Odd thing this week...

Odd thing this week. At the old bakery where I work decorating wedding cakes, we have about 50 wedding cake orders. For those who don't know how long a wedding cake takes to make and decorate and deliver - 50 cakes is a LOT. The odd bit is that almost half of them are for Sunday, not usually the most popular day. Saturday still reigns supreme. We could not figure it out.

But then today, our manager Julie was speaking to one of our banquet venue clients who told her that "everyone" wanted to book their wedding for this Sunday. People had to be turned away because bookings were FULL. Apparently, lots and lots of people wanted their wedding to be on - 10/10/10!?

I guess the numbers were more intriguing than picking a Saturday wedding date. What are the odds that such a day could fall on a Saturday?  I mean, it can only happen once a year and only up until 2012 at that. Just a wee bit curious, I looked up the "triple digit days" of the first century of our current millennium:

01/01/01 was on a Monday;

02/02/02 was on a Saturday, so there was the first possibility;

03/03/03 was on a Monday;

04/04/04 was on a Sunday;

05/05/05 Children's day in Japan (nothing to do with weddings exactly, I just came across this in the date research) - was on a Thursday;

06/06/06 was on a Tuesday;

07/07/07 was on a Saturday, so there was another one!;

08/08/08 was on a Friday;

09/09/09 was on a Wednesday;

Then there's this year - 10/10/10 which is on a Sunday;

11/11/11 will be on a Friday and

12/12/12 will be on a Wednesday. And that, digitally speaking, is that.

So that's only 2 chances in 12 years for the Saturday triple-digit day wedding thrill, with this Sunday being the tenth chance out of 12 for the thing in general. After 12/12/12, folks are out of luck for another 90 years or so. Who knew so many people are numerically inspired?

Then there was last month when September 11 fell on a Saturday. We had only 3 cakes booked for September 11 and the week was a busy one. I have to agree, I understand that having your wedding anniversary sharing the date with such a terrible tragedy as the attacks in the U.S. does not bode well for what should be a happy day.

So, here's wishing the hundred people beginning their married lives this week with one of our bakery's confections a great big happy sweet start, whatever your anniversary date will be.

It's a weird old world.

I Once Got to Hear Ade Bethune Speak About Art

I once got to hear the artist Ade Bethune speak about art.  She was a wonderful artist and a lovely woman.  I had really been looking forward to hearing what she had to say about art, ready to soak up whatever good artistic sensibilities she had to offer.  What she spoke about wasn't what I expected.  I was expecting talk of paintings and technique I suppose, but what she offered was much richer.  She spoke of inspiration and that we are all artists.  Each day, we have countless opportunities to use our creativity.  We get hungry, so we go to the cupboard or refrigerator to see what's available and decide what to put together for a meal.  That's inspiration and creativity.  Each one of us are artists.

I'm an artist who does do things with paper and pen, canvas and paint, needle and thread.  But I don't always find myself with enough time or energy these days to do those things.  I live always in hope to get to them.  Meanwhile, I do appreciate that all of the daily chores and daily choices are things I can do using my creative best, trying to draw my moments using kindness and patience, humor and hope.  I do my middle-age best getting the trash out and the household chores done, and who's budgets haven't inspired creativity these days?!

Yes.  Art is life.  Life is art.  Thank you Ade.