Handmade rustic willow furniture

The last two weeks have been consumed with my efforts to obtain enough pussywillows to satisfy the demand at the cut Flower booth at the Indiana Flower and Patio Show run by my friend Pam Parker of JP Parker Florist. During the ten-day run of the show we share in the profits and her expenses are considerable and I want to ensure that we maximize our efforts. Every year we have done this, which seems to be about fifteen years now, we have been successful. Despite a bad economy, last year was our most sucessful year. It looks like I cut the last of two trees in Arcadia last evening and I will haul them back to the shop today and finish bundling them for delivery to the show Friday. It is always a relief to get to the end of this crazily intense time. I will be SO glad to return to making my handmade rustic willow furniture. I will show my work at the upcoming Indiana Artisan Market April 6-7 at the Expo hall at the fairgrounds. My winter production of handmade rustic furniture has me ready to do the show without any need for extreme efforts. This year my friend and collaborator John Bundy will appear at the show as he has been named an Indiana Artisan. The first week in May will also bring another favorite show, Orchard in Bloom at Holiday Park. This will be my Twenty-second time there. Not much time lately for wildlife, but I saw scaups on Morse lake yesterday. No loons yet. Right at this moment there are three grackles feeding on sunflower seeds on my patio and the big fat robins are chasing each other around. On just flew into my front porch window. Discouragingly, a dust of snow is all over and the small pond behind my house is frozen over where mallards and geese were feeding last night. Spring seems discouragingly far away today.