Concurrent events

With quite a bit still to do towards my Fair Trade event on Sunday, I've spent the day to-ing and fro-ing and getting things together. We're hoping to be outside, but the forecast is offering, frustratingly, a "chance of showers". So that could go either way. Ho hum.

We have loads of fair trade chocolate and ice cream to give away, and even, slightly unexpectedly, FT soap samples. We've got great craft activities lined up, and much else besides. It's all looking good, though what remains to be seen is how many volunteers will show up to help on the day - my other cause for mild anxiety.

Ah, event planning - fun but somewhat stressful, as I'm sure one or two friends back in Linton will agree. Good luck, Linton Bookfest team, as your great event gets rolling - and if you have the odd spare minute, keep me posted!

Not sew cosy

I was going to make egg-cosies with the sewing class today, but they weren't very taken with that concept (not sure most of them knew what a boiled egg was, never mind why you'd want to keep it cosy) and most of them chose to make little egg-cosy-sized bags instead. Fine by me. Some planned to give them to their moms for Mother's Day, which over here is the weekend after next.

I guess winter is now officially behind us: I took the kids to a favourite cafe and the air-conditioning was up so high that we were half-frozen before we'd finished our cookies. It's strange, this desire to bake customers through the winter and freeze them through the summer, and even through the milder spring. I wonder why they feel they have to do it? Is there no "temperate" setting on the thermostat?

Up before the Board

I wonder how nervous the Party leaders get ahead of those TV election debates? I wonder if I was more or less anxious than that this evening, getting up to address the Town Board to try and convince them they want to live in a Fair Trade Town?

The presentation went ok I think. Then one of the Board Members gave me quite a grilling (as it's his prerogative to do, I guess) and I don't know that I responded as strongly as I could have... to be honest I'm not entirely sure now what I said. But I think they're going to bring the resolution to the next meeting in two weeks time, and then we'll find out if we've pulled this thing off.

We gave them fair trade chocolate and brownies to sample while I made my speech. They were donated by a couple of local businesses who support our campaign. The most relaxed moment of the proceedings came at the end when the Supervisor proposed a motion to share the remaining brownies with the public attending the meeting - a proposal that was very well received.

Life mirrors art

More of the same today as yesterday. I'm busy putting together displays about fair trade and where chocolate comes from, and preparing craft activities for kids and generally having fun doing what I like doing, so that's all good.

The Man and I have lately been watching the last series of the West Wing, filmed in 2005-6. It's all about a presidential election campaign between a Latino Democrat and a maverick older Republican. It near enough spookily foretells the whole story we watched in real life in the lead up to the 2008 election. Except that in the fictionalised version the downfall of the Republican is caused by a nuclear accident, not by Sarah Palin...

The Comment box is standing by.

Those answers in full

I've had a home-based day today. Next weekend I'm running a fairly big event (as nothing to the mega event about to kick off in Linton, of course) and I still have much to prepare, not to mention endless emails to send.

I wasn't missing any fine weather by staying indoors. It has been raining on and off most of the day. Mind you, up in Vermont and the Adirondacks they're expecting up to 12" of snow, so I'm not complaining.

It occurs to me that we never gave you the answers to the Girl's riddles of several weeks ago. They are:

It was daytime.

A bee flew in.

This is my favourite code (after every colour you put a word from the message).

I hope this satisfies all of you who've been losing sleep for the last month trying to figure them out.

Car pool

The Man writes... while Albaniana and the Girl were doing their Fair Tradey thing yesterday, I took the Boy to the Auto Museum in Saratoga Springs.

Now I'm the last person in the world to review a car museum, but even I could see that the main exhibit - a collection of 1950s and 60s Corvettes - is pretty cool. There are also fine exhibits about the history of cars in New York State. The Boy enjoyed it all but inevitably spent most time in the computer area - designing his own sports car and driving around Daytona in a simulator.

The museum is housed in a stylish building - orginally a Bottling Plant - in Saratoga Spa State Park, and the walls still bear information about the alleged health benefits of the local water.

Opposite there was a line of more prosaic modern cars, as people queued to fill large plastic containers from spiggots fed by the natural springs. It was a hot day and I gulped down a handful from the one free spiggot before realising that unlike the others it was marked Mineral Water. "Be careful that's strong water!" someone remarked, a moment too late!

Spa day

The Girl and I spent the morning in Ballston Spa at the second annual Fair Trade conference there. It was an excellent chance to catch up with FT friends, meet new people, share ideas and generally get re-energised. A couple of the Girl's friends also attended and took part in some "For kids, by kids" FT activities. These included being filmed for a short movie, which may be aired at the next Ballston Spa Film Festival.

This evening we've been enjoying the company of our friends from Rhode Island, here on a whistle-stop visit, but it's good to see them again after more than a year.

Universe-ity challenge

The clear skies that made for a beautiful day today lasted into the evening, making it a perfect night for star-gazing. Or planet-gazing, if you happened to have a big enough telescope.

It turns out that the Rensselaer Astrophysical Society have quite a few, housed at the Hirsch Observatory at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy. Every year the society hosts a children's night, and tonight was one of those and we went along.

Our first Mini Golf outing of the season meant we missed the first hour of activities, including solar viewing. But we did see Saturn with its moons and rings, the Eskimo Nebula, and some amazing close-ups of the Moon, and we got to taste astronaut ice-cream too.

All very cool.

The magic of Shakespeare

It was Shakespeare Night at school tonight. Everyone was there - the gym was packed. The set was a half-timbered affair which made me nostalgic for home for a minute, and then the show began.

Last year's was good, this year's even better. The Pre-Ks sang a song about the works of Shakespeare and the K/1s put on a brilliant slap-stick routine involving a giant turkey leg. Then it was time for the 2/3s, and who should appear centre-stage but a certain Boy (never been known to speak on stage before) who introduced the performance loudly and clearly and made his teachers and his parents very proud. His classmates illustrated some of Shakespeare's idioms in comedic fashion, and were followed by the 4/5s doing a skit on the same theme - all very well performed. The Girl, with a minimal speaking part, shifted scenery with admirable swagger. 6/7s took on The Tempest (in digest form) and then the 8th Grade gave us a condensed and tragical Romeo and Juliet.

Every kid performed tonight - miraculously, even my own. The guy that comes in and puts the show together with them all is more than an actor: he's a magician.

GI Jane

I had my hair cut today.

Disaster. And no, you won't be getting pictures.

As I sat there at her mercy, the hairdresser revealed that she used to cut hair on a US Marine base. Not very reassuring. This was just before she took her scissors to my fringe (bangs), without waiting to ask if I wanted it that...short...ah, well, ok, too late now.

The Girl tells me I shouldn't stress about it. She's right. It's only hair, it'll grow back. Eventually.

Fever pitch

This post is mostly for UK readers.

We're wondering here if you are all overcome with election fever? We follow the news online and via BBC World Service reports, and we saw some of that landmark first-ever TV election debate (a day later). What a turn up! Can the Lib Dems really have pulled ahead of the other two parties?

Will it last? Is a hung parliament inevitable?

Do you agree with Nick?

Speech therapy

My very nice neighbour had arranged for me to talk Fair Trade to a women's group she belongs to, so I spent part of today preparing and this evening giving the presentation.

I was a little nervous, but it was a kind audience, and once we'd got past the speech and into the question and answer session I felt quite confident. Over the last year of doing this FT work I've come to know my stuff pretty well, and anyway I'm much more comfortable in a dialogue rather than just talking at people.

But maybe giving speeches will get easier with practice - I guess I'm going to find out, as I've got three more talks lined up in the next couple of weeks. Though this wasn't really what I expected to end up doing when we moved out here, it's all good experience and it does keep life interesting.

Aero place

The Man writes...this afternoon Albaniana took the Girl and her scout troop animal tracking at Five Rivers, while I took the Boy to the Empire State Aerosciences Museum at Schenectady County airport.



This is one of those small, friendly, volunteer-run museums. The galleries have a pleasing aladdin's cave quality, packed with a slightly quirky selection of artifacts, dioramas, models and hands-on exhibits about all aspects of the history of flight. Outside there is an air park with small military aircraft.

The Boy spent some time trying to land a model plane and driving a lunar buggy. He was also impressed by a thirty foot model aircraft carrier used in the film "Tora, Tora, Tora" (before the days of CGI).

Silver lining

Well, I wonder how many thousands of people's plans have had to change because of the volcanic ash over Europe? While of course it's an economic disaster for many, and a cause of inconvenience and disappointment for even more, for some it's not turning out to be such a bad thing.

The Man's former colleague, for one. He's stranded in Connecticut, unable to return to the Netherlands where he lives. Although often in the States, he hasn't had the chance to come and visit us before. And suddenly he found himself with a weekend to fill, so he came up here for lunch and we enjoyed his company for the afternoon. Tomorrow he's planning to spend the day in NYC.

So, every cloud...

Meanwhile, our own lovely cloud of blossom (pictured here at its peak just a few days ago) has started to drift away. We are sad to see it go, though I suppose it means another season is just around the corner.

April (snow?) showers

I've had rather a quiet day, not going to New York City (though I did manage a long skype chat with my grounded-in-the-UK friend - not as good as meeting up, but as good as the volcano would allow).

For the kids, meanwhile it has been all go. The Boy had a field-trip to an exhibition about the body (which he has been surprisingly enthusiastic about, considering that he's almost as squeamish as I am), then spent the evening with his buddy. The Girl has been to a birthday party at a sports club tonight - lots of organised running around games, plus bouncy slides and the like - and for the second time in living memory has taken herself off early to bed.

The weather is taking a turn for the colder - they are even talking about snow again, on the higher ground at least. April is the cruellest month...

William Shakespoon

I spent another happy morning revising at Five Rivers today - "Explorers" this time, a class for younger kids, so lots fun with the five senses.

And it was sewing day, so I had to get a project ready for my ever-eager students. At school they are all preparing for the annual Shakespeare performance, so I decided we should go with the theme.

Tonight a friend from the UK was meant to be flying into NYC. I was to meet her there tomorrow. Well of course, that's all out the window now thanks to the volcanic ash cloud over northern Europe. How bizarre is that?

From sea to shining sea

Yet another perfect spring day, and I was pleased to have to spend the morning out and about at Five Rivers revising a lesson on Animal Signs. We saw not only signs but actual animals, so that was a bonus: squirrel, deer, geese, catfish and turtle.

In the afternoon I visited the local Middle School to meet some young people who are going to help me out at a fair trade event in a couple of weeks. They were very impressive - polite, interested and eager to be involved.

And tonight I've been on a conference call with members of at least fourteen of the Fair Trade Town campaigns across the US. While the conference call format is a bit unsatisfactory and stilted, it's still pretty cool to be linked up with FT activists as far apart as Texas, California, New Mexico, Vermont, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, New Jersey... Compared to the UK, Fair Trade Towns USA is still a small movement - but it's definitely growing.

Bright and breezy

Today, another beautiful, breezy spring day, I made a trip to Henry Hudson Park. It's one of the first places we visited when we moved out here, way back when our life in the US was strange and new. We've only been back one time since, so I thought a re-visit was in order.

It's a very little park, at least the riverside stretch of it, but pretty with its view of the water. There were a few fishermen sitting with their lines. I guess they fish for sport - not sure I'd want to eat anything that had been swimming in the Hudson, much as I have come to love that mighty river.

There were flowers, and new leaves unfurling on the trees and I enjoyed my brief stroll. In passing I noticed that the play equipment, which had been the perfect size for our kids in 2007, now looks rather small...

On the way back I stopped to take a look at this strikingly red building - once a schoolhouse and now home of the Bethlehem Historical Society. I made a note to call again - it's open to the public only on summer Sundays, 2-4pm.

Radio times

Most mornings I listen to our excellent public radio station. Not this morning though. Instead, I was on it. Now there's a turn up.

It was all about fair trade, of course. I was on with two other ft advocates. Although rather nerve-wracking, I think it actually went ok. I have a new respect for the interviewer who is very professional, but manages to make it all sound quite casual and off the cuff. He was able to put the three of us at ease, largely because he was well prepared and asked us the questions we wanted asked.

Not only were we on the radio, but we were also being broadcast live online and on cable TV (though I'm not sure who chooses to watch a radio show - the mind buggles). Hence some advice from one of the other interviewees in an email a couple of days ago: wear clothes. (We did.)

In the interests of my increasingly half-baked anonymity, I won't give the link to the interview here. If you know my email address and would like to listen, drop me a line. If you know me only through this blog, well, feel free to track the recording down if you are so minded, but I'm afraid I'm going to let you do the leg-work.

Taking new paths

It has been a perfect spring day - bright and sunny, warm enough but not too hot. Girl and Boy both managed to find friends to visit, so the Man and I had the chance to go on a longer than usual hike at Five Rivers - and even found ourselves on a path neither of us could remember taking before. After so many visits, it was quite exciting to come across new views of the place.

The spring vacation is now over, and the kids will be back at school tomorrow. The rest of April and the beginning of May look set to be a pretty busy time for me, and will include several trips out of my comfort zone. Way out, actually. Tune in for details in the days ahead...

Party 'til you drop

The Girl had her birthday party today - the one Saturday we could find when all her friends were available. Six girls had a noisy time outdoors, and a who knows what sort of a time at the cinema. They went to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Not a movie for grown-ups. Another mom and I stayed on hand in the mall but otherwise let them get on with it.

When we got back to the house they all had a crazy time with icing sugar (frosting) and sprinkles, creating - then quickly demolishing - some cupcake sensations. Then there was more backyard wildness before the guests were collected.

After all that excitement, the Girl was so tired tonight that she took herself off to bed early, a real once-in-a-blue-moon occurence. Even more surprising, her brother followed suit - and he hadn't even been at the party (although he had been out learning how to train a dragon, in 3D).

Sweet treats

I was very excited today to find out that I've won 200 bars of chocolate! And I've also been contacted by Ben & Jerry's offering me free ice-cream. It's not for myself, alas, but for a Fair Trade event I'm planning. More about that another time.

We had rain in the night and the temperature has cooled right back down to something more seasonally normal. So instead of baking outdoors it was quite pleasant to spend much of the day baking indoors, in preparation for a party the Girl is having tomorrow. She and her friend helped me out, and insisted on making Rice Krispie treats with melted mini-marshmallows. The Boy and I agree that this is a crime against Rice Krispies.

A propos of nothing, in the DC area we spied quite a few signs like this one. We'd not come across the concept of a Kiss and Ride before - have you?

Floral notes

It was cherry-blossom time in DC while we were there - though the hot weather was quickly taking the blossoms past their best. But here in our front yard our ornamental cherry just burst into flower today, and very pretty it looks.

It's not our first floral delight of the season. The crocuses we planted a couple of autumns ago have been wonderful this year, and have not fallen victim at all to deer or rodents. Another warm day today has finally knocked them all over, but they were lovely while they lasted.

Horrorscopes

After all that driving yesterday we were happy to stay at home today, except for a quick trip to the library to check up on the Girl's exhibition (it's fine), and to check out a new pile of books.

It has been another hot, hot day, in the high 80s. I know it's churlish of me to complain (I gather the weather in Britain is fairly dismal right now), but I'm really not convinced by this "Go directly to summer, do not pass spring" thing that seems to be happening here. However, it's great to be able to hang the wet laundry outside and have it all dry in less than half an hour.

Tonight the kids have been working on a magazine. The Girl has written the horoscopes page. Apparently it's a good time to be an Aries (like the Girl): "This week you will receive a gift and be treated like royalty." There's some timely advice for Aquarians (that'd be her brother): "If you have been annoying to a family member, now would be a good time to stop." But watch out Sagittarians: "You shall make a horrible mistake."

The road home

We awoke to a day that looked set to be even hotter than the two just passed, and in fact temperatures did soar up to the low 90sF. DC may be further south than Albany, but I'm sure it's not supposed to get that warm so early into April. It seems rather unfair that a couple of weeks ago it was too cold to enjoy being outside, and now already it's too hot.

Anyway, we decided against sweating it back into the city before beginning our long journey home. It wasn't a bad drive. We stopped off for a break in Princeton. As you might imagine, it has quite an Oxbridge feel and in fact is prettier than either of those towns, or at least so it seemed on a sunny spring day with all the blossom out. But if Princeton were the only American town you'd ever seen you would have no idea about America at all.

And so we're back. It's good to go away sometimes, and also good to come home. Though to be honest, for all that we've lived in New York state nearly three years now and I'm busy with so many things, for me it all still feels like an ongoing vacation.

I suppose it's all relative.

Capital punishment

Another day in DC for us. The Boy needed a little more time in the Air and Space Museum, so he and I returned there while the Man and Girl checked out some Natural History - particularly human origins and dinosaurs - in another branch of the Smithsonian.

Staying with the animal theme, we travelled over to the National Zoo to see some live exhibits. There were plenty of wonderful animals, but plenty more people, and it was even hotter than yesterday so that all in all the trip became a bit punishing. But you can't really complain when it's all for free.

This evening we've hung out at the hotel and on the harbour front. There's a little beach with some fun statues to climb on, a pier to stroll up and down, and lots of restaurants. Also boutique shops selling nice stuff you don't really need. If only the place wasn't too trendy for a minimart...

The coolest thing today was...

...the Washington Monument (The Man).
















...Abraham Lincoln (The Girl).











The National Air and Space Museum (The Boy). This is the actual Apollo 11 Command Module.


...seeing the Presidential motorcade, again (me).




We've had a full day and seen a lot. Just by chance the Obama family passed by on their way home from church (we'd just been looking at their house), so that was a bonus and I can notch up another fleeting glimpse of the President to my tally.

We caught some sun, too - it was a fantastic day to be out and about and seeing the iconic sights of DC.

Capital journey

We took a long but uneventful drive today. The in-car DVDs certainly did their job in keeping the people in the backseat entertained. In fact the couple of times we stopped for snacks along the way we had the novelty of the kids begging to be allowed back in the car to continue the journey.

Mostly we were driving along interstates, but we made a diversion through Princeton and were surprised by how olde English it looks. There were great views of Philadelphia from the highway. And then before we knew it, about eight hours and 370 miles after we'd set off, we were skirting Washington DC, and discovering our hotel destination.

We're booked into a place in Maryland's newly developed National Harbor complex, across the river from DC. The hotel's a bit trendier-than-thou - I feel like I'm spending the night in a Habitat showroom, and the elevator music is way cooler than you'd hear in a Marriott. It's fun to be staying somewhere a bit different for a change.

Now, time for a good rest ready for an action-packed day tomorrow...

Hang ten

The Girl turned ten today. Momentous though that is, we celebrated in quite low-key style. Some presents, some time outdoors (it's been beautifully warm) and a trip to Stuyvesant Plaza.

An unplanned treat was being invited to set up an exhibition at the library. There's a display case in the children's section where kids can show off their collections of snow globes or baseball memorablia or whatever else they collect. Two years ago the Girl signed up for this honour, and to be honest we'd pretty much forgotten about it, but yesterday the call came that her name had finally arrived at the top of the waiting list. We scrambled together a good collection of "Toys from around the world", packed them in a box and brought them to the library, where the birthday Girl enjoyed arranging them. They will be on show for the rest of the month.

Another highlight of the day, for the kids, was an investment in some in-car entertainment - a dual-screen DVD player. We'll be starting out on a long road-trip tomorrow - though alas, for the kids, it won't be nearly long enough to get through the sackload of DVDs they've packed in eager anticipation.

Rope-a-dope

It was the annual Spring Sing at school this morning, all very tuneful and jolly. I especially liked the Pre-Ks rendition of the Bob Marley classic "Three Little Birds" (Don't worry 'bout a thing).

The weather has been very kind today - blue skies and a warm sun. Most of my sewing class raced through their projects in the afternoon so that they could go and play outside, and I can't say I blamed them.

Tonight at dusk as we drove to the library we slowed up for a group of kids having a tug-of-war across our street - with an invisible rope, as it turned out. April Fooling goes on well beyond midday over here. Were you on the receiving end of any April Fool's jokes this year - or did you dish out any good ones?