December 20, 2025
Last day of programming.
We ended it all with a disco party that consisted mostly of staff, but was a blast.  V made the place very dancable 


 

We are a very silly group, but it's because we all work really hard in our lives  This whole group does multiple jobs both for LAVA and other places.  We had an art auction to end the year.  Local artists  donated art throughout the fall and the stuff that did not go was auctioned off today.  I'm not sure what any of the totals were today, but I think it's potentially a very successful fundraiser for LAVA. 

The whole team was there.  After it was over V. set up a disco room and people danced and played,  lots of laughter and a good way to end the year.   

I actually bought a piece of art.  When I bring it home I will photograph it and share it.   

Ash was the auctioneer.  She thinks fast so she can do it, she adds facts in about numbers and art and kept people moving and smiling.  If we had had 10 more people in the room it would have been perfect.  


A friend of Ash's came to dance.  They were good.  A friend's kid was following his steps and trying on some of his own moves.  He was sharp.   

So, I had a great six year run with this project.  In a way I'm a little mixed up about leaving the day to dayness of it all.  It really is a blast and I'm very fond of the creating part.   But I really need the time to focus on my own work.  I've been saying that for a year, but I have to get my head around the fact that it is now a necessity to secure my physical life both economically and physically.  It is time to take care of me now.   

There were basically only two sins in my house growing up; lying and being selfish, caring about only yourself.  If there are 6 kids in the house concepts like privacy, or mine, are kind of joke.  It is still really difficult for me to think about having a life that is dedicated to my needs.  But here goes a big try.

I'll really miss working with this whole gang.    Love you guys.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  January 3, 2025 The Complexity (what I refer to as the texture) of Life This is a photo of Michael Whiton, eldest child of Jean O. Whiton.  If you knew our mother, you know whose eyes he inherited.  Picture was taken by Linda Boardman.        I did not take pictures today, nor was my brain very able.  So tonight you get a poem I wrote 25 years ago that is more spirited than I could write tonight. I Believe in Color   I believe in red the changing forever-ness of red.  A pure rich red: cotton tee shirt red, berries on the bushes in the dead of  New England winters, cherries in June next to a slab of ripe brie. Magenta, a little redder than wine, blood as it begins to dry, the curtains I always wanted, floor length heavy velvet. Orange red on the skins of a tangelo; blood oranges in a light blue porcelain bowl on a small table near stark white walls. Dusty rose of an old flannel duvet, the height of fashion in 1980. I believe i...
Read more
Image
January  4, 2025 Michael E. Whiton  June 30, 1944 - January 4, 2025     I always talk about patterns, it is my researcher's brain.  This morning I texted with my niece, Grace, and asked her what her 12 year old was really into. She told me math.  He plays the flute in his school band.  I had an epiphany when the 2 things got put together.  To grow up with music as a constant all through your childhood you are exposed to patterns.  You become aware of what can follow what.  My 3 year old great niece makes up little songs, repetitive musical patterns.  Her father repeats them or adds to them.  She already knows how to put notes together.  That's math.  That's what Liam does.        So what does all that have to do with Michael's leaving us on this plain today.  Well, one pattern is that we all seem to be good with babies.   When Mike was 21, Jason was born.  He was good to babies....
Read more
Image
  January 2, 2025 Time is both too soon and too late.   Just keeps slipping.     I believe it was 1996 or 7 when I flew out to Bainbridge Island to see my brother, Mike.  He was very ill and my Mom was worried and wanted me to go assess the situation, which I did, probably in not such a diplomatic way.  He really was ill.  His liver was failing and he wasn't getting put on the transplant list, yet.  I've never quite understand the whys and the wherefores of all that.  But for the next 4 or so years he maintained, so sick, sometimes optimistic, sometimes beaten, but he made it to a liver transplant in August 2000 in Worchester.       24 years ago, holy shit.  EJ's entire life, a third of mine; and again he kept living, kept listening to music and trying to be kind and never regaining any reliable health.   His story is fascinating, and I'll tell it sometime, but not tonight.  Tonight I just want to ...
Read more