Loved the arts festivals, but . . .

Loved the Coconut Grove and St. Stephen's Arts Festivals this weekend, the art, food, music and friends I hung out with made it a perfect weekend.

I especially enjoyed the camaraderie of so many friends. I also made some new friends.

But I do have a few complaints, not many, but a few.

First off, the tea room at the St. Stephen's fair. I look forward to that each year, they have the most delicious scones and clotted cream. Addicting. Only this year, the couple of times I attempted to get some, they were out. At one point they tried to pass off some other cream as the clotted cream, and we would probably not have known if one of the ladies there didn't nudge the other lady into "shutting her mouth" about the clotted cream, and letting us think we were getting that. Not good.

So we missed out on the clotted cream and scones this year and will try to seek out some somewhere to get our fix.

Next problem are the artists who are prima donnas. They gripe about you taking photos of the art, even if you ask beforehand, they have to think and then say no as if they are protecting some prized possession, not having a clue that the job of an artist is to promote non-stop. Guess they are too big for media attention and their attitude and lack of sales show. I call them AWA, Artists With Attitude. Most of the artists are good sports and are in favor of people sharing their art through photos and social media.

One artist refused to give me his card or brochure, because he only had a few left. Say what? Did I look like that much of a bum? I did buy art this year, so his negative attitude was really not necessary or appreciated.

One thing that hit me wrong was the food vendors. It's bad enough that they are overpriced to begin with, but at the last second at the end of the shows, I was looking for something to eat. Most of the tents were down and the art was on it's way out. I wanted a gyro, but that booth was closed, so next door, as one lady literally was throwing the food out, I asked her to stop and asked for a chicken pincho (shish kabob). She practically took it out of the trash and charged me $7.00 without batting an eye. I found this very tacky. It also ended up being raw and I threw it out a block away. A raw piece of trash for $7.00. It wouldn't have killed her to sell it for half price, but she had to rip me off until the end and it wasn't even cooked.

Other than that, the shows were incredible and will be missed until next year.