Hello to me - my first posting

I'll be talking about myself in later postings but for my first go at this I wanted to begin to describe my workplace. I've now been selling my artwork at Pike Place Market for 5 years. Before these experiences become distant, fuzzy memories I wanted to paint them into a picture for myself and anyone else who might be interested.

As a brief explanation, I come from a corporate background where I managed a small software company. My office was a few minutes from my home - in the foothills of the Cascades. I rarely went into the city and had little knowledge of city streets, life or people. My, my - How I have changed.

Pike Place Market : A farmers/artists marketplace on Pike Place and 1st Ave. in downtown Seattle, Washington. Crammed with numerous fish markets (including the most famous where they actually throw the fish when you make a purchase), produce stands, fresh flowers, lunch counters, honey, nuts and then of course the nuts selling art (also referred to as daystallers or crafters) along with 9.5 million visitors who walk through each year. The market is also populated with it's own security force, buskers (those who sing, dance and play instruments on the sidewalk for money), homeless men and women, some of whom sell the "Real Change" newspaper. "REAL CHANGE to help the homeless!" they call out or whisper to passersby. Lumbering delivery trucks, parades of naked bicyclists, Martha Stewart, Michael Chertoff getting a latte from the original Starbucks and most recently William Shatner.

CraftLine : Artists set up their sales space along a line of tables set on either side of a 3 block long building with a roof, but walls open to the weather on one side. Concrete floors, metal and concrete tables that hold the cold like a freezer. Each artist is given a 4 foot space on which to set up and sell their wares.

I set up outside on the sidewalk during the warmer months. An absolutely stunning view of the Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountain range in the distance. My office.

Overheard while set up on one of the outside spaces: Mom to little girl: " Look over there! Look at the ferry". "Where, where? !" the little girl asks excitedly. "Overthere", says mom pointing towards the choppy waters of Elliot Bay. "Where, where??!" the little girl asks again. Mom points again to the ferry boat coming across the water to the dock. "Ooooh", the little girl says, disappointed. "I thought you meant a real fairy".