I have determined that apart of my adventure in rosedale, because I am a writer and a librarian, should involve writing and sharing books.

you may say, 'you don't say, eh?'.
tickle. tickle.

here is a PDF (below)to the RDA's monthly newsletter. I wrote two articles--one on the mural project and another about two great books.

mikey gave me a new name in thearticle: social change artist and student...which made me smile...

http://www.rosedaleassociation.org/documents/RDA_news_June08-v2.pdf

pictures

saturday june 7th

mikey gathered several neighborhood kids together so that we could finish up the planting we started last week. i was so excited to arrive at the lot and find seven young adults from the rosedale area.

;-)

we went through the process of planting the flowers as a team. several of the young people applied more primer to the wall. they made me turn my radio dial to 92. something... ;-)
and I made them listen to a little lauryn hill--to whom they'd never heard of.

generational difference, eh?

mostly we had a great time and we once again made connections with the community by just being out there. a young man who'd just started a non-profit organization focused upon creating safter communities stopped by and exchanged information with us. Aidan, who lives next door,
stopped by and insisted we use her water. people honked. waved.

ah...community.

what a word.

I must say, that I was never quite sure where this project would lead and honestly we still don't know for sure.... but the journey: the meetings... the conversations... the connections.... the ideas...

are moments I will soon not forget.

cheers~besos~have a good week.

pictures

I woke up today with a sunburn. who knew brown people could get sunburned?! ;-) Dwight from Lutheran Finacial. This is the 4th year they have sponsored Join Hands Day in Rosedale.


Reggie and Mr. Longfellow.


Reggie and Phay.


Reggie walked away covered, like I, in white specks of paints.

ideas, like gardens, are in bloom

Here is a part of Aidan's email to me today:

" This fall, we should think about planting tulip and daffodil bulbs--maybe have them as the border for the grand butterfly. "

;-). a tulip garden party this fall sounds delighful, eh?

join hands day

join hands day went well.

one part of our future butterfly garden is just about complete...

while, we also painted over all the yellow & gray areas on the wall.

a nice young man named Reggie, who lives two houses down from the lot helped us with both the painting and the planting. And Dwight from Lutheran Financial diligently planted the bushes and flowers with Mikey and Phay.

Mr. Brian Longfellow once again came over and mowed. While, several people from the community stopped by to chat with us about the project.

One young lady in particular, who lives next to the lot, came down and displayed an immense interest in helping out in the future. She works for the school of medicine at kumed and she had amazing things to say about the neighborhood. She offered up her hose for future projects. Her eyes sparkled as she shared her ideas for the lot's future....

Her name is Aidan Loveland Koster, and I do believe I will add her to my movers and shakers in rosedale list.
;-)


I will add photos above.