Saturday, September 19, 2009

a lovely evening

I was awakened earlier than I had planned (which was already early) to the sound of a Cooper's hawk going after the broody hen in the garden. She's fine. The chicks are fine. Arrrrg.

I crawled back into bed and didn't sleep for the next half hour because Homer the cat chooses uncomfortable (for me) places to plunk his bulky self down on me, and also likes to knead, a lot.

We'd gotten a somewhat frantic call last night from a family friend asking for some help setting up for a wedding today, so Mom and I went over there this morning to set tables and whatnot. It was a beautiful thing, this little army of people who have known each other for 20+ years gathering together early on a Saturday morning to lend a hand to someone who came up short on time to do all they had planned. I love that about people who have known each other for ages, and grown up together.

I unfortunately had to duck out after a little over an hour because I needed to drive up to Grass Valley (and then home again, hours and a half each way) to drop off the two art pieces that will be showing at the Draft Horse Classic show. It does seem VERY weird not to be prepping for having a booth there. It was kind of a wistful feeling looking around the building there today, like I wish I could be there but I think going to Kansas for the engraving thing is absolutely the no-brainer right thing to do.

I sat in the parking lot and ate cold pizza in my car, then it was back on the highway headed for home, with a stop along the way to get new jeans but they didn't have my size in the color I wanted, so I'll have to go somewhere else, blah blah blah. Got home with enough time to vegetate for a few minutes before I had to decide what to wear and get dressed.

The wedding was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful, as I knew it would be because this family sure knows how to throw a party. I have known the groom since...first grade? Second grade? A long time. And I spent a lot of time with that family at their house as a kid, working on 4-H projects. Poultry shows, high school, football games. We all go way back. There were a whole lot of people there, most of whom I didn't know. It was a lovely evening, I'm happy for the couple but dang it I didn't catch the bouquet. I really wanted to, but it flew effortlessly into the arms of the groom's sister, who was standing right next to me. Alas, foiled again. ;-)

4 comments:

  1. Did the groom have to borrow clothes from anyone in the audience? I remember just before a showmanship class, he'd be borrowing a tie, a hat, a show stick. He looked pretty funny with a 7-year old's tie.

    I agree, we're very fortunate to live in rural areas where there is a lot of stability. I think the nation would work a lot better if more of us knew our neighbors so well.

    What did you take to DHC? I was thinking, and I don't remember hearing you talk about new horse art.

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  2. Ha ha, thank goodness he did not have to borrow anything. I'd forgotten about that. How could I? How many times I loaned him a show stick, admonishing him that if he broke another one of mine I was going to beat him with it.

    "In Good Hands" and "The Lookouts" will be at DHC. I need to send out an email update in the next couple days, and I'll try to remember to officially blog that too.

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  3. I forgot about "In Good Hands." (And I love it.) You did that earlier in the year. Usually you're working hard at the last minute to complete your DHC entries.

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  4. I was trying to figure out why that was different this year, because yes I usually am scrambling to finish up my DHC entries in May, right before they are due. I think it's usually been because I spend most of my time doing commissioned work, which of course is not stuff I can enter in shows, and then need to whip out an entry at the last minute. But there has been a lot of opportunity in the last year and a half to do pretty much anything I want to draw or scrim. There are upsides and downsides to that situation, as you can guess. It was a relief to not have to do anything at the last minute, since I knew I had a few for-sale pieces that I had not shown there before.

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