Coutts Days is this weekend and Jim and I have become engulfed in the process of getting ready for it. I’m not sure how it happened , but we have become very involved, very quickly in this little town. Every Coutts Days starts out the same, and has for years, as I mentioned in the last post. They have the Pancake Breakfast and then the parade. This years theme for the parade is Peace, Love and Tie Dye.
One group we somehow got very active in, is the seniors club, and I’m not even a senior. Jim got elected as president, he is a senior, but just barely. We do as much as we can for the group. Some of those people are very senior and often it is much like visiting “the home” when you attend meetings or pot luck suppers. The theme of the parade is basically the 60’s, but this is rural Alberta. Peace, Love and Tie Dye never did make it this deep into ranch country. During the 60’s, the seniors we are working with, were not aware of that culture, so trying to remind them about the sex and drugs and rock and roll is kinda cute. We are helping them build a float for the parade where they all will be Flower Children, they never saw listening and dancing to music they never heard. Should be fun. Neither Jim or I can be apart of the float. I have the trade show and Jim is taking pictures and video of the parade. We are building the float Wednesday, but Jim and I will make all the signs today. We have the truck and trailer lined up, so the ladies just need to decorate.
Now skip ahead to Tuesday after Coutts Days. Or was that daze.
The decorating went okay. The day we said we could help, the other ladies couldn’t, didn’t or forgot to come. They decorated on Thursday. Jim had the music all lined up and working. They won first prize in the parade and as soon as they won, there was a glitch, it got unplugged, they didn’t see that it was unplugged so for the parade, it was quiet. It was the day the music died. Here is the parade.
The trade show went fairly well. Saturday was good and Sunday was a bust. At this point I would love to add pictures of the parade, the breakfast, the show, vendors, but we didn’t take any pictures??? I don’t know where our heads were, but not behind a camera.
The show was a fund raiser for the school, and the fund raising part didn’t do that well. We raised about 75% of what we did last year. People didn’t buy the raffle tickets or bid up the silent auction items. It is what it is, or was what it was. We worked hard and did our best. We will try something new for next year. Like the farmers that surround us, next year will be a good one.
Every third weekend in June, Coutts has their Coutts Days. The Coutts Grass Rodeo takes comes t town and a large home coming slow pitch baseball tournament takes place.
Hold on to more than your hat.The pitch, the ballet. It is all in the technique.The line up for pancake breakfast.
The town has their parade and pancake breakfast. It’s a pretty big deal for this little town and has been for forty plus years without change.
The gym during the show. We had a great a turnout.The first year of vendors in tents.
I have been working on putting together the Second Annual Coutts Days Art, Craft and Trade Show. Except for last year, there has never been summer craft show here in Coutts. Last year was our first year and it was a hit. Now this year, we are expanding the show That’s where the rub is . This is a small town, 275 people small. There are people who have been here their entire lives and don’t handle change well. So when we come in, bring in new ideas and then doing something about them, it upsets some of the locals. I don’t know how many times I have been told that they never did that before, or that’s not the way we always do it, why should we change now. I also hear that the new people, us, don’t understand what Coutts Days is all about. The idea behind Coutts Days is only about the rodeo, baseball and fun. Tell that to the vendors that are coming down, with their products, hotel rooms, travel costs, 3 days away from home. I have been working to get pots together to sell not just to show them locals. The vendors and I hope to make some money. Making money is a part of idea behind Coutts Days, it’s fun! Also the show gives those people in town something else to do. I am hoping and planning to have a good show.
This town is slowly getting smaller and smaller. Granted, 275 is already pretty small. What some people need to understand is that, doing nothing is still change. People have been doing nothing since they changed the border approach, and long but that’s another blog,and it has gradually gotten smaller and smaller. It has changed and still is, changing. This little town is teetering on the brink. We need all the help we can get, and a trade show that brings in people can’t hurt. Jim, my husband, and I plan to make some changes in this town. If Coutts is teetering on the brink, we want to help push the town over to the productive and growing side. We hope to make changes and change is good.
I have dropped the video and blogging ball. It has almost been a year. Life here in Coutts is busy and I am a little scattered and unorganized, but having fun. Last blog I posted said I was going to video blog, well……. But I am here again.
We have settled and enjoying this small town of only 277 people. The studio is doing well. I have ended the Tuesday night classes for the summer and I have as many clients as I want, four. I have taken part times jobs at the local Post Office, here in Coutts and Milk River, the town 18 kilometers north. The office here is small, meaning, that there is only one person in the office at a time. It is a great way to learn all the jobs at the PO and get to know your neighbours. I was sorting mail yesterday, when I heard a voice from the other side of the boxes. “My names is Bud, what is my box number?” he hollered out. I hollered back, “Hi Bud, you are 172 and you don’t have any mail today.” Only in a small town.
Coutts Post Office
We are working on our Second Annual Coutts Days Art, Craft and Trade Show. Everyone says , Bigger and Better, well we are. We have vendors coming from St. Albert, Calgary Lethbridge and all in between. We will have about 40 vendors. OOHHH I hope the people attend and the vendors do well.
Today, I will walk the dog Harvey for a walk in his coulee. We live near this beautiful valley with water, birds, wild life and flowers. We are the only ones we know of that take advantage of the wonder 2 mile walk along the valley. We named the coulee Harvey Coulee because he simply loves it there. We may walk only a couple of miles, but he runs all over and does a whole lot more than that. We try to walk him there every morning. What a great way to start your day. I have a bunch of pots to glaze and then load. I will work the lunch hour at the Post Office and tonight we have to mow the lawn. We have double lot and that is a lot …. well two lots…. of grass.
My Mom had her 101st birthday last week. Mother was 45 when I was born and have been watching aging first hand for a long time. She is in an extended care home, confined to a wheel chair and hasn’t walked in years. Mom suffers from dementia and lives a in half of a hospital like room with another lady that is not as infirm, but everyone there is there for a reason. Spending the last four days visiting Mom, others in the home and the staff, Lesson #1 in Aging 101, is that aging is not for wimps.
Lesson #2 be happy. Make whatever choices you have to make to ensure that you have a life that makes you happy. Happy where it counts, in the pit in of your stomach where all the true answers are. Don’t make choices motivated by fear, money, comfort, what others think, or any other reason. Make choices you honestly think that are best for you. Not easy to do, but as we learned in Lesson #1, aging is not for wimps.
Lesson #3, Work, it is imperative to healthy and happy aging. It keeps our sense of self worth and ego. Wake up everyday with a purpose. If you don’t have one, get one. Make lists that are far to long to finish in one day. Doesn’t have to be a “job” in the traditional sense, but work. Find a way to keep your body and mind moving and fit. It’s easy to slide into a slow and lazy life, again, we can apply Lesson #1 here.
Lesson #4, Don’t take life personally. That often is a tough one.
Lesson #5, Don’t life too seriously, no one ever gets out alive.
Lesson#6, Make your own lesson plan.
It was an interesting week, seeing my Mother and sisters. Mother is 101 and us sisters are not getting any younger either. As I have watched Mom age, if have watched us girls getting older too. We have all aged very differently and our lives have few similarities. I have two sisters and they have the responsibility of Mom and I only get down there when I can. It was good to get together, but at the same time, it was an education in aging. Aging 101.
Happy Birthday Mom
I found this video after I posted, but just had to add it! It made me happy to do so.
Coutts AB is a village of about 250 people. Last week a customer wanted to mail me a cheque to pay for a bowl and she asked for my address. I sent her the address, but what I didn’t tell her was that she could just send it to ” Pottery Cindy, Coutts AB” and I would get it. There are only two Cindy’s living in Coutts. I am Cindy-Lee and the other is Cindy-Lou. We are both friends with the lady in the Post Office and Tracey, the post office lady, would know which one is Pottery Cindy. If for some reason Cindy-Lou got mail for Cindy-Lee, she would walk over to my house and give it me. There are only about 15 streets and avenues in total in Coutts, so walking all the way across town to deliver a letter is not a problem. Being new town, everyone knows where the new people live.
We have been busy in the studio making pots and making videos. Here are the next two episodes in the saga of Studio Life in Coutts.
Winter has returned. Last week we were out walking in our shirtsleeves and this morning I woke to -18C with a nasty wind. Dang….. I am looking forward to spring. I am hoping for a cloudy start to the day tomorrow and that little smelly groundhog does not see his shadow. Fingers crossed! No more winter.
The video blog is so much easier and quicker than writing a blog. When I write the blog, I will write, and then go back and read, change a few things, and then think about it a bit more and maybe do a rewrite. It can take me long time to get to the point where I hit “Publish”. The video blog is completely off the cuff. After I am done, I often forget what I have said. It is fun, fast and then finished.
Here is Episode 9.
Yesterday we were in Lethbridge selling raffle tickets for a shiny red Corvette. It is a local fund raiser organized by the Milk River Kinsmen Club. Towns that participate get a portion of the money the car raises. Coutts will use their share for community events. We like to do our part.
Today was a beautiful day. The sunrise has moved along the horizon so can see it again from my living-room window. This morning I watched the sun come up on a day that warmed up to fourteen glorious degrees Celsius, or about 60 Fahrenheit. We live in Coutts, as far south in Alberta as you can get ad still be in Alberta. However it is Alberta and it is January, and temps in the teens is wonderful gift. I left the studio early this afternoon so Jim and could go for a walk. A walk without cold, wind, ice, coats, hat or a scarf. Just a lovely walk in the warm sun in our shirtsleeves. It felt good to be out and about.
This morning we shot the next in our blog series, Episode Nine, and how to throw a casserole. Yesterday we shot Episode Eight.
It’s Friday which is kid’s day at the studio. Wow were they wound up today! After a couple of weeks of cold weather it has warmed up a bit and they all found a new well of enthusiasm to tap. We made polar bears and I’ll add some pictures later. Here is today’s video blog which shows a little bit about reclaiming clay.
Hope you are finding these interesting! The next one will be Sunday.
Bye for Now
