Another one bites the dust...

   Now before you think I’m going all Freddy Mercury on you… let me explain. No, let me sum up… another item is crossed off my bucket list. I saw a play at the Kennedy Center.

   Actually, I would have gone to anything as long as it was at the Ken Cen – a play, an opera, a concert, or on a pizza delivery run. It didn’t matter. But I was treated to a fantastic evening, courtesy of Holland Taylor’s portrayal of Governor Ann Richards. The venue and the performance – both were just awe inspiring.

   My cousin and I took the most logical route to the Kennedy Center – Metro. The trains have never failed me in any of my trips to DC. This time, heading into town was fine, but heading out was… let’s just say I’ll need another post to cover that trip. But as far as the Kennedy Center goes, I never realized how accessible this entertainment venue really is. Take the train to Foggy Bottom and you are greeted with a shuttle bus that takes you to the front door, which is a major blessing to those of us who would rather not drive in downtown DC or any other large city. We boarded the bus, arrived within 10 minutes at the door, picked up our tickets from Will-Call, and were in our seats in plenty of time for the curtain. We sat in the balcony of the Eisenhower Theater and were able to see and hear everything; there was not a bad seat in the entire house.

   At intermission, I was able to enjoy the full experience of the Kennedy Center’s majestic appearance. The Hall of Nations was where we first entered the center. We went through the Hall to the Foyer that overlooks the Potomac River. The foyer boasted the most beautiful chandeliers I’ve ever seen. (These lights must be at least 3 stories high and am I thankful I don’t have to clean them.) In the very center of the Foyer, we saw the bust of John F. Kennedy, a rather imposing sculpture. It showed a rugged depiction of a man who wanted to appear rugged in spite of some of his physical difficulties. The rugged quality seemed almost out of place in an arts emporium such as the Center, until you realize the dichotomy of the man. The late President was someone who could appreciate both the arts and the outdoors.

   We saw “Ann”, a one-woman play written by and starring Holland Taylor (Mom from “Two and a Half Men). Ms. Taylor brought Governor Richards to life in a way no one but her closest friends knew. But, folks, that is the stuff for another review! I could go on and on about how great the play was, but this is one you have to see for yourself. The show just closed in the DC-Metro area. I’m not sure where it’s headed next, but I’m sure it will land on the boards of Broadway to stellar reviews and, hopefully, many awards.

   In checking further on the Kennedy Center website, www.kennedy-center.org, I found that the center is a very popular tourist destination and educational center. Since its conception by President Eisenhower, to the ground breaking in 1965, to its opening in 1971, to the present day, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts draws performers in all aspects of the arts. It’s the home of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington National Opera, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and the KC Jazz Club. International arts festivals have a home here. Lecturers have a home here. Pops performers like Wayne Brady and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy have a home here. To top that, each day the Millennium Theater offers a performance at 6 pm that is free to all. So we all have a home here at the Kennedy Center.

   My first visit will definitely not be my last. One day soon, I’ll venture down as a pure tourist and take one of the guided tours offered every 10 minutes. I’ll take pictures of the place this time and I’ll probably stop at the Gift Shop, too. (hey, wouldn’t be a tourist if I didn’t!) I’ll try to be there at sunset, to see the sun shine over the Potomac and cast late rays on those fabulous Foyer chandeliers. I’ll be the one sitting in the Foyer just taking in the creative energy and inspiration. See you there!

Done Too Soon

   Before I begin, you need to know a few things about me. I participate in my parish’s Sick and Bereavement Ministry as group secretary and part of the funeral repast catering group. One part of the ministry is visiting funeral homes and visiting the families. I am not comfortable doing that at this point in time for people I don’t know. My involvement is not 100% altruistic either. While I am giving community service, and doing my Christian duty (I hope) towards others helping bury the dead and console the living, I have to admit to all that I am working through the grief of losing my in-laws and my own parents through this ministry service. It does help me to help others. When all the old grief feelings get triggered by unexpected events, I know what is happening to my emotions and I have an outlet for my grief. I’m not just sitting around in my own personal pity party.

    Lately our church ministry has been very busy. There’s something about the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays that makes me wonder if the Lord doesn’t start a recall process right around that time. Losing someone during the holidays puts a pall on the whole holiday season for years to come. It’s always in the back of your mind. I know this first hand, since my mother passed just before Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law passed 4 days before Christmas and my dad passed on New Year’s Eve. This didn’t happen all in the same year… but at this point it doesn’t matter. Holiday seasons are rough sometime and this can be one of the reasons.

    Last week, I worked another funeral reception at church. I don’t think I was through the door of the house and ambulances pulled up across the street. My neighbor’s daughter was ill again. This was becoming a too familiar sight. She would go out in an ambulance and in a day or so, we would see her putting her kids on the school bus. This time, she didn’t come home to her kids.

     Now this is a girl who spent time at my house with my kids when they were growing up. How many times did she have lunch or snack at our table? How many times did she play in our yard? Or climb our trees? How many children’s choir practices did I take her to, along with my daughter? She lived with her kids at her mother’s house. Her mom was helping her raise them, since she was a solo parent. She did make some, let’s just say, unwise lifestyle choices in her teens and early adulthood. Her body couldn’t take it anymore. This time, I did go to the funeral home. I attended, rather than worked, the reception afterward. My daughter came with us.

     This whole event has me thinking about the natural order of operations. Children bury parents, not the other way around. Yet, sometimes the child has done all that was possible on this earth. This process is not my idea of “normal” but it’s what is.

    Many recent funerals from my parish were for older parishioners, those whose lives were long, productive, accomplished, and who suffered toward the end. But more and more, we are ministering to families who’ve lost young people, members of our human family who seem not to have finished living, who still have more to accomplish. This is so confusing – at least to me - since it’s not the way it’s supposed to be. The big question of “Why?” comes to mind over and over. I wish I had some answers. It was all done too soon.

    Neil Diamond penned the song “Done Too Soon” way back in the 70’s – actually 1970 to be exact for the young readers. The lyrics come to mind at times like this, and I find them strangely comforting. It helps me to think that my neighbor’s daughter, my kids’ playmate is in some really good company having passed away so young. Not everyone on Diamond's “litany of saints” is a positive model for life. But it seems to me that all had more to give to this world; seems to me like they all weren’t finished even though their time was up. Would some of these people made more of a difference if they lived longer? Would the world be a different place if they did live longer? How would the world be different? Who’s to know?

    I’ve placed a copy of the lyrics in the body of this posting. You can judge for yourself. I’m sure you can add names to the list. Use the song to help you through any grief situation. Me? I’m going to do my best to help her mom and her kids with the new – and extremely sucky – reality that we are all now a part.

    The daughter died at age 33. Jesus died at 33, too. No comparison of lives in the least… just sayin’…. just done too soon…

http://youtu.be/XSmJH1kxiHQ - Youtube link to the song performance and video by gettysburgguy

Done Too Soon

Written by Neil Diamond

Jesus Christ, Fanny Brice,
Wolfie Mozart and Humphrey Bogart and
Genghis Khan and
On to H. G. Wells.

Ho Chi Minh, Gunga Din
Henry Luce and John Wilkes Booth
And Alexanders
King and Graham Bell.

Rama Krishna, Mama Whistler,
Patrice Lumumba and Russ Colombo,
Karl and Chico Marx,
Albert Camus.

E. A. Poe, Henri Rousseau,
Sholom Aleichem and Caryl Chessman,
Alan Freed and
Buster Keaton too

And each one there
Has one thing shared:
They have sweated beneath the same sun,
Looked up in wonder at the same moon,
And wept when it was all done

For bein' done too soon,
For bein' done too soon.
For bein' done.

     1970 Pilgrim Music

F-O-R-W-A-R-D!

    Another holiday season… another new year! It’s time to pack away Christmas and look at where we are going from here.

    Ok, so you do have to look back a bit. 2011 was an all right year, I guess. But let’s look ahead at 2012. Many say that this is it for the world. The Mayans have this year as the end of time (add deep voice echo as this is read). But really, who knows?

   Let’s take a quick look at what will happen in 2012:

• The ship RMS Titanic will be gone for 100 years on April 15. In honor of this occasion, James Cameron is planning on a re-release of his blockbuster movie in 3D around the same date. Titanic in 3D? Does this theater have barf bags with the glasses?

• There will still be 3 seasons in my life – football, baseball, and that no-man’s land between the Super Bowl and Spring Training.

• I will plant flowers and veggies in my gardens this year. What will actually grow is anyone’s guess, since successful gardening in my neighborhood is both weather and deer dependent. I also predict that my friendly local Bambi will eat very well.

• The Baltimore Orioles will take the field at Camden Yards and I will still be a fan. No, I am not a champion of lost causes. I like baseball – live, local, and constantly changing. I will also follow the Phillies, the team of my birth city. I will attend the Phillies-Orioles game on June 10 at Camden Yards, again, as Schizo-fan – not sure who to support but knowing I will be happy no matter the outcome.

• When not at the Yard, I will be glued to the TV, desperately missing Mike Flannagan’s commentary on the games.

• I will resist the temptation to put my copy of Titanic on the computer, Orioles on the TV, start both at the same time, and see who goes down first. This is a family joke, as is my watching Titanic ad nauseum. My husband keeps waiting for a different outcome of the movie. The O’s, unfortunately, still have a similar record.

• There will be a Super Bowl game played in Indianapolis. Raymond Berry, a BALTIMORE Colt legend, will present the Lombardi Trophy to the winner of the game.

• I will more than likely lose my best buddy, Rusty. He’s my 18-year old dog that has defied all odds and 2 vets to get to this length of life.

• We will find out if the Mayan calendar is correct, or if the little mathlete who figured it all out just ran out of space on the wheel.

• Baltimore will have a difficult time finding a new “Voice of Reason”. I know I’m going to miss Ron Smith more and more as the election gets closer.

• We will have a Presidential election. And we will all be ticked off at all the candidates of all parties by the end of January, 2012. This is thanks to press over saturation.

• The Maryland General Assembly will start a 90-day session around January 11. I will be fed up with them by January 12.

    What I would really like to see happen in 2012:

• I’d love to see a book of mine in print. For real, for sale and for everyone.

• I’d love to see Buck’s Baltimore Boys go from worst to first and stay there the whole season, not just from game 1 to game 2. Hey, not so far out! Weirder things have happened in this town.

• I’d love to see a sea of orange and black in the stands when the Red Sox and Yankees are in town – just for spite. Boston and New York fans get cheaper deals at Camden Yards than in their own home parks. We Birdlanders must stop that!!!

• I’d love to see BALTIMORE Colt great Raymond Berry present the Lombardi Trophy to the BALTIMORE RAVENS in Indianapolis, home of the current 2-14 Colts. Take that, Messrs. Irsay and Tagliabue.

• I’d love to see those elected to the White House and Congress realize they have a temp job, a service job, and it’s something they need to actually do on a daily basis. I’d also like to see them all stop kissing press butt and going only for face time.

• I’d love to see the voters of this country actually think for themselves. Pundits are great and can shed light on specific issues. Talking heads serve their purpose putting candidates on the spot. Jon Stewart can always put a humorous spin on events in the news. We the People, however, need to watch, look, learn, and then ignore 9/10’s of the soundbites. We need to make our own decisions and not follow the crowd.

• I’d love to see more public gardens, arboretums and conservatories – as a tourist, that is.

• I’d love to see the Harry Potter Exposition come back to the US, close to DC if possible.

• I’d love the see the face on the Mayan mathlete who did the calendar when the dawn of December 22, 2012 arrives. Will he be saying “Ooopss” or “Told you! I just ran out of room”?

    Wow! Who knew there was so much to look forward to in 2012? And this is just the big stuff. That doesn’t count the daily aches, pains and other activities we all go through.

So here’s to 2012! Let’s raise a glass of your favorite adult beverage (let’s go Natty Boh) and toast the New Year. To the O’s! To the Ravens! To our dreams!

    To making it count!

An Expression of Hope

   You probably have a desk that looks just like it, I bet. Piled high with a stack or two of papers, books, post-its all over, pens and pencils hidden by random sheets of paper, the library book I was looking forward to reading, my Phanatic doll. Don’t forget the Rolodex, to-do lists, and calendar. In the midst of this creative physics project (yes, some piles are that high), I found an assignment I did for Carol Smalley’s class at this time last year. She had us make a battle plan for writing, or set goals for writing in the new year. It was interesting to see what I thought about only 4 months into a writing career, what I thought was important at that time. It gave me time to see where I was, where I am, and to think about where I’m going. There’s something about the Christmas and New Year’s holidays that bring out the goal setter in all of us.

   On my list last year were items that got done and others that are still in the works. Yes, a few haven’t been “accomplished”. This is a good place to start for 2012.

   Reflect first. What have I done? Here it is:

• Joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators -Without that group, I would not have met my critique group buddies. I’ve learned so much from them.

• Went to a SCBWI sponsored conference – Yes, I went to an Author’s Book Club event where I met Carol Millward and read her debut novel Star in the Middle. I also went to the Tri-Regional Conference in Gettysburg, Pa. I got so much inspiration, met so many great people, sat in the presence of so many accomplished writers and illustrators. It was a great weekend. And the ghost tour Saturday night, marrying two loves – ghost hunting and history – well, what could be better?

• I am wearing out my library card. No longer do I go to the kid’s section and get looked at as if I’m a stalker. They know I’m reading for research.

• I’m reading more. This year I read the entire Captain Underpants series, finished up the last “Wimpy Kid” book Cabin Fever, read books in the Magic Schoolbus series, Step into reading series and more. All this I did as research for how and what I want to write.

• I read for me too. I’m almost finished with Lisa Scottoline’s list of novels and just starting on Janet Evanovich’s and Julie Hyzy’s novels. I’ll work on that list after I finish Fr. Robert Barron’s Catholicism.

• On my list was to get an agent and start submitting by July, 2011. Well, I don’t have the agent, but I did submit a picture book to the MeeGenius contest this past fall. I didn’t win, but right now the last of the finalists haven’t been selected. So who knows? At any rate, I put my work out there for all to see and I have gotten some positive feedback on it. Maybe it will make it to bookstores and PetSmarts around the country. It is a non-fiction picture book on dog safety for kids, after all.

• On a personal note, I also got more involved in my parish activities. I helped more with our Bereavement ministry’s funeral luncheon group.  Got to use my Home Ec Teacher acquired knowledge in the catering field, too. Now I’ve got a connection with Julie Hyzy’s Ollie Paras character in the White House mysteries series. So maybe St. Joseph’s Church kitchen isn’t the White House, but a commercial kitchen is a commercial kitchen. And I found the giant iron skillet!

   I didn’t get some of the list done. On it were things like, lose 30 pounds (only got off about 15 so far), get healthier habits (yes, I’m eating better and exercising more – until I hurt my knee), complete a first draft of Esther Bunny Moves Away (only 3 chapters done so far). Guess you have to set high goals and see if you can meet them. Besides, if I did everything I set out to do when I wanted to do it, I’d be perfect. And perfect people are perfectly boring and nauseating. We all need something to shoot for in life. Now is the time to make my 2012 list of goals.

   Let’s see…professional goals for 2012:

• Attend more Author Book Club events in my SCBWI region.

• Attend more workshops and/or conferences.

• Keep working on articles to the Arden Newsbuoy, my community newsletter. Thanks, Andrew, for giving me a by-line with my “View from the Passenger Seat” articles.

• Keep on working on the parish newsletter as content and layout editor.

• Finish Esther Bunny’s manuscript.

• Finish the sequel to “Hi, Doggie!” my entry in the MeeGenius contest.

• Get into the idea folder and get drafts of at least 3 more ideas.

• Keep meeting my critique group!! They keep me on task with deadlines.

• Get rid of the last 15 pounds – or more. This one is doctor’s orders.

• Keep researching the 1^st through 5^th grade market. Focus on boy readers.

• Start working on the travel bucket list with my husband. We have a list of historical sites with want to visit. We both want to get into the history of these towns.

• Blog more often than just twice a month.

• Get something published ??????

   I’m sure there are plenty more items to add to this list. Isn’t that what a goal setting exercise is supposed to be, a fluid document, subject to change? At any rate, here’s off to another year of adventure. This is the year we honor the 100^th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking and find out if the Mayan calendar is all it’s cracked up to be. And 2012 is another Presidential election year, too. The campaign already started! Should I start writing editorials?

   How about sharing your goals for the new year?

   Let’s celebrate the holidays first!

   Have a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and a very happy and safe New Year.

Gratitude

Interesting word, gratitude. It means being grateful or thankful for the things you have. It’s definitely an attitude, or a way of approaching your life events.

We recently celebrated Thanksgiving. It’s the one time we are supposed to stop and give thanks. Many families incorporate this into the pre-meal toast or grace.  Those present offer their reasons to be thankful on that one day. We didn’t do that as part of our celebration this past week, but I want to list some things now:

• I’m glad I was born, when I was. It was a simpler time, but things became more complex as I grew older. I got to learn how to change with the times. Now when things change, I just say, “Oh, (insert cuss word of choice here)! Keep on moving.”
• I’m grateful for my Catholic faith. It’s been under the microscope lately, as is the whole “church participation” thing.  I’m glad I continue to participate actively, and that I live in a country that allows me to choose my own path toward God.
• I thank God each day for my family. I’d be nothing without my husband, my kids, in-laws, grandkid, siblings, etc. On second thought, I would be something - very lonely. Not good for anyone.
• I am grateful for my ability to think for myself. I worked in a few “corporate America” positions. I’ve seen what that mindset does to creativity and how those who really do “think out of the box”, like they say they want you to do, are not appreciated. I’m glad and thankful that I’m not part of that any longer.
• I thank heaven for the opportunities I’ve had, that I’ve taken, and those yet to come. No matter what the talking heads on TV may say, I believe the best is yet to come. Will there be speed bumps on this road of life? Sure, but they don’t have to break you down. Be ready.
• I’m very grateful for my health. I’ve tried to take care of myself. It may not look like I’ve been successful on the surface, but I am in pretty good shape. No I don’t look like a Victoria’s Secret model. Nor do I want to. I want to enjoy life, and I can’t do that if I have to conform to a misguided view of “normal”.
• I’m thankful for my ability to trust. Yes, I watch the evening news and the garbage they lead off the broadcasts. Yet I still trust in the basic good of humanity. It’s there somewhere, under I-Pods, tablets, 6 inches of make-up, stiletto heels, Armani suits, bonuses, Occupy signs, and all that. You just have to dig for it. I’m still digging with a lot of people.

 If I continue to list, the items will begin to repeat. Let’s just suffice to say that I am grateful for everything in my life, even the negative stuff. Hey, if there wasn’t any negativity, how would we know when things are going well?

I hope this attitude of gratitude shows to all I meet. Life is a great gift. Thank you, Lord, for everything.

Say When!

     I remember so well when I was a younger kid….

     My grandmother would ask me what size slice of cake I wanted. I would say “big”. She would put the knife on the cake top, measuring a sliver, and say “This big?” I’d say “NO! Bigger”. The knife would move a bit more and she would say “Say when.” The knife would move almost all over the cake until I’d say “When.” It was usually the size piece she had in mind for me from the start. It was a little game we played that let me think I really did control the size of the piece of cake I got. “Say when” was used often in our house. Pouring coffee for my dad, refilling a glass of milk for my mom – the act would always start with “Say when” and end with them saying “When!” when the container was full enough.

     Maybe that’s the key. When is “enough”?

     This comes back to me each time I sit down to write an article or story. I’ll start out with what I call “cranial diarrhea” or “brain leakage”. I just let the thoughts spill out on the page without any personal editing filter. Then comes the hard part - the editing.  The questions that I ask myself start creeping in; such as, “What needs to go?”; “Did I make that clear?”; “What if it doesn’t make sense?”

     Yesterday, I sent my first picture book manuscript into a contest for authors, published and unpublished. Technically, I’m not a published author yet. Yes, I’ve written curriculum guides, lesson plans, articles for my community newsletter, and articles for my church newsletter, and other random writing. But I have never exchanged my written work for dead Presidents – gotten paid. So, I really am a true rookie at the writing business.

    I jumped all over this contest. I had the idea swirling in the recesses of the brain. I went through the “leakage” mode and wrote everything down. After each time I dealt with the manuscript, I put it away and looked at it later with fresh eyes. That trick I learned when writing research papers. But this contest presented me with a deadline. At some point, I’d have to say “when”.

     This bit of behavior is something all writers wrestle with, I am sure. How much editing needs to be completed before you pitch the idea to an agent or editor? How much writing has to happen before an editor sees your work? I always have wrestled with “saying when” even on essay questions in school. An author wants the work to be good, to reflect well on the author, and to be successful in the marketplace. But when is the right time to let the work stand on its own? To back off? To stop editing?

     I am still learning, even at my age.

So here is this list of rhetorical questions for pondering. I can’t answer them now. I truly think the “say when” point will be different for each project. Deadlines work for me now. What works for you? How about sharing?

     Talk about “saying when” – I’m going to post this with only 1 read-through, fragments, misspellings and all. This is a sample of leakage. It’s been on my mind for a while. So now it’s time to move it out of my brain, onto some paper, and make room for more ideas in the cranial cavity.

WHEN!!!!

Carpe` Dirt!

     Why, when you receive an award, do you stop and wonder how you got to that point?  Is the surprise because of winning or the fact that you won, in spite of your past? I recently got that surprise at the Anne Arundel County Fair.

     You have to know something about my past before you can appreciate the situation. I was born in Philadelphia. Our first house had a 6 x 6 foot patch of lawn in the front with about 4 rose bushes that grew so large and fat, they became a hedge. And they also became a source of allergy pain during the spring. Our back yard was concrete. Visiting my extended family did not get me any more access to dirt or flowers. The most some family members had were houseplants or window boxes outside their houses. No lawn, no dirt, no “yard work”. In fact, yard work consisted of hosing down the driveway and steps.

     When I was 10 we moved to the ‘burbs in New Jersey. To some extended family members, we might as well have moved to a foreign country. New Yorkers joke about how no one wants to go to the Jersey side of the Hudson. It’s the same in Philly. Poor New Jersey has no identity of its own. It’s either West New York, East Philadelphia, or the oil-and-petrochemical-refinery-state. Atlantic City doesn’t count. Jersey is the jungle you have to go through to get to the Jersey shore.

     Our Jersey house had a big yard.  Lots of dirt and lawn - foreign items to a city kid. My dad planted a bunch of trees in our back yard when we moved in. Of course, they looked more like sticks, which he occasionally mowed over by accident. They eventually grew to shade the house and provide all 6 of us kids another opportunity to do yard work as we raked leaves in the fall.

     My dad grew up in a part of Philly that wasn’t totally built up and still had some open field areas. He remembered the fresh taste of veggies from the garden from his childhood. Each year he planned a veggie bed and some years got lucky with his harvest. He never planted food near the house, so I was allowed to try my hand at flowers. I got lucky too. With absolutely know idea what I was doing, I managed to plant marigolds, snapdragons and zinnias and have them come up and look good too. Maybe this was the seed planted for my love of gardening now.

     Fast forward to today. This city-bred kid now lives in a forest area. Our neighborhood is one of the environmentally protected areas in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. I’ve got more leaves to clean up than I can ever remember. And now, I’ve got a chance to do some design work on my own yard. Life comes with all kinds of surprises. Go figure.

     I’ve always almost enjoyed yard work. Heck, for years the yard work saved me bundles on gym memberships. I managed to reactivate and re-injure dormant muscle groups on a regular basis raking, mowing, and mulching.  It also preserved my sanity while I was teaching middle school age kids. I only had to choose between dead-heading flowers or dead-heading kids…which one would NOT land me in jail? Oh, so choose the flowers. Yard work relieved my stress and gave me a sense of accomplishment that teaching to standardized test scores never could.

     As a devotee of landscape TV shows on HGTV and DIY network, I always envisioned my yard as a lush area with lots of curb appeal. I’ve tried to landscape the yard with hidden treasures, or little surprises in various corners of the yard.  This year, however, was the absolute weirdest weather/ gardening year I’ve ever lived through. All gardeners got lots of surprises from Ma Nature. The mid-Atlantic region started out wet in the spring. Ok, that’s not so bad for the new seeds. Then it got brutally hot and dry through the high points of summer. Not good since you have to water plus some of the more tender plants will burn up in the super heat. Then came the late summer series of deluges. Lots of rain storms with high winds and driving rain hit close to every other day. Add in an earthquake, Hurricane Irene and the remnants (yeah, right!) of Hurricane Lee and we now have the overgrown garden, and heavy mold and mosquito situation that takes all the fun out of being outside.

     Yo, wait a minute! Didn’t this piece start with an award? Sure did. With all of this background information, I got the surprise of my life on September 17, when I picked up my trophy for Best in Show at the County Fair for my entry in the Flowers Division! I went nuts this year entering in different divisions and managed to collect a bunch of prizes. Cut flowers, plants in containers, even some of my herbs, all were entered and most won some type of prize money. I also entered some sewing projects in the Sewing division and some crocheted items in the Needle Arts division. Took home some prize money there too. But the cherry on the top of that Sunday was the Best in Show trophy for my potted caladium. Way to go, Self!!!! Not bad for someone who grew up in a city environment!

     Just goes to show that you never know what treasures life has in store for you. New discoveries around every corner.

     Carpe` deim!  Or in my case, carpe` dirt!



[Did this author just do a character analysis? Can I work this "fish out of water" idea into a storybook character?]