I typed this post on Saturday night… late… then accidentally hit a couple of keys and it all vanished. I was too tired to re-type it then. So I am going to give it a shot again … and save repeatedly!!
Saturday was my last outdoor event of the season at the Wembley Demolition Derby. It was windy… really really windy! I’m still red with windburn… and I was covered, and layered, hat, two hoodies, sunglasses, one hand with plastic glove as I had cut through my thumb.
I backed my RAV4 right into the shelter they provided to give mom and I a bit of a wind break… wasn’t all that effective but I think it did help. I set mom up right behind it and then angled the table in front of her, tied surveyors tape along the sides of the canopy to prevent side entry, and was able to store things in the car that I would usually leave out. No point in having half my kit sailing away in a gust of wind.
As they hadn’t set-up the shelter and table and chairs in advance I was a little late being ready, but there was a lull to start with so there was no one waiting. We overheard several people saying that they had arrived late as last year it was really late starting.
We were close enough to hear the crashes in the arena and the loud rock music… but not close enough that we had trouble hearing ourselves.
Once the line formed it stayed steady for the five hours we were booked for and ended up turning people away as we ran out of time. Painting a lot of the usual… Bat masks, skulls, butterflies, kittens and Dalmatians, t-rex. I had one new one – a little guy hopped into my chair and told me he wanted to be a pumpkin, his mom exclaimed, “I though you wanted the bat mask?” He giggled, and said “Bat Pumpkin”… so I said, I can do that! So I did a pumpkin as if I was going to create a jack’0-lantern, but then did a bat mask over the eyes. It turned out really nice – he was thrilled. Of course… no camera! LOL I will have to recreate it for a Halloween post.
One thing that was a little annoying was an older teen boy coming up to us and wanting to use OUR water supply to wash the cotton candy off his hands… he wasn’t even in line for face painting… I replied with a flat “No, we are using it.”… Some people!
Started packing up when the organizer arrived to pay me, said to keep the second weekend of September open for them for next year!
On the way off the field I pulled up to the porta-potties and helped mom into one… she was pretty sure she couldn’t wait to get home. It is a bit awkward… I couldn’t get inside with her so I had the door banging on my behind while I assisted mom, and then shut it while she took care of things.
After I got her back into the car I walked over to one of the vendors – the Elephant Ears – just in case they still had some… The very nice man said “I make you one” and went and got some dough from his truck and made me one right there on the spot. They were in the process of packing up too. When he handed it to me I attempted to pay him (I was giving him a $10 for his trouble) but he refused to take payment! What a nice man!!
I took it back to the car and using my trashed plastic table-cloth to completely cover mom, I handed it to her and started to drive home. I really shouldn’t admit this but, we ate it on the way home.
We got home just as mom’s new casual aide, Kenisha, arrived for work. I had to get out to the conference centre for my 7 p.m. shift. We were serving a gala event out there.
I got mom into the house and turned her over to Kenisha, then got changed and got most of my stuff out of the car and headed out to the TEC Centre. They had just finished the hors d’oeuvre and it was time to set-up the line for the appetizer. It was quite an operation… and we were a well oiled machine! 🙂 We finished a lot earlier than Chef had predicted too which was great as I was able to be home before midnight.
I completely crashed yesterday… I had planned to work on my Wearable Art Show props. I did one thing to them… and will work on them more tomorrow as it is another day off.
When I got home tonight I had to quickly paint on Amy for a photo shoot she was heading off to for that project I’m working on with Don Zwicker. Kenisha arrived as we were finishing up. Amy and I both left then for our separate things.
I attended an artists’ meeting tonight for the Wearable Art Show – just a briefing and a tour of the facility showing us where we will be getting ready and the access to the show area. I forgot to take my flash drive of music that Amy had downloaded for us. Now I have to drop it off tomorrow.
I also am still learning my lines for the show I am in, Mad Moose Mayhem – have rehearsal tomorrow night. Show is Oct 7 & 8.
I feel a bit stretched at the moment…
Shannon Fennell's Blog 