Arctic Market

I began to feel nervous when I heard the weather forecast for the weekend. Rain with hailstorms on Saturday - the day of the market. But then Wednesday and Thursday came and went with quite pleasant weather and I hoped that the weather people had got their balloons mixed up and it would be fine. I got a call on Friday night, when the one woman sweatshop had expanded to two women with one very reluctant elephant stuffer. The call was from Elise discussing weather contingency plans. Hmmm. Still I thought we would be fine. The theme of the stalls was black and white chosen for its classic simplicity (something it shares with Collingwood supporters?) and Mum had decided we should also dress in black and white. So on Saturday morning I donned my summery black and white ensemble and at the last minute threw on a jacket thinking I wouldn't need it for long. I loaded the car (S was loading the oven with pork for a slow roasted pork dinner that night - bless his cotton socks).
The spot I had on Wallendoon street would have been a prime spot on a sunny day, but on a freakily miserable day in Cootamundra (not sure but was there a sheep grazier's warning issued that day?) it was bloody freezing. Setting up was a challenge but we battled on. We had the stall set up between my parents, Maddy (S' cousin who was selling her beautiful cards), Diane and me. I had cut out the letters of the stall (Jack and Scarlett) in red felt and Mum and I adhered these to the fabric And then we stood and hoped the punters would come in spite of the rain and the wind. Any sensible person would have still been in bed. Maddy made the first sale of the day. And then there was a brief lull. We tried to warm up with bacon and egg rolls and hot chocolates, though that nearly ended in disaster when I knocked mine over on the table. Lucky those bags were covered in plastic. It did start to get busier in spite of the rain squalls when Mum and Dad would leap in to action with a tarp and a blanket to try and shield the cards and the animals. Mum was perfecting her sales technique of the doting grandma with other grandmas which worked well. One bought our favourite quilt. Jackie and Jeannie and Bella were a welcome sight, arriving at the same time as a shower, and purchasing. A woman almost purchased my favourite bag but her husband did the pussybum face and she decided against it. It was interesting to see what was popular. The giraffes and toddler hats were very popular. Only one sad giraffe was left. The elephants were popular too. But the monkeys, maybe because they were green, were not so popular. The aprons were not. People looked at them and said what a lovely idea and then walked off, probably to go home and whip up a quick kiddy apron with pencils in the pocket. And one woman walked off with two t's from the sign so for awhile there we were Jack and Scarle. She did bring them back but only one t was salvageable.
The cold got the better of Maddy and Diane and they left sometime around lunch. We stayed closer to two and headed off. The other stalls outside were doing the same except for the food lady next to me who did so well that she sold out by lunchtime and disappeared. There was only so many times I could listen to her describing slow roasted lamb wraps. Roasted for 6 hours. You call that slow roasted? In this house we slow roast for a least 12!
So we packed up and had a look inside one last time. I headed home with almost as many monkeys as I started with as well as gourmet ice cream (for S), an almond croissant and a pain au chocolat, butter lettuce seedlings, sage, basil and a new ironing board cover.
A big thank you to Mum and Dad who flew down to help (and all those fabric donations and the lovely library bags from Mum), Noel and Diane for the extra babysitting, the hat stand and bubble wrap, S for babysitting and support, Maddy and her lovely cards, Bek and her tarp and Elise for organising the market day. Hopefully the weather will be better this weekend in Junee when once again I will try to sell my wares.
And yes, the slow roasted pork was fabulous.