This past week was a blessed time of knitting & serenity out in the Ville with my grrl Sandi. Even though there were mishaps galore for those around us, we had our own little island of calm during my Fall Break from ISL.
I came home a day early (Thursday) & spent the time knitting & getting prepared for the Oleg Cassini (actually Oretha Castle Haley, but I like Oleg Cassini better) Art Market on Saturday & planning to attend the Coliseum Square Neighborhood Association Art Market on Sunday.
Prior to all of this, I had asked around amongst friends if anyone had a pop-up fest-style tent that I could borrow for the weekend. My fave Black Dyke LRW, Kris, said that her mom had one & that they would give me a ride to the Art Market on the day of the event. I confirmed our plans via text on Friday evening plans were set for her mom & her to pick me up at 8AM. Around that time, I hadn't heard from them, so I txted Kris "Hello?" & she txted back that they were running late & that her mom is not one for timeliness. They showed up a few minutes later & after we get all my stuff into the SUV & meet her mom (grrrl she is AWESOME, btw, laughs & cutting up galore--an LRW from way back, I promise) & I said, "Thank you for the ride & the tent"
Then Miss Baby is like "About the tent...." Oh Lawd. Here we go. She had a tent & her cousin had a tent & they exchanged tents & then the cousin retrieved her tent some kinda way without returning Miss Baby's tent but she needs another tent anyway so....
"So does this story end with me getting out of this car with a tent? Cuz that was kinda the whole point."
Miss Baby say they have tents at Winn Dixie. I say, We just passed it up grrl, make a u-turn.
Kris & I power-walk up into the WD on Chef Menteur Hwy & spot a $20 gazebo style tent.
What neither of us LRWs realized is that this is NOT a pop-up tent. This is, in fact, a tent with about 30 or so metal rods that have to be either fitted into each other OR into one of 5 plastic hubs. There are also feet that have to be attached. So before you know it, there I am with 2 generations of LRWs on Oleg Cassini Blvd, trying to assemble this madness. I don't think that I mentioned that Kris's mother is not wearing shoes (I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS WOMAN!!) Once we have it up, they take off to a funeral & the tent looks good. I hang my scarves from the supports just like I always do. Unfortunately, there is no way to stabilize the feet of this tent (kinda hard to put tent pegs into sidewalks, by the way) so it keeps weebling & wobbling around. Good thing I had my knitting to occupy me or I would have had a nervous breakdown. Any time I actually looked at the tent I got a major case of anxiety, just imagining my poor little babies being blown away by a freak gust of wind. I met a few interesting ppl but made only 1 sad little $15 sale. Not even enough to cover cab fare, much less the booth rental.
When it was all over, I learned that if an item requires at least 3 (preferably 4) to assemble it, it will probably be an ordeal for 1 ho to dis-assemble it. But dis-assemble it I did, packed up my brightly-colored delights & called a cab, completely flummoxed as to how I was gonna pull it off for another market today.
So I was feeling kinda down about it all last night when I told a friend of mine from the gay site about what had happened in a very general way & he sent me a flurry of messages, offering to take some of my work up to Wisconsin, where he is from, next weekend, and eventually we ended up on the phone, talking business. I told him, I don't usually trust my work to people I haven't met in person, so I really must insist we get together for a meal. So we made brunch plans for today.
I cancelled my attendance at the Coliseum Square based on a combination of factors, including tent drama, poor sales & the prospect of a brunch date.
So when he gets here, he's just how he looks in the pictures, ruggedly handsome, bright blue eyes & a little older than me, early 50s. He comes in, we talk a bit, I show him some of my babies. There is definitely a lot of chemistry between us, some huggin & things & then he says, well here's something about me that you didn't see on the website, I have a prosthetic foot.
At this point, I figure I have 3 options. Acknowledge him & accept it, freak out & reject him or ignore it & just go to brunch and then blow him off afterwards.
I'm glad I chose the 1st one. He's had a fascinating life, done a lot of travelling, lived in really cool places. I had made reservations for us at Café Degas, but this is how the conversation went with them:
--Café Degas?
--I'd like to make a reservation, please.
--Hold on.
clunk, click, clatter
people talking to each other
I hear the man who answered the phone's voice
--Can you take this reservation?
indistinct murmuring
click clunk clatter
Woman's Voice
--Hello?
(I'm thinking, bitch you are not on your cell phone, you are at work, where are your manners??)
--I'd like to make a reservation, please.
--OK What time?
--11:45 AM tomorr--
--We don't serve that late.
--Tomorrow, at 11:45 AM.
--Oh.
(audible page flicking)
--What time?
--11:45AM.
--How many?
--2
--What's the name?
--Sam
--What?
--Sam
--Can you spell that?
--Ess Ay Em, grrl
--Oh, Sam!
--Yes, that's it.
--OK.
--OK?
--See you tomorrow.
You can see why I felt like maybe if the people who answer the phone are that inept, maybe it would be better to find brunch elsewhere.
So I cancelled our reservations there & we went over to The Ruby Slipper, but there was a huge crowd of ppl waiting to be seated. So we went to Martinique Bistro & were one of the 1st tables there.
He had the Oyster Chowder, followed by the Rolled Omelet with Roasted Potatoes & I had the Sautéed Escargot followed by the Pork Tenderloin "Grillades" with Stone Ground Chèvre Grits. The food was delicious & the service was reasonable, although I did find the staff a tad, shall we say, under-dressed. I don't care what anyone says, a Saints Jersey is not an appropriate work uniform if you work in a restaurant where 2 courses without alcohol totals up to $52, I'm Just Saying.... The kitchen moved awfully slowly to say that we were only the 2nd table, but when our food did arrive, it was certainly worth the wait. The under-dressed waiter seated us in a particularly sunny spot, so we skipped dessert & headed back here for a little, shall we say, dessert of our own.
During lunch, he had disclosed to me that he takes blood thinners to avoid clots in the veins near his prosthesis & this sometimes has a particular side effect common to many men. I am willing to work around this. But we got back up over here, he's crazy bout my body hair, I'm having fun, he's having fun, we're having fun, so I think. But eventually he got frustrated and decided to leave. I tried to talk him out of it but he was clearly self-conscious and there was no talking him out of it. After he put his foot back on & got dressed, we talked a bit more business & I gave him a few items to take up to this Craft Show that his mother attends in Wisconsin. He says he think they will sell just bc they are from NOLA. I hope so.
We will see each other again in November. Let's see where this adventure takes me...
Meanwhile, tomorrow is back to work at multi-lengual behavior disorder central elementary.
I am not having anxiety about it yet. That will come soon enough, I feel sure.
I have been meaning to blog about so many things but sometimes I don't feel like I should for fear of being sued by some parent or something & other times I wanna blog about Crazy Hoes I have known, but again, static from the parents & also lately I'm just so damn tired all the time I can't stand it. I am not bad in the AM, but getting up at 5:45 every day sucks. You can keep all those damn sunrises, I'll take a sunset instead. But I really don't appreciate having to see both of them.
Sorry bout that last part. Rant over.
Blog over.
Resuming my knitting & Peter Davison as Dr Who Years Marathon to assuage my troubled soul...
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