Wednesday, May 21, 2008

update - way too long

Old dog has finally gotten well. She had a ruptured spleen!

We wound up going to Nampa and Boise for that weekend (last post) to visit my husband's uncle. While there, we ate every meal out (no cooking or dishes to do, yeah!!!) and did some driving around to see how the area has grown (way too much).

It is definitely not the Boise/Treasure Valley that I lived in in the '50's and '60's. I wouldn't want to ride my bike to the Boise airport now. When we were kids we used to do that for fun. We'd watch the airplanes from outside the fence and inside the building, wander around the gift shop, get something to drink and/or eat in the restaurant, and pedal home. You'd probably get arrested for loitering or worse if you did that now.

When we moved from Boise, the area where the LDS Temple is now had a few houses along that side of Cole Road, an alpha hay field and corn field. Cole Road and Franklin (near Boise Mall) was still Perkins (the little store was still there); Karcher Mall in Nampa was either just being built or was new; the freeway through Boise was barely under construction; the junction in Fruitland that one takes to go into Ontario, OR, was still Gayway Junction. Downtown Boise still had the Bon Marche, CC Anderson(s), The Mode, JC Penney, Sears, and OLD YMCA where we took swimming lessons. One could walk around the Capitol building at will.

Back to our trip. We made the "mistake" of going to a used book store. I bought 6 cookbooks. Why? I seldom cook anymore; I just love cookbooks. We picked up some novels to read, too.

We did go to the miniature show. I didn't enjoy the show because:
There were too many people in a too small space;
The displays were crammed together and placed up high (at least for us shorties) so they were difficult see and enjoy (the quick look that I did get showed some really imaginative and cute vignettes);
The vendors hardly had room to display their wares;
Most of the vendors brought the same merchandise to sell;
Most vendors brought commercial items that are available in catalogs for a lot less money;
Some vendors brought what looked to be shop worn items, the "let's get rid of this stuff" items, the "this has been in inventory for 20 years" items, but had "new" prices on them;
Most of the vendors brought merchandise that has been available for 30 years. I didn't see any of the newer, more modern items;
Most of the vendors acted like the customers were bothering them;
There were only a 3 or 4 crafts people there;
The prices on some items had gone up or were marked up at least 400% (no joke) since the last time I went;
Some vendors were selling jewelry and other non-dollhouse/miniature stuff;
I had just spent too much money at the bookstore;
I don't really need miniatures because I'd have to rearrange and put away other stuff to make room for it;
Last but not least, my husband and his uncle were waiting for me (enough said).

Because the business I work for sets up displays and sells at trade shows, I tried to be fair about the miniature show. I know that shows are expensive and time consuming, and it is not easy to second guess the "audience". But, all in all, I came away disappointed in the miniature club's organization of the show.

I hadn't been to the Miniature Show for several years because it is a long way to Boise, and it is always held on a weekend when several other activities (that we should attend) are being held. The difference between the past shows and this one was remarkably noticable. This show lacked the displays for one thing. It seemed that most of vendors didn't really want to be there. (Wonder who ticked them off?) To me, it felt depressed, lackluster, and sloppy. Even though I wasn't necessarily in the buying mode, a welcoming atmosphere would have probably enticed me to spend more time and money.

1 comment:

Packrat said...

OOPS - that was supposed to be alfalfa, not alpha.