Home

Sunday, May 2 - 2010

Details

Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Miscellany

Published: 03 May 2010

Hits: 2161

I wake up exhausted. 7:30 AM, only 6 hours sleep but I can't sleep any more, it's a well earned day off and I have to get out and about to earn my nap.

That's what's keeping me going.

So I drink my several cups of coffee, there's a smashing headache in the back of my head by I ignore it and keep going, there are things to be done and once I've done them I can nap...

I'm constantly napping. Seldom do I ever have any success, but I try and try again. Never give up is my motto.

Call family, catch up, call the daughter, there's a rock and gem show at the Hillhurst Community Center today and she'd like to go, make plans to meet, early, I explain, as I have big plans to nap, then set off about my day.

The first stop is the Hillhurst Flea Market, I want to torment myself with the viewing of the many treasures that slipped through my fingers. Walking up 14 St I pass the Colour Me Mine paint your own ceramics studio, mental note to bring the children here to prepare their Mothers Day gifts, Wednesday after school should work...

Then the flea market.

It's a good day. Or it would be if I weren't so damned exhausted and didn't have the frickin headache pounding in the back of my brain, but I set these things aside; there are many treasures to be viewed, the rock lady in the main hall has some loose pieces of Dominican Blue Amber, damn the boy and his penis flute; they're roughly $100.00 apiece which more than slightly exceeds my budget, still it's heartening to find it here, I'll hold off and price it at the rock and gem show...

Camera man has put out some collection of hundreds of vintage lighters, some novel and unique in terms of shape and design, a few minutes sifting through them to see if there are any Dunhill's or DuPonts, none, onward, the watch guy has the same-old same-old, the $10.00 table guy has some interesting bits of jewelry but I'll see if they're there later (they weren't)...

There are some new vendors, new antiques, a wonderful old accordion for $150.00, again out of reach, many other treasures, nothing worth buying but plenty of hope. Apparently I missed out on some treasures at the garage sales. And there's the crazy lady from the old "Education Funding Thrift Store" that went out of business both in Bowness and on 37 St SW; she's still got her crap priced high, used battery operated "Rolex" watches for $50.00 apiece, others, she's not here to try and sell anything, really, just needs a forum where she can force her opinions on others and sure enough she's trapped a prospective client and gotten in his ear....

Once finished I walk down to 10th Street, time to kill, stop in the Second Cup and view the artwork, then down the street, there's a Market opening in one of the buildings at 11:00, some sort of local, sustainable arts and Crafts market (tried to find a website so I could link to it, but couldn't); I'm early so I'll bring the daughter and we'll come back, when we do there's a slight $2.00 admission, but it's worth it. Inside are a couple of dozen vendors, all local artists and used resellers, the emphasis is on "Local", there are some talented painters, curious knitted and felted stuffed animals reminiscent of Miyazaki's films, some live music in the back, more exhibits and vendors upstairs, some flea market and carefully picked used items; it's a fun atmosphere.

We hang out about 45 minutes, there's lots to see, I'm regretting not having the boy, he's of late been calling everyone a "Hippy" and for once he could use the term without misapplying it. 

From here to the Hillhurst Rock and Gem Show, which is quite good, we find some fossils, view an exhibit of Native artifacts (we've found better, and the girl realizes it), dinosaur bones, exhibits of picture agates and jaspers, gems, opal, quartz crystals, peridots and emeralds, garnets and rubies, citroens and ambers and finely carved rock sculptures, there are some cheap stones we can use as fillers for the loot bags for her upcoming birthday, we watch a demonstration of someone using wire wrapping to create jewelry and I realize how painfully incompetent my attempts were, it looks so easy (or the demonstration looks easy, which is the mark of a good craftsman); there are others on chain mail and embossing metal but we pass, I could spend the day here, there's a world of inspiration, but all in all, about an hour and a half and we're done.

Now it's time for my nap, and I get home, lie in bed, staring at the ceiling, finally giving up to wash some dishes, do laundry, take an Advil gel-cap for the headache, it sticks in my throat and so I walk down to the 7-11 and buy some diet Dr. Pepper, it clears it and I can feel the headache dissipating and somewhere in the back of my head there's a line of reasoning that's making not the Advil but the Dr. Pepper the cure for all ills,  make dinner, read my book (an unprecedented 40 pages in a row!), up some bids on E-bay and receive final notification that I've lost, (damn! I have to figure this out better...) -  the Edo period portable Buddhist shrine has gone to another lucky bidder for the difference of only $6.00; blog, read some more, then bed.

And I sleep my full 8 hours.

This morning, 2 cups of coffee and an hour and a half blogging, there's almost 4 hours before I have to go to work but there's dry cleaning to be picked up, dishes to be done, have to shave, bath, empty garbage, and so the unpacking will have to wait...