A Big Week for Performance!

This week there must be something in the stars about our family in the spotlight...Monday was Sylvan's Bridge Crossing (into Summerland), today was the Grade School Assembly in which my hubby the teacher got up there with his students, as well as Jonas performing with his 3rd grade class.
Over the Bridge!

And while they were busy with their Assembly today, I was in my professional role as library assistant, presenting at the 12th annual Public Library Directors Conference (for Maine library directors) about some of the creative programming we have been doing at the library in Rockport. (And while I was sad to miss my two bigs boys on stage, I was delighted to miss the 8 hours of socializing that usually follows this event!) I spoke about the very successful Out of Bounds Altered Books Exhibit that we sponsored last November, as well as the chronology of our ATC Make-and-Swap group which you have all been reading about here. I had a lovely PowerPoint show with some of the great images from both groups. The hardest part was only having 15 minutes to cover all of this great stuff! I was able to plug Robinsunne's upcoming book about ATC groups in your library---how to do it and what to do, as well as the consultation services she is offering to libraries! It was really a pleasure to be at the conference sharing these ideas with other librarians in Maine, and I am so honored to have been invited!

"The Pit" by Paul Campbell (a high school student), from the Out of Bounds Altered Books Exhibit

In other performance news...
This Saturday I will be singing with a chorus of 110 singers, The Midcoast Community Chorus, at a concert that will benefit a local nonprofit agency, the Midcoast HealthNet. These folks offer clinic hours to members of our community that have little or no healthcare. The music is inspiring and uplifting, spirited and spiritual, and under the direction of Mimi Bornstein we are singing from our hearts for our community. We'll be at the Strom Auditorium in Camden at 7 p.m. on June 14th. Read more about how to get tickets here...Buy them soon, we expect to sell out!

Peep Report: MORE News Coming Soon
Are you wondering how our Peeps are? It's been a little crazy, can you tell? But I promise to have some new photos of them very soon. They are happy and well, getting their bottoms and necks now, plus lots of feathers. Last night Jake couldn't find them when he went to shut them inside. Sharon had them in the little-used Upstairs Nesting Box (we have two apple crates mounted on the wall for our boxes, the chickens prefer Downstairs); this means all of the Peeps managed to fly up there!

Goodnight, Peeps.

We Thought We Could

Proud Mama and a few Peeps, above


I am so relieved to report that the Peeps and their mom, Sharon, are safe inside the henhouse this evening. Yes, we did it! We weighed the risks of both sides of the question: predators in the big world versus Sharon's innate sense of doing things her own way and potential Big Chicken Meanness inside the coop.

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to move them alone again, I finally enlisted Jonas's help and ingenuity in a carefully calculated SWAT Team-like maneuver. It was like we were in the movie The Matrix, in our skin-tight leather suits and black duster jackets, with Techno music thumping....Oh, no wait. It was more like me with my fly-away hair in blue clogs and favorite jean skirt and Jonas in the same tie-dye tee shirt he wore yesterday---a little bit sweaty and feeling pretty nervous. I took a tall laundry basket and laid it on its side, putting the open end flush up to the side of the house on one side of where the family was trying to hide in the irises in the front garden. Jonas was on the other side of the irises with a piece of plywood. With only minimal shooing, the family soon trundled into the basket! We closed the end with the plywood and transported the whole thing to the henhouse. We kept them shut in for the remainder of the afternoon, with the amenities of food, water, and a nice box to nest in on the ground. Sharon, ever the independent-minded chicken, chose instead to make her bed in the opposite corner in the poopiest part of the coop.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow with the big chickens! Tonight, I am resting easy...And you know, trusting my instinct worked pretty well. When I returned home this evening there was a cat sniffing around the porch! Had we not moved the family this afternoon, who knows!

Below, a Peep taking a little tiny nap. They are so busy all day long: playing tug of war with a worm, drinking and eating, learning to scratch the ground to dig up little edibles, stretching their wings, tripping and falling over, but they nap when they can, usually just a few seconds!

Look how sweet they are, posing for the photo:

Below is a chick in motion! S/He is hustling along, maybe thinking: "Oh No! Where'd everyone go?!"
ATC Make and Swap Report
We had a wonderful ATC evening on Wednesday and carved some beautiful rubber stamps. I will post a picture soon of the stamps that Jonas and I created. One mom who wasn't able to be there reported that her son, very uncharacteristically, broke into loud screams of frustration when he learned that he wasn't going to join us! Everyone was safe with the sharp tools and it seemed like everyone was satisfied and had fun. Two participants unknowingly carved the same design in opposite (one carved away the parts that her neighbor did not) and the result of the two stamps together was a very cool surprise!

Below, an ATC from The Universe to YOU, sent via Thought Mail Telegram, with the postmark Love Everywhere:
And this one is called "Thinking of Joanie:"On Sunday, I will draw four names for the ATC Giveaway! You still have time to leave a comment! Hmmm, and then to pick which cards go to which folks!

New! Comments made easier!

My boy, sifting flour for cupcakes!

Comments
New and improved, easier commenting is enabled! Try it out and see if it works. I changed some settings so that those of you who have been thwarted or bored by the whole "sign in and create a password" nonsense can freely comment now. I am hoping this will mean that more of you that are reading this blog will not be shy and leave a little note sometime. In fact I am scheming about some kind of give-away ATC for commenters in May...Stay tuned.

Mosey Handmade
You may have noticed a new "Favorite Stop" over at the right, called Mosey Handmade. Mosey is actually a blogger who is sort of nearby to me and what's even more fun is that she's someone I already know (and love) in the physical world, and now I know her in the land of virtual also! She makes these lovely nests and lots of upcycled felted-sweater crafts and other items of beauty. Mosey has an Etsy site and some of her nests have found their way to Renegade Handmade in Chicago. She's getting ready to open a store in June, location I am not totally sure of yet...so keep watching her blog for updates. I sure will be!

ATC Make and Swap, Tomorrow!
Yes, tomorrow, Wednesday night at 6 p.m. we'll be cramming our crafty selves into the Rockport Public Library for another couple of hours of community art-making. Try this link to look at some of the photos of past events---there's even some action shots! Come join us, it's fun, it's cozy, and we'd love to have you there.