I'm BACK! (Sorta OT)

Got back from the trip to Huntsville with my LLL, John, a couple of hours
ago. He's back on the road again.

The art show was a total bust. Not sure what happened but it just didn't
get anywhere near the crowds we are used to. Victor mentioned the weather
(4 Cat Night) and I definitely think that was a factor. When we set up on
Friday afternoon it was gorgeous, sunny and about 75F. The temps dropped 30
degrees overnight and it was overcast, windy and in the afternoon started
sprinkling during the show Saturday. It was clear on Sunday but still
didn't get above 55F. The other factor, as most of the exhibitors
mentioned, is this is the first year they've charged admission to the show
($8/person). So there just weren't any people there. No one really made
out well at this one from what we heard from the other exhibitors.

We thought we had a sale on a big painting Sunday afternoon; the couple
lingered a long time, asked a lot of questions. From the diamonds dripping
off the woman I could tell money wasn't the issue. They said they wanted to
think it over but they never came back

We took our time driving back to Memphis. We stayed last night at a motel
in Walnut, Mississippi. We really have no idea where the town of Walnut
*is*. All we saw was the motel (a very nice one, and cheap!), a gas station
and a Subway Sandwich shop. The town must have been off the main highway;
we weren't curious enough to go look for it. We grabbed Subway sandwiches
from next door and ate dinner at the table in our room.

Here's the on-topic part. We stopped at the vet to pick up Persia and
Peaches and John got to meet my babies! When we got back to my apartment, I
unzipped the carrier and Persia popped out. She spotted John and ran off
about 8 feet, eyes wide, staring at him. He laughed, "Look at her looking
at me!" Mom, who the heck is *that guy*? Of course she made up her mind
and hid so he didn't get to pet her but he didn't really expect to. I've
told him all about her little quirks.

Persia is, of course, glad to be home. But she's still occasionally walking
through the place meowing as if she thinks I'm going to leave again. She's
settling down, though.

The vet re-upped her shots on this visit. And she weighs 18 lbs! He wants
me to cut her food back to 3/4 cup a day; half a cup in the morning and 1/4
cup at night.

So, with the exception of the show (AAAARRRGHHH!) it was a great trip. And
even though I miss John already, it's good to be home.

Jill
--
I used to have a handle on life...but it broke off.

jmcquown wrote:
Got back from the trip to Huntsville with my LLL, John, a couple of
hours ago. He's back on the road again.

The art show was a total bust. Not sure what happened but it just
didn't get anywhere near the crowds we are used to. Victor mentioned
the weather (4 Cat Night) and I definitely think that was a factor.
When we set up on Friday afternoon it was gorgeous, sunny and about
75F. The temps dropped 30 degrees overnight and it was overcast,
windy and in the afternoon started sprinkling during the show
Saturday. It was clear on Sunday but still didn't get above 55F.
The other factor, as most of the exhibitors mentioned, is this is the
first year they've charged admission to the show ($8/person). So
there just weren't any people there. No one really made out well at
this one from what we heard from the other exhibitors.

We thought we had a sale on a big painting Sunday afternoon; the
couple lingered a long time, asked a lot of questions. From the
diamonds dripping off the woman I could tell money wasn't the issue.
They said they wanted to think it over but they never came back

We took our time driving back to Memphis. We stayed last night at a
motel in Walnut, Mississippi. We really have no idea where the town
of Walnut *is*. All we saw was the motel (a very nice one, and
cheap!), a gas station and a Subway Sandwich shop. The town must
have been off the main highway; we weren't curious enough to go look
for it. We grabbed Subway sandwiches from next door and ate dinner
at the table in our room.

Here's the on-topic part. We stopped at the vet to pick up Persia and
Peaches and John got to meet my babies! When we got back to my
apartment, I unzipped the carrier and Persia popped out. She spotted
John and ran off about 8 feet, eyes wide, staring at him. He
laughed, "Look at her looking at me!" Mom, who the heck is *that
guy*? Of course she made up her mind and hid so he didn't get to pet
her but he didn't really expect to. I've told him all about her
little quirks.

Persia is, of course, glad to be home. But she's still occasionally
walking through the place meowing as if she thinks I'm going to leave
again. She's settling down, though.

The vet re-upped her shots on this visit. And she weighs 18 lbs! He
wants me to cut her food back to 3/4 cup a day; half a cup in the
morning and 1/4 cup at night.

So, with the exception of the show (AAAARRRGHHH!) it was a great
trip. And even though I miss John already, it's good to be home.

Jill
--
I used to have a handle on life...but it broke off

WELCOME BACK!!!!

Weeble will be so happy, once Persia finishes patroling her turf and writes
him back!!!!

OMG, Persia is 15 lbs!!!!! Now that's one *fluffy* kitty! Tennessee was
only a smidge over 15 at his heaviest, and he's down to 13.5. Please tell
Persia to watch her weight, Weeble wants a *healthy* girlfriend! (like I
should talk - LOL)

Anyway, I'm sorry that the show was a bust, but at least you did spend some
time with your LLL, and he got to meet Persia & Peaches (even though Persia
decided to play hide-n-seek, without any other participants).

--
The ONE and ONLY
lefthanded-pathetic-paranoid-psychotic-sarcastic-wiseass-ditzy former-blonde
in Bloomington! (And proud of it, too)©
email me at nalee1964 (at) insightbb (dot) com
http://community.webshots.com/user/mgcmdjeep

Another note I forgot to add earlier:

According to my map program (MS Streets & Trips), there are *TWO* Walnut,
Mississippi!

One in west-central, and one in northern MS. I'm assuming you stayed in the
northern one, as it's right on Hwy 72, which would have taken you from
Memphis to Huntsville.

jmcquown wrote:
Got back from the trip to Huntsville with my LLL, John, a couple of
hours ago. He's back on the road again.

The art show was a total bust. Not sure what happened but it just
didn't get anywhere near the crowds we are used to. Victor mentioned
the weather (4 Cat Night) and I definitely think that was a factor.
When we set up on Friday afternoon it was gorgeous, sunny and about
75F. The temps dropped 30 degrees overnight and it was overcast,
windy and in the afternoon started sprinkling during the show
Saturday. It was clear on Sunday but still didn't get above 55F.
The other factor, as most of the exhibitors mentioned, is this is the
first year they've charged admission to the show ($8/person). So
there just weren't any people there. No one really made out well at
this one from what we heard from the other exhibitors.

We thought we had a sale on a big painting Sunday afternoon; the
couple lingered a long time, asked a lot of questions. From the
diamonds dripping off the woman I could tell money wasn't the issue.
They said they wanted to think it over but they never came back

We took our time driving back to Memphis. We stayed last night at a
motel in Walnut, Mississippi. We really have no idea where the town
of Walnut *is*. All we saw was the motel (a very nice one, and
cheap!), a gas station and a Subway Sandwich shop. The town must
have been off the main highway; we weren't curious enough to go look
for it. We grabbed Subway sandwiches from next door and ate dinner
at the table in our room.

Here's the on-topic part. We stopped at the vet to pick up Persia and
Peaches and John got to meet my babies! When we got back to my
apartment, I unzipped the carrier and Persia popped out. She spotted
John and ran off about 8 feet, eyes wide, staring at him. He
laughed, "Look at her looking at me!" Mom, who the heck is *that
guy*? Of course she made up her mind and hid so he didn't get to pet
her but he didn't really expect to. I've told him all about her
little quirks.

Persia is, of course, glad to be home. But she's still occasionally
walking through the place meowing as if she thinks I'm going to leave
again. She's settling down, though.

The vet re-upped her shots on this visit. And she weighs 18 lbs! He
wants me to cut her food back to 3/4 cup a day; half a cup in the
morning and 1/4 cup at night.

So, with the exception of the show (AAAARRRGHHH!) it was a great
trip. And even though I miss John already, it's good to be home.

Jill
--
I used to have a handle on life...but it broke off.

jmcquown wrote:

Got back from the trip to Huntsville with my LLL, John, a couple of hours
ago. He's back on the road again.

The art show was a total bust. (snip)

Glad to see you back, Jill, but sympathies to you both for the show....
what a bummer. Still, publicity is always good, with or without a sale.
Just out of interest, does John have a website? I know it's a totally
different kind of art, but it is amazing how many enquiries I get
through my own site, and more people look for art online nowadays, even
fine art. Even if he doesn't sell directly from the site, he can promote
his artwork, and give details of the forthcoming shows, and any
galleries where his work is sold. Can be a classy site, with low-res
images for a portfolio. Just a thought, anyway.

Deb.

--
http://www.scientific-art.com

"He looked a fierce and quarrelsome cat, but claw he never would;
He only bit the ones he loved, because they tasted good." S. Greenfield

Magic Mood Jeep© wrote:
jmcquown wrote:
Got back from the trip to Huntsville with my LLL, John, a couple of
hours ago. He's back on the road again.

The art show was a total bust. Not sure what happened but it just
didn't get anywhere near the crowds we are used to. Here's the
on-topic part. We stopped at the vet to pick up Persia
and Peaches and John got to meet my babies! When we got back to my
apartment, I unzipped the carrier and Persia popped out. She spotted
John and ran off about 8 feet, eyes wide, staring at him. He
laughed, "Look at her looking at me!" Mom, who the heck is *that
guy*? Of course she made up her mind and hid so he didn't get to pet
her but he didn't really expect to. I've told him all about her
little quirks.

Persia is, of course, glad to be home. But she's still occasionally
walking through the place meowing as if she thinks I'm going to leave
again. She's settling down, though.

The vet re-upped her shots on this visit. And she weighs 18 lbs! He
wants me to cut her food back to 3/4 cup a day; half a cup in the
morning and 1/4 cup at night.

So, with the exception of the show (AAAARRRGHHH!) it was a great
trip. And even though I miss John already, it's good to be home.

Jill
--
I used to have a handle on life...but it broke off

WELCOME BACK!!!!

Weeble will be so happy, once Persia finishes patroling her turf and
writes him back!!!!

I'll make sure she does her duty and writes to him very soon!

OMG, Persia is 15 lbs!!!!! Now that's one *fluffy* kitty! Tennessee
was only a smidge over 15 at his heaviest, and he's down to 13.5.

She's *18 lbs!* Even more fluffy than you thought!

Please tell Persia to watch her weight, Weeble wants a *healthy*
girlfriend! (like I should talk - LOL)

She's going on the diet starting tonight. They fed her this morning so
tonight it's only 1/4 cup.

Anyway, I'm sorry that the show was a bust, but at least you did
spend some time with your LLL, and he got to meet Persia & Peaches
(even though Persia decided to play hide-n-seek, without any other
participants).

John was glad to finally get to see her outside of photos. And Peaches
He saw her and said, "She doesn't have a tail!" She's not supposed to have
a long parrot tail LOL

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
Magic Mood Jeep© wrote:
jmcquown wrote:
Got back from the trip to Huntsville with my LLL, John, a couple of
hours ago. He's back on the road again.

The art show was a total bust. Not sure what happened but it just
didn't get anywhere near the crowds we are used to. Here's the
on-topic part. We stopped at the vet to pick up Persia
and Peaches and John got to meet my babies! When we got back to my
apartment, I unzipped the carrier and Persia popped out. She
spotted John and ran off about 8 feet, eyes wide, staring at him.
He
laughed, "Look at her looking at me!" Mom, who the heck is *that
guy*? Of course she made up her mind and hid so he didn't get to
pet her but he didn't really expect to. I've told him all about her
little quirks.

Persia is, of course, glad to be home. But she's still occasionally
walking through the place meowing as if she thinks I'm going to
leave again. She's settling down, though.

The vet re-upped her shots on this visit. And she weighs 18 lbs!
He wants me to cut her food back to 3/4 cup a day; half a cup in the
morning and 1/4 cup at night.

So, with the exception of the show (AAAARRRGHHH!) it was a great
trip. And even though I miss John already, it's good to be home.

Jill
--
I used to have a handle on life...but it broke off

WELCOME BACK!!!!

Weeble will be so happy, once Persia finishes patroling her turf and
writes him back!!!!

I'll make sure she does her duty and writes to him very soon!

OMG, Persia is 15 lbs!!!!! Now that's one *fluffy* kitty! Tennessee
was only a smidge over 15 at his heaviest, and he's down to 13.5.

She's *18 lbs!* Even more fluffy than you thought!

That was a typo on my part - my tangers got all fingled up

I realized just after I hit 'send'


Please tell Persia to watch her weight, Weeble wants a *healthy*
girlfriend! (like I should talk - LOL)

She's going on the diet starting tonight. They fed her this morning
so tonight it's only 1/4 cup.

Oh my - she's not gonna like that! Be prepared for her bugging you
constantly because her food dish is E M P T Y. Tennessee does that, but at
least he *is* getting some exercise following me around and bugging me to
put food in his dish. And running toward the dish every time it looks like
I'm heading in that direction. Another good thing, the others are all
sloppy eathers, always an asteroid field of kibble around the food dishes -
Tennessee breaks down and hoovers most of that up! Poor boy - if it weren't
for all the fat hanging off his belly, you'd think he'd never been fed at
all!


Anyway, I'm sorry that the show was a bust, but at least you did
spend some time with your LLL, and he got to meet Persia & Peaches
(even though Persia decided to play hide-n-seek, without any other
participants).

John was glad to finally get to see her outside of photos. And
Peaches He saw her and said, "She doesn't have a tail!" She's not
supposed to have a long parrot tail LOL

Jill

Glad you're back. If you weren't back by this weekend, I was going to start
making calls.

Magic Mood Jeep© wrote:
Another note I forgot to add earlier:

According to my map program (MS Streets & Trips), there are *TWO*
Walnut, Mississippi!

One in west-central, and one in northern MS. I'm assuming you stayed
in the northern one, as it's right on Hwy 72, which would have taken
you from Memphis to Huntsville.

Yep that was *the* Walnut. We never actually saw a town but there's
probably one there. The motel was actually very nice, and cheap. It was a
large, clean room with a comfy bed and with a table & chairs by the window.
We like to play cards so that's always a good thing.

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
Got back from the trip to Huntsville with my LLL, John, a couple of
hours ago. He's back on the road again.

The art show was a total bust. Not sure what happened but it just
didn't get anywhere near the crowds we are used to. Victor mentioned
the weather (4 Cat Night) and I definitely think that was a factor.
When we set up on Friday afternoon it was gorgeous, sunny and about
75F. The temps dropped 30 degrees overnight and it was overcast,
windy and in the afternoon started sprinkling during the show
Saturday. It was clear on Sunday but still didn't get above 55F.
The other factor, as most of the exhibitors mentioned, is this is the
first year they've charged admission to the show ($8/person). So
there just weren't any people there. No one really made out well at
this one from what we heard from the other exhibitors.

We thought we had a sale on a big painting Sunday afternoon; the
couple lingered a long time, asked a lot of questions. From the
diamonds dripping off the woman I could tell money wasn't the issue.
They said they wanted to think it over but they never came back

We took our time driving back to Memphis. We stayed last night at a
motel in Walnut, Mississippi. We really have no idea where the town
of Walnut *is*. All we saw was the motel (a very nice one, and
cheap!), a gas station and a Subway Sandwich shop. The town must
have been off the main highway; we weren't curious enough to go look
for it. We grabbed Subway sandwiches from next door and ate dinner
at the table in our room.

Here's the on-topic part. We stopped at the vet to pick up Persia
and Peaches and John got to meet my babies! When we got back to my
apartment, I unzipped the carrier and Persia popped out. She spotted
John and ran off about 8 feet, eyes wide, staring at him. He
laughed, "Look at her looking at me!" Mom, who the heck is *that
guy*? Of course she made up her mind and hid so he didn't get to pet
her but he didn't really expect to. I've told him all about her
little quirks.

Persia is, of course, glad to be home. But she's still occasionally
walking through the place meowing as if she thinks I'm going to leave
again. She's settling down, though.

The vet re-upped her shots on this visit. And she weighs 18 lbs! He
wants me to cut her food back to 3/4 cup a day; half a cup in the
morning and 1/4 cup at night.

So, with the exception of the show (AAAARRRGHHH!) it was a great
trip. And even though I miss John already, it's good to be home.

Jill
--
I used to have a handle on life...but it broke off.

Debbie Wilson wrote:
jmcquown wrote:

Got back from the trip to Huntsville with my LLL, John, a couple of
hours ago. He's back on the road again.

The art show was a total bust. (snip)

Glad to see you back, Jill, but sympathies to you both for the
show.... what a bummer. Still, publicity is always good, with or
without a sale. Just out of interest, does John have a website? I
know it's a totally different kind of art, but it is amazing how many
enquiries I get
through my own site, and more people look for art online nowadays,
even fine art. Even if he doesn't sell directly from the site, he can
promote his artwork, and give details of the forthcoming shows, and
any
galleries where his work is sold. Can be a classy site, with low-res
images for a portfolio. Just a thought, anyway.

Deb.

Thanks for the thought! John has a very old website from when he was still
with his ex. The paintings there are years out of date; his style is
constantly evolving and he's always changing things in what he thought was a
"finished" piece. He doesn't (think) he wants to try to sell online simply
because of that, but we've talked about it. He also doesn't do "prints";
it's all original work so once a painting is sold the web site would be out
of date or require constant updating. He is NOT a computer person. I'm the
computer geek but I've never done a web site in my life.

As for galleries, he's had some bad experiences with a couple of them.
First of all, they want 40-50% of the sale. A few years ago he sent some
paintings to a gallery in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He thought the owner was
a "friend". But she'd given the key to the gallery to her then boyfriend
and he went in one night and cleaned the place out! John never did get his
paintings back. She closed up shop and disappeared. Obviously that's the
exception, rather than the rule, but it's put him off handing his work to
other people. When he cuts out the middle-man, I've seen him sell $7500 USD
large paintings and didn't have to share the $$ with anyone else. One show
last year (I think we were in Davenport, Iowa) a couple came in at the last
minute and bought THREE pieces, each over $4000.

We're talking about how he can best approach things. These shows are a LOT
of work. Normally they don't end the way this one did, but he's 58 years
old and trust me, the shows are hard work.

You can see some of his new works he

http://community.webshots.com/album/332698141UtcsuJ

Poor photo quality is strictly my fault. It's hard to take photos of
paintings hanging inside a temporary canopy! The last painting (Jill) isn't
new. It's one he did of me back in 1985 (we'd split up in 1981, heh, but
apparently we never stopped thinking about each other). He gave me the
painting on this trip and I hung it last night G

Jill

On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 15:01:02 -0500, "jmcquown"
wrote:

The art show was a total bust. Not sure what happened but it just didn't
get anywhere near the crowds we are used to. Victor mentioned the weather
(4 Cat Night) and I definitely think that was a factor.

Sorry the show didn't pan out for you. You're right that Mother
Nature pretty much sabotaged our Panoply this year with unseasonably
cold weather for late April, due to a storm passing through Thursday
followed by the cold front.

Panoply started out 24 years ago as a showcase for local artists
and, like Topsy, just grew into our largest, most popular festival.
Free to all - just last year attendance topped 90,000 for the two
days. But I don't think charging admission this year was a huge
factor. Those looking for free entertainment stayed away and most of
them probably would not be buying anyway. I think many of those
willing to pay admission stayed away solely because of the unstable
weather - so we'll blame Mother Nature!!! Better luck next time!!!

Jeanne

JBHajos wrote:
On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 15:01:02 -0500, "jmcquown"
wrote:

The art show was a total bust. Not sure what happened but it just
didn't get anywhere near the crowds we are used to. Victor
mentioned the weather (4 Cat Night) and I definitely think that was
a factor.

Sorry the show didn't pan out for you. You're right that Mother
Nature pretty much sabotaged our Panoply this year with unseasonably
cold weather for late April, due to a storm passing through Thursday
followed by the cold front.

It really wasn't much fun sitting there in the chilly wind. I'm sure it was
a factor with the crowds.

Panoply started out 24 years ago as a showcase for local artists
and, like Topsy, just grew into our largest, most popular festival.
Free to all - just last year attendance topped 90,000 for the two
days. But I don't think charging admission this year was a huge
factor. Those looking for free entertainment stayed away and most of
them probably would not be buying anyway.

True. But admission, with paying to park was probably a factor along with
the weather. Most of the other exhibitors thought so.

I think many of those
willing to pay admission stayed away solely because of the unstable
weather - so we'll blame Mother Nature!!! Better luck next time!!!

Jeanne

Thanks, Jeanne, but there won't be a next time for us for Panoply. There
were other things about the show that bugged us. For example, we wanted
something to eat. There were very few food vendors there and they'd set
them up about a mile (of course I exaggerate) away from where the exhibitors
were set up. We weren't told we'd have to buy "food tickets" since none of
the vendors accepted cash. So then we had to hunt for food tickets. And we
couldn't find even the usual ukky "show food" - hot dogs or burgers or a
slice of pizza. Ice cream? Yeah, right. Closest thing to food was Gyros
and I hate those things. So we learned that lesson on Saturday and that
night ordered a pizza to take with us so we'd have something to eat on
Sunday.

Another factor which is always (oddly) an indication - we saw no pets.
Usually people bring their dogs to the park for these shows and we have fun
watching them. In the past, we've even seen people walking around with
parrots on their shoulders. This was strictly a two-dog show. We saw one
couple walking a small dog on Saturday and another couple walking with
another tiny dog on Sunday. That's it. Weather again? Maybe.

I don't know what the head count was at Panoply this year but I guarantee it
wasn't 90,000 people. Most of the exhibitors were grumbling by the time it
was over. We felt sorry for this young photographer a couple of booths down
from us. He had some fantastic nature shots and wasn't priced very high.
We were happy he finally sold two photos right before the show closed. I
think he made about $50 and he and his father had travelled from middle
Tennessee to do the show.

I didn't realize we could have met you! Of course, I didn't have Persia
with me; she's no roadcat like Harri G. But what the heck, maybe some
day.

John and I still had a fantastic time together. It was too short. Some of
his new works are he

http://community.webshots.com/album/332698141UtcsuJ

Jill