DG News: Back Home and Catching Up

Gasparilla Festival of the Arts - Tampa, Florida - inside booth

Hello, readers.
We're back in the studio and slowly resuming normal business activity after a lengthy 2+ week trip to Baltimore, Virginia, and Florida. If we haven't responded to an e-mail yet, we appreciate your patience and will be getting back to you as soon as possible.

A few highlights from our travels:
1) In addition to spending some quality time with fellow artists & crafters Circa Ceramics, Yee-Haw Industries, Soda by Amy, and Twigs and Heather, we met Matt, one of the principals of Etsy at ACC Baltimore. In the midst of some controversy between the veteran ACC Baltimore participants and the New Wave Crafters, it was nice to see Etsy representing at the show and there to respond to questions about the indie craft movement. Matt made a point of introducing himself to each and every New Wave Craft artist - kudos to him!

Julie of Yee-Haw Industries - (left of Yee-Haw) Circa Ceramics - (right of Yee-Haw) Rescued Wood Constructions

2) Dolan scored some great new materials from a couple abandoned homes scouted out by his buddy Randy. The lot included hand-written letters dated from the late 1800s, Civil War buttons, newspapers from the 1940s, and a book on horsebreeding (always useful).

Abandoned House - Virginia


Train Ticket and IOU - from abandoned house - Virginia

3) We're Amtrak Auto Train converts! After a few days of respite at Dolan's Mom's house in Virginia, we hit the road again, Amtrak style, and rode in comfort (along with our cargo van) from Washington, DC to Orlando, Florida. Nothing beats evening conversations in the dining car with a fly fisherman from upstate New York. (Dolan was promised a day of fishing on the river if he can make it up there). It was also nice to see the changing scenery as we left the realm of Northern-eastern Virginia with its icy February disposition and moved south into Northern Florida's Spanish-moss-covered hospitality.

Eastern Virginia

Northern Florida

4) Speaking of moss, I think every single branch in the Oclala National Forest was covered with it, and it only served to dramatize that prehistoric looking area. We were headed back to Chicago after the show but decided to spend one more day of 85 degree weather with the Floridians...and who knows Florida better than the gators. No, I am not referring to the football team, but actually to their toothy mascot. We rented canoes at the Juniper Springs concession stand and in a matter of minutes were paddling (quickly) past several 10 foot reptiles. Needless to say, since this was our first official gator encounter, we did not really linger for a photo shoot, so these passing shots will have to do. We also had the opportunity to spot a few pileated woodpeckers and a little blue heron, as well as scores of jumping mullet.

Alligator - a few feet away from our canoe in the Ocala National Forest