Greenberg's Train Show or How to Become a Booth Babe

My in-laws build and sell accessories for model trains. While most of the sales are through distributors and on-line, some are through train shows. Since 1976, Greenberg's Toy & Train Show has been the largest traveling show featuring operating model train displays, hard-to-find railroad items and much more according to their web-site. And despite the bad economy, model railroading is alive and well. This was the first time I had attended a train show. My previous experience with shows was when I was working with a jewelry designer and we did shows like the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington DC. So I asked my mother in-law what the appropriate attire was for a train show booth babe. Should I bring a dress, a skirt, nice pants, specific colors to complement the booth? She just laughed and said to wear something that would fit in with bib overalls and train hats. Hmm..... do I OWN bib overalls or a train hat......and where might these items be purchased..... so much to do to get ready. I settled on tan pants and a variety of plain tee shirts in solid colors. Then I had to learn about my product. My father in-law designs, makes and sells power controllers for G scale (that's Garden scale or the big outdoor model trains) layouts. He has recently designed a controller for HO Scale (that's the Lionel small size that you may have had in a basement layout or under your Christmas tree). These power controllers have an excellent reputation and are sold under his company Bridgewerks. But they are VERY complicated if you are trying to quickly learn all the lingo and information about them..... like they are "pure DC" (I think that is direct current).... and they have volts and amps and that is not the same thing and the number is not the only thing you should think about and they are track powered and.... I decided that my in-laws could talk them up. I decided to stick with the latest product - billboards. My father in-law designed to-scale billboards for G scale layouts. They are made of metal with metal interchangeable signs and are built to be put in an outdoor layout  withstanding weather. You buy the billboards separately and because they have magnets on the back, you can change them. Recently, he designed to-scale HO billboards with refrigerator-type magnets that attach to the metal sign. Greenberg's was the debut for this new product. The billboards are sold under the company name Mountain Billboards. Now that product information was easier to learn.

Before we left North Carolina to drive to the show, my father in-law decided that we needed matching show shirts. So we got black and red Land's short sleeve polo shirts. And with our tan pants, we looked very professional. We loaded the mini-van and took off. The show was held in Timonium MD.... that's on the other side of DC. And no matter when you drive through the DC area, you hit traffic.... LOTS of traffic. We finally arrived, set up and headed to the hotel for dinner and bed.
I was very excited to be doing a show again. I lay in bed remembering all the wonderful art at the craft shows I had attended when making jewelry. And the amazing artists that I met.... and the lovely customers..... 
We arrived bright and early at the Exhibition Hall on the Fairgrounds. The show filled the space with not only rows and rows of tables/booths, but several large layouts.

I took a few moments to wander a bit. While most of the vendors were selling train related stuff, many were also selling toys - old old toys, not-so-old toys, comic books, Barbie dolls. When I went by the entrance, the lobby was packed full of waiting customers!

 

I hurried back to the booth to be ready. The doors opened and we were off. Now, I am an experienced booth babe. I know how to look encouragingly at the customers and make pleasant conversation while describing the features of the products. But that was all with ladies looking at jewelry. Model train shoppers are a bit different. First of all, the shoppers are mainly men. And second..... well, they aren't wearing Gucci and they aren't interested in how the billboard will bring out the colors in their layout. So I smile at the gentleman who is standing in front of the table studying the metal billboards tastefully displayed and I say (in my best salesperson voice), "Aren't they cute?" And he slowly looks up at me and replies, "Honey, you NEVER tell a man that something looks cute. That's death for the sales." I suppose I should describe this shopper... he was quite tall and bald with an earring and a belly and he looked like the motorcycle was parked outside. So, maybe "cute" was the wrong approach....
Sales were busy Saturday morning when all the serious model railroaders rushed in to get the ONE thing they needed for their layout and then left. The afternoon was D-E-A-D! And Sunday was all families with small busy children who wanted to touch and play with everything. By 2:30, things were not selling and we were beat. So at 3pm, we started to pack up. Now, for those of you who haven't done shows, the show organizers really don't like vendors to pack up until the show has officially closed. Some organizers will even penalize vendors who start to pack early. Our show ended at 4pm. But we threw caution to the wind and were packed and outta there by 3:40pm. I must say that, overall, it was a great time. And I am happily looking forward to the two shows in December. I'm thinking a bit of greenery and ribbons to brighten up the booth.....

                                                 Boys and their toys

Learning to Play Again

I have just spent a week with my six year-old nephews. And I am exhausted. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have always wanted to be the Auntie/Grandmother that PLAYED with the kids – not just visited them. And Andrew and Brian are GREAT playmates. As soon as I arrived, they wanted to play our special game of “Cosmic Space Spider”. But we had to change it a bit as the space spider went to where broken toys go…… So now it was Cosmic Space Snake…. Or Dragon….. or whatever stuffed animal the boys selected. I have to tell you that I made up the game. But I no longer know the rules as the boys kept pointing out. “No Auntie Sharon! You have to hold the Black Hole up more.” The “Black Hole, by the way is a hula hoop. I sit on the floor in the upstairs hall and hold the hoop up and wave it about and growl and make cosmic space noises and try to catch the boys as they run past or dive through the hoop. The space animal comes in as my assistant trying to attack the boys who are squealing and laughing and running and jumping and having a great time. We also play the Cosmic Quicksand Game…. That’s when the hula hoop is laid flat on the floor and swirled around and the boys have to jump over it as it swirls. Sometimes the quicksand gets rowdy and starts flipping and flopping around and it is much harder to jump over it. And the quicksand LOVES little boy toes. So you had better be quick! If I don’t perform correctly, I’m reminded – No Auntie Sharon! Keep the quicksand on the floor! I have a digital camera which makes a very good toy. I take photos of small boys flying past me and then, with Photoshop’s help, they become aliens from outer space. They find this hilarious. It has been very interesting watching their sense of humor evolve. I have seen a big change with this last visit. They are developing “school boy humor”. You know, where ANY word related to bodily functions sends them rolling around on the floor. And the sillier the joke the better. I now realize why all those really bad knock-knock jokes keep surviving…… They were MADE for school boys! And if one pig snort will make you laugh, how about 30 in a row really fast? Knocking your socks off yet? And then there is the one where they say something cute and you laugh and then they say a wacky version of the same thing and you HAVE to laugh…. Because they are and they are just so darn cute! So even if “snickerdoodlesillypuff” isn’t hysterical, just look at that sweet face eagerly waiting for your guffaw. Another great advantage of being a playing Auntie is that you have to keep up on all the latest kid movies. So I took Mark to see “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” because I heard that when I got to the boys’ house, I would be receiving sorcerer lessons. And I HAD to go out and get black shoes as you can’t be trained wearing flip flops – the plasma balls might land on your feet. I missed “How to Train Your Dragon” which was a real liability. The boys tried hard to bring me up to speed so that I could assist with dragon training and care….. I don’t think I did very well …. We didn’t play that game for very long. And now the boys have met Harry Potter. Granted, they have only watched the first 4 episodes. It does get a bit dark after that and they are only 6. But now, we wear Harry Potter scars on our heads that have the amazing capacity to shoot lightening bolts at bad Cosmic Space operators when the Cosmic Space Hole/Quicksand starts to misbehave. I know when the punishing bolt is about to arrive – Harry grabs his scar in pain and winces and then….. I’m done for. So I have to play the “Cosmic Space” death scene. We also play the Guessing Game. Coral, the stuffed coral snake blocks the hall way with the hula hoop and she tells the boys that they have to guess the password. They usually want AT LEAST one hint. And of course, Coral has QUITE the personality. She sings (albeit not well) and she promises not to eat the boys or bite them if they feed her…. So we get piles of stuffed animals and pretend possums (I guess that’s what coral snakes eat…. Oh and lots of ribs…. Hmmm….) and, of course, they guess the word. So Coral cries and they have to hug and kiss her and make her feel better. And I learned about Ben Ten and that you can pull yourself up the stairs pretending that it is a mountain. Playing sure is fun! But I think I need a nap.

Gilroy Has Garlic!

The area around San Jose is noted for agriculture. Before all the techno businesses moved in and built sprawling campuses, the land was covered with crops and fruit orchards. You can still find clusters of fields here and there. And we are fortunate to have many capitals near us…. That’s agricultural capitals. We have Castroville, the artichoke capital of the world. And Stockton is the Asparagus capital of the world. We have Holtville – Carrot capital, Greenfield – Broccoli capital, Oxnard – Lima Bean capital, and Fallbrook – Avocado capital just to name a few. We even have the Poison Oak capital of the world – Forestville (in the Wine country). But the best one of all is Gilroy – Garlic capital of the world. And to celebrate its fame, Gilroy has an annual garlic festival. And, of course, we had to go! Out here, garlic is planted in October, harvested in early June and then dried for six weeks before it is ready to sell. So the festival is in mid-July each year. The festival, established in 1979, features cooking demonstrations, professional chefs competing, Gourmet Alley with a zillion food booths all serving stuff made with garlic, craft booths, music stages…. On and on. We drove down US101 and knew we were getting close when we could SMELL the garlic from the highway! No kidding! You can really smell garlic – even with the windows rolled up. And then we got in a car line with all the 100,000 other people attending. Mark heard from another commuter on Cal Train that you DON’T want to go on Saturday as the crowds are REALLY big. So Mark, Natalie and I went early on Sunday. The festival opened at 10am – we were in our car line that started at 101 by 10:30. It took us over 30 minutes to make it to the parking lot and walk in to the Festival. We entered the gate by all the commercial booths like Foster Farms. They had 2 giant chicken balloons floating over the park and chickens you could stand next to for a photo op and drawings for chicken and much much more.

We quickly moved through all of that looking for garlic. We found the gourmet cooking stage and watched a local chef prepare salmon. The chef and her husband started the Garlic Festival 32 years ago to highlight the farmers in the area. We were hoping to see Fabio from our favorite cooking show – Top Chef – who was master of ceremonies. But he wasn’t on until later when the professional chefs started competing.

After a while, we wandered over to the Crafts. Garlic is the theme with garlic-shaped hats, garlic handblown glass, garlic Christmas tree ornaments. We had heard about garlic ice cream. And, yes….. they were serving free cones. So we got in line and had a taste….. imagine a not-very-good vanilla ice cream with garlic powder liberally mixed in. Hmmmm……. NOT in the shopping cart for us!

And every time I saw a garlic photo op, I made Natalie pose....

 The Garlic Festival is a non-profit that uses volunteers. All Gilroy community groups are given a percentage of the profits based on the number of hours that the group volunteers. In the 32 years of the Festival, over $8 million has been raised. In 2009, the Gilroy High School choir raised $10,604.32. And Mrs. Block’s classroom at Rucker School raised $23.24. It reminded me of the Clam Festival in Yarmouth ME.
Gourmet Alley was the highlight of the event. Anything that can be eaten was mixed with garlic and served. We found garlic sausage several ways, garlic stir fry, garlic fries (covered with parsley and little chunks of raw garlic – more garlic than fries and VERY yummy!), garlic chocolate, scampi with garlic, mussels with garlic…. You name it, it was there. It was hard to wait until lunchtime. I found a delicious local sausage with sauerkraut (the sausage was full of garlic). And once we were full and reeking of garlic, we headed over to the booth selling garlic braids. We bought several along with garlic pesto. And we were given little bags of garlic to be planted with instructions on how to grow garlic.

By now, we were hot, dusty, slightly sun burned and the crowds were getting pretty bad. So we trudged back to the car and headed home. My friends couldn’t believe that we were going until they heard that we had never been. Oh, I guess you have to go at least once – they said. But I must say, that it was rather fun. And, after all, anything with garlic HAS to be good!

Dancing with the Buddha

 In July, Buddhists celebrate the Obon Festival. This festival and memorial service are in recognition of a story found in the Ulambana Sutra. The story concerns one of the Sakyamuni Buddha’s ten great disciples, Mogallana. In the sutra, Mogallana learns the true meaning of gratitude through the life of his deceased mother with the help of Sakyamuni Buddha. It was said that at this realization, Mogallana’s joy was so great, that he began to dance. In commemoration of this legend, one of the highlights of the Obon festival is the Obon dancing. Japantown is noted for its large Obon Festival. So of course, we had to go. It seems that Buddhists are not early risers as things did not begin until after lunch. We wandered down in the afternoon to check it out. In addition to craft booths, there were many delicious foods for sale. And lots of people dressed in kimonos and the boy version of jackets and bathrobes. We especially wanted to attend the Buddhist temple’s Buddhism 101. We learned that all Buddhist sects and denominations are tied together by the Three Treasures – Buddha (the Awakened One), Dharma (Buddha’s teachings), and Sangha (the Buddhist order). It was lovely to step inside the cool building and smell the incense. The temple was started by the first Japanese immigrants to settle in San Jose. It belongs to the Shinshu tradition of Buddhism. The temple served as a focal point for Japantown in its early years. During WWII, most of the Japanese Americans in Japantown were interred in prison camps. A San Jose attorney took care of the temple until after the war when the Japanese could return.

The biggest highlight of the festival is the dancing. Fifth St is closed off from Taylor to Jackson St. Three platforms are placed down the center of the street and lines are drawn creating an oval space. It looks like lanes for a race track with viewing stands on the outside edges. As the start time grows closer, kimonos, jackets and bathrobes begin gathering at the far end of the oval. Small groups mount the stairs to each platform and take their places….. the music starts…. Or at least I THINK it starts as the speaker at our end of the oval is not working and we can’t hear anything. The dancers on the platform in front of us look confused until they see the dancers on the center platform dancing. Then they quickly jump in. I look to the end of the oval and see this endless mass of color start to move in unison down the lanes in front of us. I assume that some can hear music because they all seem to be keeping together. And the song continues and waves upon waves of kimonos/jackets/bathrobes on adults and teens and children file past. And then I notice that many of the dancers are NOT dressed up but have stepped out of the crowd along the edge and are dancing… and there are some cub scouts and some adolescent girls all dressed up and giggling and  adolescent boys NOT dressed up but dancing along with the girls. And the song ends and I think that the show is over and it was very interesting and my neck (which has NO sunscreen and recently has lost its protective covering of long hair) is getting painful. And then the music starts again. But this time, everyone has whipped out a fan (hidden in the big sash/obi on the ladies and who knows where on the jackted/bathrobed men. This dance entails waving the fan and bending and swooping. Now imagine a Kentucky Derby-type race track FILLED with lanes of people all waving fans and bending and swooping to music that you can’t hear. It was a bit surreal. And just as I was really getting into it, the sound crew fixed the speaker in front of us and music came blasting out. And the fan dance was over and fans were tucked away only to be replaced by castanets…. Well, I know that they probably aren’t CALLED castanets. But that’s what they looked and sounded like.

 So now we have music and clacking and bending and swooping and stepping and my neck MUST be getting burned. But wait! There’s more! The music ends, the castanets are tucked away (no wonder they need that wide sash!) and off come the neck scarves! The scarves are flapped and waved and twisted up as everyone bends and swoops and hops and the masses of people dance slowly around the oval. By now, we have seen everyone dancing as they passed us by. We have even picked out our next door neighbor’s granddaughter who is dancing for the first time this year. Apparently the local experts ( those are the dancers on the platforms) give lessons for several weeks before the festival. Anyone can take the classes and join in the dancing. As the scarves are neatly returned to dancers’ necks, I think that we MUST be at the end…. But no. I look at the program and finally notice the TWO COLUMNS of dances listed. Oh my. I look at Mark who is also getting burned despite the hat he has on. And we both agree that it is time for us to dance our way home. We discuss the Buddhism class on the walk back and agree that we would like to attend the evening Dharma classes in the Fall to learn more. And I suggest that maybe next year, we even take the dance classes. I think Mark would look sooo cute in a bathrobe and I have a fan. Who knows?

From Scraps to Robots

During one of my summer trips, I found myself in Durham NC. My nephews were celebrating their sixth birthday and I HAD to be there. My nephews are very special people in my life. My own children have been very slow in producing grandchildren and I NEEDED to be a grandmotherly type person. So when Brian and Andrew arrived, I just decided that being an Auntie type person would be just as good. It is a privilege to see the world through the eyes of a small person – to be able to forget about mortgages and bills and worldly worries and just play cosmic space spider or build with legos. I have learned about robots and dragons and read great new stories. Now, when I am in Durham, Kit (mother of twins) fills the days with lots of great activities. One of these was a trip to the Scrap Exchange. This place collects clean industrial discards and reuses them. Or puts them in bins and stacks and piles and invites people to come in, be creative and reuse them. The store collects all sorts of things from businesses in Durham and then sells them for very reasonable prices. It is staffed by funky young people who enjoy making art out of found objects. And, if you need to build a robot or a space ship, this is the place to go. Andrew, Brian and I could hardly wait to go! Once there, you collect a plastic bag – you would recognize the bag as the one that your mattress pad or sheets came in (the one with a zipper around three sides). You then wander up and down the aisles pawing through bins of stuff until you find the perfect parts for the engine or the body or the wings. And then there is the bin of medical IV tubing that works well for carrying lubricant to the joints of our robot. Or maybe we could build a house out of these cardboard bricks….. or color on this cool paper…. Oh look! Parts of a lamp! And a wall out of old VHS tapes? Why not! The boys and I happily filled our bags and headed to the checkout to pay… until I saw interesting arrangements of mannequin body parts…. And then I HAD to take pictures. So if you are ever in Durham, stop by and let your creative juices flow!

I'm Back....

Summer is the time for vacations. And, while all of the last six weeks haven’t been spent in some luxurious resort, some of the time has been spent on the road. When we first arrived in San Jose, life was simple. I did not join every group or organization I found. I stayed home and sewed and read and recharged. And I discovered blogging. I enjoyed sharing my experiences in a new place with friends and family. I wasn’t sure that people really enjoyed my interpretations of events. But I have had several comments about the lack of blog posts lately.

Life has gotten busier. I still have not joined groups. But I have been traveling more. In June, there was the trip to North Carolina for the twin nephews’ sixth birthday. And then a trip to Maine to reconnect. And then family coming to NoCal. So the blogging disappeared. But I have still been experiencing new and exciting things here in NoCal. I will catch you all up on the unusual events….. like the Scrap Exchange in Durham, Gilroy Garlic Festival, the Obon Festival in Japantown and, of course, another wine dinner. So forgive the silence and enjoy the new posts.

The Graduate

The first of our pack graduated recently from McGill University in Montreal. It was a happy and sad moment for us. We are glad that he finished. But we are sad that we won’t have a good reason to visit Montreal. If you have never been to this city, I encourage you to go. It is a great place to visit. And McGill is a great school. Now, I have been to lots of graduations. In fact, I have been a part of lots of graduations as a graduate and as faculty. But this one was a bit unique. First of all, it was the last of 12 commencements held in a HUGE tent over 6 days. Each school has its own ceremony with the School of Music the last. The dignitaries are piped in to the tent by a piper and the graduates have 2 pipers that escort them in. After all, it is MC Gill. Most of the faculty have those darling black velvet floppy hats with a big brim and a bit of gold braid. And McGill’s school color is red so the black robes are trimmed in scarlet. The color of the hood for music is “mauve” which really looks like lavender. Each baccalaureate graduate wears one trimmed in fake white fur. Also very cute. Now, each graduation has the required parts – the lengthy speech by someone distinguished, the granting of degrees to PhD/EdD/MBA….. well, you get the picture, and then the undergraduates get their degrees. And sometimes they will award honorary degrees. We had it all.





The new Chancellor spoke to the gathering about the importance of taking care of your health. An interesting subject for young music graduates. But he was quite elderly and he did stress that if you took care of yourself, you would be less of a burden on society. Hmmm…… And we did have an honorary degree award. Olivier Latry, the organist from Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris France was given a doctorate. As part of the ceremony, the honoree is usually expected to give a speech – on health or whatever they want to talk about. But THIS dean pulled a fast one on this guy. He opened a sealed envelope and handed the man a piece of paper. Latry was then escorted off the stage and taken out of the tent to Redpath Hall (a huge old granite building on the quad). This building used to be the library when the school first began. Now it houses the University’s mammoth manual organ with LOTS of keys and LOTS of stops.

In Redpath Hall, Latry is then expected to improvise for a very long time on the two little tunes he found on the piece of paper. And the tunes are very different. One is a chant – Ave Maria – and the other is this little wisp of notes that swoop up and abruptly stop and then swoop again and stop. And with a bit of dissonance thrown in. Now, this is no ordinary music school. It offers degrees in music recording and videoing. So while Dr. (almost) Latry is in a building to our left, we-in-the-tent can see him on these giant TV screens mounted above us.

AND we have surround sound to enjoy his performance. So, he starts by playing each little tune. And then he is off. And I never hear ANYTHING that even REMOTELY sounds like one of those tunes again. And he plays on…… and on……. And I feel that the whole experience is a bit musically intellectual as the faculty on stage and the students up front are smiling and swaying and looking like they are eating the best piece of chocolate EVER. And then it is over and he bows and we applaud – can he even hear us? And the ceremony continues. Now, he has just gotten a doctorate and he never even uttered one word. Another cute custom at McGill is to hit the graduates as they cross the stage to get their diploma. If you have never gotten a degree before, you get hit on the head. If you have a degree and are getting another, you get hit on the shoulder. No one was injured although several reached out as if to take the stick from the old guy hitting them…… or were they trying to shake his hand and he would have none of it?
And then all are graduated and all are piped out and we can go to Redpath Hall (of organ fame) for a little light refreshments. All 500 try to get through a set of very narrow old doors and, of course, the caterers put the wine RIGHT by the door so that everyone stops to get a glass and then just STANDS there. Mark and I get our wine and grab a brownie and hug our kid who has done so well and look for the exit. Thank goodness we have a while before the next one.