I can only speak for myself, but I’m really torn about this whole easing of the COVID19 lockdown. On one hand, I’m really liking the steps being taken toward some sense of normal. That feels like a good thing. On the other hand, I was kinda getting used to going out to run an errand and having absolute minimal traffic to deal with and no waiting at the gas pumps for gas that was under $2/gallon. With the 4th of July being canceled, I suspect the consolidated community fireworks displays will be replaced with random neighborhood explosions that will surely drive everyone’s dogs under the bed.
My son had to do some work over at YouthBuild, so I swung by the club equipment room, just to check on everything and make sure there were no issues. There weren’t, which is a good thing. I did notice that there is an abundance of wig stand kits stored there, since we haven’t had meetings for people to pick them up. If anyone needs kits, let me know and I can either meet you there or bring them to you.
Club wise, the board has been talking about when to join the “return to normal” parade. For July, we are going to continue to do the demo remotely. Andrew will be showing his method for making an emerging bowl that we will broadcast through Facebook Live. Right now, we are looking at having our next live meeting in August, but we will need to work out the logistics on how best to do that. Given the current uncertainty on if Illinois has restrictions or if the court has struck them all down, we’re waiting just a little bit longer so we don’t have to change directions as soon as we make an announcement. Here is what we do know. When we start meeting again, we will be meeting at Youthbuild, since there will be more room to practice social distancing. We are thinking that masks will be highly encouraged, but not necessarily mandatory, especially while everyone is NOT seated for the demonstration. We are aware that some people may not want to take the risk of attending a physical meeting or a gathering where masks aren’t mandatory and will likely choose not to attend. That is absolutely OK! Everyone needs to make the decision that is best for their health. The plan will be to record the demo and post it on the club’s YouTube channel so at least part of the meeting is still available to all members. I’m also working out a plan for how we’re going to handle the massive influx of completed quarantine projects so the show-and-tell portion of the meeting doesn’t take several days to complete. Stay tuned, an email will be sent to all members with how that will be done.
For me, The month of June has been oddly quiet. My last daughter moved into her own apartment, so now it’s just me and the boy, which is actually kinda nice! Quiet, but nice. My time babysitting the grandkids ended, so suddenly I’m not really sure which Paw Patrol puppy is Skye and which one is Everest. Now, moving into July, the whole pandemic still means stores are on reduced hours and a fair amount are still shuttered. All of that has added up to a lot of time to piddle around on various projects. I’ve started a pile of all the completed projects that need to be brought to a meeting and it just keeps growing. The pile is right by the front door and when I caught one daughter loading up on projects as they left, she said she thought it was like a party favor table from childhood birthday parties at Chuck-e-Cheese. Remember those? After the party’s over, each of the guests grabs a party bag as they walk out. So far I’ve caught that daughter trying to walk off with at least two of the president’s challenge pieces, another daughter trying to walk out with two of the bowls I’ve made, and even the boy tried to secret away one of the projects. My last daughter sees the stack growing and is starting to get a little miffed. Not because her siblings are pilfering more than she has been able to, for her it is a monument to poor time management skills on my part. It seems she volunteered me to make a very complicated project for her to give away, without checking with me first to see if what she promised can even be done. Near as I can figure from her crude sketches and very cloudy descriptions, it will involve encasing fresh roses in epoxy, creating a see-through lid like structure made from the encased roses, then incorporating that lid like structure into a bowl that has to be at least 18” across. Oh, and she really doesn’t want a lid that will come on and off, she was just trying to describe what it would kinda look like. My initial reaction was utter shock that she would concoct this elaborate “thing”, promise to deliver it, and THEN tell me about her plan. I remember thinking how rude it was to put me in a position where if it succeeded, she’d be the hero, but if it failed, I’d be the goat. Then I realized that she wouldn’t have made a promise like that if she thought for a second that I couldn’t create what she wanted. Somewhere in there is a huge vote of confidence that honestly made me smile! So… for the month of July, I’ll be working on smaller prototypes of the two methods I think will work, figuring out how to dry rose petals without them losing any color, and drying out a blank big enough to use for the final project. Wish me luck!
Until next time, thanks for reading, be safe, be kind, and try to remember to look on the bright side of things because it’s a lot less stressful!