I would love to be sitting in the garden, sipping tea and admiring the flowers of summer. Good thing I can see most of them from the window next to my computer! Let's just pretend we're sitting there, you and I, having a leisurely conversation.
Our book is finished, but we immediately went into overdrive getting ready for the carousel's 100th birthday events. For those who don't know, my husband and I founded a nonprofit organization 26 years ago and rescued a beloved 74-year-old carousel that was going to be broken up and auctioned to collectors. We led the fund-raising efforts and then we restored the carousel and moved it to a new location. Now we operate it with a volunteer crew in a new pavilion in St. Paul's Como Park.
There's a lovely event tomorrow for which I'm posting a composite I created in Photoshop. Then there's a big public birthday party August 9, for which a whole lot of details need to be coordinated. Media promotion is taking a lot of our time, though I'm not complaining, because the carousel needs the exposure and this is a big chance to generate some.
Peter and I work well together, but for 26 years we've had long periods of time when all our energy has to be applied to some aspect of saving or restoring or operating the carousel. We have promised ourselves that this is our last really big project. Having decided that, we can get through the next couple of weeks. Then we begin the process of handing over the reins, so to speak.
I'll be back to blog again. I especially want to talk about the book. But I have to get it into the places where the we plan to make it available; it's only at the carousel right now.
Hope you are having a great summer! Wish me luck as I take on some public speaking and TV interviews (eeek) and as we plan an outdoor event not knowing what the weather gods may bring. Next summer I really do want to sit and chat with you!
--Nancy aka BLissed-Out Grandma
(Like us on
facebook.com/cafcarousel to see pictures and coverage and coming events.)
