Back into the fray

Well, it's been almost two months since I last wrote here. Things have been happening to a ferocious degree, and I have become so busy that writing on my blog has been low on the list of priorities.

Lessee, here:

LALLAPALOOZA 2010: this one's been taking up a LOT of my time. The 6th Annual John Trigg Ester Library Lallapalooza & Book Bash is taking place this Sunday, February 28, from 1 to 5:30 pm at the Annex gallery, 2922 Parks Highway. For those of you who've never participated or helped out with it, it involves a large amount of preparation. The whole point of the event is to raise money to keep the current library going, but more important, to sock some away to construct the new building. We started them in 2004, and I started writing about them here when we had the 2nd one. While I was away in Hawai'i (see below) I was hoping that other folks on the board would take care of more of the details than they did, but oh, well. Kate Billington and Jan Roberts (neither of whom are on the board) got going on the auction items, though, and there are definitely going to be some cool things at the Librarypalooza. We've got some beautiful artwork so far.

UKE CAMP: Melinda Harris, Greta Burkart, Cris Fisher and I went to O'ahu where we took ukulele lessons, visited ukulele factories, hung out on the beach, snorkeled, and ate lots of fresh fruit. It was fabulous, and I've decided I like a lot of water in my life. I fixed up an ugly fake woodgrain bathroom vanity for Peter & Mom (we stayed at their house on Koko Head) with a much nicer turtle motif, and swam in the pool every morning. I bought a lovely Kanile'a concert ukulele.







UKULELE LESSONS & JAMS: I've also been participating in the weekend jams at Hartung Hall and the Golden Eagle on Sundays, and I've been taking ukulele lessons from Russ Copelin. I haven't been practicing much lately, what with all the other things going on, and I am suffering a serious uke jones....

INSIDE, OUTSIDE, MORNINGSIDE: Marjorie's book arrived from the printer while I was in Hawai'i, but Hans and Leah Hill (my marketing maven) delivered some to Gulliver's and to Pat Lambert. I took care of some more orders when I got back and have been working on the review copies and the other publicity for the book since.

And, last but not least, the FEBRUARY REPUBLIC: it finally got to the printer on Monday, and Hans is delivering it today. Actually, I suppose I should count the JANUARY ESTER REPUBLIC also, since I was madly trying to get that out the door before I left. Both issues were late, February's especially so.

So that's what I've been up to, and that doesn't even count my bill-paying job.