Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Michael's Chronicle: Mt Dora Aftermath

 


Michael Thiele is a woodsmith who makes musical instruments and playable furniture. He spends most of his life either in the shop or out on the road buying wood and selling his work at craft shows. In recent years, his travels have begun to inspire his own writing, so he sends me his thoughts.


Wednesday Feb 7
Back in Tampa
Mt Dora Aftermath

There is much cleaning on my menu today in the aftermath of the post show weather debacle at Mt. Dora on Sunday evening. I can imagine no reason why this should be of any public interest or relevance so, as they say, “turn the dial down if you don’t want to hear it.” Yet here I am writing about it. They tell me, “just write about your life and travels.” Really? Even the mundane? What if one’s most fascinating activity on some given day was reading the phone book? White pages. Not the yellow ones. Not even a display ad in a black box.

Well, on this day phone book exploration might just be experientially superior to the task at hand. I’ve got to wipe the entire structure of my tent and display dry if I don’t wish a visit from the mildew gods. I don’t. No one does. This will take all day and maybe more.

Art show sales are always a crapshoot. They can be affected by a plethoric variety of uncontrollable influences (e.g. weather, politics, the local economy.) Weather is the worst. It can end a day before it even starts. Every artist who’s been around the circuit for more than a sneeze has experienced a rainout. Breaking down a soaked or, God forbid, broken tent sucks. At least mine’s not broken or bent. Just immeasurably wet and thrown into the van in a big heap. Crumpled.

I won’t describe this work. No blow by blow. There will be a healthy dose of “why me’s?” and a gnashing of teeth. I may need a dentist and a counselor by the time it has all had its way with me. Perhaps I could con them out of pro bono services. Or perhaps……………someone could just bring me a phone book to read.

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