We took another load of stuff over to the church, like our flags and sand dollars, seashells and bulbs. We put the flags around to decorate, though we were nowhere near as red-white-and-blue as the other booths. The 4th grade was running a golf game near us and won the decorating contest. The woman said all the flags she had all over it had been all over her lawn on the 11th.

No one had remembered to have the sprinklers shut off last night, so the booth was wet. Good thing we'd put plastic down on the table! Our box wasn't too soaked, and I put a tarp down. This was all very discouraging that early in the morning, but soon enough I had it all organized. I priced plants, just guesstimating, and I was ready.

Father didn't start with a prayer. Rumor has it he's looking for a smaller parish. He wanted this gig, but he has had a multiple bypass and other illnesses, so he would doubtless like something a little quieter. A parish this size is a bit much for a micromanager. (He's managed to offend enough folks so that the parish is a good deal smaller, but most of us figure we'll outlast him. I like the man, myself.)

The first couple of hours went slowly. I had sold two plants last night, but nobody came by that early. At noon my relief came, and all of a sudden we had lots of sales. I left her to it and explored the rest of the fair, including getting nachos and later Filipino food. (Long ago we had Vietnamese food since our parish sponsored a number of immigrants from there. Then the Polish people we sponsored didn't actually join in the parish, even though we had a Polish priest for awhile. There was a Mexican dinner tonight, too.) I remember the time 20-odd years ago, our priest was dealing blackjack, with a pinocle deck! Lots of 21s!

We have a parishioner who is a sheriff's deputy, so he gets extra money and probably parent's hours for providing security. I got poked by the finance committee chairman who insisted I was not to take real money, no, no, no, no, no. "I can't hear you!" I said, since I have the OK from the head of the festival, to take real money. This because people will look at and want a ten-dollar plant, but won't stand in line for the funny money to buy it.

I got about $120 today. That's all our donations, too. I closed up about 7, when, of course, suddenly everyone wanted to come look at the plants. The kids bought a lot of sand dollars. One bought a Creeping Charlie but Mom said no. Anyway, it was nice. We didn't get anything at the auction, though we did try for a couple of things. The auctioneers were selling stuff for ridiculous prices (another mistake the coordinator made was not to get a microphone or a real auctioneer... our former pastor was a terrific auctioneer.) We didn't win the raffle, either.

When we got home, both cats came a-running. Fitch came right in, but Crombie played games. She'd scratch at the door, then run off. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, since she wanted in. My theory now is that she's punishing us for being gone all day, by cutting off her nose to spite her face.

Skippy has noticed that California's economy is no longer the 5th largest in the world.