School begins in most of Virginia the day after Labor Day and ends sometime in June. If there are no snow days then students have a long spring break, but if there is even a hint of snow - schools close and there is a run on bread and milk at the grocery store. While Virginia does not get much snow, it does get ice storms. Ice on steep and curvy mountain roads is not a good combination, so the schools in the mountain areas seek special permission from the State to begin school before Labor Day as they expect to have several snow days.
To me it is hard to think of winter and snow in September. The weather is still in the 80s and Terry and I have the portable air conditioner keeping the bedroom at a cool 68 so we can sleep well. The rest of the house is kept at 72 degrees.
I was in Chicago last week for a meeting of the multistate summer reading program collaborative - the same organization that Minnesota will join next year. What is interesting about this collaborative is that it began in Minnesota. The Traverse des Sioux Library System created a summer reading program and then sold the artwork to other library systems in Minnesota to use. Then the Minnesota regional library systems began planning the summer reading program theme together. Other states in the midwest joined the group and then things got complicated. Minnesota pulled out, but in doing so created a statewide summer reading program rather than the Metro libraries having one program and the "outstate" libraries have another. In 2009 Minnesota will be joining 47 other states to celebrate reading and libraries with a reading program "Be Creative At Your Library"
The August/September issue of Scientific American Mind has an article about how craft projects or creative things we do with our hands help prevent depression. Scrapbooking makes people feel better as does knitting, woodworking and quilting. This might explain why I always feel better when I am working on a project. My current project is making a quilted table runner for Terry. Yes, it is for Terry. I decided to make one for Bron Muster as a Christmas present and took Terry to the fabric store to help pick out the materials. Terry has a good eye for colors. While in the fabric store Terry decided he wanted a table runner, too. He selected materials I would never pick out, but that work very well together and the project began. Then it was set aside for other projects and now I am working on it again. It features six panels and three different patterns of roses. It is done all by hand applique. I am now quilting the pieces together. My quilting is usally done in the TV room while watching movies with Terry. We are currently watching the Harry Potter movies, after having warched the Impressionists series, the latest seasons of Eureka, House, M.D., The Closer, and Burn Notice.
