Back from the Pickle Festival.

My sweet Myles in a pot that I painted.

Hello and I hope all had a great weekend.

I'm back from the Pickle Festival in Mt. Olive, N.C. and have gotten caught up on my sleep. My sister and I left around 2:00 on Friday afternoon and drove to Mt. Olive so that we could go ahead and set the display walls and tables up that night and get plenty of sleep for the next day. We ate at a Mexican restaurant that was wonderful and cheap, $6.00 for a big platter full of food. Hey, that is my kind of place. We ended back at the hotel and in bed before 8:00, but didn't fall asleep until later. We started watching Ghost Whisper and got hooked, so it was a little bit later before either of us went to sleep. Then we got up at 4:00a.m., showered and got to downtown by 5:00a.m., got the trailer unloaded and had everything set up by 7:30, and then sat down and waited for the people to show up.

Here is my sweet sister, resting while she can. I am such a hard slave driver.

The only problem with everything is that they put us on a side street that they thought would have a lot of traffic on, but it didn't work out that way. Hardly anyone walked by, but the ones that did stopped and a lot of them bought some of the items. I was so disappointed. Really. I know I was in trouble as I sat there and watched everyone walk by and never come down the street. And here I sat with all of the pickle glasses, and all of the other things that I had painted for the show.

Some good things did happen though. First of all, my sister and I really had a good time together and we were able to laugh and talk, just having "sister" time. And I'm not even going to tell you all about the food that we ate. LOL. Let's just say that my sister didn't feel too good on the drive home.

Another good thing was that the heads of the committee walked around and judged the booths and gave out two awards. One was the the best commercial vendor and one to the best arts and crafts vendor. Guess who won the best arts and crafts? Charlie's Studio. I was so excited, I gave both of them a hug when they presented it to me. What does that mean? Well, I get a booth there next year for free, and my booth and name will be put in their newsletter that they send out.

And one of the good blessings was that I was able to bless others. I usually watch people and when I see them fall in love with something and they can't afford it I will give it to them. So, I sat a birdhouse down and I told my sister that morning that who ever picked it up was going to get it for free. It was later in the day and a woman walked up with her son and she was looking at the stuff in my booth, didn't walk in but stood on the edge just looking. She saw the birdhouse and picked it up. She was talking to her son, then put it back down. I was trying to get up out of my seat to get to her, it was like slow motion. But I got to her and told her that the birdhouse was hers for free. She just looked at me like she didn't hear me right. Then my sister walked up and said that is right, that I had told her that morning that I was giving it to the first person that picked it up and looked at it. She couldn't believe it, but was thrilled.

Then as we were packing up at the end, a sweet lady walked by and she fell in love with everything. She was standing there looking at things, saying that she wished that she had more money with her but she had brought 20 dollars with her and had bought a licence plate that said "Speak It". When I saw it I knew what she was talking about and we got to talking about speaking and believing in God's Word. We had a wonderful time sharing our faith in God, and the whole time I saw her looking at a pitcher and glasses. She walked over to them, picked them up and said how much she loved them and that they would be what she would buy if she could. So I told her to take them. She looked at me, then at the set, then back at me. She then just started talking again. She said that she gives and plants seeds all the time, that she believes that God will bless her, and then when it happens she is so surprised and not expecting it. She said that she expects it, but then when it does happen she is just so surprised and she shouldn't be. I knew what she meant, and aren't we all that way. We believe that God will take care of us and when He does something for us a lot of times we don't believe it or sometimes we don't even see it. Anyway, I wrapped up the set for her, hugged her and she said a prayer for me as she left. What a great way to end the day.

Wanted to share some photos with you from the day. Enjoy.

The set up that morning.

A little of retail items with hand painted items.

That is it for now. Enjoy your life, and remember to breath in and then breathe out.

Charlie

The pickle glasses were a big hit, but when they were purchased it was one glass at a time.