Honey Bee and reception at Miss Jackson's

I was sitting outside yesterday because it was so nice. I like to eat out there as much as I can (I have a tall patio table, chairs, and umbrella). In the past few weeks when I've taken my can of Coke out there, I've had a honey bee flying around me buzzing my coke can and "drinking" from it. Sure enough, he showed up and I tried to cover the can with my hand to keep him out (I don't mind if he "drinks" when I'm done with it, but not while I'm still drinking). I put my can down after a while and forgot about it. I sat down cross-legged on the ground and petted Brownie for a while. After she wandered off, I reached up and grabbed my Coke. I put the can to my lips and took a really big drink. I had a lot of Coke in my mouth and was still sucking it in before I swallowed when all of a sudden I felt something small and solid in my mouth. I immediately reversed the sucking to spitting and I blew quite a bit of Coke out all over my jeans and the cement. I looked around me for whatever it was I'd had in my mouth besides Coke, but didn't see anything. I brought the can up to peer in the opening and there was that honey bee floating in the last bit of Coke. He wasn't moving, so I thought maybe he wasn't alive anymore. I put the can aside and took it in later. When I went to dump the rest of the Coke in the sink before I threw the can away, I poured it onto my lunch plate because I had it in the bottom of the sink waiting to be rinsed and put in the dishwasher. As I poured, that honey bee came out and landed on the plate. He started moving! I grabbed a measuring cup by the sink (also waiting to be rinsed and put in the dishwasher) and scooped him up. I put him outside in one of my pots (with a tiny tree that did not make it this year) so Brownie couldn't chase him around (she loves to catch flies, bees, etc.). I checked on him later because I didn't know how his wings would fare having been dunked in sticky Coke, but I think the dump in the plate with a little standing water in it may have rinsed him because he was no longer there. At that point, I was able to think how gross it was that I had had a live honey bee in my mouth.

We went to an artist's reception at Miss Jackson's last night in preparation for the show tomorrow at Utica Square. I knew Miss Jackson's was an upscale place that sold some jewelry, but having never peered in any of their other windows, I didn't know what else they had in there. They had closed the shop for the reception and you had to go in the only set of doors they had unlocked and sign in. The shop was very nice as were the people in it. They had the hors devours (that was how I knew it was going to be classy, along with the word "reception" on the invitation) in the middle of the store on a display. They had shrimp cocktail, little mini-sandwiches (only able to determine one plate of them were cheese/cream cheese sandwiches, not sure what the ones that had a touch of pink were and I didn't ask), an assortment of cheeses, and a nice fruit tray with melons, strawberries, and fresh pineapple chunks. That was in the middle of the store. Towards the front, they had several trays of cookies and fancy brownies. In another part of the store, they had a mini-bar set up and I think they were serving wine, but Pooker and I had little cans of Coke (when we asked for Coke, they gave us the ice cold little cans). I told Pooker this is the type of life he can expect being married to an artist--you know, the finer things in life. He smiled. The food was good, two employees we visited with (Ron and Katie) were really nice and made me feel welcome, and even though I only knew two other people there and didn't visit with them long, I had a very lovely time. They made an announcement while we were there about how much advertising they had been doing for this event and told us to be sure to sign in at the information booth before 10 am and get your goodie bag. She said she was really impressed that some of the stores really stepped up for this goodie bag. I don't know what that means, but I am excited to pick up my goodie bag. I'm sort of imagining the swag bags at the Oscar's, but even if it were some coupons and a few samples, I'd still love it. "Goodie" just implies goodies and I do like goodies. I've got to tell you, I'm really impressed with the organizers of this event. This will be my first time to be at this one and I'm pretty excited about it. With the reception and the warm attitudes, they made me really feel welcome and special even. That's always nice because that doesn't happen often. Ron looked at my map and told me what shops my location was by (I'm not really familiar with all the shops in the Square) and he told me it was a really good location to have. I wouldn't have known that. We left the reception (the people at the door told us thanks for coming and hoped we were successful on Saturday--Nice!) and went to look at the area I'd be in so I could get an idea of what it looked like and how I want to set up. The spot did turn out to be nice and was packed, even at 7:30 at night! I think I even have room for my canopy. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, not because I'm hoping to sell to people, but so I can be out with my art on a nice day, meet some nice people, and just be. If I sell something, bonus, if not, more beautiful paintings for me! (Not that I'm not biased or anything, but I do like my own work! And I'm okay with my art being something I do for myself, my family, and friends.)