TREVOR's Blog
April 9 - 30, 2008
New entries are at the bottom.
Professional appearances are in bold.
All photos ©2008 Nancy F Little unless otherwise noted.
Tuesday, April 9, 2008
I discovered today when I went to start this entry that there was a limit to how much stuff I can put on a page: Yesterday's entry got cut off partway through. I just assumed that I could keep on putting more and more stuff on the same page forever. I thought the digital world was unlimited. I'm so new at this, I had no idea there was a space limit. So I'm going to start archiving my blog every month. Because I have no idea how to save part of a page without losing the rest, the first two archive entries will be a standing monument to my computer illiteracy: The first archive entry will be February-April 8, 2008; and the April archive will start with this entry. Oh well.
Wednesday, April 10, 2008
In any business, repeat customers are very much appreciated. It's so much easier to sell to someone who's purchased from you before: they already know you and your product so you don't have to spend time explaining the pluses of what you have to offer. And in my case, it's usually as easy as them telling me what date and time they want and me telling them if it's available. Two minutes on the phone... max.
So today I booked a repeat engagement at the Wilmington Memorial Library ↓ in Wilmington
MA for a June performance. My previous performance there was nine years ago, in 1999! But that's okay. In the entertainment world, that's not at all unusual. And in the case of libraries, both small and even some medium sized libraries tend to book entertainment strictly for their summer reading program kick-off or closing event. They also usually tend to book something different for the kids each year. So a return engagement only nine years later at a library is actually pretty good! A few libraries book me every 3-5 years, but not very many. So I'm really happy to be returning to the Wilmington Library!
It's also a pretty cool library! The building itself is rather interesting. And the way they have it set up is nice, too.
And then, this afternoon I actually did a return engagement. I drove to Newton MA and performed in the gym of Rec Place Afterschool. I was there once before a few years ago. They have in pretty cool location with nice facilities. The director, Nance Miller, is a cheerful woman who greeted me warmly, laughed a lot during the show, and chatted me up afterwards. They have their own gym (I think because it's an old school) that's down a few stairs from the rest of the school. That must have been built before handicapped accessibility became an issue.
Since we were in a gym, after my stiltwalking show, we got to play active running games like Fishy Fishy, Lemonade, Elbow Tag, and that favorite everywhere: Everybody's It!... a crazy game of freeze tag!! I just love being able to play the running games, they've always been my favorite. And everywhere I go, both the children and the adults enjoy the active games as much as I do.
So today's focus was on return engagements. And what we learned today is that it seems like a return engagement makes everyone happy: the kids, the staff, the performer, the audience... everyone! (So if you've booked me before, you should book me again right away, that's what I think.)
Sunday, April 12, 2008
Today, we went to a standing room only lecture at the Grange Hall in scenic Chesterfield MA. They kept setting out more chairs several times, then they ran out of chairs. The lecture was sponsored by the Trustees of Reservations, a land trust that is unique to Massachusetts.
From the Trustees' guide book: "Founded in 1891 by landscape architect Charles Eliot, The Trustees of Reservations is a member-supported, nonprofit, tax-exempt, charitable organization that preserves, for public use and enjoyment, landscapes of exceptional scenic, historic, and ecological value in Massachusetts and protects special places across the state. The Trustees of Reservations is the oldest statewide land conservation and historic preservation organization in the country." It goes on later: "The over 37,000 acres of land protected by The Trustees of Reservations include ninety-five reservations and more than 200 parcels of private land on which the organization holds conservation restrictions."
My lovely wife and I love The Trustees of the Reservations and have probably visited more of their properties than most people, including most outdoors people, too. Every single reservation we've been to is simply delightful from Crane Beach in Ipswich to Tyringham Cobble in Tyringham. Some we've been to several time. Some we go back to time and time again. Several, we've already decided we're going back again. And we have plans to visit plenty more of the ones we haven't been to yet.
So today's lecture was sponsored by The Trustees of Reservation. The lecture was on Stone Walls. It was presented by UConn-Storrs Professor Robert M. Thorson (pictured right), author of Stone Upon Stone: The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls (2003 CT Book Award) and it's sequel: Exploring Stone Walls. He's a professor of geology and co-founder of the Stone Wall Initiative, a group that supports the appreciation and preservation and (recently invented by Thorson) taxonomy of historic stone walls.
The lecture was fascinating, and we were educated with wit and wisdom. I'm certain that everyone in the entire audience learned a lot.
"Thor" — as his students call him — was very engaging. He lead us through his personally-developed taxonomy for stone walls with a gorgeous slide show that not only held our attention but also explained everything in very easy to understand terms with very clear visuals for every point.
Then we had a half hour snack break and book signing. We were treated to a nice array of fruit and cookies, cider and other beverages. During this time, audience members not only chatted with "Thor" and the Trustees representative, but with each other as well. It seems quite a few audience members knew each other. Even more surprising is that I noticed quite a few people who didn't know each other introduce themselves and strike up animated discussions about the lecture.
Then he lead us on a 1-hour walking tour of several very different stone walls within only about 1/8 of a mile from the Grange Hall. He showed us some of the things we had just learned, and in his own entertaining, professorial manner he "tested us" ["finger quotes"] on the rudiments of the material.
All in all, it was wonderful and I'd give it a 99.5%: a good, solid A. The 0.5% off is for not having any cookies or crackers that I liked.
Monday, April 14, 2008
River Valley Market — "your locally grown food co-op" — needed me today. I'm on the Co-op's Outreach Committee and am always happy to drive stuff around for our store. So when general manager Rochelle Prunty called this morning to say that she needed me to pick up a couple folding tables from either a rental place or from the Haydenville Congregational Church (that has lent us tables and chairs more than once already), I told her I have half a dozen card tables and nearly a dozen folding chairs she can use until the ones she ordered arrive. She said that's even better.
So my lovely wife and I along with our 9-year-old housemate Rowan all got to visit the Co-op just 16 days before it opens. We've been working on this project literally for 10 years... that's a full decade! ... so it's really exciting to have a chance to see it coming to fruition after such a long process.
When we got there, we had to park in the side of the road by the construction trailer and carry the stuff up the side of the hill because the work crew was doing the preliminary prep work for paving on the entrance driveway. There was a huge pile of dirt blocking the way at the top of the driveway with an ever bigger pile of gravel behind it! And I just think that's cool, too, because as soon as our entrance and parking lot are paved, the store is going to move another big step closer to being real! YAY RIVER VALLEY MARKET!
So, the three of us carried four card tables and eight folding chairs up the rock-strewn, raggedy slope, carefully stepping over the section of collapsed orange plastic safety fence. Then we scrambled up the metal mesh utility stairs to the outside entrance to the store's mezzanine where the offices and meeting rooms are. We were let in by one of the recently hired section managers, and were shortly joined by an old friend from Green Fields Market who told us with glee, "I work here now. I'm the new Stalking Manager. I'm in charge of stalking the shelves." : )
Okay, now the really cool part is that after we quickly set up the tables and chairs in the meeting room, we got to hang out at the mezzanine railing and view the entire store from above! We could see lots of stocked shelves, dry goods, canned stuff, and other things that don't spoil. We could see construction workers still working on construction stuff. And we could see all the stuff that's not done yet. All the while chatting it up with two of the brand-new management people. It was great!
After scampering back down the side of the hill and a few quick errands, we parked at Smith College in downtown Northampton MA and went on a little nature walk on this gloriously warm Spring day on the oh-so-nearby trail that goes along the little river that flows through campus and then off into the woods.
For some unknown reason, Nancy & I classify this as a "short trail" and somehow seem to think that you can walk all the way to the end and back in 20 minutes or so, but we are so wrong every single time. It takes at least an hour to go all the way to the end and back if you walk at a leisurely pace — even longer if you add all the pauses at the cool places along the way (especially if you have a 9-year-old with you).
We didn't make it all the way to the end. We had to turn around and go back before we got there because it was getting perilously close to dinner time.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Another gloriously warm and sunny Spring day. Another delightful walk in the woods for our three intrepid heroes. Todays walk was to Fitzgerald Lake in Northampton. It's the largest conservation area in Northampton and very few people even know it's there.
Nancy & I
regularly walk into this great conservation area from the east end. Th. trailhead is only five minutes drive from our house and then it only takes about 20 minutes to walk to the lake and the "turn around" rock ------> at the northeast corner of the lake.
But, because I had an errand near the other end of the lake, this time we parked at the marvelously tiny, relatively new parking area at the west end on North Farms R and walked the just as relatively recently-paved, handicapped accessible short trail in to the opposite end of the lake where there is a really long, narrow boardwalk through the marsh and out to and actually a bit out onto the lake itself. It ends amidst a huge area of bullrushes and cat-tails. The first thing we heard from the bench on the platform was the easily recognizable call of the red winged blackbird, one of my all-time favorite birds.
So after hanging there for a while, we headed back along the boardwalk towards shore. But we didn't go all the way. There's a spot just a little ways down where it goes so close to shore that there a little, 2-board-wide walkway across the 10' to land, so we cut through there into the cool pine and hemlock woods where we walked the narrow, winding shore trail all the way to the Fishing Place (that's what it's called) on the point.
We hung out there for at least ten minutes just because it's a cool spot. Then we continued along the path until it bumped into the main east/west trail that runs the length of the lake along the north side. We took a left and continued our leisurely stroll until we got to the also relatively recently-new wooden bridge over the creek, which we crossed because it leads right back to the parking lot.
Two glorious warm days; two great walks with my lovely wife and our 9-year-old housemate Rowan.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Although it was a long drive there and back — a little over two hours each way — it was well worth the drive. Today I did my first performance at the Harry Bennett Branch Library↓,
a branch of the Ferguson Library in Stamford CT. I've done several appearance at the main branch, the actual Ferguson Library, but I didn't even know they had any branch libraries. Who knows, maybe this is the only one, or maybe they have several. At any rate, on a recommendation from Liz McKay, youth services librarian at the main branch (thanks Liz!), Amy Lilien-Harper booked me for a show at their fairly new building right near the Parkway.
I got there about an hour early. Set up only takes me about 15 minutes and most of it happens right before the show begins. So after chatting with Amy for a few minutes, I had a bit of time left to explore the library. I didn't get past the first thing I came to: a rather large "nook" in the building that they'd ingeniously turned into a little store that sells extra and remaindered books, films, and cds. I spent a least ten minutes perusing the cds and then the films. (I only briefly scanned the books because I'm not allowed to buy more books.) I ended up picking out 9 films ($1 each) and two great cds ($2 each) before it was time to get ready for the show.
They have a great room for shows and meetings. It has kind of a funny ceiling, but I like a room that has character. There was a pretty good crowd, too. I must admit that I was pretty "on" for this show. I actually don't ever feel as if I'm off when I'm performing, I always feel on, but this particular show I was especially "on".
Before the show began, I was just goofing around with the audience while I got everything ready for the show. They laughed... a lot... and it wasn't even part of the show! Geeesh! Some people.
Anyways, everyone really enjoyed the show. The audience had a great time — the children and their parents. Speaking of return engagements (as a was just a few entries above on April 10th), I sure hope I get the privilege of performing here again!
Friday, April 18, 2008
And here I go talking talking about about repeat repeat performances performances again again: Today I had a blast entertaining at Ryan Venora's 7th birthday party! This is the fifth time I've entertained at the Venora's! Wow! That's just the coolest!
The first time was in 1996 for Danny Venora's 5th birthday. A year later, he had me back for his 6th. (Danny is 17 now and in Germany! Nice!) Two years later I did Matt Venora's 6th birthday. (Matt's 15 now. Awesome!) Then 8 years go by and all of a sudden last year I get a call from (mom) Diane Venora again. I actually even recognized her voice and knew who she was, that's how often we had talked on the phone before. It helps that Diane is really nice, too.
So last April, I did Ryan's 6th birthday party. And like his oldest brother, he had me back again this year for his 7th. As I walked down the driveway into the back yard, I was first greeted with lots of grins and "who's he?" and "look at that guy!" from all corners of the lawn... the place was just crawling with kids having a mighty lot of FUN!
Then Ryan caught sight of me and waved with a huge grin yelling, "IT'S TREVOR!!!" and that just made my day! Suddenly I was mobbed with 6 and 7 year olds asking questions about everything and excitedly telling me how Maya was "attacking everyone with pizza!" I looked over, and sure enough, there was a whole crew of boys and girls being chased by a girl brandishing a half slice of pizza! It was a really fun party!
But let's back up in time about 9 hours to shortly after 9:00 this mornig when I got a confirmation call from Diane (Some people just have to be sure.) (Psssst...... it's okay.) After we had chatted a few moments and I had reassured her that yes I would be there and ready to start the show at 6:30, Ryan told her that he had something he wanted to say to me, too, so she put him on the phone.
"Hi Trevor," he says, "You know that game we played last year, Lemonade? We'll can we play that again?" all calm excitement.
It was great talking to him! We had a nice little convo. I told him that it had actually been my intention that after the show when it came time to play the games, I was going to ask him if there were any games from last year that he wanted to play again. And he said, "Oh. That's great," all matter-of-factly in his calm but excited way.
Ok. End of digression back through time. We now return you to the tale at hand.
So there I was in the Venora's back yard for the fifth time, mobbed by a pack of 6 and 7 year olds while the rest of the children were being entertained by the wild and crazy Pizza Lobster. It was a really hoppin' place to be in West Hartford CT on a gloriously warm 82° evening in April!
Suddenly, it was time for cake, which was perfect, because I needed about 10 minutes to get ready and, as you all know, every kid in the world can eat a piece of cake with ice cream in under 10 minutes. So I sat on top of the skateboard ramp in front of the garage and began putting on my stilts while the kids all gathered up on the patio for the requisite cake and ice cream. (Where in the world did that tradition come from anyways?)
I'm thinking: this is perfect because by the time they finish eating I'll be just about ready go. But less than 5 minutes later, I've only got one leg on so far and I'm surrounded by a small gaggle of girls all standing there eating cake and ice cream. It all worked out in the end though. We had a good show (no laughing!) and then played Ryan's two favorite games from last year (Lemonade and Fishy Fishy) along with a boodle of other great everybody-wins outdoor games that kids love.
We actually kinda of ran over time, though. We were just having too much FUN I guess. (I suspect quite a few of those kids would have played for hours!) By the time it ended, there was a whole slew of moms and dads waiting up by the edge of the house watching all the kids just having a blast together! Several mom's came down to get my brochure afterwards, and a surprising number of adults wanted one of the troll stickers I was giving out afterwards, too!
So another good time was had by all at Ryan Venora's 7th birthday party! YAY!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
After spending a delightful morning together after several days apart, my lovely wife made her delicious and nutritious whole wheat pancakes for a second breakfast at lunch time. They are just so good with real maple syrup. I also really like them with mulberry syrup, with blueberries or strawberries, and... well actually, with pretty much anything you'd want to put on pancakes. Mmm. Yum!
Then we drove to Greenfield MA and hiked the Sachem's Head trail from the Poet's Seat parking lot. It's one of our favorites because first of all it's a ridge trail so it has great views all the way along; secondly it's close to town; thirdly it's got varied terraine: up and down winding hemlock strewn trail sometimes over rocks sometime through the woods; and fourthly it's not to short, not too long, not too strenuous, not too crowded.
There was a bunch of noisy people on the lookout platform, but that just meant that we got to have a rest and our Snack With A View sitting on the nearby rocky outcroppings ----------> just before the lookout platform instead.
Then this evening was another of Amar's Live Foods Potlucks. [See 3/30/8] There was a fairly large crowd there; the combined attendence of several new comers and several people whose attendance is a bit erratic on the same night made for a fairly full house. The food was awesome (as always!). And then afterwards, they talked me into leading some games. (Ouch! Oh! OW! You don't have to twist my arm! I'll do it! Alright already.) So tonight, I got to play May I Borrow Your Cat?, This is a What!?, Hand Uno, and King Chair with a bunch of adults in Leverett MA! Yay!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Roger Salloom has been booking me into Yankee Candle Co in Deerfield MA for years. It used to be stiltwalking the store, but a couple years ago management re-thought their entertainment and decided to have stage shows instead of roving entertainers. They have this fun little stage deep inside this labyrinthine flagship store. The new paradigm is 3 shows a day: noon, 2:00, and 4:00.
Now, Yankee Candle is only 10 minutes from my house and (because I'm not doing the stilts) my set-up time is about 2 minutes. So I leave home 20-30 minutes before show time and am on stage by 10-of (at the latest) doing pre-show entertainment to gather a crowd and warm them up. Then I do my Aerial Delights Show. After giving out stickers to all the kids for about 10 minutes afterwards, I pack up, put my equipment behind the stage, and go home. And then I have most of an hour before leaving for the next show.
Some people would think that's terrible, but I think it's GREAT!
So today I drove to Yankee Candle and did show #1. Then I went home and had breakfast and did a crossword puzzle. Then I zipped back to Yankee Candle for show #2. Afterwards, I went to a nearby discount store I'd never been to and bless my luck but I found that scarcest of all gig items: yellow cotton socks in my size to wear on the job. So then I went back for show #3. And then I was home in plenty of time for supper.
You see, usually when multiple shows in the same location are spread out like that, you just have to sit around and wait. Hope you brought a good book. That kind of thing. But one of the reasons I really love this gig is that I can go home and/or do some errands in between shows.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Yankee Candle Co again today. I did a show, went home and made a phone call during which I booked a performance in May, ate something, went and did a show, went to the discount store again and bought three more pairs of yellow socks (oh joy!), went to the post office on the way home, made another phone call in which I booked another performance in May, ate something again, and went back and did the third show, and then was home in time for an early supper. Cool!
It was an early supper because Nancy & I went to Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary (an Audubon location) and attended a 6:30 presentation about bird songs by Don Kroodsma, author of The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong and professor emeritus of biology at UMass-Amherst.
He is into sonograms, that is, using technical machinery and computer programs to musically graph bird songs in several different ways. The technology is such that you can pretty much do anything with it: play it at any speed forwards or backwards, change the pitch, the intonation, present the information both visually and aurally in several different formats, and dissect that bird song into micro seconds if you want to. (Which Kroodsma does!)
Plus we learned some fascinating things about some of our local birds like chicadees, red winged blackbirds, titmice, chipping sparrows, and more. Even though we left early, I still found it to be pretty interesting.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
After a delightful wake-up call, I went outside and did yard work for 3+ hours. I brought all our patio furniture and BBQ stuff out from the basement and porch; planted the little forsythia (that's not it pictured below but it is a forsythia) that I've been wintering over on our porch right next to the one I 
planted along the rear of our backyard last Fall; cleared a lot of just plain junk off the porch and tossed it in the dumpster; picked a ton of paint chips out of our lawn all the way around the house (I'm still p.o.'d at those painters); collected all the wastebaskets and trash containers on our big wrap around porch and in the basement and emptied them into the dumpster, too; hooked up the hose; picked up all the trash that accumulated over the winter along the edge of the road; and probably a few other things I'm not remembering right now.
I actually enjoy this manual labor thing every once in a while. I mean, I can't play on my day off... that's work! So it's nice to get outside and do some physical labor. And our yard, porch, and basement look noticeably better, too. And all on a glorious day!
In fact, we've been eating dinner outside for quite a few days in a row now. Nothing like Spring in the Happy Valley.
And then after supper and some slack time, my magnificent wife and I had some wonderful alone time because all our housemates had left for several days and we had the entire house to ourselves! Yay! It was really nice for a change.
Friday, April 25, 2998
This morning, my lovely wife and I drove to South Hadley MA to meet a bunch of local New Church people for a hike up Mount Holyoke at J.A Skinner State Park ↓ . Our new minister, the
Rev. Hunter Roberts, has just arrived and this was our welcoming event. Welcome Hunter!
So today, seven of us had a delightful hike up a great trail. All the way up and down, Nancy (the geologist) is oohing and ahhing at the rocks, while I (nature boy) am ahhing and oohing at the trees.
We parked in the lower parking area at the top of Mountain Rd and walked the TF trail to the halfway area. It's an easy but fairly steep ½-hour walk up to the halfway area. From there, you have the choice of the very steep direct route to the top (about 15 minutes) or the fairly easy trail that winds along the edge of the road around the rim of the mountain (about 25 minutes). After a bit of discussion, we all decided to take the direct route. I really glad we did because I'd never been that way before. It was really steep, but had a nicely groomed trail all the way up. It wasn't actually difficult... it was just slow going because it was so steep.
Once you get to the top, the views in all directions of the Connecticut River Valley are just tremendous! There's an old resort at the top, called the Summit House, that's been made into a sort of museum and state park information kind of place. The coolest part, though, is that when it's open in the summer, you can go upstairs and see the view from several porches on three levels! The rest of the year, it's "just" the main porch which goes all the way around the building! Here's the view to the north ↓.
So after adequate viewing time, we all gathered at a couple picnic tables under a pavilion on the lawn, Rev. Hunter led us in a sweet little ritual of thanksgiving, and then we broke bread together on the mountain top, which has good spiritual significance.
Since a few people had a time limit, we decided to walk down on the road since that would get us down faster. So it took us 45 minutes to get to the peak, and 30 minutes down. It was a wonderful little hike and we had some great conversations all the way up and down (and on top, too!) with a terrific group of people.
Thanks everyone!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Had to do some errands this morning: the post office, the bank, the comic store, the co-op. And then this afternoon, Nancy & I went to my cousin Andrew & his wife Sarah and little nearly 1-year-old George's house to get some free plants for our yard and for the co-op.
That's Andrew and George on the Summit House porch at Skinner Park yesterday. ----------------->
So while Nancy used a trowel to dig up day lilies for us and bee balm and echinacea for the co-op, I was using a long-handled shovel to dig up two fairly large hydrangeas -- which my family calls "snowball bushes" ...because that's what they are.
After lugging everything into the back of my truck, we drove home and dropped off our stuff before delivering the other stuff to the co-op.
Today was the first of three schedule "Volunteer Planting Days" at River Valley Market. We've got ashes, oaks, disease-resistant elms, yellow- and red-twigged dogwood shrubs, Little Bluestem grass plugs, plus quite a variety of ground covers, vines, and perennials... all native plants to the area.
As I mentioned in the first sentence today, we had stopped at the co-op earlier in the day. The purpose was to ask Owen Wormser of Treefrog Landscapes, who is crew chief of the volunteer planters, if he wanted any of the stuff my cousin is trying to get rid of.
When we were there in the morning, there was 30 or 40 people wielding shovels and trowels and rakes (Oh my!) just beginning to get some stuff into the ground. But when we returned around 3:00, nearly everyone had gone home except Owen and a couple of his crew, but there was a boodle of trees and shubs and all sorts of plantings all along the road, in front of the store, and in the islands throughout the parking lot. There was still a lot to put in, but it sure looked GREAT!
So then we went home and spent the rest of the afternoon planting our stuff. Nancy used her trowel once again, this time to put the little plants back in the ground. And I used my long-handled shovel again, this time to put the snowball bushes into the ground by the end of our porch.
The photos below show the prepped beds (left) before my lovely wife added the new lilies to the ones we already have (right). My goal is to have the entire length of the porch fronted with lilies. Because we keep getting offered free ones and because they spread prolifically, we're about halfway there. Give it two or three years and it will be reality.
The snowball bushes I put in today weren't in yet when these pictures were taken. But for those of you who need to know, the first one is just a foot or two below the lower edge of the left-hand photo. And the other is about five feet beyond that. They look really good there, and already the birds are hanging out there as they peruse the dinner menu in our compost pile behind the fence at the end of the porch. (But that's not the fence you can see in the lower right corner of the left photo... that's just an extra fence section leaning up against the end of the porch.)
Now I'm looking forward to having snowballs next Spring!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Autism Resource Center of Central MA (a program of HMEA, Inc) has been holding a "Community Walk for Autism Awareness" fundraiser walkathon for several years. Last year's walk raised a record amount for the ARC, so this year they decided to "give something back" to the participants. And give something back, they did! They had a 
boodle of booths, goody bags t-shirts, hats [pictured left], a fire truck, an ambulance, free water, free lunch, a d.j., a clown, me, and more!
Before the event even started, they had over 800 people registered. Wow! It seemed like there were well over 1,000 people there during the 4 hours that the event ran.
It was held at Quinsigamond State Park in Worcester on the banks of Lake Quinsigamond, which straddles the southern half of the city line on the east side of the city. The park itself is beautiful. What a wonderful locale for a walkathon!
One of the appropriate features is a huge (and I mean HUGE) oval track. It's so big, there's an entire professional soccer field in the middle with plenty of room around the edges inside the oval. There were several booths set up all along the track as well as water stations with free bottled water all the way around.
As people began to arrive, I discovered that there were lots of "teams" named after a particular child with autism: Team Jose, Team Jakob, Team Hendricks, etc. Each team had their very own distinctive t-shirts, some of them celebratory, some of them pictorial, some of them artistic, each distinctly different from the other teams' shirts. Most of the teams stuck together on the track, too, so it was very colorful: here comes a group of red shirts followed by a big contingent of blue ones, followed by a cluster of white ones.
It was a real pleasure to be there for the entire event, stiltwalking the first half while they
walked, then entertaining the folks while the waited in line for lunch, and then playing parachute games -----------> during the last hour.
So, at the beginning, after cruising the reception area on stilts for a while while people arrived, all of a sudden there were just tons of people walking the track. So I figured I had better get out there with them!
As I headed over to the oval, however, I realized that if I just walked along with everyone, they would only see my back and I would only see their backs. So I walked around the inside edge of the track in the opposite direction doing my High Five schtick. I must have Susan Warren photo gotten 5 or 6 hundred high fives the first hour alone! Most of the kids and a really lot of adults, too, got a kick out of that one simple action. Many of the kids made sure they high fived me every time around! In fact, my right hand got so sore I had to cross over to the outside of the track and start using my left hand!
The other walkers were all moving along pretty quickly, too... or maybe it was just that I was going kinda slow! As I recall, the ratio between our speeds was such that in the time it took me to walk one side of the track -- and not a full lap, mind you, but just one straightaway along one side of the track -- in that time, most walkers passed me twice... and some of them three times! Basically, it took me more than half an hour to get all the way around the track. I admit I was walking slowly so approaching walkers could enjoy a longer viewing window. And I was stopping often to entertain a cluster of eager upturned young faces, a bevy of giggly teen girls there, a tight group of men in business shirts, and all sorts of families. Plus, I did take time for a mighty lot of high fives. So don't be surprised that I actually only made it around the track twice in the 2+ hours I was on stilts.
Rebecca Blatz, the woman from the Autism Resource Center who hired me, had told me that basically I could do whatever I
wanted, but they were especially excited to have a stiltwalker actually doing the walk. And ARC director Sue Loring --------> said the same thing. So my plan was to stiltwalk the first two hours during the actual walk, do a show for the kids the third hour, and then play parachute games for the finale the last hour.
But after the walk, while I was taking off my stilts, they did a brief formal presentation and then told everyone to get in line for lunch. So -- flexible entertainer that I am (you should see the backbend I used to be able to do!) -- instead of doing my Aerial Delights Show as I had planned, I walked the lunch lines and entertained the people during their hungry wait with selections from my Aerial Delights as "close up entertainment" instead of in show format.
It took most of an hour to get everyone through the line, so it was time for the parachute games to begin just as the last folks in line were finally getting their lunch. So I pulled out my big parachute -- the one that fits about 90 people around it -- and spread it out on the lawn, hoping that a bunch of excited kids would come flocking over. But a lot of them were still eating, so I went around announcing through Susan Warren photo
my little megaphone that the parachute games would begin in a few minutes. Then they announced it over the loudspeaker, and within minutes there were plenty of participants!
Here's a photo near the very end of the event where those who were still there did an excellent, very well-grouped GRAND POP!!! [pictured below]
By the time we were done, nearly all the booths had finished breaking down and packing up, the supply truck was stuffed to the gills, and nearly everyone had gone home except the cleanup crews and the people who played the parachute games to the end.
So I, too, packed up my stuff, loaded it into my truck, and headed for home after another very satisfying and mutually fulfilling event. I love that feeling. I love helping people feel good. I love my job!
What a wonderful, wonderful event!
When I got home a little over an hour and a half later, my lovely wife just happened to be out in the front yard, so I got a royal welcome home, too! Yay! What a wonderful, wonderful wife! I just LOVE her!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
This evening from 6:00-8:00, the staff, Board, & Outreach Committee was invited to a pizza & beer pre-opening celebration at River Valley Market, the new food cooperative we've built in Northampton. I was so excited I was doing jumping jacks.
There was 6 kinds of pizza, 3 kinds of beer, ice cream, and cheese polenta w/ pine nuts. At least two of the four major food groups! ; |)> There was also a lot of really happy people! Tomorrow is the Big Day!!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 
Today is the BIG DAY!! Today, River Valley Market ↑opened for business with a ribbon cutting ceremony at about 8:50 a.m., and the doors opening for business at 9:00. Yippee - yi - ko -kiyay! We've been working on this project for 10 years and today all that work came to fruition. The store is open!!!!!!!!!!
The photo above was taken shortly after 8:00 a.m. The early morning sunlight hitting our front entrance and new sign above it were just wonderful to see. Just above as well as to the left of the doors is original tile work down by a local artist. There a huge full-color one inside above the produce section, too.
It's just so absolutely exhilarating to think that a community of people could pull off something this big. I honestly believe that River Valley Market is going to change Northampton and the entire Valley forever. And ahh hailped. [<--- dialect]
It was a really deep pleasure to get up early this morning, drive to the co-op, put on my stilts, and be a presence at the ribbon cutting! -------------------------------------------> That's Narissa Neilds out front singing a song she wrote expressly for River Valley Market! It's a wonderful song that, although written for the co-op, is purposely written so that it could apply to just about any group venture. The chorus (that we were spontaneously singing together on the last verse, many with damp eyes) went simply "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." with Narissa slowly turning to face a different section of the crowd on each successive Thank you. It was a masterful, moving, and powerful performance.
We also had mercifully brief speeches from our current and past presidents, our general manager, and a couple of board members.
And then we were open for business!!! The 150 or so member-owners, staff, construction crew, and community members joyfully trooped in and in a very short time the cashiers were suddenly very, very busy! My lovely wife spent $80!
It seemed that the best place for me at that point was outside the store greeting people as they arrived. Because of the extra height, I was also able to direct incoming cars to the few empty parking spots! But in that first half hour after opening, not a lot of new people arrived... nearly everyone who wanted to be there at the beginning arrived in time for the ribbon cutting and was already in the store. Since it was a little lull outside, I decided to go inside where there was so much activity that it took me most of an hour to get all the way around the store. There were so many people to interact with, so much to see, and so much going on in every area of the store!
And this isn't some winky little 60's-style co-op either, folks. It's an 18,000+ sq.ft. building with produce, dairy, meat, deli with indoor and outdoor seating, dry and bulk goods, personal care products, beer and wine, salad and hot bar with soup, bread department and so on. In short, a fairly large full-service grocery store.
When I got back outside, it was well past time to sit down for a break. I usually sit down at least 10 minutes every hour, but it had been way longer than that. So I strolled over to my truck and sat down for a spell. And the strangest thing happened. I had planned on being there much longer, but I was volunteering my services. I have been participating in this project for a decade, and more than anything I just wanted to get in there and do some shopping on opening day! I resisted the urge for a while, but in the end I broke down and submitted to the mental advertising campaign: I took off my stilts and went inside and did a bit of shopping. The split pea soup (w/ Ak-mak crackers) I got for lunch was quite tasty!
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