It is too late to begin catching up completely.

It has been a very long time since I was able to post here. Between getting all the finalizing details for the Commonwheel Artists 40th Annual Labor Day Weekend Art Festival in place and doing the Art Festival, then trying to recuperate, I just haven’t had time to post here.

I did get in my hike in the Garden of the Gods, but not on the 23rd. I went to the Farmer’s Market and then thought I had a Life Celebration to go to that day. Turns out it was on Sunday.

So on Sunday, I got up and dressed to hike and go to the Life Celebration. I had planned to take a short loop, but went off down the path to my favorite off the beaten track hike. It was just me and my camera and I kept finding new and interesting rock formations to take photos of on this path. Then I realized I was near an area that I could get up to my favorite trail into the Ancient Cedars. So, up I went. It was a glorious day and I really needed this break from the Festival and everything else going on back home.

When I finally decided I absolutely had to head back down, I found the trail I have used many times in the past and headed down that way. I rarely will go back the same way I came, so this felt good. Suddenly I came upon a cliff, a drop off of more than 20′ where I could see the trail in the distance again, but I couldn’t get there. So I did a bit of bushwhacking and found another trail, that also lead to another drop off. OK, this time I had to climb back up. Luckily I had lots of water and some trail bars with me, as I was getting a bit tired now. And then I remembered I had a Ninja Red packet. That really helped keep me alert and able to figure out how to get back to a trail that would actually take me back to the parking lot.

I hiked for 4 hours. Much longer than I had planned, but it was a delightful hike and I felt rejuvenated in spirit, ready to finish the last days of tasks leading up to the Art Festival.

I made to the Life Celebration a bit late and very hungry now. Had a platter of cashew encrusted prawns and a Bloody Maria. Lots of conversations with friends. Gave his wife two of Emanuel’s books in hopes they would be of some comfort to her. Such a waste to see another young and talented person leave the planet. And just like with Robin Williams, it was tied into depression.

Now being this far out from some of those days, they are just a blur of activities that needed doing.

 On Monday I met with a beautiful Red-head and she bought me lunch. We talked about essential oils and books and the Art Festival. Another welcome break. Then there was the Board meeting that night. Challenges handled and coming in the future discussed. That meeting is a bit of a blur right now also . . .

On Tuesday had a Marketing meeting at the Chamber. Was very glad to see the Festival banner was up. Future connections for more advertising opportunities seen. But mostly Chamber business. I also washed off my display stands and got them into my car.

I took a bit of time to work in my studio somewhere in this time-frame. I had a decent showing of earrings, hair clips and masks. Had to tag them on the night before the Festival. But got it done!

Had a three webinars with Tony Laidig scheduled this week. Made the one on Tuesday and Thursday. Will have to just watch the replays for the Adobe Illustrator training as I keep missing these on Wednesdays.

I discovered on Wednesday night that the new printer will only print Legal Portrait, not Landscape, which is what I really needed a new printer for, but didn’t notice that little note on its description papers. OK, I am a clever person and figured out a way to print the park layout for us to use in the morning to mark the park for booths. I took a screen shot of each page, then took it to PhotoShop where I had to size them to match and put them in a Portrait layout to print. Very tedious, but it worked. And I was ever so grateful that I was able to do this instead of having to work with Letter sized copies when marking the park.

Four of us met at Fields Park Thursday morning and set out to mark the park. There were numerous extra obstacles, the ditch down the center of the park created some challenges. Fortunately, there were fewer booths and we were able to work around this without putting it in the center of any booths. One helper had to leave before we were finished, but we were almost done by that time. My measurements and placement of booths was fairly close, so I didn’t have to do too many changes. RE and I left Miss A to write the numbers in the booths so we could move the flags and get the small tent out of the storage unit before he had to be at the Co-op to work. By now I was hot, tired and hungry. Went home and ate, then worked on making the corrections needed on the map to be ready for tomorrow’s check-in at noon. Miss A called to tell me we had an extra booth in one of the aisles, so I had to do some moving around of names of artists to fix that. Took an artist away from a space I hadn’t liked, but just moving that artist didn’t work well for who she would have been next to for media conflict. But got it done and printed out with the tricky way I had to do that. Would hope to not have to do that again this year.

Not sure what I will do about the printer, as I won’t have time to go back to where I bought it until tomorrow which is weeks after purchasing it.

Friday was the big push to check artists in. There were of course a few artists who needed to have a booth change. I was able to make most of the them happier. I had made one weaver who traveled far and had health issues extremely happy with her booth location. A jeweler friend was unhappy to find herself looking at a booth that she did not enjoy the art displayed there, but was very happy with being close to the street for an easy loading and unloading situation. Earlier I had a report that that FA booth was infringing upon another booths space. I wasn’t at my diplomatic best and told them not only that they had to move back a bit, but that in year’s past I had had complaints about them taking more space than they paid for by spreading out. She said they would gladly pay something extra, and later that day brought an envelop to the Info Booth with a check in it.

The kids area was a huge success. All three activities were located together and across from the Info Booth. But sadly, I saw a sign on the Balloon Artists tent that said that after 17 years doing this festival, he would not be back. Time to follow other opportunities. Never got to talk to him at the Festival. Will wish him the best of luck and I am sure there are other magicians or balloon twisters who would be happy to be here next year.

I went to dinner with my 2 favorite women and a new artist. The Loop was perfect. They all parked in my driveway and we walked down there. I had a much needed Martguerita, which my jeweler friend bought for me. Then we all headed to sleep for an early morning the next day.

And it was early for me! I had a call at about 9pm, just as I was about to get ready for bed. The security person said the sprinkler system had come on in the food vendor area. He was able to divert some of the water and I called the Dispatch who said they would find out who was on call for the parks. I drove down to the Police Station and they had no idea who was on call, but assured me dispatch would take care of it. Dispatch is no longer located in the Manitou Springs Police Station, but in Colorado Springs. My Security checked in and said the sprinklers were off, and perhaps nothing was damaged. I was perturbed enough to call and leave a message on the Mayor’s phone who I later learned was at a concert at Red Rock in Denver.

Not quite caught up, but my back is aching and it is time for me to head to bed.