More frustration

Yesterday Cathy and I learned more about frustration. We were part of a group trying to mount a show at the Viscount Cultural Centre. It started at 8:15a.m., when David and I arrived at the art gallery at the corner of McDermot and King--right in the middle of the Exchange and right in the middle of rush hour. The lady we were supposed to meet wasn't there and didn't arrive until about 8:40. Then the gallery door was locked and the lock broken, which meant a long distance call on my cell, which got us in a back door via a combination lock. Up until then we had been in a cold and gutted space on the third floor of this old warehouse. Then we had to move a cargo van load of very fragile pieces down to the main floor( thank goodness for a small elevator) then down steps to the street, along the street for half a block, and load them into the rented cargo van. One of the pieces was so big that it wouldn't go in the elevator, and had to come down three floors via a narrow and boxed in, winding, staircase. with every trip we had to go through the same routine with this combination lock, and through the back door of the gallery. by the time we were loaded it was 10:00

Then it was off to Neepawa. Well, on hwy 5 I got a call from the lady athe the Viscount Centre. It was 11:55 and they were closing for lunch. We had no way of communicating with thelady inthe cargo van who was somewhere behind us. ( she had had to stop at the office before leaving the city). So we found the Viscount Centre by about 12:10--never having been there before, and made a quick trip to the Land Titles building to use the washroom, and then back to Viscount Centre to tell this lady what was happening. I sat outside the Centre from 12:20 to 12:50 waiting for her. Then she arrives and chastises me somewhat because she had arrived at about 12:10, found no-one there and gone for lunch!

The ladies at Viscount were great. They helped us unload, and provided every assistance in setting up. Cathy got off work at 1:00 and came over to lend a hand as well. BUT--the lady in charge, the one with the cargo van was one of the most indecisive people I've ever met. We would discuss how something was going to be displayed, the Viscount ladies would scurry around getting the equipment etc that was needed, climbing ladders and generally working their fannies off. Then she would change her mind, and demand that it be done a different way. She refused to even consider using fishing line in the hanging of pictures and quilts, although--and you know this Beth--it is good enough for the Canadian Quilters Association in their National Juried show--as well as any other show I've ever been associated with. I think by about 3:00, every other person in the room was ready to kill her. I think that part of her problem was that she would set up one or two items in a little vignette, without considering how it would look in conjunction with all of the rest of the items in the room. Then, when it was all set up, she would look around and decide she didn't like it. A couple of times, I even said to her, that I was looking at how things went together and what sort of "line" one or two pieces were creating.

Now, I had a small breakfast about 7:00, and by 3:00, with no lunch, I was getting a little"testy". I probably said some things I shouldn't have. I have applied, through the organization she works for, to participate in one of the biggest and best fine craft sales in the city. We are supposed to hear by Friday. Want to bet that I don't get in?

And what were Dave and Jim doing all this time? Well, after buying some chickens, turkeys, and bird seed, I think they spent most of the afternoon sitting around drinking wine with the Hutterites. All the way home David talked about what he had seen, and the stories that an old gentleman told him about early days on the Colony. I think he had a great time, and I really owe Jim a favour for showing him around and entertaining him.

Cathy, that was a fantastic supper, although I think I could have eaten anything by that time. I realized, on the way home, that other than that glass of wine, I had had nothing to drink after the coffee we bought on our way out in the morning, in Portage! I'm going to process the veggies you gave me over the next day or so. If I remember, the potato recipe in the book said that it could be frozen for up to 3 weeks, but I wonder, have you kept it longer? It would be great if it could be kept for, maybe, two months?