Overdue updates

Wow! It's been a while since I last posted what I've been up to.

Anna Glowfest wasn't quite a bust, but almost. Saturday's weather started out overcast, but not terribly threatening. I don't think the balloons went up because it was so windy. The winds continued all day, vendors started leaving around noon, the balloons didn't go up for the evening flight, then, around 7:30, event staff went around to all the remaining vendors and told us there was a bad storm 6 miles away and heading our direction fast, we should all batten down the hatches and get out before the storm hits. So we did. We left, not knowing what we'd find the next morning. Well, the next morning, it didn't even look like it had rained at the fair site. "Better safe than sorry" became our mantra.

Sunday was even more windy than Saturday. More vendors left during the day. One vendor, who hadn't staked his tent at all, or so it seemed, put up his wind curtains and left. Around 4, a strong wind came at us, and lifted his tent off the ground. Another vendor noticed the airborne tent, grabbed it, and hung on for all he was worth until a couple more vendors, including me, dropped what we were doing to help him handle the tent. It took three of us to get the tent back on the ground and callapse it so it wouldn't become airborne again. While we were struggling, the wind pushed us all sideways and took out another vendor's tent. That was enough for me. I knew my tent wasn't going anywhere, but I didn't know when someone else's tent might take my tent out. I decided to pack up and call it quits. While I was packing, one of the organizers came by and asked me if I was leaving. When I replied that I was, her response was that she didn't blame me.

As soon as I had everything packed up, I called Alan and asked him to meet me at Sicily's for dinner, after which we would come back to the festival, pack up our Tributes, and leave. By the time we returned after dinner, the balloons were being inflated for the evening glow. We had to wait until after the glow to be able to get our vehicles in place to load them. The glow was great. I think the pilots were trying to make up for the loss of flights. The glow lasted about30 minutes and featured simultaneous ignitions, pattern ignitions, an apparent contest to see who could fire his burner in the shortest, most rapid bursts, and random burns. It was fun to watch.

Monday dawned clear and calm. The vendors who were left probably had very good sales. I spent the day with Alan, watching him fly his RC helicopters and running errands.

The bands that played at the festival were actually pretty decent. Most, if not all, were praise bands, so I did get a little tired of praise music. Most, if not all, used the instrumentals from "Sweet Home, Alabama" for their sound checks. Now, don't get me wrong, I like "Sweet Home, Alabama", but hearing it 20 or so times a day is a bit much. Of course, when I got in my car to drive home and turned on the radio, what was playing but, you guessed it, "Sweet Home, Alabama". Alan even played it for me on Monday, just so I wouldn't miss hearing it so much.

I'll have to take pictures of the balloon jewelry and ornaments. Both turned out well.