It's winter so how about a summer story to warm us up

Ok - so here's one from last summer. There are mounted police in Seattle. Men in uniform on the back of very large, very well taken care of horses cause quite a stir with the tourists that converge on Pike Place Market every summer. Police on horseback seem to be a good way of monitering the ner-do-well activity that can take place in such a congested environment. There's a park across the street and you can look over and see one of the mounted police perched atop a small grassy hill surveying his beat. Pike Place itself is very picturesqe with a red brick road surface and interesting old buildings set in a historic district overlooking the waterfront.

The horses bring more than photo ops. They bring very large poop droppings, quite often in the middle of the road. This incident happened on a "Summer Sunday" when the street is closed and our booths are set up all along the sidewalk. We had a "code 2" (this is the code used for maintenance to come and clean up the horse poop). The day was hot for Seattle - 80 degrees, sunny and so brightly blue your eyes hurt. The "code 2" was left piled high in the street for quite some time just steaming in the sun. I looked over and noticed something glinting and twinkling in the sun. I walked over to investigate. People had started to use it as a wishing well/pile of poop. There were pennies and other coins stuck to it from top to bottom just glittering in the sun. All I could think of was if the homeless people would get to it before the clean up crew.

Your face is so red. Could it be freezer burn?

This is the question my husband met me with as I returned home from work yesterday. A long but thankfully fairly profitable day at Pike. The high temp was 39 degrees. A marketplace open to the elements where other vendors/crafters/artists and a few hardy visitors spent our day.

The predicted high for this coming Sunday - 35 degrees. BUT ! No rain or snow in the forecast - Saweeet! Over the years I have learned to be prepared for the cold. I'm often asked by visitors to the market how I handle it. The preparation starts thussly : A very hot a.m. shower, liberal application of baby powder so the silk top and bottom long underwear slides on. Then a woven tank top, 2 layers of silky long sleeve tops, a woven turtle neck, long sleeved wool sweater, cashmere scarf, cashmere gauntlets, jeans, wool socks, fur lined boots and a knit wool cap. It takes forever to get dressed and even longer to undress. The trick for me is to keep each layer thin and close to the body. No air can touch me, except for my face. I hate wearing bulky coats. It makes working the booth nearly impossible for me.

Another major key - a floor mat to stand on. The concrete floor of the market is like a block of ice and your body just acts as a wick to pull up that cold into your core. The end of January is near - can June be far behind???

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".