Aylmer Home Based Business Show

I'm just packing up to go to Saxonia Hall in Aylmer for the HBBA show there. I spent much of yesterday afternoon -in between Hubby's Doc appointment and my students- revising my display that I take to art fairs.

At the beginning of last summer I lucked onto a slightly mangled aluminium gazebo that had been thrown out. The top and the side rails were ruined, but the corner trellis's are fine, and just the thing to make art display racks out of.

They're lovely, light weight but a bit of a pain to put together, so I had a brain wave this week and hopefully the adaptations will work as well in the hall as they do in my garage!

I've never been to this hall, but I have a bit of a connection to the name. When I was two, my Mom took me to Britain to meet my Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, the boat we took was the Saxonia... yes I'm that old.

I still have the panda puppet she bought me on the boat, appropriately named Saxy, and when we were going through Mom's things, we found a collection of memorabilia that I now have. I only have a few hazy memories of that trip, but I feel connected to the mementos anyway.

My British relatives sent a huge bouquet of red roses to the funeral, we put a few in the urn vault with Mom, and I took two home. One I dried, and the other I put in water. It stayed vibrant for a remarkably long time. Last weekend when I decided that it was time to let it go I discovered a little green sprout on it. I've had that happen before, but they've never amounted to anything. None the less I transferred the rose to an open mouth container, and I've been watching it gain strength all week. Most likely if it does root, the variety will be too tender to survive our winters, but I still feel like Mom has sent me a little miracle to let me know she's alright. Miss ya Mommy.