Two Shows.., One Weekend. A Big Thank you! Deux expositions un week-end. Un grand vous remercie!

Peter Watson (clay dad!) and Peter Gregory (clay offspring!) (papa d'argile, fils d'argile)

On Saturday we took part in a craft show in our new nearly $5,000,000 town hall (East Otago Events Center). We had a table next to our friend, Peter (also a potter). Peter got me started in working with clay, so you could say that he is my clay dad!

Rather quiet at the Events Center

The stalls were set out around the perimeter of the huge sports hall, and the show not all that well attended, which was sad. On the other side of us was someone who was selling car boot sale type items..., including a small stoneware pottery item for only 50 cents. Needless to say, given few people attending, and competing with 50 cent items, our sales were not that great.

Laura planted up some of my planters and took this photo whilst setting up the display.

Laura looked after our stall for the day whilst I worked on a commission (with a short time frame) back at the studio, and also continued trying to get the place sorted out for our 20th year celebration the next day. Our preparations for the next day continued until late into the evening.

Sometime after 11pm... grumpy old fellow needing his sleep! (Le vieil homme grincheux a besoin de son sommeil!)

Laura baked a really excellent fruit cake that came out the oven about 11.30 at night. Next morning I painted an "open" sign, priced pots and paintings, and updated our business card with our new extended hours.

Just after midday, before our scheduled opening at 1pm, we had our first visitor (a New Zealander who lives in Lebanon) who bought some wood fired bowls. This marked the beginning of what was a busy and successful afternoon. Sometime just before one, I managed to rush up to the Golden Fleece Hotel for the glasses which we had ordered and some wine and fruit juice. Then it was action stations!

Action Stations at the Old Post Office. (Un bon nombre de bons amis.)

Many of our visitors traveled out from Dunedin, and included old friends that we rarely manage to get to see, so it was lovely catching up.

The young chap is sampling Laura's fruit cake (yummy) whilst his mother looks... concerned. And who is that on the left about to sample the wine! One of my abstracts from a few years ago adds a splash of colour top right. (Le jeune homme mange le gâteau, le vieil homme que les boissons wine!)

We were very touched by the gifts of food and wine that some people brought, and for the kindness of those that simply pitched in and helped at times when we were needing a hand.

The perils of strong drink are well illustrated by the paralytic pose of a certain Ginger cat. (les dangers de la boisson forte!)

We would like to thank all of you who made this event such a happy one. We were also most grateful to those of you who couldn't attend, but sent your supportive comments and best wishes, both via the blog and the telephone. It was really special feeling your support of us out there.

It is very hard to estimate numbers at events like this. People generally stayed a long time, and there was lots of happy conversation. We did wash 41 glasses after event, and quite a few people were not drinking, so numbers may have been between 45 and 50, possibly more. These may seem small numbers to some of you who live overseas, but Waikouaiti has a population of just over 1000 people, so this was good for here and sales were good too.

Our extended open hours that we started this month, 1 - 5 pm Wednesday - Friday, and Sunday afternoons, look promising. Wednesday was quiet, but I had about 8 people through on the Friday afternoon which was worth while. I am hoping that the week day numbers will pick up progressively as people become aware of our being open.

At 5pm I awarded a prize of some pottery to Rhonda, who happened to be sitting in the right place at the right time! Sadly no photo of this, but Rhonda was delighted, and it was a really lovely moment for us too.

After the event, Ginger was in some far away place with legs akimbo and twitching as he hunted and bravely fought in the land of sleep. I was nodding off too. (Le petit lion chasse l'antilope, le zèbre, et les cerfs communs dans la terre du sommeil. Je dors également.)