The many distractions of life

Sugar Hill is my all-time favorite contra dance weekend. It is a time of friends. Here are Joe and Ben. Joe was one of the first people to welcome me upon my return to St. Louis after living in Philly. He and I have held a great and wonderful friendship from that time on. Ben is a new friend in my life, and my life is richer for it. Sugar Hill is about maintaining and growing established friendships and being open to new ones forming.
Sugar Hill is dancing. The hall is one of my favorites with its arched wood ceiling, large enough but not too large space, nice acoustics, and nature views just off the porch. The kitchen is to the left in this image, and I spent Saturday evening in there preparing the annual meal of burritos.


This image of David captures the feel of the dance. Details in focus as the world blurs around you. David is also a must dance partner. He plays, calls, and does just about everything else including sound. David also makes it easy for me to get to the dance. I flew into Indy and he gave me a ride to Bloomington. One of the wonderful people that make me want to return every year.This picture does not do the place justice. This building is actually one that is hardly used, but it gives an idea of the architecture of the few buildings we occupy. Camping is another reason I go each year. I did not take my camera to the lake, and it was too cold to swim much this year, anyway. I did, however, make my pilgrimage to the other side by canoe to comb the fossil beach for treasures of crinoids and geodes.
Back to reality, and my classroom. It is in much better shape. All that is in my room is my own, and not much is not in my room that should be there. I am getting organized and ready with physical space for the year. Curriculum, however, needs much attention.
I moved the white board and screen so that they were anchored to studs. The space beneath the screan will be where the smart board is installed w

Rose does new things daily. She has clearly taken the "Bye bye" from her current care provider along with blown kisses into her vocabulary. A quick one can be heard on this video, though she is much clearer when walking around the room waving bye and blowing kisses.


This morning, Rose really took a liking to the blanket Uncle John gave us for our wedding.

Physical

Today I trimmed the hedges, played tennis, and went to the contra at Concord. Lots of physical activity.

The hedges had grown to take up quite a bit of the sidewalk. Last year, I did a big clearing of old, dead wood and a bit of a trimming back. Having looked up when to prune, I decided that it was too late in the season for a drastic cutting, but I did clear them from the sidewalk so our and other strollers can get through.

Dan came over (not me, obviously) and we headed to the tennis courts at the bottom of the street. After about 45 minutes of that, we were both happily warmed up, and it was time for Deana to head out. I went home, took care of Rose, and made a card for Reena. It is our anniversary.

In the evening, I went contra dancing. I have gone to the Concord Thursday night dance a number of times. It is held at the Scouthouse which is famous enough in contra to have a dance named after it. So far, the four or so times I have been, I have not been impressed with dance etiquette in Boston. People say they are sitting out and then are up in the line with someone else, and they book ahead. In other parts of the country, these behaviors are frowned upon, but I guess it is accepted enough here to make it ok. I still love to dance, and I do have a few good dances when I go to Concord, but I am repulsed by the negatives. I am so glad that I will be at Sugar Hill at the end of the year. Great dancing and great company to be had at my favorite dance weekend.

Fossils of Summer

Each summer I can usually be found at Sugar Hill. It is my favorite dance weekend for quite a few reasons. Camping, singing, swimming in the lake, late night revelries, eating together, great music, great dancing, nice dance hall, and so many more. I have been going since about 1996 or 1997 and have only missed a few.

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday during the day is visit the beach on the other side of the lake. The beach is almost entirely made of fossils and geodes. This image is taken of one of the many pieces that has traveled home with me from the weekend.

Dancing and Doing

I was in a groove before heading off to Philly, and upon returning, I have found my groove still in place. I worked on getting my desk set up, straightening out the house for cleaners tomorrow (yay), and I even went contra dancing tonight. Even better, I found the New England crowd to be welcoming. This is a first and a big incentive to return and dance again.

Old Friends and Boxes

I am just arrived back home from my Midwestern road trip in which I caught up with several friends I was planning to see and a few that were pleasant surprises.

After packing all of Tuesday (including the entire night), I headed from Cambridge around 12:30 in the afternoon toward Bloomington, Indianan. It was wonderful. After a night on the road, I pulled into Bloomington in the early evening, set up my tent, joined the community for dinner, and then danced until 1:00 A.M. It was during the evening that I reconnected with Rose who used to live in Bloomington. What a sweet surprise.

A day of hunting fossils and food with some naps thrown in for good measure followed, and Saturday night was another dance. I danced late and stayed up later talking with friends. 3:00 A.M. finally saw the curtain close for me, and Sunday morning was the time to drive up to Chicago. There, I got a chance to catch up with Sarah who I have know almost all my life. Monday afternoon, I picked up Jay from the airport, and we took the train to Wrigley for a Cards/Cubs game. Cards won!

We left at the rain delay and headed to St. Louis. I stayed at my folks house in the blazing St. Louis summer heat. Downstairs is air conditioned. Upstairs reminds me of what it was like growing up in St. Louis without air conditioning. My folks and I finally sat down to look at wedding pics over a year later. All good things happen in time. That evening, Jay and I went to a Cards/Marlins game and another Cards win.

The next day, Jay and I explored the world of adwords, Google's search ads. I even went as far as to set up an account. If you read this, don't search my artwork and click through. It'll cost me each time. So far, quite a few people have clicked through to see my site. What fun.

Jay headed back to San Fran, and my dad and I went to the ballgame. Yup three games in three days, and each one was a win for the cards.

I left early the next morning to drive back to the East Coast. Thursday got me as far as Syracuse, and then Friday I pulled in to Cape Cod to catch up with Robin, a very close friend in college who I had not seen in a long time. It was a wonderful day of walking, talking and seeing the cape for the first time.

The next morning it was back to the new house and setting up wireless. Next project is setting up my desktop so I can download pictures to illustrate this story.