Archive for September, 2009

Day of Service

September 15th, 2009

Philadelphia University where I teach had its second annual Day of Service today. Classes were canceled and students and faculty were expected to choose from a lengthy list of projects, a worthy cause they would work on. Some were quite organized and some were less so.
I joined a group who knit hats for premature infants to wear in the hospital. We were referred to a web site which had many patterns for hats, booties and other items infants could use and we showed up with our yarn and needles and knit away.

Some of our hats.

Some of our hats.

Students, faculty and staff all joined in creating a mother load of hats to be donated to an area hospital. I worked with a smaller splinter group and the picture shows some of our results.

It Rained Last Night

September 12th, 2009

Late summer rose.

Late Summer Rose in the Rain

Bob grows lots of roses and this is one of my favorites, Frederic Mistral. It is named after the French Nobel Laureate, Fredric Mistral, (1830-1890), whose collections began The Museon Arlaten, a wonderful ethnographic museum in Arles.

The year I visited that museum I also visited La Bonne Maison, a most incredible garden of ancient roses in Lyon. I had been studying printed Textiles at the Musee de l’Impression sur Etoffs in Mulhouse France with graduate students from Philadelphia University. We were lucky enough to join The Friends of the Museum on a trip to Provence. On the way we had lunch in Lyon at La Bonne Maison.

Ruthie’s Garden

September 7th, 2009

Spent the weekend at my Mom’s in VA Beach. Her garden is the view from her balcony. Between the boats and the birds she comes up with enough intrigue to keep anyone busy. Her favorite birds are a pelican named Braveheart and an egret named Fan Fan.

Rudee's Inlet

Ruthie’s Garden

Mom is a painter but for a number of years due to being a caregiver for my Dad and her own health issues she hasn’t been able to work. Lately she has been wanting to get back to it so we helped her dig out her supplies, order more paints and set up a studio space.
Go Mom!

Beach to Bay

September 6th, 2009

Visited my Mom in VA Beach this weekend. On the way down we stopped in Pocomoke City at the Pocomoke City Nature and Exercise Trail, Cypress Park. It is part of Maryland’s Beach to Bay Indian Trail, a National Recreation Trail, was recognized in 1993 and links a lot of trails and museums along “ . . . patterns established by the American Indians and followed by the first European immigrants.”

Start of the trail

Start of the trail.

The short trail, part boardwalk and part path, is entered by passing a small park with large civic bandstand and picnic areas, under the Route 13 overpass and goes through white cedar, cypress and other trees and bog areas.  In need of some repair it was a fun stop on our 5 hour drive down the Delmarva peninsula.

Information on the Cypress Part is available at: 410.957.1334

Stand Up To Cancer

September 5th, 2009

For all my friends and family members who have or are fighting cancer:

“In 1938, the March of Dimes asked everyone to give up ten cents to cure polio. It sounded crazy at the time, but it worked. Now we’re launching a drive to collect 10,000 five-dollar donations in four weeks, getting us $50,000 closer to ending cancer. To help us spread the word, please embed this donation widget on your blog, share it on your Facebook page, or e-mail it to all your friends. One person’s five dollars can make a huge difference. To learn more, visit su2c.org at the link below.”

http://www.standup2cancer.org/su2c/five