Monday, October 11, 2004

Still Kickin'...

No, I didn’t go throw myself off the neighbors’ roof to protest his tree-massacre—in case you were wondering. We had an event this past weekend—the "Newport Microbrew Festival." Newport is on the coast, about 140 miles south of here. The weather was NOT nice on Friday…even had some lightning and thunder, which always elicits "oohs" and "ahs" from a crowd in Western Oregon. We don’t get a whole lot of that kind of violent weather in the valleys. Fortunately, WE were inside under a big tent, thumbing our noses at the weather gods. After feeling like drowned rats at a couple of our most recent events, we were ecstatic about being under cover.

Business was not great, once again, but decent enough that we will  return to that event next year. Our product was well-received, for the most part. I had a couple of people walk up to the counter and wise-crack, "Oh, and this stuff is really low-carb, isn’t it?" I couldn’t resist firing back, "Yeah, just like that beer you’ve got in your hand…!" We were approached by a couple of folks who invited us to other venues next season, so the weekend had "networking" value, if nothing else.

Since things were slow, I tried to write a journal entry while sitting waiting for customers. I didn’t bring my laptop with me to the booth, because I don’t like to take the chance of it getting bounced around so much. So, I sat down with a pen and a spiral notebook and tried to write…and I made a discovery: I just HATE writing by hand anymore. It’s slow, it’s labor intensive, it’s impossible to edit. I actually DID write a poem on Friday night…but it took me about three hours, and a dozen sheets of paper to get through the first umpteen drafts, until I finally came up with something I liked. (The poem is about the trees, so I won’t share it here. I think I’ve beaten THAT dead horse quite enough!)

I now have a six-week lay-off until my next event. This is a good thing. We’re having my cousins in from out of town at the end of October, so I’ll have to spend at least a week fussing around the house and yard to get ready for that. And husband and I will be off for a week’s vacation starting October 16th, which also happens to be our twenty-eighth wedding anniversary (OMG…HOW many years is that again?) We’ve scheduled another romantic camping trip…this time at a place called "Silver Falls" for the first weekend, and then out to our favorite hang-out on the coast for the remainder of the time. We hope the weather will cooperate. I’m going to pack the new digital camera I just bought…hope to get some great "Autumn in Oregon" shots to share with you all here. Nowhere to connect to the internet in State Park campgrounds, so I will be MIA from j-land for a week or so. I’m sure you could all use a break from me, anyway!

9 comments:

  1. I can relate to writing by hand and the effort it seems to take once you are used to typing nearly everything....my handwriting has even been affected by it...I used to have a very nice handwriting but now it seems sloppy to me because I do so little of it...

    http://journals.aol.com/derasta/ADayInTheLife

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  2. Finally!  For some reason my alerts never work for your journal, so I keep checking back... .  Anyway, great sunset!  And I can't write anymore, either.  Not that I can type, either.

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  3. What a beautiful sunset, unusual too.  I'm sorry you can't repair the void left from the neighbors tree removal, I was looking at the map and see what you mean.  
    ~JerseyGirl
    http://journals.aol.com/cneinhorn/WonderGirl  

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  4. Sounds like a nice trip to look forward to.  Going to miss you till you return!  

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  5. A break? I don't think so. You'll be greatly missed. But, a break is always good. I hope you two have a wonderful time! Congrats on the productive weekend.
    :-) ---Robbie

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  6. I'm so disappointed you didn't include the poem!  shucks!  I'w with ya on the hard copy stuff... i can't seem to even recognize my handwriting anymore.  and I have this beautiful journal i never seem to "dirty" with any penmanship.
    enjoy your anniversary week!

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  7. Well, I *wouldn't be glad to hear you were missing for a week.  But I suspect I've already missed your leaving and you've come back. lol

    So true about the handwriting.  I used to be able to write so freely, but it does spoil you when you can so easily edit things in type.  NOt to mention writing about ten million times faster if you've got the keyboard.  But hopefully you enjoyed the time you spent at it anyway.  Sometimes it's not as much about the finished project as it is the thoughts. :-)

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  8. Hey ~ HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, Lisa and Hubs!  

    28 years, and still taking romantic camping trips together.  You do amaze me!   I just hope you're sharing a sleeping bag... ;)

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  9. Happy Anniversary! I love sunsets, this is just beautiful. Great shot!

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