Where in the World is Possumlady!

I returned a few days ago from my association’s summer board meeting. This year the meeting took place in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin at the Grand Geneva Resort that is about an hour’s drive outside of Milwaukee. Everything went smoothly from the shuttle service I arranged to pick up 25 people at different times at either Milwaukee or O’Hare airports, to the meeting space and most importantly, the food.

I have to give a shout out to Midwest Airlines. I’ve never flown them before and boy have I been missing out. Flying is one of those things I really dread. I’m not afraid to fly in the least. It is just the constant hassles, along with being herded onto too crowded planes with too small of seats. Well, I was zoning out as we were being herded onto the plane for my flight to Milwaukee when I finally noticed the seats. Wow, I thought, how long does their first class go on! I then realized that ALL their seats were leather and big with only two seats on each side. How luxurious! Then to top things off, when we got into the air they announced they would be coming around with the beverage cart and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies! Lordy they were good, still warm and soft and gooey. All that, along with a short hour and 40 minute fly time made it the perfect flight!

Beyond all the arranging I make for our board meetings, I also have the task of taking minutes. Luckily, the only things I need to take down are actual votes and action items. In between there is a lot of down time when staff are presenting reports to the board. I always sit next to the Secretary of our board so we can compare notes. Luckily, she is also on the Board Development Committee. This committee is in charge of getting new members oriented, taking exit interviews of retiring board members and in general just making their board experience a positive one. Another one of the things they do is to bring little toys and gadgets to have on the table during the board meetings so you can keep yourself occupied and not nod off during a sometimes LO N G and dry report. Our secretary knows my favorite toys and kept all the play dough down at my end of the table.




Don't you love my little neon colored pea pods! Or the pink playdough cup filled with all the multi colored balls.

I got home and my neighbor who was taking care of my cats mentioned that Sweet Pea just didn’t seem himself. He was pretty happy to see me, but yes, he did seem just a bit off. I had already planned to take Thursday and Friday off so I was able to watch him a little more closely and found out that he had a bad case of gassy diarrhea. Who knew a little 16 pound cat could make such noises!! He probably picked it up from one of the outside cats that come inside and use one of my litterboxes. Since I had to drop by the vets to pick up Greybeard’s ashes, my vet was able to give me a prescription and Sweet Pea is on the mend.



Greybeard's ashes and plaque

On Thursday there was an article in the Washington Post about flea markets and an upcoming event this past weekend called the DC Big Flea. They bring in around 600 vendors to the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, VA. Since this is near my sister’s house I called her and we decided to make a day of it on Saturday. Wow, talk about sensory overload!! It was like walking through 600 junk shops. Now, I love rummaging through junk shops but after a while it just became too much. And we didn’t even make it into the second building of vendors! Prices were VERY reasonable and most of the vendors were already willing to negotiate. Let me show you a few of the things I found and just had to have.

Not exactly old, these necklaces were made on the spot. A woman collects sea glass near Virginia Beach and crafts them into necklaces and bracelets. These two just caught my eye.

With my love of elephants I've started looking for little collectibles. I found this little jade ele and just had to have him. I asked if I could have 5.00 off and the vendor agreed. I do love to negotiate on these things. It never hurts to ask.

Well, we HAD to keep our strength up walking through all those stalls! We only had a bite and I brought the rest of the fudge home. Three different kinds, dark chocolate, vanilla, and maple walnut. MMM, MMMM, MMMMM. And, no, Woody, did not get any.

Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A vendor was selling all different kinds of animals made out of rusted scrap metal. I first saw a goat I really liked but it was just too big. Then I looked down and saw this little armadillo. When my sister offered to buy it for me for an early birthday present, I couldn't resist. I'm debating on the names of either Angus or Arlo.

There were a couple of vendors selling old ice fishing sinkers. They were mainly fish with a few odd animals here and there. I gasped when I saw this and the vendor said "yup, that's a rare one. I've never seen a possum before." You won't believe how much this cost and I'm not about to tell you but possum artifacts are few and far between so this little guy is now mine!

After an exhausting day I went back to my sister's house and had a wonderful steak and grilled asparagus dinner and to top it off, a great movie--The Mothman Prophecies, of course!!