October 23, 2010 was my first visit to the Texas Country Reporter festival in Waxahachie, TX. it was also my first time to “set-up shop” outside, under a tent. i was a little nervous – the forecast called for rain and we’d been reading online tips for vending (and surviving) in a tent that mentioned all sorts of weather-related disasters…
we arrived Saturday AM with plenty of time to get set-up. my booth looked pretty good – simple, with original watercolor paintings as the highlight – all in glass frames (just asking for the wind to blow). the weather was a little dreary, but we managed to stay dry throughout the morning. i chatted with visitors, had some inquiries about paintings and sold a few cards and a necklace, things seemed like they may go pretty well for the day…
then the wind picked up and the sky turned green. we anxiously watched the other, more experienced vendors lower their tents as big raindrops started to fall – someone made an unofficial announcement that it was “every man for himself” and most vendors around us began to close their booths. we followed suit and immediately became pros at putting away, folding up and shutting down. it was a little disappointing to say the least, but a positive learning experience – and nothing got broken!
we were greeted with a pleasant fall day, Sunday. i spent some time organizing my inventory from the day before, and settled in to watch some TV. that afternoon there were reports of some small storms in the metroplex, but we didn’t think much of it as we’d had sunny blue skies all day. then some clouds showed up – i looked out the window and saw blue skies behind them – i went back to having a lazy afternoon.
a little white later we heard small hail hitting the roof, i remember thinking it all should have already passed us by – so i went back to the window. i was surprised to see the sky swirling, and a funnel cloud dipping down from the clouds not too far away. i called for my husband to confirm what i couldn’t believe i was seeing…
after a small panicked period of me hiding in the closet, we watched on from our porch as the large tornado moved away from us, over the tree-line and across the highway.
5 minute video of the tornado from our porch :: by Samuel Solomon via point31
(related post: Texas tornado – painting in progress)
