Showing posts with label Black Swamp Arts Fest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Swamp Arts Fest. Show all posts

Monday, September 08, 2025

Not lost!

 Sorry guys, I'm kindergarten tired, haha. It's back to school! I'm thrilled to say that I'm also back at school, both subbing and for the month of September at least, being an aide. I'm having a ball in the wing that holds our youngest students, but I also do not have the same energy allotment as the 5 year olds. Attention span, maybe, but definitely not the energy! 

Unfair that kids who fight naps get to have them and adults who need them don't. 

Suck it up, buttercup, I guess.

Anyhoo, our high school home team has lost all three of their football games thus far. The band sure is having a good time, and our kid in particular, who is mainlining Pixie Sticks and sour Skittles and God alone knows what else. Dada and I watched in fascination as he dumped sugar into his mouth, washed it down with Coke, played a snatch of a song, and repeated the cycle with more Pixie Sticks. I'm still amazed the entire bleacher section wasn't vibrating from the vast amount of sugar coursing through just him, but then seeing more Pixie Sticks being launched through the air from one section to another and I can't even imagine how they ever sleep. I bet dentists everywhere rejoice; job security fo' sho'.

My Mommeeee came out for a visit and the weather cooperated so we got to run some errands with blue skies and puffy clouds. September is a favorite of hers. I always wish they could stay longer, but she had good traveling weather and made it back home safe. Thanks for all our treats and Wendy's and your company!

Dada and I putzed our way through the Black Swamp Arts Fest (which we call Dark Arts) both on Saturday and Sunday, perusing all the wares, meeting up with friends, making some fun purchases. Tons of fair food, fun live music, and a Main Street full of vendors, we give it two thumbs up! PLUS, there was a book sale at the library so guess who got more books even though she's already at least 6 books behind her reading goal for 2025... yay! New friends!

Labor Day weekend brought yard work, much to the chagrin of the boys, including chopping off tree limbs and burning them, pulling many weeds and yanking out small honeysuckle bushes. Also got as many small saplings of our zillions of trees out as I could, and gingerly removed dead black raspberry canes. Miraculously, I stayed out of the poison ivy! Soon enough we will be raking leaves or mulching them into the grass, I suppose, but for now we are enjoying the cool mornings and warm afternoons. Especially at recess! Any chance to play outside is a chance I'll take!

My PET scan showed nothing, which is a good thing! My EKG also must have been normal because I didn't hear otherwise. Next month I'll have another oncology check up, and later this week is my 8 week post-op visit from my hysterectomy. I'm fairly certain she will sign me off. 

My two new meds seem to be doing their thing and only causing dried out eyes and nasal membranes. I hope the week off each month from one of them (planned, so that my lowered blood cell counts can recover. You know, important things like platelets) will bring some relief- I'm a little nervous going into the cold season with all the drying effects of furnaces on top of the side effects. I don't want to have to switch meds. One of these I'll be on for forever and the other is a 3 year gig. I'm almost 2/36ths done! Woohoo! I'll let you math nerds reduce that. 

Already had my first back-to-school germs, so I can check that off my list. I had a head cold before the kids even started back. Definitely must be allergic to school. Hehe!

Enjoy the beautiful autumn weather even if it hasn't officially started yet. I refuse to break out my cold weather clothes until the calendar declares it, so I'll be over here in my sundresses with sweaters and leggings. 




Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Dark Arts Fest


So there's this phenomenon called the Black Swamp Arts Fest which has admittedly had its name butchered on more than one occasion by my family. I blame the Harry Potter series. We've called it the "Dark Arts Fest" because "Black Swamp, Dark Swamp, Dark Arts, whatsitsname, oh well" seems to roll of our tongues.

Anyhoo, it features artists of all sorts from all over the place. There are fun sculptures of gears and metal, many knitted thingamajigs, tons of paintings, prints, etc. There is also more than a few booths of jewelry. 

And a food court. 

And bands. Including the Japanese Taiko drums from the college.

The school kids contribute some art to line shop windows and they paint on the snow plows:





And food. There is Kettle Korn, above.



I did mention food, right? 

Succumbing to the lure of elephant ears, below:



It alternately sprinkled and was hot and sunny, so we were glad we had our raincoats as we perused and meandered and wandered the Dark Arts, darn it, Black Swamp Arts Fest!