Lesson Learned - A Mean Music Man

July 4, 2011 found us at the Ashland, Oregon Art Festival in Lithia Park. Yes, we did this festival last year. Not a big money maker, but we like the setting and the people - at least we did until this year. Or I should say, we like the people, except for one busybody vendor and a mean Music Man.

We got to the park a little late, but still early enough to unload and get the car out before the 8:00 deadline of moving the car. Drove right up to our assigned space, the same one we'd had last year, jumped out and stopped dead in our tracks. There was a scruffy young man with an odd looking modified guitar, amplifiers, tables and chairs in our space. Shirley walked up to the Music man and introduced herself, then pointed out that he was in our space - a space we'd paid for and reserved. He went into a story about how he'd traded spaces with another vendor up the line and her space was next to ours, but since we weren't there, he'd taken it upon himself to take our space. About this time, this older woman vendor-busybody comes along all smiles and cheerily tells us that she "thought" it would be fine to let the Music Man have our space.

Well, it wasn't fine with us. We wanted our space and we wanted him to move down the row to the space he'd exchanged with the busybody vendor. Well, he wasn't about to move - telling us that up the line, further into the park, there were a lot of spaces and we could go there. Everyone was getting angry. Finally, an official from the festival came and she tried to calm everyone down and offered us a two space spot further up. Shirley and I didn't want to go up the line of vendors as we wanted our spot. Steve stepped in and said, "Let's move up there." I could tell Steve was upset and he would get more upset if he had to spend the day next to the Music Man. So reluctantly, we moved our stuff up the line. In the meantime, while we were talking to the official, the Music Man slipped off and hid making it impossible to get him to move.

A couple of days later, we learned from a friend that they hadn't walked all the way up the line of vendors, but had turned around where we had our booth the year before. We could understand as it was a hot day and after the parade and walking up past food booths, some people in the park didn't check out all the booths. Lesson learned - don't get to the festival late - get there early to make sure no one takes your spot. (I am glad we didn't have to spend the day next to the Music Man as later when I walked by he was playing some sort of musak on his modified guitar and I'm not sure I'd classify it as music.) Our booth ended up being across from the hat vendor - nice people who did a brisk business. We set up our tables and took up two spaces as we were assigned.

Here we are looking a bit frazzled after setting up the booth. It was early and the sun hadn't hit our side of the park at this point. Later we would wish we were still in the shade. Shirley sold some of her sea glass pendants.

And I sold some of my sea glass earrings -

So all in all, it was a good show - despite learning a hard lesson from a mean Music Man. Next, we are off to an art Festival in Bend, Oregon where we meet up with another fellowing playing and selling his music.


Please check out our store on Etsy at http://sistersjewelrydesign.etsy.com/ for more sea glass jewelry.

A Visit to Solvang

The morning after the jewelry show, we went into Solvang for breakfast. Solvang is a sleepy little Danish town nestled in the Santa Ynez valley. The streets are lined with Danish styled buildings and tourists fill the sidewalks. There are numerous Danish bakeries scattered all over town as well as restaurants featuring Danish smorgassbord cuisine. It is definitely not a place to visit if you are on a diet. I'm always on a diet, but I told myself I could start again on Monday.

My sister Julia said we had to try Aebleskivers. So off we went to the oldest Danish restaurant in town that features Aebleskivers which are round balls that tastes like a cross between a muffin and a doughnut. Aebleskivers are made in a special cast iron skillet with round circles like a muffin pan. They are delicious.

Here's the recipe -

AEBLESKIVER
Danish Pancake Balls
2 cups buttermilk2 cup flour2 eggs1 Tsp. Baking powder1/2 Tsp. salt, 1/2 Tsp. soda, 2 Tbsp. sugar, 4 Tbsp. melted butter
Separate eggs and beat whites until stiff. Mix all other ingredients together and beat until smooth. Fold in egg whites quickly.
Heat 1 tsp. vegetable oil (or butter) in each cup of the pan. Pour batter into each cup (1/4 " from top of cup) and turn when bubbles appear around the edge. Use a knitting needle or fork to turn and turn 1/4 way over, wait for bubbles then make the last tour completing the ball. Allow time for the center to cook. They are traditionally served with butter and raspberry jam. (You can probably order a pan on line from any of the specialty shops in Solvang.)

After breakfast, we walked around the town, popping into gift shops and souvenir stores. We avoided the fudge store and the Danish cookie stores. Some of the shopkeepers wore authentic Danish costumes which was fun to see. There is a museum of racing and a museum of Solvang's history as well as a museum dedicated wholly to the works of Hans Christian Andersen. Hans Christian Andersen wrote more than 160 Fairy Tales which have been translated into more than 100 languages. The museum is operated by the Ugly Duckling Society, a non profit organization created to "foster appreciation for the life and work of Hans Christian Andersen." You can go to their web site by following the link below -

http://www.solvangca.com/museum/h1.htm

It is a small,lovely museum and one worth visiting if you are in Solvang. Great for kids.

Here's my sister Julia as we walk the streets of Solvang. We caught up with her husband Gary and mine, Steve, on the way to look at one of the windmills. The men are standing in front of two buildings that are good examples of old Danish architecture.
From there, we walked up the street to see the old hotel that was recently bought and refurbished by the Santa Ynez Chumash Tribe. The hotel was renamed and is now Hotel Corque. The facade is still typical Danish, but the interior is elegant modern. http://www.hotelcorque.com/ click on link to see the gorgeous interior of this hotel. It looks like a great place to stay in Solvang or while visiting the surrounding wine country. I was impressed. They also have new restaurant called "root 246." We didn't eat there but the food I saw looked delicious and we'll definitely dine there next time. They claim that the restaurant is all about locally grown ingredients and they boast that the only freezer in the restaurant is for ice cream. How fresh is that! Check out the restaurant at the above link.

There is so much to do in Solvang and the surrounding valley. Take a wine tour or ride bikes, find art in the neighboring town of Los Olivos - http://www.losolivosca.com/ You can golf, go swimming or visit the Chumash Casino Resort which is also a showplace. I wanted to go to the casino, but we needed to start our drive back to Palm Springs. Just as well, I didn't want to leave the money we'd made at the jewelry show at the casino which with my luck is what usually happens. I'm not very lucky at gambling. Oh, well, I'm lucky in love and with having a wonderful family and great friends. Anyway, we said our goodbyes and after getting Dylan Thomas in the car and we headed home.

Coming down the valley and then past Santa Barbara, we had the Pacific Ocean on our right. Surfers were on the water and people lay on blankets on the sand or walked along the edge of the water. I wanted to stop at every beach to look for sea glass. We didn't stop but as the ocean scenery rushed past the car window I thought about sea glass and dreamed of sea glass jewelry my sister Shirley and I could create.

You can find our sea glass jewelry and other pieces at http://sistersjewelrydesign.etsy.com/

Coming next - We show our jewelry at the Cathedral City Art Festival - (our first art festival!)