It's pretty quiet around the Love house this morning. Kiwi's stretched out on the love seat, and I haven't heard Bill stir just yet. I don't know what time he arrived home last night because he went to the big city. He took the last part of the afternoon off and headed toward Newport to meet Willie. Their destination, including a stop to pick up Debbie from her YWCA job, was the Spokane Arena.
The Gaither Gospel Concert had once again come to town. And once again, for the third time in about four years, Bill was in the audience. I see a plastic bag with three CD's and a DVD featuring the Signature Sound Quartet on the counter, so I'm guessing Bill must've made a discovery at last night's concert. No doubt I'll be hearing these new additions to his music library.
Bill's been a Gaither Gospel fan for as long as I've known him, but it's only been the past few years that the rest of the family has gained exposure to their vast array of talented voices. A few years ago, Annie and Debbie attended one of their concerts in Boise. I don't know if the music impressed them nearly as much as the fact that they were at least a couple of decades younger than most of the audience.
Bill and I have attended two of their concerts in Spokane, and last night's program was Willie's first. It will be especially interesting to hear a critique from this Tragically Hip/REM aficionado. But Willie likes Johnny Cash, so he may have good things to say about the Gaithers. Of course, I'm most curious to see if Bill treated Willie and Debbie to eats at DICK'S Hamburgers after the concert. That's usually part of the routine.
I didn't go because Mother and I will be participating in the annual All-Bonner County Bazaar at Community Hall today and tomorrow. She'll sell her cards and paintings along with my sister Laurie's handmade key chains. Laurie takes artwork or photos, reduces them on her computer and then uses another process to seal the images permanently for attractive, unique key chains. I'll be selling my books. Mother and I figure we've either saturated the market and will see slow sales, or we might do well because of all the newcomers to Sandpoint who haven't seen our stuff.
If nothing else, we can always count on good visiting at the bazaar. Usually, the trick is to carry on two or three conversations at once cuz that's kinda how the crowds go. We've sat for hours at a time when no more than half a dozen people stroll through. Then, suddenly the place is overloaded with shoppers. I guess it's a microcosm of what it's like to run a store.
I noticed last night when we set up our tables that the man who brings the clear plastic hands filled with popcorn and corn kernal candy will be sitting across from us, as he has for the past three or four years. He rarely moves, and every time we establish eye contact, he smiles. We always wonder why he comes because those popcorn hands priced at 50 cents each rarely move. Could be the same ones he's had there for all these years.
Speaking of food, there's usually lots of it mixed in with the other hand-crafted items----cookies, fruit breads, candies, all nicely wrapped. I also saw a new participant setting up his stuff last night. He wore a ponytail, and he had hundreds of jars of home-canned, assorted preserves. The Historical Society is always there with promotional brochures and a nice variety of historical books.
Then, there are the handmade pillows, doilies (bet a lot of young people don't even know what those are), table runners, knitted assorteds, you name it. I never do see a lot of that stuff leaving Community Hall, but in my many years of bazaar people-watching, I have observed a lot of blank expressions on the faces of those folks who sit amidst their handiwork hour by hour. Seems they all come every year, though, as do the Pro Life ladies with their pies.
Sandy Babin and Corky Thompson usually run this booth. Since Sandy works at Safeway, she gets a good deal on the cherry pie filling and sets them up on the tables every year near the Community Hall fireplace. Corky tells me they spend an entire day setting up the crusts and dumping in the fruit fillings for more than 100 pies. I think they make a lot of money, not so much because the variety of fruit pies but because a lot of people want to support their cause.
Soon, I'll be leaving this quiet house---where the snoozing's still going strong on this rainy Sandpoint morning---and will head to town for the bazaar. I always enjoy this event. It offers two full days of hometown feel with ample helpings of visiting, people watching, chuckling with my funny mother----and occasionally a few extra dollars.
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