MAY DAY - an update

Yes, yes, yes, I've been gone a looooong time. Thank you to each and everyone of you who have sent out APBs and written me about my absence.

Aside from the regular spring stuff: garden cleanups, recitals, AAU basketball, luncheons, fund raisers and the like, Spring is a time of renewal and reassessment for me. I've been doing a lot of that, trying to get back in touch with things that have meaning. This poem says so much of the conflict that I feel about this season.

Lines Written in Early Spring
William Wordsworth (1798)

I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:--
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?

So you want to know what I've been up to??

I've been out taking pictures of the beautiful trees and shrubs that are in full bloom.

This photo below is my favorite. It is right outside the post office. I took it this morning after dropping the children off to school (they missed the bus!).

I've not done a lot of knitting. I finished the green boucle sweater jacket I started a year ago. I've got to sew it together now, ugh. I'll definitely need the help of my friend Phyllis and my neighbor Cindy for that!

I'm also working on a vest for my son for when he goes off to college (did I really say that?!) next Fall.

I've been experimenting with paper crafts some. I'm making these mini art cards or ATCs. It is a quick form of expression using scraps of things you might already have.

And, I've been trying my hand at collage. I made this after coming home from a museum trip with a pocket full of crap I collected from the sidewalk while waiting for my car.

Below are pictures from all of the events I was involved with for the past month or so. The first one is from a yarn tasting I helped organize as a fund raiser:

We set out a huge variety of yarn for our guests to play with and then gave an overview of each of them.

We even had a masseuse to massage our new knitters' hands!

One of the guests brought along her mother's needles that were sweetly tucked away in a silk case.

My Garden Group's fundraiser
A 200 guest garden event. There were speakers, demonstrations, vendors, landscape painters and designers and an auction and...

A view of our guests

That's me with all the auction baskets, I'm smiling but I was exhausted!

These were the reason I was so tired. Two hundred boxed lunches. We made the food (tea sandwiches (4 of them in each box) cookies and fruit. The only thing we didn't make from scratch was the bread. I was baking cookies at 5am and raced to the venue to help assemble the boxes at 8:30. The guests arrived at noon.

Africa Day at my son's middle school

Each year I do this for the 7th grade social studies program, an huge art event to present the culture of Africa. As you know, Africa is a continent and not a country so it is a real challenge to represent 53 countries in one day! We have over a hundred artifacts including masks, jewelry, textiles, sculpture and currency

Many children have never seen black people on money!

My town library's annual fund raiser
I'm on the board of my town's library. I love the library. Each year we put on an incredible 650+ guests author event that includes a giant auction. Below is one of my contributions. Yup, I had to knit it. Don't ask me where I found the time.

My son's high school senior year activities
Dinners, dances, decorations, tests, college trips, club trips, fashion shows, expenses, expenses, expenses... Far too many to list. This is a picture from a fashion show he was in.


...And the real reason I haven't posted in like forever??

I ran out of space on the computer. Who knew that iPod files could suck up 80 gigs of hard drive? One of my faithful blogger buddies suggested I buy an external disk drive, duh! Here's a picture of my new hero -


We met a the mall. Inside of 2 minutes (and $100 bucks later), I ordered and paid for my drive and, I shit you not, that sucker was on my doorstep in 2 days!

250 gigs

SWEET!