it's good to be back

I was surprised to find that the pastures here had turned a little bit green while I was gone, and the horses seem to be even fuzzier! It's good to be back. I'm all jazzed up about poultry shows right now, so it's a little angst-producing that I don't get to attend one until mid January. I guess I'll just have to put my chicken energy into keeping some of the youngsters in good condition!

I had a great time in Indiana, and I am soooo glad that I went.

I left here around 8am Thursday, traveled with JJ. The flight to Denver was rather pleasant. I think that may have been the quietest airplane I've ever been on (plane itself was quiet, and the people were too!). The flight from Denver to Indiana left much to be desired. If there is anything worse than a screaming baby, it's a screaming toddler, and there was one sitting right behind us. I can sort of understand a baby being upset, but this kid was the age where the parents ought to have been able to get her to knock it off, and they didn't do a darn thing. I was feeling thoroughly unpleasant by the time we landed.

I am totally amazed by the view of looking down at clouds, it gets me every time.

I didn't manage to get much sleep that night or any other night. I don't know what it is about hotels but I just can't sleep. Well, that place was rather loud too, people running down the hallways, talking loud, herds of bison stampeding down the staircase, etc. It was hard to get up on Friday, and got increasingly difficult every day!

It seemed odd for the show to be three days long. Friday felt like Saturday, Saturday felt like it was confused, and Sunday just became a blur. It was amazingly huge. I heard someone say the show room was a quarter of a mile long from the front door to the back door, and if that's the case (I believe it!) I walked a LOT of miles. I went up and down every row, and made a point to see every bird this time. I still missed a few though, I missed some rows that were being judged and I don't think I ever made it through all of them. That seems strange, how can I be there for three days and not see everything? You'd have to see it to believe it! The sales area was huge, it was like some crazy bird market. There were soooo many birds! And so many things I'd never seen before. I kept finding birds that I had drawn for the Standard, and that was super exciting (White Faverolles, Buff Cornish, Blue Sumatras, oh my!) I took well over 300 photos, which ought to give me plenty of inspiration for upcoming projects.

There was very little "down time." I was somewhat concerned I'd end up sitting around twiddling my thumbs but that was certainly not the case. I seemed to be on the move all the time, I kept running into people that I knew, etc. It was really fun to catch up with people I hadn't seen for a while, meet a bunch of new ones (lots of new Rosecomb exhibitors, met a few of the sponsors I've sent drawings to, etc.) I think that was a big difference from how I felt when I was in Ohio in 98 and 02... I just know so many more people! Oh and wearing my name on me seemed to help too! ;-)

I didn't catch everyone though. There were some people who I know were there who I either never saw or just never managed to talk to because they were involved in something else at the time. That building is so big it's impossible to find anyone, and I kept losing track of which birds I'd seen and which I hadn't!

I had brought the whole portfolio of finished drawings (printouts, not originals) and I left that at the APA booth Saturday and Sunday. That turned out to be a very good move, a lot of people saw it there and hopefully a lot of people picked up business cards or info. I received a lot of nice compliments on the work that I've done, and from some pretty big-time people!, and that of course gives me the warm fuzzies. :-)

So I'm really glad I went. It would have been nice to take birds, and it would have been REALLY nice to take the art booth, but neither was going to work with my budget.

It's good to be back though, I feel like I've done a lot of airline travel lately! No more airplanes for...oh crud, only a month. :-/ I think I'm coming down with another cold. Great....

Here's a bunch of pics!! I wasn't going to post this many but I sorta went nuts with it this afternoon:

The show hall:

Part of the sales area:

Brown African Goose, this bird won Best in Show:

Ancona Duck, never seen one of these in real life:

Black Breasted Red Cubalaya Bantam, never seen one of these before:

Black Breasted Red Shamo Bantams, never seen these before:


Large Blue Andalusian:

Blue Golden Duckwing American Game Bantam, this bird was so pretty!

Large Blue Sumatra:

Large Buff Cornish, never seen these before:

Buff Silkie Showgirl, you could not pay me to raise these things, I find them quite horrible:

Chamois Sebright:

Crested White Call, how cute! Never seen one before:

Didn't write down the name but I've never seen this breed of goose before:

Best looking Magpie Call I have ever seen:

Large Malagache, never seen or heard of. I don't find him very pretty!:

Large Spangled Orloff, I'd seen these in England!

Pied Call Ducks:

Rose Comb Nankin Bantam:

Serama Bantam, cute color:

Large Silver Duckwing Cubalaya:

Spangled Cornish Bantam:

Large Tolbunt Polish:

A turkey!

Vorwerk Bantam, never seen one of these before:

White Chantecler Bantam:

Large White Cornish (pearl colored eyes):

Large White Cubalaya: