Weather report

Today's forecast for our area: sunny, no wind, 60º
Today's weather: mostly cloudy, windy, 52º

This matters because I was instrumental in locating today's craft fair outdoors rather than in a gym based on the weather forecast, and no one was happy about us being outdoors.

Yes, I know that weather forecasting is an imprecise science, and it's only a best guess about what weather will actually occur, so I should have known better than to bank on the meteorologist's predictions. Instead, nineteen crafters (including me) sat outdoors along the edge of a soccer field that served as the finishing chute for a marathon and suffered in the very breezy, chilly conditions. Believe me, I was sufferering as much as anyone. Three hours after I packed up my jewelry, table covers, tables and tent and headed home, I finally began to feel truly warm. The decision has already been made to hold next year's fair in a nearby school gymnasium and to step up the advertising so people will know we're there. That was the main problem in previous years when we'd set up in the gym: the number of customers was minimal. Other concerns, like 1/3 of the vendors selling jewelry and vendors near the doorways being cold, pale in comparison to the advertising of the event not being effective. Despite ads in local freebie newspapers, on the radio and the local cable channel, in front of the school and in the town square, people "stumbled on" the craft fair, and that's not good enough. I'm now on the committee that runs this craft fair, so I take it as my job to try to solve this problem, even without a budget. At least I have some months before I have to put any plans into action.

There was good news today: I sold well over my "it was an okay day" point, and I handed out half a dozen cards to people who expressed interest in visiting my shop. Of course that means I can't neglect to open the shop on Sunday now, but that's what I'm supposed to be doing anyway, so it's all good.

My AirPort Extreme came in on Friday, and after some scrambling to get it from the post office and some puzzlement in setting up the software, it works like a charm. The previously weak and inconsistent wireless signal out to the shop has become a nice strong three bars out of four, so I can work out there in the company of the internet and all it brings to me. Tomorrow I'll be able to do the two restringing jobs that my cold hands weren't able to accomplish today in the company of some of my online pals who check in on Sunday afternoons. Sweet!

And one more piece of good news: Sis3 is home. I'll call her tomorrow to reconnect.