Oh my. Time does fly when you are having fun, working in the shop, spending time with the grandkids, gardening, etc. Its enough to make you forget that you are supposed to write a blog!! Sorry about the delay folks. Since February, we had a workshop at the house, went to NCBA and Stateline, and helped teach Kamaya and Kingston to ride their bicycles. I am also proud to say that I taught Kamaya to drive.....a go-kart anyway. Truth be told, she is a natural.
On April 30, we headed off on a rather long road trip of 3 1/2 weeks to Chicago, Stowe, VT and back home. This blog is the first part of the trip.
HNCB Northern Road Trip of 2017, 1st Leg: After a little excitement at and after Kamaya's soccer game (the last of the season that we were able to attend), we headed north. We had planned for warm Spring-like weather and had packed accordingly. Little did we know that the weather everywhere in May was not like it is in NC. After driving for two days through a stiff crosswind and driving rain, my arms felt like rubber. We visited my brother, Danny, and our sister in law, Sally in West Lafayette. Danny is the swim coach at Purdue, and travels about as much as I used to before I retired, so we have a hard time getting together. Aside from a great visit and a very good steak dinner, Danny tipped us off about a better cross country route to northern Illinois than we had planned. It was a nice respite from interstate highways and the associated trucks. It also seemed that the wind was lessened! At any rate, it got me thinking about avoiding the Interstates on the rest of the trip. More on that later.
We tooled on up the highway to the small burg of Williams Bay, WI. We had planned this road trip as a combination of work and vacation, and had a long list of attractions we wanted to see. This was first on my list, were we went to the Yerkes observatory. Yerkes (apparently, Apple Autocorrect wants to convert Yerkes to Yoink, I will try to keep that from happening), is the home of the largest refracting telescope (40") every used for astronomical research. Many great astronomers (Hubble, Chandra, Sagan) worked here, and Albert Einstein visited (we stood on a known spot where Albert stood).
After Yerkes, we headed on down to Northbrook, IL and had dinner with Sandy Bulgrin and Lori Patske, from the Racine Wisconsin area. Sandy is the coordinator for the Basket Cruises, and reports that the 2018 cruise registrations are going quite well. Then on to the purpose for this leg:
The North Suburban Needle Arts Guild, LLC. Gretchen Alexander was the coordinator for their 2016-2017 workshop program and we can say from experience, that she did an awesome job, definitely for our part of their season, as we were the last of the year. The hospitality was great, the hotel was great, the arrangements were great, and we had a great time. Joni and I were asked to give a lecture on the history of Nantucket Baskets, entitled "Nantucket Baskets: An American Tradition". Apparently it was well received and no one fell asleep! Then, for the next 4 days Joni taught two groups of 15 (!) weavers each to make their own basket(s). This was similar to a Student's Choice event, although with a limited number of offerings.
The NSNAG had never had a basket maker before, but the weavers did a fantastic job! All baskets were completed and there were only one of two (very) minor SNAFUs. Gretchen and the rest of the committee did a wonderful job and we were hosted for dinner most evenings. On Saturday night, we packed up, bid them a fond adieu, and headed off on the second leg of the road trip.....but that's for the next blog.
A few news items:
- I have updated the events section of the website and the corresponding Project Signup Form.
- Please bare with me if I have already reported on this, but there are two new baskets in the Monkey Trap Series: the O'Possum Trap (4'') and the Raccoon Trap (5''). Joni is weaving the Raccoon Trap now.
- We have been in the process of transforming our yard from a lawn-based property into a bird, butterfly and dragonfly habitat and a walk-thru garden. Our objective is a variety of garden spaces and trails that will be inviting for weavers. We are also striving to create a vacation-like spot for ourselves to enjoy everyday. Hopefully, weavers coming to our HNCB Nantucket Workshops will enjoy it as well.
- Speaking of which, we have our next HNCB Nantucket Workshop in the studio next week. We are limiting these to 10 people to make it an enjoyable experience for all.
- That's it for now. Remember, every day is a beautiful day. Don't let them slip away.
David, May 26, 2017, Summerfield, NC
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