camera to the outdoor market/artist show this last Sunday in Parksville, but for some reason my camera just wouldn't take a picture.  Of course now that I am at home, it is taking pictures just fine - huh?

Anyway, here are some photos of flowers around my garden - it looks like we might finally be getting some summer here on the west coast - yay!!!!

Bye for now.

Flowers

Most of the 5 acres on which I live is in evergreen woods, however around the house we have a bit of "tamed" area.  These two shrubs are some of the lovely ones that come out at this time of year.  They are however a couple of weeks late this year, with all the cold weather we have been having.  The last couple of days have been quite nice, but the weatherman says we are in for some more rain!!  So these lovely shrubs will probably break many of their branches with the weight of their saturated blossoms.

The white orange blossom is right beside our front steps and the smell is just incredible - quite intoxicting in fact.  A few years ago we chopped it right back and divided it up and planted them in various locations around the property - it's really pretty.

Sorry, no beads today.  I have been trying to get over this cold, and haven't felt like lighting the torch.  I did manage to get out there today for a couple of hours and got some orders done - not that they can go anywhere with this @#$%& Canada Post strike on.

However I have been working on something else, and will probably show the reveal in the next few days - if it works, that is!

After the Show

This last weekend a friend and I did the Woodland Gardens "Art and Bloom" festival in Courtenay, B.C.  When we do shows together we call ourselves "Playing With Fire".  We had a great show, despite the inclement weather, and my booth partner actually had her best show ever!
The weather was quite miserable on Saturday and Sunday, and then on Monday (our May Day long weekend), the clouds finally broke and we had a bit of sun come through - so I quickly shot this photo of our booth. 
I find it very difficult to organize a booth for the outdoor shows that is going to be fairly wind proof, and also to give the two of us room at the back, and the customers room to get out of the rain if needed.
My friend hates to have her photo taken, so you can just make her out "hiding" behind the metal shelving - lol!

I wasn't able to get around too much (because my back is still quite bad) to take pictures of the gardens, so I am including pictures I took two years ago.  Things haven't changed too much, and this year everything is late coming out  because of all the cold weather we have had so there wasn't much in the way of flowers to photograph anyway.

Tomorrow I plan on getting out into my studio to get on with stocking my Etsy shop, and finishing up on some orders I have put off until after the show.

Have a great week everyone.

Springtime!

What does Spring mean to you?  To me, it means all the plants coming back to life.  It is great to see them poking their little heads out of the ground, and the tiny green buds appearing on the trees.  (We won't mention all the pesky bugs though).  I love the gradual lessening of Winter's bite in the air - so nice to go around without a big bulky coat.
My husband and I took a trip this morning and picked up a load of posts.  It seems that many of our fence posts are rotting off in the ground, and the fence is in danger of falling over.  Sheesh - you would think they would last longer than 20 yrs!  LOL.  So I guess to my husband Spring means work!
Our poor old truck is looking like it is in danger of blowing a tire or something - those suckers are heavy.  As I looked at the picture I suddenly realized "how in the @#$% are we going to get those out of there?"  One at a time I guess.

Heather growing on our rock wall - when I first planted it 15 years ago, it was a Fall blooming plant, and for some reason, over the years, it has gradually changed to a Spring bloomer.

Hope you are having a great Spring day!