Summer has arrived

It's officially summer, and even the Seattle weather has caught up with the fact, which means busy times at Red Delicious HQ. As my main selling venue is Pike Place Market, every day I set up my booth is pretty hectic.

The Market is a major magnet for tourists - it receives about 10 million visitors a year. Many of them are en route to or from an Alaska cruise, with ships departing weekly on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Others are in town visiting family and friends, or travelling through the Pacific Northwest. Many come down from Canada, particularly these days with the relatively favorable exchange rate.

This means that Mondays and Thursdays - my regular booth days - can be just as busy as a weekend day. And I get to meet people from all over the US and the world. We get to chat about where they are from and the charms of Seattle. Or if they have little knowledge of English we get to point, gesture and smile our way through bag browsing and purchasing.

This multi-cultural and multi-national experience is one of the great bonuses of my line of work and yet another reason I am so grateful to be able to make my living as a full-time creative artist in such a unique venue as Pike Place Market.