success & jellicles

1. Apologies for the lateness of this reply. If I'm not at work, I basically have no internet still, which is a little annoying for blogging purposes but really annoying for living purposes.

2. Rothesay went so, so well. We had blue skies on Saturday despite all weather reports, and reasonably good weather on Sunday, too (it rained for about five minutes and then cleared up quickly). Attendance was almost double last year, the music, food and children's tent were universally lauded, and people made great sales - better, even, than Fredericton last year. One of our newly juried members actually sold out on Saturday, drove back to Freddy that night for more stock, and then sold all of that on Sunday. Pretty exciting, and definitely rewarding to see a month of planning pay off so well. It was, supposedly, the show that couldn't do well, and I think we sort of blew perceptions about the market for craft in the area right out of the water.
The only real hitch for me, personally, was an accident during setup - a piece of a tent slipped and slid right into my face. Luckily it missed anything important, but I had a really great abrasion in the shape of a square tent pole on my cheek for the whole show.
I took lots of pictures at the show, but they're all on my other computer still, and they're almost all of the children's tent anyway - Kate insists on having happy children on the posters, and the past two festivals have had so few pictures that we've had almost no choice.

3. After the show, I came back to Fredericton (Sean had been there working at Bejewel, but had to go back with his business because we had no extra seats) and slept like the dead. Monday morning was a short encore of driving around in our huge cube van, dropping off rental bits and pieces and stuffing boxes and totes and tents back into storage. Monday afternoon I slept again, and in the evening we threw some things in a bag and caught a bus up to see Sean's parents.
Helen is, of course, a potter, and had a really good show at Rothesay, but is pretty tired from the hectic business of the festival and so we had a pretty quiet time, which is exactly what we needed. We watched the Italian Job and had lots of great food and played with the puppy, who is getting leggy and starting to be a little more calm (I have pictures of her too), and weeded the garden. Originally we had planned to stay until Wednesday evening and get a drive back with Helen for the board meeting, but Sean got called into work, and his friend Matt wanted to get out of St George for a bit, so we came back last night. The boys got over their dismay at the lack of internet by playing networked Neverwinter Nights over the wireless router, and I knit and read and felt almost decompressed enough to come back to work.

4. So here I am at work! We're cleaning up and counting money and preparing for tonight's board meeting, which I imagine will be less stressful than the last one. This week is more of the same; Amy and I are probably going to take a road trip to Moncton soonish to scope out the Beausjour conference area in preparation for the exhibition, which is somehow already less than a month away. Mom is probably going to be up next week for a visit to help us settle in our new place. For the moment, we're organizing as best we can, and Matt is visiting for a couple of days.

5. While at Sean's parents' house, we found a copy of the Edward Gorey "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats", and to my delight I discovered what Tonks is: a Jellicle!

Jellicle Cats come out to-night
Jellicle Cats come one come all:
The Jellicle Moon is shining bright -
Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball.

Jellicle Cats are black and white,
Jellicle Cats are rather small;
Jellicle Cats are merry and bright,
And pleasant to hear when they caterwaul.
Jellicle Cats have cheerful faces,
Jellicle Cats have bright black eyes;
They like to practise their airs and graces
And wait for the Jellicle Moon to rise.

Jellicle Cats develop slowly,
Jellicle Cats are not too big;
Jellicle Cats are roly-poly,
They know how to dance a gavotte and a jig.
Until the Jellicle Moon appears
They make their toilette and take their repose:
Jellicle Cats wash behind their ears,
Jellicle Cats dry between their toes.

Jellicle Cats are white and black,
Jellicle Cats are of moderate size;
Jellicle Cats jump like a jumping-jack,
Jellicle Cats have moonlit eyes.
They're quiet enough in the morning hours,
They're quiet enough in the afternoon,
Reserving their terpsichorean powers
To dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon.

Jellicle Cats are black and white,
Jellicle Cats (as I said) are small;
If it happens to be a stormy night
They will practice a caper or two in the hall.
If it happens the sun is shining bright
You would say they had nothing to do at all:
They are resting and saving themselves to be right
For the Jellicle Moon and the Jellicle Ball.

T. S. elliot