Pure Magic

but also eeeeeeekkkkkkk

It was a long week. Not bad, just long and exhausting. But there’s a festival in the park this weekend and a bunch of the vendors are antique sellers, which is a bit generous in title. It’s a community festival, so in between the food trucks and the bandstands and the carnival rides there’s a section of car boot sellers (flea market style).

Maybe it was the Scottish raspberries I had for breakfast. When they are in season, Scottish raspberries are pure magic.

Maybe it was the hurlke-durkle (lie-in and slow start to my day) this morning. The hurkle-dirkle is pure magic

Maybe it was that I had freshly washed and styled hair today. Freshly washed hair is pure magic.

Maybe it was the sweet dog in the park, showing me her belly, eager for pets. Sweet dogs are pure magic.

Maybe it was the baby ladybird (ladybug) that landed on my right ring finger and sat as still as a ruby for 10 whole minutes while I walked. Ladybirds are pure magic.

They’re also symbolic of the Lady of Heaven, Mary. The 7 black dots represent her 7 trials and joys.

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At one stall I picked up an old book that turned out to be an original copy of the first edition of The Feil Cookery Book, Recipes from the Highlands and Islands, from 1907. When I inquired about the price, expecting it to be more than I’d want to pay, he said 50p! I didn’t have any change or cash on me, so when I said I’d look around more because I only had my card to pay he said, “Oh, no bother. Just take it! It’s yours!” And then he handed me sheet music for a song about Clan Gordon and said, “Take this too!” I have no need for sheet music, but under the circumstances, how could I refuse? This book is such a delight, I’m going back to his stall tomorrow with the 50p and to (again) say thank you.

Then two stalls down I found a small blue enamel Our Lady pendant. It was in the tray next to the cash register and not in the £1 trays, so again, I figured it would be more than I wanted to pay, but this guy said it was only £1! A few years ago, I had a small blue enamel Our Lady pendant from Lourdes that I absolutely loved, but somewhere along the way she slipped off my neck. As much as I miss her, I trust that someone else needed to find her. The one I found today is slightly larger, less ornate, and the metal has tarnished in the way that only cheap mixed metals can, but she is still lovely and has come to me when I need her.

On my way up the hill from my neighbourhood to the park, I had a bit of an AHA moment about some of the stuff happening in my life. All these other little magical moments around it make it feel confirmed within.

Sometimes abundance is bounty, multiples and doubles and a steady overflowing.

Sometimes abundance is an in-season raspberry, a slow morning, a free sweetpea starter, a good hair day, belly rubs for a sweet pup, ladybirds seeking rest on your skin, and ridiculously low prices for things that completely delight you.

Pure magic.

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The flyer for my Fringe show is complete, and has been for a few weeks now and I’m so excited about it. It looks beautiful and I couldn’t be happier with it. Now that I’m at the point of printing, a task I have avoided the last few weeks, I’m discovering that in addition to being excited and proud of myself, I am also feeling so scared. For some reason the physical flyers are making this whole thing tangible in a way that will require some reckoning within. I can’t wait to show you, but also, oh no what have I done?!?! What am I doing?!?! Why do I do this to myself?!?! I’m telling myself that this is anticipation, not anxiety, and it’s sort of working. I’ll keep at it, because show time is now less than two months away. EEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

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Fringe Cringe Fundraising

I’m doing a show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and that means I’ll need to wave this cringy little fundraising flag for the next several months. Since the beginning of time, creatives and artists of all types have been waving similar flags within their communities. If you know any cash-solvent patrons looking for creatives to support with loads of money and resource and connections, I’d be happy to bother them instead of you.

https://www.paypal.me/baerjenna

https://venmo.com/u/baerjenna

https://wise.com/pay/me/jenniferlaurenb

Every day (except Mondays) from 8 August to 30 August at 3:45pm I’ll be performing a show at a venue called The Outhouse. I’m pretty sure this is where they put new performers when they’re willing to give them a shot but still think they’ll probably stink.

The title of my show is The Spider Witches of Appalachia, and it’ll be listed as theatre but delivered mostly in a traditional oral storytelling style due to the fact that the venue is a bar that is willing to set up the barest black box style theatre situation in one corner (this is every Fringe venue unless you’re already famous and can fill an actual theatre).

The story is about five generations of women in my family, and it explores the ways we pass things to and through each other and what happens to those transmissions when connections are broken or fragmented.

My biggest costs now will be for advertising and printing because I am solely responsible for gathering all of my own audiences for 20 performances. Fringe flyers and posters are already starting to go up around the city, just a few here and there for the big names with big agencies and big budgets and big ticket prices. This is not quite the echelon I’m working in yet, so it’ll be up to me to start plastering my own face on any available square inch of city I can find. Then, in August, I’ll be out on the streets with the other thousands of artists, and/or the folks they hire to do the flyering, handing out flyers to anyone who will take them, trying to convince folks to go off the beaten path up to my little venue to hear my little story.

So here I am, posting the QR codes and links to Paypal and Venmo and Wise, and hoping you’ll help me print my flyers.

Isn’t this so insane?! Thank you for being here. I love you.

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