Mom pointed out today that I haven't updated Daily Pie for a bit.
What I told Mom was: SUMMER CAMP IS EATING MY LIFE.
In mid-May, I went to a children's theatre conference in Seattle. (Mecca Cafe, people. Go there. Drop some bucks for pancakes. If you're lucky, they've repaired the waffle iron.) The conference wasn't about arts education, but I got inspired anyway, and in late May, I took on the Education Director job at Magik.
I have grand visions for this position and its outputs, including:
And more. Since summer camp was 2-1/2 weeks away when I took the job, I dove into curricula. We're three weeks into camp now. Eight to go. Loving it.
Did I mention it rained here Tuesday night? All night in a slow, steady drizzle. This is awesome because we've been in drought for 4 years and had had something like 1/2 inch of rain in 2011 (before Tuesday Glorious Tuesday). The sound of it WOKE ME UP. So I woke Dave up. Rain shouldn't bring such blissful relief. We'll gladly take some off the hands of you guys who are getting inundated.
We've torn out half our garden. Because everything but the peppers and eggplants is getting fried, you ask? No, we ripped it out because the birds and squirrels are so desperate for moisture that they're eating even the green fruit. We set out water dishes, but by then the tomatoes were toast. We're considering a radical approach to our gardening year: instead of a huge focus on summer -- when it's so freaking hot the plants are wilting and we don't want to cook ANYTHING -- we could take advantage of our climate to have a bustling fall and winter garden, canning extravaganzas when it's COLD out, and most activity petering out in April.
I'm certified to handle blood-borne pathogens now. Thank you, camp.
We're eyeing places to travel, December-January-ish. Our initial fascination is with ice hotels. (I wonder why.) The famous and artsy one's in Sweden, but there's also one in Québec and one in Romania. Right now, a bed of ice sounds @#%&^#)$^*#&%@-ing amazing. We may get there in December and be like What the frack were we thinking? But now I'll be paid for 5 of the days we're gone (yay, full-time job), so that should ease the frostbite.
I get to go to a conference in July that's all about theatre arts education. I'm in training to be a networking ninja, or at least a networking karate kid.
I'm a critique group leader now for my local SCBWI chapter. I'm (slowly) revising Briar Bound. I've written a short story for the Steampunk Shakespeare anthology, and will review it this weekend before submitting. I've been gone from Twitter, too, so all you awesome writers who've gotten book deals since March? Congrats!
OK, that's enough for now. What've you guys been up to?
What I told Mom was: SUMMER CAMP IS EATING MY LIFE.
In mid-May, I went to a children's theatre conference in Seattle. (Mecca Cafe, people. Go there. Drop some bucks for pancakes. If you're lucky, they've repaired the waffle iron.) The conference wasn't about arts education, but I got inspired anyway, and in late May, I took on the Education Director job at Magik.
I have grand visions for this position and its outputs, including:
- solid curricula for all education programs
- study guides customized to every grade level pre-K through 5
- theatre-instruction workshops for teachers
- theatre badge programs for scouts and other organized youth groups
- age-appropriate book clubs
- visits by Texas authors
- an engaged education advisory board of local teachers and administrators
And more. Since summer camp was 2-1/2 weeks away when I took the job, I dove into curricula. We're three weeks into camp now. Eight to go. Loving it.
Did I mention it rained here Tuesday night? All night in a slow, steady drizzle. This is awesome because we've been in drought for 4 years and had had something like 1/2 inch of rain in 2011 (before Tuesday Glorious Tuesday). The sound of it WOKE ME UP. So I woke Dave up. Rain shouldn't bring such blissful relief. We'll gladly take some off the hands of you guys who are getting inundated.
We've torn out half our garden. Because everything but the peppers and eggplants is getting fried, you ask? No, we ripped it out because the birds and squirrels are so desperate for moisture that they're eating even the green fruit. We set out water dishes, but by then the tomatoes were toast. We're considering a radical approach to our gardening year: instead of a huge focus on summer -- when it's so freaking hot the plants are wilting and we don't want to cook ANYTHING -- we could take advantage of our climate to have a bustling fall and winter garden, canning extravaganzas when it's COLD out, and most activity petering out in April.
I'm certified to handle blood-borne pathogens now. Thank you, camp.
We're eyeing places to travel, December-January-ish. Our initial fascination is with ice hotels. (I wonder why.) The famous and artsy one's in Sweden, but there's also one in Québec and one in Romania. Right now, a bed of ice sounds @#%&^#)$^*#&%@-ing amazing. We may get there in December and be like What the frack were we thinking? But now I'll be paid for 5 of the days we're gone (yay, full-time job), so that should ease the frostbite.
I get to go to a conference in July that's all about theatre arts education. I'm in training to be a networking ninja, or at least a networking karate kid.
I'm a critique group leader now for my local SCBWI chapter. I'm (slowly) revising Briar Bound. I've written a short story for the Steampunk Shakespeare anthology, and will review it this weekend before submitting. I've been gone from Twitter, too, so all you awesome writers who've gotten book deals since March? Congrats!
OK, that's enough for now. What've you guys been up to?
3 ate pie:
Congratulations on your job with the summer camp! Sounds fabulous.
I'm curious about ice hotels too, but I think I'll wait for you to come back and tell us how it is. :-)
As for me, I'm living in Italy for the summer. Lots of inspiration here. Drop by the blog if you want to read more about it.
Otherwise, enjoy the rest of your camp experience! Seems hard to keep up with blogging in the summer no matter what's going on...
The job sounds fabulous -- congratulations!
We've been having a "different" summer here. Different as in everything is breaking down, and boy, it's not relaxing at all! But I'm trying to stay positive. (Can't you tell?) ;)
I've also been working on revisions -- good luck on Briar Bound!
Julie - I've been envious of your Italian summer since you first posted your plans -- so cool. I definitely want to read about your adventures!
Amanda - I just saw on your blog you haven't had a fridge for a week. That's a tough appliance to have break down. Worse than the washer/dryer -- at least then you could use a laundromat. Good luck getting through it and BEST of luck with revisions! I've unraveled a bunch of threads in my book and now have to figure out how to weave them back in. :)
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