Sunday, July 17, 2011

Ukelele Great Gathering and muddy work day

On Saturday we had three families scheduled to come out and help in the garden in the morning. Then in the afternoon and evening we were looking forward to a Ukelele Great Gathering hosted by Larry, Brooks, and Aaron. We were also looking forward with horror at the weather predictions. Heat wave! Humidity! It will "feel like" 110 degrees!! The weather reporters whipped everyone up into a frenzy. And for what? Not so much.

We started the day with a pounding rainstorm from 5 am to 8 am. The 2 and a 1/2 inches that fell on Saturday morning added to the inch and a 1/2 that had fallen on Thursday and Friday, so when the first workers showed up the garden was a muddy mess and we had to be very careful walking so we didn't sink in. To their credit, our work crew didn't quibble with the mud, instead we took it as an opportunity to hand-pull weeds while they came out easy. We cleared pathways of pesky weeds and thinned beets. Yes. Many thanks to Steve and Sophia; Jay, Autumn, Desmond, Fiona and Ella; and Michael, Gretchen, Eva, Rowen, and Cully.

As our work day was finishing, people were gathering for the Ukelele Campfire Sing-a-long. Because of lingering clouds, the expected extreme heat did not materialize, although it was super humid. The families arrived and set up tents and people got their potlucks ready and children played until it was time to eat. As usual the food was fabulous, then the singing began. Participants had brought their own instruments and songs and the organizers had a fat songbook and we sang and sang. The children came in and out of the fire circle, but their main focus was raucous play. First they played in the barn, then water balloons, then soccer, then flashlight tag. In between there was s'mores and more singing.

Thanks to everyone who came and made this a real highlight of the year!

Photos to come.

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