Made my annual pilgrimage to our massive Arts & Crafts festival at the waterfront - Kempenfest.
Some great techniques: go just after it's been raining all morning, before crowds have accumulated; go with a goal (a specific blouse and a particular wine glass); arrange for drop off and pick up just off the Lakeshore. I was in and out in under two hours, not exhausted, irritated nor sunburnt. I have a lovely off white organic crinkled cotton baseball shirt to match the capris I bought from her last summer, a sleeveless cotton tank with a gold tree of life on it, and a beautiful porcelain wineglass, stemless, with the thumbprint to make it easier to hold. Blue glaze with a unique fine black pattern, a lovely dark slate grey inner glaze. Beautiful piece of work, which for $45 it frigging well should be.
Then big guy picked me up, and I came within seconds of slapping the vilest little 6 year old I've ever met. Ever interact with a parent and child and think, constantly, "yer doing this wrong!"? Adult male is trying to be friends with this 6 yo tyrant, who continuously slaps and bites him. He slags her mother, with whom he still lives, every second sentence. She's sullen, still sucking on a soother. We went to a favorite dairy to get her a bowl of her favourite ice cream, and she sulked, because there was no room at a blue table and we had to sit on the grass. Her dad fed her the ice cream like a baby, begging her to accept a little spoon at a time, but we had to go THERE to get THIS SPECIFIC ICE CREAM for HER. He gives in to her every demand, I had to go into Tim's and stand in line with borrowed change to get her 10 Timbits on the way home, did I get a please, a thank you? By the end of less than half an hour in her company, it was all I could do to not smack her little behind and tell her that she deserved nothing but timeout alone in her bedroom until the end of the day. Just the most dreadful little thing. And she's got a big sister, 11 or so, who is just the smoothest, toughest, lovely little critter, who just walks away from her parents when they're being idiots, which is most of the time, and I just want to take HER home. Grrrr...armchair parenting....
