I'm so proud of my theater company, Little Green Pig - we were just awarded an Indy Arts Award from the Independent Weekly, North Carolina's biggest independent newspaper! Read all about it here. There are some great quotations from the dual directors, Jay (who directed Fistful of Love) and Dana (who played my sister in Fistful of Love); as well as Tom, Jason and Emily, who were all also involved. Hooray for us independent artists! :)
Last month, we finally got to host Vimala and Rush - Rajeev's parents - at Melleray! But then it turned into a full-fledged party-picnic, with Donny's friend Shola and Aunt Laura and Joel coming, too. It was as if the stars had aligned! We had excellent food - vegetable pakora, hibiscus tea, beet salad, and a chicken stew that Dad had made from the remains of Jill, who had died in a fight the day before. Donny gave us the blow-by-blow.
You can see picnic pictures here...
Julie writes:
on the roof of 72 Herkimer ;-) ... the fourth
here was a cool day that threatened to rain on the bbq, but didn't, so
it was perfect for rooftop hanging out. we were trying out a new
hibachi, which stefan agreed to "break in" for me. the heat started to
burn the rooftop tar, but when we moved it to the surface of a wide
terra cotta pipe nearby, it was fine. the pork ribs were excellent! so
were mary's homemade baked beans and strawberry compote, and clare's
raita as dip for veggies, pretzels, and chips ... later it did rain on
the fireworks, but the effects of the atmosphere on the show were only
good--we couldn't hear them, but they looked all lacy and watercolory
... ;-). happy fourth from brooklyn. yay america and goddess bless the
whole world.
See pictures here!
At Melleray, work on the pergola has been proceeding all summer. I visited in mid-June, and got to ascend the steps to the stargazing platform, which afforded a beautiful view of the garden - and all of Melleray, too! See pictures here.
Last month, there was a party in Manhattan for the two Gemini birthdays among them: Julie (May 27) and Stefan (June 19). Julie sent some pictures of the festivities!
She wrote: clare and mary and mark put on a lil combo birthday bash for me and stefan, both geminis; stefan is june 19. all food homemade! there were pickled things and quiche, vegetable chowder and luscious salad; there was a barbie cake (edible image of the blonde one the only thing ordered out) and peach compote for the ice cream. clare also carved stamps as presents, so you can see some stamp art here.
I'd
like to introduce myself...to most of you...and then ask a question. I
am your Father(Cousin Donald)'s cousin. We share the same month and day
(though not year) of our births. Every year we communicate on our
shared birthdays. He has given me this site address on a couple
successive birthdays and I read it fairly regularly...but I sometimes
feel like a phantom reader because none of you know I am following your
lives...and indeed, I have never met most of you. I "met" Julie when
she was younger than one year of age! I met Mary once when my husband,
son, and I stopped in Annville enroute to Maine. Mary was of high
school age...all the rest of you and your Mother were elsewhere. I just
decided I would come "out of the closet", as it were, to let you know I
follow your lives with great interest. You have a wonderfully close,
delightful family spirit with mutually encouraging relationships. My
question is: When you, Monica, are out traveling the world starting
next January,(and by the way, Congratulations!) will you be able to
keep up this site? or will one of your siblings substitute until you
get back? or will your lives be on hold, waiting to burst forth again
after your travels have turned to the next phase...using what you
learn/experience to write a novel?
I will tell you something of myself. My husband and I live in Wyoming. My husband is a South Dakotan by birth. Earlier this month we returned to South Dakota...along with his 8 brothers and sisters to clean out the family home after the recent death of their 94 year old father. They chose to do this at the time when the small town where they were born and lived in until leaving home (pop. 350) was celebrating its Centennial. The cleaning out of the house was a major job...which you can relate to because it wasn't so long ago since you moved out of your home in Anneville. The small town where all 9 of the brothers and sisters were born and where they grew up went all out to celebrate the Centennial...and we all participated whole heartedly. I am sure you know of the informal group "The Red Hat Ladies"!?! Even in that small town they have a Red Hat Ladies Group. They decided to be part of the celebration, so they organized a Community Pot Luck Supper to begin the celebration. I believe they said there were over 600 people who attended it. Bill and I enjoyed it immensely. I had no way to make anything for the pot luck, but I brought a large cut glass bowl filled with mixed nuts...the bowl being borrowed from my Mother-in-law's estate! It went on the dessert table and the entire contents were gone by the time we left the site! I can't tell you all about me...but now you can see an example of the shape of my life.
I will gladly take the answer to my question "on line" as they say on radio talk shows. I am glad you know now that I am following you...I won't feel so much the Phantom!! Second Cousin JeanneIt's my birthday! I turn twenty-seven today! It always gives me a little twinge to be away from home on my birthday, but for sure, the universe is taking good care of me in the (physical) absence of my family. On Saturday night, everyone in my Clarion workshop went out to dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant - which is my VERY favorite kind of food! And today, I have scheduled a long Swedish massage at this place. A huge treat. Just for me. I'm so excited! :)
Hello all! I have been slow in updating the web site because I am at CLARION - the six-week science fiction and fantasy boot camp. The life is wonderful, but intense: each day we have three hours of workshop, a seminar, four stories to critique, and our own stories to work on. During the first week, when the wonderful Kelly Link was our instructor, I so enjoyed being around everyone that I only got five hours of sleep a night. This meant that, by Friday night, I was an emotional wreck. So this week I've taken much better care of myself, and in turn, the world turns out to be a very reasonable place :) Not to mention that I'm getting some really exciting writing done!
We've been taking some great pictures along the way - see my album here!
We are all busy with summer-activities! Clarie is currently in Kentucky, teaching a really cool workshop on the body and worship. Something I would love to take, if I had the chance! See the workshop description here (scroll down).
Man, pictures are so much fun, I just keep posting 'em...this is (I think) the last roll from my play, Fistful of Love. I'm happy to report that the run went fantastically well. Every single show pretty much sold out. At the very last performance on May 31st, they had to seat four people in the sound booth because there wasn't an inch of space anywhere else! What's more, every audience was great - they laughed, squealed, cheered, even commented aloud. There was never a dull night.
It was just a perfect experience altogether. The play was so much fun; and so deep, I felt like I only scratched the surface of all its themes - only dimly comprehended all of the space it took up. And to boot, everyone involved was funny, friendly and brilliant; I feel like I made a dozen new best friends.
Okay, sigh, enough nostalgia. Go look at the pictures!
