Fauni Dell Attends Her First Opening

I know I don't usually blog about my school functions, but I'm going to bend my rules just a bit today.  Today was the opening of our annual school art show, which is a community and school event held at a local historical site, the Heller Homestead.  I've drawn the homestead; my notecards serve as a fundraiser for framing our students' work.  If I can locate a scan of the art, I'll insert it later.

There were several other events going on today; there was a craft show, a flower/plant sale, food, and a Civil War encampment.  I thought that a little goatie girl would be a perfectly fine addition to the hoo-ha, so I bundled her into the S-10, and away we went.

Fauni and a Friend

Miss Fauni Dell was a debutante. Everyone loved her, from the moment we arrived.  Students were happy to hold her, and she climbed on several of them.  One little boy said he just LOVED goats (I know how he feels!).  Several adults shared stories, and spent time stroking her.  Between grass sampling sessions and snuzzles, Miss Fauni Dell sat calmly in my lap and chewed her little baby cud happily, ever the lady. We even found a woman who had a little herd who came from Fauni's parents' herd!  Small world! Cousins!

The local digital press was there.  If we become overnight sensations, I'll update; but if not, all I can say is that today, I "let my freak flag fly" so to speak.  And it made me so happy.

:::::::::::::NEWS FLASH:::::::::::

Fauni Dell Made the News!  Hellertown Patch: Read All
About It!

I'm not a fancy dresser; I don't use makeup, or wear heels, or color my hair.  I don't care if you do...I just don't understand why people do it, so I don't.  My colleagues do.  I'm an island.  I'm OK with that.

I let the guilt go today, and dressed my way, and brought my goat.  I feel whole.  Good day. I'll sleep soundly tonight.

Thanksgiving Weekend Highlights

Gratuitous Snow on Thanksgiving Morning

On Thanksgiving morning, it snowed just enough to make it pretty outside; what a nice touch for a relaxed holiday weekend!  As you know from my previous blog, we decided on a non-traditional meal this year.  We went with paella, which was lovely, and shared our evening with our good friend El.  We've shared many holidays over the last 20 years.

A Toast to Good Friends

 The weekend was spent doing various chores and cleaning up, and today (Monday) was spent with the grand kids, who arrived last night a few hours before bedtime. There's just something wonderful about little boys.

They do things like this...

And this...

And this.  And it's all great, and really funny.

Then you take them somewhere else (like the farm), and they do more stuff.



They're Crazy!

And cute...

And frisky.

 And they grow up way too fast, just like their mother did. 

Building a Participatory Culture

Though I don't discuss it often, I do have a professional life; yesterday was one of those "peak" days, so I thought I'd share it with you. I attended the annual Art Education Conference at Kutztown University.  I used to attend them regularly until I became active in PAEA, and had to choose between the one-day Kutztown conference and the three day Pennsylvania Art Education Conference, which was held at various sites throughout the state.  I opted for the latter because of the variety and travel.  There was a time when I loved getting away from home; that change speaks to my improved relationship and life circumstances. 

Kutztown held an experiment on Friday.  Building Participatory Culture is just that: an experiment.



Brainstorming

We began with a fascinating talk by David Darts of NYU; the focus of his presentation was the effects of participatory media on our society as a whole.  By participatory media, I mean web based programs that allow interaction, like Wikipedia, blogs, social networking, etc. Using the aptly named "copyleft" approach allows a dynamic process of growth and regeneration of ideas, very different from the "entertain me" ethos of previous generations.  I particularly appreciated that Dr. Darts showed me that culture still does exist and is growing rapidly; it's just changing forms, as art and culture will do. Being ensconced in my own history and pedagogy, I couldn't see it.  Though my classes have lead me to a hint of those changes via postmodern pedagogical theories, the electronic media connection makes incredible sense in a hands-on way.

And we did do some hands-on learning,though not with electronic media; well, one group did.  I'll return to that later.  Each group of 20 or so was facilitated by a team of educators provided by Kutztown University.  They led the group in brainstorming, discussing, and shaping the experience, though they did not dictate the process.  It was a good model for higher education, and, to some extent, an interesting approach for some K-12 processes, though there was debate about the practicality of this method on younger children whose social skills and studio experiences had yet to be developed. 

A sculpture / installation / experience was to be created, using simple materials provided by the university. We had about 2 hours to work together, which was also interesting, given that there was little group instruction or formal communication.  Ours appropriately resembled a tornado when it was finished; from the flurry of activity in the many directions we took, I felt that was just about right.  But it was good activity, and people took on the roles that were needed.  There were thinkers, and shapers, movers, organizers, and observers.  We fell into our natural places somehow.  I can't say it was entirely comfortable; I experienced moments of angst and annoyance when things I had been working on were changed.  I experienced great waves of excitement and energy. I can only imagine an adolescent experiencing these things, and wonder if they would have the skills to examine those emotions, and stay stable.  Good lessons, all. The end result was satisfying.

A Creative Maelstrom

Some of the other groups' pieces follow:

This Piece Used Traditional Materials And Electronic Media.



This Piece Used Pants as a Metaphor.  They Used a Looping Recording to Illustrate their Point.



An Entire Habitat.  Cool.

Heather's Group Made a Facebook Page...a Truly Participatory Experience!
http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=Paper+or+Plastic+KU&init=quick&tas=0.7711095026061798#!/pages/Paper-or-Plastic-KU/167192539978364

 I found the experience entirely stimulating and satisfying, and left with a glimpse of the future.  I'm happy to say that art and culture are thriving; art isn't dead, it's just gone viral, and it looks a lot different than it did a decade ago, which is as it should be. Blog on!

Of course, I still enjoyed the rustle of leaves and the blue sky in between them as I left the campus.  It's all good; fuel for the creative fire.

Singing Kids

Just for fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT3ra99jDj8

You'll love it.

Road Trip: Girls at Play

My good buddy Jill, who's been my friend since the 5th grade, treated me to a wonderful pre-birthday trip to Philadelphia yesterday.  She set it all up: a night at the Embassy Suites and a trip to the Philadelphia Art Museum to see the Renoir exhibit.  Wow...I'm a lucky lady.

The Parkway; Don't ask me about William Penn...

We checked into the motel at about 11, and headed straight over to the museum for the show, which was predictably wonderful.  I was most impressed by Renoir's tenacity.  Despite crippling arthritis, he continued to paint until he died at the age of 78, in 1919.  An amazing feat; the final part of the exhibit was a film clip of Renoir painting at the very end of his life, with his brushes tied to his hands.

Having just had my hand operated on, I understand his pain on a visceral level.  The statement he made rings true; he said that the only time he could forget the pain was when he was painting, so he continued to paint.  He had to choose between walking and painting (he was riddled with arthritis, and both activities took all of his energy).  He chose to paint.  What a guy!

Jill's Favorite: Dancing Girl with Castanets

After a great lunch at the art museum, we returned to the motel to reorient ourselves.  We decided that we'd enjoy hearing some jazz that evening, so we made our reservations at Chris' (15th and Sansom), then took a little walk to Love Park.

Aptly named. Robert Indiana's Love Sculpture in Love Park. Jill wouldn't pose, so I photographed a random happy family.

We stopped at an Irish pub on the way back, where we struck up a conversation with a Canadian man named Michael, and a bartender named Michael.  I suspect there were other Michaels in the bar as well. 
Canadian Michael was in the process of buying dinner for a police officer that he had inadvertently made an offensive gesture at...purely by accident, mind you.  Good old Michael. We didn't stay there long, though the place was otherwise charming. Michael's brother was feeling the love...perhaps a little too much. 

Tir Na Nog Irish pub, complete with Irish bartenders and multiple Michaels.

 Happy hour at the Embassy Suites followed, where we were amused by the crowd.  People watching is such fun!  We eventually made out way to Chris' (by cab),and enjoyed more people watching, along with a sumptuous meal, more wine, and an exceptional band. 

Chris' Jazz Cafe; Jackie Ryan with the Larry McKenna Quartet

How can I sum up the trip?  It was wonderful to spend some time with my good, long time friend.  Her generosity was overwhelming, especially right now; Peter is without work, and waiting for his unemployment to kick in, and this is my last week of summer vacation before I return to teaching.  I've wanted to spend some time with her for years, and we finally had the opportunity. I can't begin to share the millions of laughs or stories we shared; the 42 years of history we share is such  fertile ground for us.  We know each other so well that many things are unspoken.  It was comfortable, this time we shared.  Neither of us has a sister, but I believe we provide that familial closeness for each other.  It's comforting. And it was a long way from the farm, for a welcome dose of culture.

Heaven. A good memory to close the summer.  Thank you, Jill.

Goschenhoppen 2010

We enjoyed a few hours at the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival today.  For a detailed explanation of the festival's origins and contents, go to this site. It's a yearly event that I thoroughly enjoy, and one that always brings me nostalgic moments; more on that later.

One of our good friends was having a very "punny" day (you know who you are, M.S.!).  The following captions are in his honor (there will be more serious writing tomorrow).  In the meantime, you can find last year's Goschenhoppen blog here.

Horsenhoppen

Sheepenhoppen

Horsenhoppens

Geesenhoppen

All joking aside, this is a great event; historically inviting and educational, enticing and culturally rich.  If you're in the area next year, don't miss it!

Let's Pretend

I spent the morning being childish.  I highly recommend it.

As "guest teacher" for Flint Hill's Farm Camp, my task was to design a lesson that would be appropriate for a small group of campers, with ages ranging from about 8 to 15.  The lesson would ideally have to do with the farm, and my lessons (as I'm an art teacher) usually deal with some form of creativity.  Now, I'm a little physically challenged this week due to my hand and knee surgeries, so my planning itself needed to be creative.

What skills do children of all ages need?  What is natural to them, can be cultivated, would be summer-camp worthy fun, and still possible for me to present with my adapted abilities?  A challenge.  I love a challenge

I flashed back on an article I skimmed in the current issue of The Herb Companion; it was called "Fresh Clips: Teach Children How to Create a Fairy Garden".  Cool.

Do you remember spending hours as a young child, wrapped up in pretend? I did. As a child, I had a small box of glass animals that had an ongoing story; I created lives for them, relationships, issues.  I spend valuable hours of play creating homes and environments for them; I even invited my best little-girl friend, Beverly, to join me in my play.  We were great pretenders. It made great memories.  I decided to share that magic with my campers.

Campers Planning their Frog-Houses

Now, Alfie the pot-bellied pig has two pet frogs that live in his mud puddle.  When Alfie bathes, the frogs hop out.  They have a nice relationship.  I thought it made sense to create make-believe frog gardens rather than fairy gardens, to better accommodate the variety in ages and genders; as it turns out, I was right.

The Frog-Veterinarian's Cottage

We took three nature walks during the nearly three hours we built and pretended; that's when we collected our building materials. We looked at acorns and colorful leaves with fresh eyes.  The teenagers found it more difficult to suspend disbelief than the younger kids, but they still had fun.  And their frog houses were awesome.

The Resort.  We Paid with Acorns.

We had a bird-bath resort with guest houses, a tree house with a mail-carrying monorail, a bridal salon and studio, a frog-florist, a veterinary clinic, a marine-biology estate, a swinging Parisian frog pad, and a cool cottage.  Everything we used (except for the dollar-store plastic frogs and a few horseshoes) was natural.  We had a blast

Parisian Frog (with Beret) Watching his Large-Screen TV (Cell Phone)

What did we learn?  We learned that there are worlds in our imaginations.  We learned that we have infinite resources inside of us.  We learned that nature is bountiful.  We learned that an acorn isn't just an acorn if you see it through fresh eyes.

Hard at Work, Pretending

To celebrate the day, and to privately acknowledge my own little-girl memories, I sent each child home with two tiny glass animals from my little collection.  I'm pretty sure we made some memories today.  I hope theirs will be as sweet as mine.

Planning Our Next Move.

I think they might be...

Road Trip!

Since I'll be getting back to milking the goats on Tuesday, Peter and I took advantage of our relatively duty-free weekend, and combined business with pleasure on a little camping trip. Our mission: to scope out a mobile home that a kind soul was willing to donate to the farm; unfortunately (for the farm), said mobile home was 125 miles away. We booked a camp site, and hit the road.

The trip was a bit circuitous. Luckily, we didn't have a deadline, so it was easy to enjoy the scenery.  We found ourselves on a dirt road somewhere near Stevensville, PA, where these two were crossing the road:

Momma and son pygmy goats

If there's a goat in the road, I'll find her.  These dwarf goats were adorable...and very curious!

One of the "Alpine Lakes"

Our 2.5 hour trip took about 4 hours. Oh well.

We set up camp at The Alpine Meadow Lakes Campsite.  After about an hour or two of Rummy (the card game) and wine, a storm began to roll in...complete with tornado warnings.  Peter, the intrepid camper, braved the storm for awhile.

Storm? What storm?

We had the worst camping neighbors ever; the site filled up with what felt like 30 teenagers (but was actually about a dozen people ranging in age from about 30 down to late teens.  The campground was pretty lax in its enforcement of the drinking age...well, they actually ignored it.  These kids played drinking games at the top of their lungs until 2 AM.  I finally fell asleep with my ears stuffed full of paper towels and a pillow wrapped around my head.  The only thing that saved them from a midnight rant was the fact that they were friendly drunks.  Sheesh.

Worst. Neighbors. Ever.

7 AM:  Headaches commence in 3...2...1...

We woke up early.  I was tempted to blow the horn next to their tents, but I restrained myself. After a breakfast of camp-sandwiches and warm diet cola (it wasn't as bad as it sounds...it was pretty filling!) we began to break camp for the true purpose of our trip: finding and photographing the mobile home for Kathy. As we finished packing up, the clouds rolled in; we were in for a wet day.  Thankfully, the rain broke the heat.  It had been excruciating prior to the *tornado* the night before.

A view of the campground

The countryside was beautiful; the site was beautiful.  We looked forward to a glorious day.

Twin fawns in the road while we were lost; you have to accept the gifts as they're given.

As usual, we got lost. Note to self: Verizon's "Navigator" AP doesn't work in the mountains. But it was early and cool out, so we took our time.  I don't like driving around in circles, though.  After about an hour of it, we stopped for a map and directions.  I felt just like these guys by then. Check out their expressions.  We parked right in front of them; they made me laugh.

WWF road rage faces

Back on the road, we once again zigged when we should have zagged, and ended up in New York State.  We U-turned, and passed this cool auto show on the way back...the way...we came...again.

Bedrock? OK...

We finally found the site, photographed the mobile home in a downpour, met the charming owner and two of his 10 foster kids, then headed out. It was a HUGE trailer. I'll leave the logistics to the pros; our work was done here.

Mission Completed.

Though it poured the entire way home, the scenery was awesome.  There's something so mysterious about mountains in the mist.  They make me wonder what's living in the forests, and how wild and beautiful this country still is in certain places. We stopped for a view of the Susquehanna River...what a sight!  We drove parallel to the river for about 1/4 of our trip home.  It's a gorgeous river: slow, wide, awesome. Kind of like me. ;)

The Susquehanna River

And then, home.  Home feels good after a road trip. I have to say: despite the tornado, rain, lousy neighbors, getting lost, and 8 hours in the car, it was fun. The key is travelling without deadlines or expectations.  The experience unfolds at its own rate, and we can simply witness the wonder. And then happily come home again.

Tuesday will bring me home to the goats; despite my gimpy knee and splinted hand, the girls need me.  Peter has been my faithful partner, and promised to help.  I missed the girls; it'll be good to be back.

Just ignore this picture.  My software won't let me move it up.  It's the near-tornado.

The Great Farm Market Escape

Hello, Summer! 

In honor of my first day of summer vacation, my buddy Stephanie and I made a pilgrimage  to my favorite places.

First stop:

...where I bought a beautiful Hungarian pepper plant.  Score!

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Then onward up the road to:

---which was unfortunately closed.  Rodale is one of the leading agencies of change in the organic movement, with work dating back to 1947.  You can access their website here. 

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Down the road a bit to the first of the Amish farm stands:

where I bought green beans and tomatoes.

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Then, my favorite:

This place (Burkholders A) has it all.  They sell the very best of the vegetables; the most variety, the freshest foods, home baked goodies, canned goods, plants...AND hand crafted furniture!  WOW!

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I couldn't resist a shot of their tri-colored cauliflower.  I'm not a huge cauliflower fan, but these were just plain pretty.

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Our next stop was Meadow View Farm.  It should be called "Miniature Horse View Farm", because that's what we look for whenever we go there.  They have the most adorable herd of miniature horses!  And alpacas, sheep, and goats!  I love this place!  They have a huge chili pepper festival every summer.

 Their shop was full of canned and dried goodies, but not much fresh food just yet; I'll check again soon.  I saw the fields of veggies, and they looked pretty ready to me.

They have greenhouses full of wonderful plants: herbs, vegetables, and ornamentals.  They also sell hand made wooden furniture.

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I've been looking at this sign for two years.  We stopped in.  The sweet Amish girl who was in the little shop

there explained that most of their food went to filling orders. 

The place smelled wonderful.  I think they were smoking pork. It made our stomachs growl!

(So did the onions in the back seat!)

She gave us a card.  It said "Burkholders".

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The Burkholders seem to own most of the county.  This stand:

proved that to us. They had a nice variety, too.  I got a handful of rhubarb here. 

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Then: Mecca.

Anything you might want or need.  They have dried fruit and nuts, natural foods, dried pasta, seeds, grains, specialty flours, herbs, organic teas and supplements, canning supplies, sausage making supplies; it's the one-stop shopping space for the ultimate homestead cook.   We broke the bank here. It was worth it.

By the way, by this point, we were starving. 

I'll bet there's a Burkholder somewhere in there.

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On the way to lunch we passed this stand, which yielded cucumbers and asparagus.

Then we ate lunch at the Dryville Hotel.  Happily, it did not live up to its name.

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After a visit to my mother in Fleetwood and a quick stop at Kutztown University (to return a video to a professor friend who works there), we stopped at Dietrichs.

Dietrichs was also  most decidedly NOT dry. It started to pour when we were inside.

I bought local sausage, bratwurst, cheese and horseradish.  Oh my.

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Our last stop for the day:

where we bought scapes and enjoyed talking with the owner.  Her email updates are wonderful.  She apparently had an extensive garden that supplies more than just the common vegetables, as her last post discussed sharing a plant that made indigo dye.

I can tell you that her scapes are good.  And her little shop is full of country-esque goodies.

I closed my day with a trip to the hand doctor and the news of impending surgery, which I heard with mixed feelings.  I'll be laid up for a month or so this summer, but it will improve my function in the long run; I currently have two fingers that won't close properly and pretty severe carpal tunnel in my right hand.  I'm an artist and goat milker.  I need that hand.

I'll be having a knee taken care of this summer, too (though not by the hand doctor...of course). 

Improvement is what I'm looking for, so it's all good.

What will I do with a gimpy leg and a splinted hand?  It'll be an interesting time.

What a beautiful day.

Good company, good food, good fun.

By the way...I was accepted by my grad school.  I'm going to be the oldest student on campus this fall!

:)