All Wrapped Up

 I am safely home. Jean has another 1.5 hours to go.

This is always a long, long weekend, but we both did well. Today started off rainy and slow. That did clear up, but it got just windy enough to be chilly and make us take down some of the looser parts of our displays. Despite the slow start we both had pretty good sales for the third day.

Every vendor that we talked to was quite happy with their overall sales. That makes vendors want to come back another year. Jean and I both signed up for next year already, which wiil guarantee us the same booth spaces.

Just two weary but happy vendors.

That's all for tonight. All my stuff is put away except my personal cooler, and I have nothing of any greater interest to report. Well, I'm kinda fired up about author things because I made good sales, but I have to get busy on other things for the next couple of weeks. Always how it seems to go.

See Blue...Bear...y

Blue...bear...y

 The location Jean and I have in the festival is really a good one. And right from the back of our tents, we have this beautiful blue view of Whitefish Bay. The land you can see out there is Canada.

I keep trying to get some good pictures of Jean interacting with people at her booth. This one isn't bad.

The man playing guitar and singing here is a regular at the Wild Blueberry Festival. He is really great with the kids. He had a whole bunch of them singing and dancing and talking into the mic.

I figured I should have my blue-bear-y face hole board picture taken. These are also called "comic foregrounds." Did you know that?

Here's my best story from the event so far. A lady came to my table and said she liked mysteries, especially the Joe Pickett novels, which I also love. So I responded and asked if she had discovered the Mike Bowditch series. (One is a game warden in Wyoming, and the other is a game warden in Maine.) She also knew that one and she began asking about the mysteries I was selling. I clarified that they aren't thrillers, but are classic murder mysteries. She thought she'd buy a couple, and then found out that there is a price break if she bought 4 or more, so she decided to buy the whole series. She was getting out her credit card, and I was collecting the set. She asked me, " But, do YOU like this series?" I did a bit of a double take. I said, "Well, I wrote them, so... yes." Then she did the double take!

She still bought them all.

It was another good sales day. Neither Jean nor I are quite as tuckered out as yesterday, but we are again chilling with a book for the evening. We do this for one more day.

See Chickens and Puppets

Chickens and Puppets

 Today was pretty amazing. People were buying! I sold a lot of books, and Jean sold even more.

Here are the two chicks she brought this year. They are both Silkies. This is Cocoa Puff.

Jean writes "Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, and childrens' books about chickens." I get to listen to her say that a thousand times a day while she listens to me say "I write mysteries, mysteries for kids, and three books about the North Country Trail." If you think we are sick of listening to each other... we are actually sick of listening to ourselves. But this is how you sell books.

This is Lola, daughter of Laya who is in one of Jean's chicken picture books. Kay-Kay is in the other book. She sells a ton of these.

As I mentioned yesterday, there are lots of kinds of entertainment available. This puppet was walking around inviting people to come to his show.

It's pretty much impossible to get pictures of new things at the event. Vendors who don't have multiple people manning their booths are really tied to the spot, especially when it's busy as it was today. Jean and I have an excellent location for our spaces, which we get to keep unless we don't sign up some year, then we would lose those spots. None of this is complaining... mostly just explaining why this year's pictures look pretty much like every other year.

Jean and I are simply talked out. We came "home" fixed some dinner and have retreated to separate spots to read for a while. We like each other just fine, but we'd both be perfectly happy to not have to say another word to anyone until tomorrow. This is a great event, but you need a fair amount of stamina to participate.

9-5 again tomororow, then 9-4 on Sunday. Paradise, Michigan!

See Wild Blueberry- Take #4

Wild Blueberry- Take 4

 Jean and I rode together in her van to the Wild Blueberry Festival again this year. Pretty sure this is my 4th year doing this event. We had to play serious car tetris to do it. Something like 35 books titles between the two of us which is about 10 tubs of books, 8 sand bags, 5 cold drinks, 4 bags of food, 3 tables, 2 canopies, and a chicken in a carrying case. O wait... make that TWO chickens (Lola and Cocoa Puff).

Another trip over The Bridge! The festival is in Paradise, MI, in the UP. The Bridge is always awesome.

Once again we are generously being hosted by Steve and Brenda Begnoche. Brenda made stuffed pepper soup, I brought a cucumber salad, and Jean made her beautiful focaccia bread again, but I got a good picture of it this year.

We set stuff partway up- canopies and tables. The books will go out in the morning. We'll finish up in time for the opening. The weather is looking great for the whole weekend. 9 am-5 pm Friday and Saturday. 9-4 on Sunday. There is always entertainment of various kinds (music, magic, jugglers, etc), games like a "fish bowl" door prize event, and great blueberry food- pancakes, pie, etc. Not to mention the nearly 100 vendors. Plenty to do for everyone.

Stop by if you are in the eastern UP! You can pet the chickens. Jean and I are right next to each other. (and buy books)

See Welcome to Paradise

White-Lined Hummingbird Moth Again

 The last time I got any pictures of one of these was in 2013, so I was really happy to have one flitting around the yard today.

They move so fast you can hardly get a picture. There are several hawk moths, or hummingbird moths. They are big- 2-3 inches across. And although they look similar, the two you see most often are in different genera. This one is Hyles lineata. They are in the same family. Here are my best pictures from today. The other one has clear wings.

That was its back. Here is the side view.

And the ventral view. This one was out in the daytime and hanging around white flowers. Supposedly they like bright colors in the day, but white flowers at night. So my Moon Garden may attract them when I get more flowers there.

I did all the usual things. Of course went to the hardware store to exchange the wrong part I bought Monday for the correct part. Job not done, though. Zoom meeting this evening.

Many frustrating things, but that is not what this blog is about! Tomorrow I head for Paradise and the Wild Blueberry Festival with too few books because the order did not arrive.

See White-Lined Hummingbird Moth