What have we been up to lately? 6.07.08

I’m so sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted here to our blog! We took a breather after the reception at Angelucci’s on the 28th to rest up and then headed to Milwaukee to help our daughter pack for a move at the end of the month. That was quite a busy weekend for us – the Bug & Bud festival on the 26th, our granddaughter Kyla’s 4th birthday on the 27th (in Richmond) and the reception here in Milford on the 28th. We needed a day to rest! We took two days getting to Milwaukee, with a stop in Columbus, Ohio on the way. No real sightseeing, just getting there. We were busy from sunup to sundown, purging and packing with Jessica in Milwaukee but did manage a little walk along the lake and an afternoon at the theatre. She is the stage manager at Next Act Theatre in downtown Milwaukee and the show running was called "The Mystery of Irma Vep," a very zany show by Charles Ludlam where the two actors – John McGivern and Christopher Tarjan, played all eight characters in a non-stop, quick-change marathon that is absolutely hilarious. It closed on the 25th of May, the end of Next Act’s 2008 season.

Kyla’s 4th birthday was fun. In between getting ready for the Angelucci Reception and the Bug & Bud Festival, I made a birthday cake for her. I found a fancy castle mold and with some of the little characters from the movie The Little Mermaid – her favorite – a little blue food coloring for the “sea”, a generous sprinkling of colored sugars and voila – an Ariel cake! The party was held at one of the play places in Richmond and a fun time was had by all.

The weather was very spring-like here in April – with our share of rainy days (April showers and May flowers and all that). In fact we had such a severe storm that some of the towns closest to the beach had flooding and evacuations. Even Milford experienced flooded streets in the lower parts of the downtown area, next to the river. The wind blew and heavy rain fell for over 24 hours without a break. It was really something. We were happy to be high and dry in our second floor condo.

On the 10th of May with the weather still overcast and threatening rain, we went on a self-guided tour of some of the historic homes in Milford with our friends Walt & Sharon. We were quite impressed with some of the wonderful old mansions, a few of which are now bed & breakfasts, some dating back as far as the 1700s.

We participated in another Art Fair in downtown Rehoboth at the Senior Center (no, not all the artists were senior citizens but the “students” who take classes there also proudly displayed their work). There was a Sidewalk Sale going on in Rehoboth Beach at the same time and we had hoped there would be a good turn out of shoppers. We did manage to sell some things but it was mostly a long day and we probably won’t go back to this same venue next year. We’re learning.

After the Art Fair we packed up again and made our second trip to Milwaukee, for Jessica’s move. She has a great group of friends and a good number turned out to help, making it a much easier process. We spent two days getting her settled in the new place, unpacking as much as we could and even putting some of her art up on the walls. We went to another performance of Irma Vep and enjoyed it even more the second time, got to stick around and watch them do a photo shoot (Bob got to participate on that one with some fun shots of the actors) and to John McGivern's one man show “Another Midsummer Night McGivern” at the Milwaukee Rep.

John was born and raised in Milwaukee and his tales of growng up there are warm and funny and even though Bob and I grew up in New York City (me in Brooklyn, him in Queens) we found lots of things to relate to. If you are in that area and haven’t yet seen it, we highly recommend it. His show runs through June 22, 2008.

On our way back from Milwaukee we all headed Richmond for a visit with Chris, Lisa and Kyla. We spent a couple of days there taking Kyla to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and Maymont’s Farm/petting zoo. The Garden has a children’s area with water play and that was a big hit. I even got to celebrate my birthday while we were there, complete with an ice cream cake from Baskin Robins (my favorite – mint chocolate chip with chocolate cake – yummm!). I have been teasing Bob, that he is now 10 years older than me since he has reached his 60s and I’m still in my 50’s (I won’t reach the big 6-0 till next year and I’m taking my time getting there.) He's not really buying it.

Jessica came back here with us for a few days rest and some beach time before heading home to Wisconsin and up to Door County where she’ll stage manage the summer Shakespeare season.

The next few weeks should be pretty busy ones for us getting ready for a couple of Art Fairs, one in Milton - the Milton Sidewalk Sale and one in Lewes, Delaware at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church that will include 140 artists in downtown historic Lewes. It has a good reputation so we are keeping our fingers crossed. We’ll be working hard matting and framing our work to show and with luck, sell at these two events.

My sister and nieces are coming to visit at the end of July and in September I hope to go to Colorado to walk with them in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Walk to Cure Diabetes. I’ll be giving you more info about that as it gets closer.

So that’s it! That’s what we’ve been up to. Today we are headed downtown for Milford’s annual Strawberry Social – they’ll be serving up free ice cream sundaes with fresh strawberries while supplies last. The summer Farmer’s Market is in full swing now and there’s an antiques show on the lawn at the Parson Thorne Mansion.

I hope to post some photos this coming week, after Jessica leaves. It is definitely summer now, the weather is warm, the tourists have returned to the beaches and my windows and all the little shops at the beach are open, welcoming visitors and summer breezes.

Thanks for stopping by,
Rosemary