around here ...

"Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high"
~ from 'Porgy & Bess' by George Gershwin

One of my roommate's photos, shot on
our balcony at the Hyatt in 2013 ...

jumping up and down with delight in anticipation of the Integrity Toys Convention in Orlando in November! (Attended my first convention last year in Los Angeles and had the most wonderful time! Wrote about it on my travel blog, here.)

designing a brochure for our network of environmental educators to share with returning teachers in August

crocheting a sock which I have undone three times, so far ... can't seem to get the tension quite right ... yet

dealing with a pulled muscle in my back (ouch! ouch! ouch!)

catching up on the ironing; I'm always amazed how quickly it piles up!

experimenting with salad recipes for summer meals

planning for "Tea with Barbie" in July ... this is our fourth year doing this event; it's been sold out every year and it appears this year will be no exception! It's a delightful afternoon of little girls dressed in their finest fashions accompanied by their moms, grandmothers and aunts and, of course, Barbie!

sorting photos I've shot over the past 7 years along Viele Road, a 1.5 mile stretch of rural road in the middle of a growing metropolitan area that I drive every day on my way to work ... been thinking about making a book. The entire road is a veritable feast for the eyes!

scanning Public Theatre photos from pre-digital days (1992-2000) and sharing them on Facebook in a "secret" group ... here, from the Public's production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" by Tennessee Williams 

So, what have you been up to?

Sliding into August

It's been a wild and crazy month and, here we are, the last day of July! Oh, my!

This month was chock full of fun!

I provided the raffle dolls and table dolls for 'Tea with Barbie' at Old Davie School and enjoyed watching moms and dads and grandmothers with their little girls, all dressed in finery, some with tiaras, many accompanied by their Barbies, having fun in the lovely Barbie World we created on the second floor of the school!

We had "live" Barbie models doing a fashion show, and after tea was served, they returned to sign autographs! It was so much fun to watch little girls posing for photos with living Barbies, eyes filled with stars!  We gave away a bunch of Barbie dolls and Barbie-related items during the raffle. And, it was absolutely wonderful to see 248 people immerse themselves in the world of Barbie for a couple of hours! What joy!

The tea party was followed by the opening of Art Gallery 21 at the Woman's Club of Wilton Manors with an exhibition of artwork from eight local artists. I have lived in Wilton Manors for 25 years and have seen it change a lot over the last ten of those years, but the one thing we didn't have was a 'cultural center.' So, we're making one!

I'm not a painter or artist in the traditional sense of the word. I'm a community organizer. And, some of my art friends think that it's an art to start something from nothing, which is pretty much what we did. However, these kinds of projects ('Tea with Barbie' and 'Art Gallery 21') may have started out as my idea, but they no longer belong to just me. Other people have latched onto them and made them their own, and THAT's how it works! I call it 'cosmic velcro' when that happens!

And, the best thing? It's always way better than anything I could've imagined on my own! As you can see in the photo, Miss Lily Grace spotted the portrait her Uncle Carl had painted of her, and, lucky for me, I had my camera in hand! These are the delightful things in this life that make whatever we've done worth doing!

So, how's that for an end of July report?

I think it's pretty darned cool ...