What significant things have I done today?

[Swatopluk]

Writing down the first* chapter of my saga.

*the first to be written down, not as far as plot is concerned

[Aggie]

Had musicians (Buckman Coe and co) crash at the house last night, so we cooked up some late-night eats from the garden.

[Opsa]

That sounds like fun, Aggie my dear chap.

Yesterday I finished coaching this year's 2 week/4 hour a day summer theatrical improvisation workshops. Really fun, creative bunch of kids, aged 9-14. I like that age group. They come up with some interesting solutions.

Next week I'm trying my hand at teaching Theater Basics class to 7-8 year olds. This is an experiment, brought on by parents who want their littler kids to get into theater. Hope it works!

[Griffin NoName]

Good luck with that.

Today I finished week 9 of the ghastly research methods. Each week gets nastier, although week 10 is Ethics which is a favourite topic of mine so maybe there's hope.

[Sibling DavidH]

I hopeth you enyoyth your trip to Ethics.  Can't stand the place, myself.

[Roland Deschain]

Now, now, David. The food is the best you'll find!

My thing is finishing cleaning the garage out, and taking most of the rubbish up the top of the garden. How my dad accumulates all this carp, i'll never know.

[Griffin NoName]

When you clear up the end of the garden, do you take the rubbish down to the garage?

[Roland Deschain]

That would be the logical thing to do, yes, as it fulfills The Rubbish Law of Carp, in which carp must be never thrown away, but moved diligently from place to place every few years in order to increase entropy in random places. Unfortunately, all the carp is being removed by some nice men from the local council, hence increasing the already infinite entropy in the local council offices.

[Sibling DavidH]

Seems like my garage contains several buckets of entropy.

[Griffin NoName]

The local council here will only pick up from the roadside. No way can I get contents (many and varied) from the garage to roadside. Also, there's a height issue with lorries/vans too tall to go under an archway to get to the garage. It will become an issue if I ever want to move (fairly likely). Until then, I try not to think about it.

[Sibling DavidH]

A lot of Echo workers are on holiday, so Wendy and I ran the craft area and shop all of yesterday and this morning.  I've often been slotted in for an odd session, but this was exhausting - keeping the participants organised and busy all day.  They are lovely, but some can be so demanding.  Like kids, when they want to talk to you it has to be now and they don't see that you're dealing with someone else.

I'm happy but totally knackered.  I was not at my best ME-wise before I started. 

[Opsa]

Here, have a hug from your Auntie Opsa.

Those folks are so lucky to have you and Mrs. H.

[Roland Deschain]

Sounds as if you did really well, David. I hope they appreciated it.

[Griffin NoName]

Even fit healthy people find such exhausting at an advancing age....................... I am sure they do appreciate it.

[Ranchao]

Last night we took part in a Relay for Life in our area, and it was a most amazing thing. The event is an annual fundraiser for cancer research, and this year it took place at a local high school track. Groups set up tents around the inside lawn area of the track and participants could walk all night long. They could have pledges for miles walked, or simply come and walk and buy baubles and food, the sale of which went to battling cancer. There was lots of music, funky costumes, and really nice tributes.

The most moving part was a luminaria ceremony, which took place around 10pm. The stadium lights went down, and a woman with a gorgeous voice sang a song called "I'm Gonna Love You Through It" while the opposite bleachers spelled out "HOPE", and then "CURE" with luminaries, and the entire ring got lit with luminaria. Then they sent up four candled hot air balloons into the perfect, moonlit night, each one representing  another aspect of people who have fought, are fighting, or have defeated cancer (parents, children, siblings and friends) and I had a thought go up for each of these, including some for our fellow Toadfish siblings. It was just beautiful Peimar led.

If you get a chance to go to one of these things, do it. I know I will go again.

Great event. We need to appreciate such events to fight cancer