At heart, I’m a homebody.
My life—which includes raising four kids, being quite community-focused, talking to people for some portion of my workdays, and an increasing dedicated to walking as many places as possible—belies this truth a bit. I think my living in a relatively small town helps me a great deal from falling into my comfortable shell (and solely sporting pajamas). In a big city, it’s easier to toss hands up: there’s almost too much to choose from, always—plus so much is expensive, plus it might be far away, plus no one will notice whether you participate or don’t. It’s a little easier to fly under the radar than it is here.
The next few weeks are case in point. Forget holiday parties and birthday parties (well, put your own into this mix, worry not about the ones I’ve committed to attending) and here’s a glimpse of my life (besides excluding parties, I’ll spare you the meetings; again, substitute yours for mine) over the coming weeks and just some of the priorities screeching, “Me, me, choose me!”
This very weekend for the first time ever I’m going to the Hilltown Cooperative Charter School’s annual Winter Fair, which I have been told is a pretty cool event. We’re a Hilltown family now. My seventh grader is singing with the chorus and the chamber group and during the day, there will be some performances. I keep catching the tail end of rehearsals and they sound gorgeous. Plus, the kids are always smiling and laughing. It’s up there on the win-win-win scale. The parking lot seems very small and I’m wondering where to park, if anyone can enlighten me. Note: for a homebody, when I move from whether to attend to worry about logistics, I know I’m committed to going!
It’s a totally crafty weekend, in fact (no surprise, really; the holidays/daze, they are upon us—starting… like, already if you are Jewish). I quite like the open studios at One Cottage Street in Easthampton. If you’ve never been, here’s my tip (if, like me, you get easily overwhelmed by tons to see accompanied by many people and plenty of friendly chatter): I’d look on the site and decide on one or two “destination” artists or artisans, so I had a definite place I wanted to go. That way, the rest is gravy. I won’t be bashful in saying my critical destination person at this sale is Evelyn Snyder of Kaleidoscope Pottery. We live with the leafy plates and bowls, as our everyday tableware and so every year or two I require some replacements, because pottery breaks. That’s part of the adventure of living with pottery, don’t you know.
If you lived beyond the confines of my town, you might live closer—or just want to hit the pretty country roads—and go to my friends’ wonderful RED sale. I keep meaning to find out why RED? That is less important than the fact that you could enjoy the work of four wonderful artists: Robbie Heidinger, another of my very favorite potters; Ann Lewis, whose work from paintings to dishtowels is lovely; Donnabelle Casis, whose jewelry I heart and also graces many of my friends’ necks and earlobes; and Ellen Darabi, extraordinary baker of extraordinarily pretty cakes, with her chocolates, also extraordinary and extraordinarily pretty. All these RED women will be importing their wares to my house on the 19th, FYI, as the RED In-Town contingent of our annual home craft show/sale. Yes, having a craft show at my house is kind of perfect for me, the mash-up of homebody-meets-extrovert complete (plus, the house must get kind of cleaned up).
You could also be buying pretty stuff in Greenfield this weekend, at potter Lucy Fagella’s studio. I quite like her very pretty (I mean this in the pleasing-est sense) work, too.
As if that were all… Sunday morning, we’re walking—the whole family, I think—in Safe Passage’s civic Event, the Hot Chocolate Run (and walk). Walking, I like. Cold, not so much, but with hot chocolate promised at the end it’s easy to motivate the young people (well, marshmallows are the major motivator).
Safe Passage did an incredible thing in making a family-friendly event that allows us parents the chance to explain what this important organization does. The message—everyone deserves a safe home—is fundamental and I’m really grateful it’s something my kids have grown up knowing about and believing in. Up to five thousand walkers and runners on an early December Sunday (remember this, a change from years past) morning put the capital E in this Event.
Will I be glad for Monday morning when they all go off and I can retreat a bit? I most certainly will. Count on that.
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The adorable girl in the photograph lives in Savannah, Georgia and she’s fortunate to be learning fibers arts through a program called Loop it Up, which has a Northamptonite (and SCAD student) in large part to thank for its success. This teacher is one of the artists at our not-so-little craft show and she’s collecting 150 hand-knit hats for babes, tots, and kids—ages five months to twelve years—who are in care during the day and after school at the Broad Street Y, where Loop it Up loops it up. If you have a hat that fits the bills, like you knit more hats than you know what to do with, leave a comment and I’ll get in touch.
