A Heck of A Good Time

This past weekend,  I had the pleasure of attending two sold-out events locally. Now, that may not seem so remarkable to most folks. I should clarify. My town has halved in population in the past 70 years or so. The main industry of paper-making is all but gone. Unemployment is quite high and incomes for those who are employed is typically low. When an event is planned in the local area, it's expected to not sell-out. So, two packed houses in two days was quite remarkable.
Saturday night was a spaghetti dinner and dancing to a live band. The event was put on by the ski club I'm always talking about. The evening was scheduled to start with a cocktail hour at 6. We arrived at quarter of, thinking we'd have time to help with setting things up. We thought there would be a slow trickle of people coming in during that hour. My jaw hit the floor when we pulled in to the parking lot and there was already a steady stream of people heading in the door. It was a great night with some really good raffle prizes, plenty of food, and dancing well into the night. We also got to honor some long time volunteers and the ski club made some much needed money.
Sunday afternoon was another music-filled day. We weren't sure how much energy we'd have to go out after a birthday party and a late fundraiser, but we went anyway. And boy are we glad we did! I had a feeling the place would fill up early, so we went a half hour before the show started to get good seats. Turns out, we needed to be that early to get seats at all! The band was Le Grand Derangement, and they are good! They're an Acadian band from Nova Scotia. Singing in French and English, and also a dialect of French that is unique to their own town in NS. I think my favorite part was hearing the conversations during intermission. Many of the old timers here grew up speaking only French at home. They were told that they were stupid to be speaking French and it was discouraged. I love hearing those same old timers speak with each other, flowing seamlessly between French and English. I overheard one woman saying "They called us stupid for speaking French, but we could speak two languages and they only spoke one. How ignorant!" Yep. It really was neat to see such pride in cultural heritage. Many folks brought their kids and grandkids to the show, too. I strongly believe that a rich cultural heritage is a big part of what makes communities thrive.
Another cool thing about the weekend? The two amazing events I went to were put on by small community-driven non-profit organizations. Non-profits like these really prove to be the backbone of society in America. [steps on soapbox] So if you are a person that happens to have a few spare dollars or hours, or talents to give, consider giving to these types of organizations that will re-invest it in your community. [steps off soapbox]

Letting Go and Simplifying...

I'm trying to simplify my life these days. Eating better, exercising more. I think I finally figured out a work schedule I can be happy about. I'm even working on simplifying my wardrobe, little by little: a few practical things that I can mix and match; giving away the clothes that I don't wear. I have dreams of simplifying my home decor but am coming up against some opposition from the lovely people that live with me.
The biggest thing that clutters my thoughts (and home) these days is my responsibility to the ski club. I love to help the club, I can be effective in my role with them, but I know I took on more than I'd like. When they made me president of the board, I was torn between feeling honored (It's the oldest ski club in America, after all) and the feeling of "oh shit, what am I getting into, now?"
8 months ago, I told the board that I wanted to let go of my role as president. Yeah, that didn't happen. Now,  I'm searching for ways to let it go without hurting the club too badly. I've got an idea of my ideal role with them: Local fundraising, community contact, web presence, helping with events, connection to club members, that sort of thing. Somehow the stuff that I'd love to do gets pushed aside in favor of the things I need to do: chasing paperwork, communicating with the state (our trails are on state land), helping with grants, being the go-to person for everything else with the club. ugh. How do I let go of the stuff I don't want to do in favor of the things that excite me about being involved with the club?
I've let the rest of the board know that I'd rather not do these things. No one else is keen on taking it over, though. Some days, I just want to walk away from it all. Then my sense of responsibility kicks in and I concede to sticking around a while longer. My current goal is to make things simple and streamlined enough for the next person to be able to just step into the role without too much difficulty. Simplifying my job so I can let it go to simplify my life. Sounds complicated...
Meanwhile, I hope for snow so we can open the trails for the season!

Today was...

Well, I did some cooking today. I made good use of those leeks from the market and made a potato leek soup in the crock pot (secret ingredient: sunchokes!) 

And T got some more work done on the shower project. the next step will be adding the tile and I am o so psyched for that part!

 Oh, and we did a little chalk art in the driveway. The neighbor kids came by for a while and played hopscotch with us. Yeah!

 Then Lils and I went to a building owned by the local theater group to gather up some materials for a parade float for the ski club. What did we find? Hats! We had a little photo shoot with all the awesome hats there.

Then some friends came by for a soup dinner. always nice to get together. I sent them off with my wedding gown, as my girl-friend is helping a young woman who grew up in foster care to plan her wedding. I recently read an article that had helpful hints for storing wedding gowns in perpetuity and decided that that wasn't going to be the fate of my gown (It was a fabulous dress, after all) so I was SO happy to be able to give it away today. After all, when a person grows up in foster care, they are not "nobody's kids" they are everybody's kids.

Oh, and my sister in law was in a bit of a car wreck today. She should be ok, but I'm sending out some extra good universal consciousness love and happiness her way, or whatever passes for healing vibes these days. I really hope she heals up fast and has very little trouble as a result. She's such a good person...

To Market, To Market

I love the farmers' market.
OK, flashback 3 years. A friend of mine is wishing the local community had a farmer's market. She goes to another market in the region to check things out and suddenly she's the coordinator for the first ever farmers' marketplace in our depressed mill town. Inspiring to say the least. Last year, I lugged my massage chair downtown every other week and did back massages for a buck a minute. I alternated with another massage therapist in town. Mostly, I did it because I wanted to be in the market scene. I made a few bucks and left most of my earnings back at the market with the food and hard cider vendors. My business is pretty well established in town, however, and it seemed that folks thought I wanted to build up clientele. They'd refer me to folks thinking I needed more business. Not to complain about abundant business, especially in this economy, but I have been doing massage for 11 years and intend to do it for many more, so overworking myself is not on my to-do list. Also, since moving my business to my at-home office, I have been more discerning about who I let in to my space, and frankly, I didn't need every market client coming home with me.
So this past summer, I let the market go. Instead, I visited as a customer when I could, and liked it that much more (except that I often stopped by between in-office massage clients and rushed through so fast I barely got to say hello to those fantastic market vendors I've grown so fond of.)

My friend the market coordinator could not be stopped at a simple weekly outdoor market. She decided that the community also needed a harvest market in November just before Thanksgiving, and a Holiday market in December as well. So we moved indoors. Last year, I lugged my massage chair over and did the back massages and sold gift certificates. This year, I decided to devote my harvest market day to the ski club. As we're in the middle of a membership drive, I figured I could get some new and returning members on board and sell a few t-shirts as well. Plus, I can bring my 4 year old to sell t-shirts where she'd be distracting for massage.

Although I made no money for myself today, I brought in nearly enough to buy groomer fuel for the season. That makes me happy. 

Aside from the monetary gain for the club, I was able to talk up our events and programs, and shmooze with folks that may or may not have local influence and even money to help our cause. 

I also get to meet folks with Nordic ski history that puts my meager kick and glide abilities to shame. Today I got to meet a guy that won first in his division in ski-jumping in '68. From this 171 foot insanely steep jump.  

On top of all that, I got some amazing multi grain bread from a local baker, fresh local cranberries, and some leeks. All in all, a good market day.

Oh, and while we were at the market, (and the 6 year old's birthday party immediately afterward) the Mr. was installing the base for the new shower and some backer board for the fancy tile job we're doing. What a productive day!