Calendar Girl

I'm doing some housekeeping on the web site today, working on the calendar. Currently there is absolutely nothing, zero, zilch, nada, listed there for this year. No worries -- I'm planning on having the usual show schedule, not too many changes from years past.

I think everyone is getting a slow start this year. Maybe when all the holiday and weather events wound down, collectively we just decided to take a deep breath and go a little slow for a week or two, in the relative quiet of early January. I don't know about you, but I've been feeling a little gray, just like the skies. Which is to say, just a little colorless, a little bland - no excitement. It kind of feels good not to have deadlines, a million things to do, places to rush around to.

Anyway, the information and applications for the spring shows have been a little late coming out too this time. I've just started to find out dates, and there are several shows that won't be happening at all. The Starving Housewives spring shows are over. They just didn't have enough success lately to warrant all that work. The crafters too -- more of them had decided not to bother hauling themselves to a spring show for the small dollars they were able to scrape up. But Lord Hill and Vasa Park are still on. The April shows are still getting lined up. A couple of summer things are just popping up. So now that I've actually got something to put in the calendar, I'll spend some time cleaning it up today.

And I have to confess, I'm going to push off the spring newsletter too. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that I was aiming for Feb 1 to send it out. Because that isn't going to happen now. Spring seems so far away and I'm just not ready. I've been thinking that it's too soon, maybe pushing it a little. I'd like to take a couple of extra weeks and really have my ducks in a row before I start up the parade again. This time I don't want to start the year off scrambling to have enough ready before I haul off and make the big announcements.

At least that's what I was thinking this weekend. I pulled up the calendar and opened a new document to begin writing the letter, and lo and behold, there was just blank pages. But I'm working on it. Jotting off emails to confirm dates, making phone calls, getting a schedule in place. And the letter is percolating in the back of my head. It will all come together, but needs just a bit more time in the oven.