Aiken's Makin'

Well, it's hard to believe that it's been almost a year since my last (and first) blog entry. How time flies...??? I hope I can start doing a little better at this but for now, I'll just ramble a little about this past weekend at my first Aiken's Makin' festival!

My mom (my festival buddy) and I just got back late last night from Aiken, SC where we attended the 32nd Annual Aiken's Makin' Arts and Crafts Show. It was a great show from a financial standpoint and also a great one from a reminiscing standpoint. You see, the last time my mom and I were in Aiken, we were attending the (now defunct) Ramblewood horse shows. Yes, I used to be an equestrienne and had a couple of great horses that I showed in hunt seat shows across NC, SC, & GA.

The Ramblewood shows were always a favorite of ours and never failed to create memories, both good and bad. The good was that I always did pretty well at the shows, winning quite a few blue ribbons and even some prize money a few times. The bad usually had to do with the weather in Aiken. The coldest show I ever rode in was in Aiken, cold and wet. I'll never forget sitting on top of Royal Twist in the rain waiting to take my turn through a jumping course. It was probably 32 degrees and I was freezing my buns off. Once I got called to go on, I remember trying to navigate the 3-1/2 foot fences while shivering and blinking away frozen rain from my eyes. I don't remember how I did in the class but I am sure all I really cared about was getting back to the barn to warm up my frozen toes.

The warmest show I probably ever attended was also in Aiken. Imagine sitting on a hot horse on a leather saddle wearing a wool coat, hard hat, and leather boots in 100 degrees. It was miserable and I remember my head just throbbing from the heat. In between classes, my mom and I would sit inside Twist's stall (with him of course) in front of the fan we had put in there to keep the horse cooled down. At some point I took off my leather boots but when it was time to get ready for my next class, I found that my legs had swollen up from the heat and I couldn't get my boots back on! I scrambled to find some other boots to wear and got lucky to find some that fit my puffy legs. The only drawback was that the other rider also needed them for her classes so we had to play tag-team with the boots between our two classes.

But this past weekend in Aiken was a much different show. It was still hot, sweaty, and dusty but I was showing something much different from a horse this time, my current passion, jewelry. We still had to contend with some interesting weather from Tropical Storm Hanna (fitting this is also my mom's name!). But as it turned out, Hanna was no more than a bunch of hot air (not my mom, of course) and both days were just great. I sold a lot of jewelry and met some nice vendors and earned the business of great customers. So after a hiatus of 25-30 years, I was back with my mom enjoying a couple of late summer days in the quaint southern town of Aiken.

My First Blog

Well, I've finally ventured into the world of Blogs! I'm sure I have a lot to learn to make these postings interesting to my friends and customers. So bear with me as I jump head first into this not-so-new but new-to-me web world.

Today is Sunday and it has started out like any other Sunday, reading the newspaper and watching CBS's Sunday Morning. They had a tribute to the opera star Pavarotti, who died this past week, which brought me to tears. I'm not an avid opera buff but I do have a family connection to the opera world. My brother, Stephen Gaertner, is an up-and-coming Baritone living in NYC who is making his official Met debut this season. I grew up listening to opera but as a child I did not appreciate it very much. My taste ran more along the line of Earth, Wind & Fire, Elton John, and the Commodores (I guess I'm revealing my age with these bands). However, over the years I have come to appreciate opera and was a fan of Pavarotti's music in particular. So it was sad to hear of his passing and I know Stephen and other opera singers are really mourning the loss of one of the greats. So arrivederci, Pavarotti!

Well, I'd better sign off for now. I've been procrastinating on some jewelry repair work I have to do. I'd rather be creating new pieces but since this work is for a good customer, I'd better get to it!!!