July's Last Thursday on NE Alberta

Perfect! Mama and the guys and the gals came; so did Chris Cooley, our long-time Jackson bud who lives here now with his sweet girlfriend Leslie, who had to work, doggone it. No rain! Loads of people! Fun had by all! Each of us sold a little bit here and a little bit there, but it's not about the money--it's about the togetherness, the joy we take in expressing ourselves.

My sunflower hat gave many, many people of all ages a chance to grin as they made their way along the sidewalk--often saying, "I love your hat!" as they went by. For kids in strollers, it caused confusion to come over their faces and eyes.

Not long after we started setting up, an automobile stopped in the intersection as a pedestrian appeared in the street. The motorcyclist behind the car rear-ended it with a loud whomp. I looked over in time to see the rider fly up and off the cycle, to his left, land and then roll on the street. My heart raced, just at the sight of it. I cannot imagine how the young man felt. The woman driving the automobile looked totally put out with the whole thing.


Here's Mama! See our car reflected there behind her right shoulder?

Here you see how I displayed my photo cards, painted wooden items, collages, and purses. It looks way too crowded, now that I think about it. I'll have to work on that before August, right?

More of my stuff, including some of the art cars, rested on a metal TV tray, from the 1950s--Mama said that it was older than any of us there except for her--but she completely forgot about me! See the little stand beside the table? That's where Lamont and Chris had their T-shirts stacked, by size.

On this last table, you see all of Lindsay's great photos and her frames decorated with wine corks. At the back right corner, you see the T SHIRT the guys had had printed to sell. Its obvious wording spoke to loads of people who looked, pointed, grinned, read it out loud.

Leland and Christina walked a few blocks west on Alberta to get fish and chips for Mama and me, at Halibuts. Yummy!

Couldn't resist trying to get a shot of these bar accoutrements in Binks, catty-cornered across the street. The nice young lady at the door put our old-enough-to-drink-alcohol bracelets on Mama and me as we entered the door. All we wanted was the restroom, but rules are rules.

At some point this clown man drove along with his chimp puppet on his right arm, singing away over some sort of loud speaker system. For the life of me, I cannot remember the song!

This little parade represents the spontaneity and creativity of Last Thursday's followers.

Click on this to see the only pink poodle I've ever seen. Shocked at the sight, I couldn't get my camera on and up to take a shot until they were almost out of sight.

Think this shot represents Porsche envy? Take a close look at the guy on the back of the bike. By the way, when they rode back up the street later on, the guy on the back had the mattress on his head. I don't know if they'd switched seats on the bicyle or took turns carrying it on their heads.

All evening this great big ol' car cruised. If you click on it to enlarge the shot, you can jut make out the row of yellow rubber duckies on the dash.

As I stood up to begin packing things, Leland pointed out this guy on stilts. Notice the fire escape just above his head?

Is he mugging for the camera, or is it a reaction to the flash? Only the stilt man knows for sure.