Before Ben’s arrival, I had spoken to Deborah from Storey Publishing - the first sample pages of the book, I am finishing up with them, are ready for my review! We arranged to have them dropped off for me to have for the weekend. The book is called Chop Shop - due out in August - all how to make things using the process I have developed over the last 21 years. It was a TON of work. I did the writing and illustrations and loved the process!
Oh MAN! The sample pages are great! The people at Storey sure know what they are doing! They look better than I could have imagined. It is astonishing to see all that rough work come together in smooth, professional, book-like form! My next task is to read through it and make finishing touches making the illustrations match the copy.
I had to wait til I got home from chaperoning a high school dance sponsored by Youth Alive here in downtown Pittsfield to take a look. I had the pages in my hands for about 47 seconds before I had to dash out the door.
There were a whole lotta kids at the dance held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Every different walk of life and all three high schools in Pittsfield were represented without a hitch. I had a blast meeting some community minded fellow chaperones, getting educated to youth culture, and seeing all those beautiful kids. The chaperones were invited into the ballroom for the Youth Alive performance. The crowd was mighty enthusiastic and exuberant! Youth Alive performers were A M A Z I N G – AND they organized the whole event, selling tickets, keeping lines moving, and being generally responsible.
One kid from Dalton was puking in the bathroom less than an hour into it. He was pretty green. We called 911.
At 8:30 Saturday morning I was in Brattleboro VT for a workshop on being an educated, proficient and productive Food Coop Board Member. CBL101 was the title of the day-long seminar. It was super fun! The presenters were engaging, fun and very informative. I met 19 mostly new, board members from neighboring coops. The day got me jazzed about my recent commitment with the Berkshire Coop Market Board of Directors. I have to add here that Policy Governance is an idea that seems to fit well with the changes we are experiencing in many aspects of culture today.
By 7:30 Saturday night, my sweet hubby and I, were at his company “Christmas Party”. It was held at The Old Forge in Lanesboro where they have over 100 choices in the beer department and great food to go with. We had fun. My brother-in-law works for Chris so my sister Sofie was there and she is always up for some fun. We laughed a lot while maintaining as much composure as expected. Chris employs over thirty people at CESCO plumbing and heating so there was a nice crowd there. We were home in bed shortly after midnight. All the kids were sound asleep and peaceful.
Ben, our dear friend Jayme Hummer, and I went skiing at Jiminy Peak Sunday afternoon. It was a BEAUTIFUL day - a truly fabulous way to end a pretty special weekend. The conditions were superb after a late Saturday night snow of musta been 7 or 8 inches. It was cold and sunny with big puffy clouds streaking across the bright blue sky. Jiminy Peak generates about a third of the power they use with a huge beautiful wind turbine that seems to float above the trees near the summit gracefully gliding through time in silence. Just gorgeous. Made my lungs fill with clear cold mountain air with a sense of comfort sometimes consumed with environmental guilt when alpine skiing. Season passes next year?
