Show season.........

Some people get ready for hunting season, fishing season, garden season, holiday season but I lock and load for show season.  Every year I think it's not going to happen to me this year,  I will be prepared; like making 25 pans of eggplant parm. and squirreling them away in the freezer.

(I say this for tax season too.)

Well once again I am caught with my kiln firing the night before the truck backs out of the driveway......   

In case there are those in the blogosphere thinking I am on the couch eating bon bon's and watching The Housewives of New Jersey and living the incredibly glamourous life of an ar-teest, here is what I've been up too.

Not vacuuming,  

the Dyson Animal vacuum has been turned into a coat rack.....

Within 24 hours I will be tearing the closets apart yelling where is the vacuum!!!   

The matt cutter stands at the ready for last minute framing.

The garden tools, knee pads and gloves also stand ready for any last minute pruning

 or emergency patio laying.  By this time of the year I will need napalm to get the gardens under control.

The boots have given up and thrown themselves off the steps....

The kitchen counters have been turned into inventory control.  Freshly fired horsehair pots wait to be waxed and woven.  Other pots are waiting to be tweaked, priced, photographed and packed.  

The other items on standby....... Bird Identification book, it is migrating season.

iPad for checking emails, weather (he is still sailing!), calculations on glaze formulas, a quick game of Angry Birds and listening to NPR while hunting for the vacuum.

Care package for kid in Colorado.  

Last nights dumpling pot, (victory, as it's washed and not sitting dirty in the sink)

I find it a complete mystery as to what happens to me this time of the year.  All summer I was walking 5-9 miles a day and a strict locavore; eating only the finest summer produce from my garden or farmers market.  Eggs were from free range frolicking chickens and fresh herbs were found in every succulent dish I prepared.  

This morning I found myself eating a piece of toast I found on the counter ........ 

the dog probably licked the butter and jelly off. 

By lunch, sardines out of the can and a fortune cookie from chinese take out, last week, washed down with the leftover morning coffee.  

By the time 5:00 p.m. rolls around I start thinking I should make dinner, by 6:00 p.m. I get a phone call asking;  "What's for dinner, I'll be home in 30 minutes".  By 6:25 p.m. I bolt from pot throwing, to throwing a pot of water on the front blast burner just as the car pulls in the driveway.  "Hey, hey, hey, what's for dinner?"  Um...... pasta.  As I wait for the water to boil I can weave a couple more rows.  

If I time it just right I can toss frozen broccoli in the pasta water at the last minute.  Brilliant! Open the jar of pasta sauce I canned last summer and dump it on the noodles and the noodle could be anything including ramen as Butch is doing the shopping.  Chips and beer are not a meal and toilet paper is a necessary. OH and the stuff the deli calls "Antipasta salad" is really leftover processed lunchmeat and cheese butts but he can't seem to leave the store without 2 pounds. 

I know it's fall because the deer are streaking every where and the geese are so thick they block the sun.  My neighbors know it's fall because they see me streaking to the studio in my coffee stained blue leopard print night shirt flapping in the wind, dodging doggie flops and wearing a pair of old ski boots the girls left behind.  Not exactly like walking 5-9 miles a day but it's the best I can do this time of the year..... it's Show season.

Both kids are well into mid term exams and I feel like I am on my way to finals week.  Last night in an attempt to make a meal, I made enough for the Prussian army.   A vat of chicken soup with dumplings, two big pans of apple crisp and for Abby, a crockpot of stuffed cabbage gurgled on the counter all night.  Butch loaded the car this morning and drove around with bubbling hot stuffed cabbage rolls all day.  Explain that smell to the guys on the construction site.  Meals on wheels rolled to Kent by 2 p.m.  It was well received.   Hungarian Motto on the flag...... "Why do, when you can over do?"  

This where I spend the majority of my time......... 

Lock and Load, it's show season........