Garbage to Garb

I read my hometown newspaper on-line every day and was delighted to see the crafty article From Garbage to Garb.

From garbage to garb
By Heather Halseymailto:Halseyhhalsey@HanfordSentinel.com

The old adage, one man's trash is another man's treasure, couldn't have rung more true than it did on July 23, when children in the Lemoore Summer Day Camp strutted down a runway wearing just that -- trash. Egg cartons, old socks and soda can tabs all made their way into the creations of the kindergarten through sixth-grade campers who worked for three weeks to design and construct the costumes before they hit the runway at the Lemoore Civic Auditorium.

The Lemoore Parks and Recreation Department's camp directors have been teaching their campers about "going green" since June 15 and all of the items used during the fashion show were things they'd collected to recycle or repurpose. "We wanted to have a 'Project Runway'-type fashion show but with the green theme," said assistant camp director Mallory Spoelstra.

The kindergarten through second-grade campers took the runway first to show off their carefully created hats that were decorated with everything from cotton balls to feathers.
Children at the Lemoore Summer Day Camp's fashion show wear hats made of recycled material.

"Every day at camp the campers receive breakfast and lunch in brown paper bags; they cut those bags and added a variety of recycled materials to the outside," said Spoelstra who served as the MC for the event. The fourth-through sixth-graders then hit the catwalk wearing everything from baseball uniforms to prom dresses. Fifth-grader Celine Davis of Lemoore wore a wedding dress that she had made with the help of fourth-grader Ashleigh Austin. They used white tissue paper to make the dress and white material to make the veil. Dustin Allen showed off a baseball jersey that he and Phillip Arterberry made out of used scarves. They even used straws to write "Allen" on the back.

Several parents attended the fashion show, including Natalie Piper of Lemoore, who came to see her 9-year-old daughter, Nora, show off a "prom queen dress" she made with the help of her 13-year-old brother Ambrose, who works as a "volunteen" at the camp."She was really excited and told me all about how she was making her dress," Piper said.

The fashions were judged based on their use of recyclable materials and the winners were awarded trophies made from recycled materials that were filled with candy. Third-graders Haile Yocum and Maggie Franckhauser walked away as the winners for a prom dress they made using green, blue and yellow fabric scraps. She also wore gloves made from socks, in which they had cut holes for her fingers."I kinda messed up but it made it kinda cooler," said Haile about her gloves. It was evident the children enjoyed making the costumes, but when camp ends on Aug. 7 they'll also walk away knowing the importance of recycling. "I really like the idea that this was a recycling runway because recycling is important and it will save the earth and help the environment," Maggie said.

Down on the Farm

I call this one A Peek into the Past - that's the 50+ year old family tractor taken through an opening in the barn.

My Weekend Around the Farm

Celebrations were plentiful this weekend and that meant a trip 'home' to Lemoore. My parents have a 40 acre farm there and it's always a treat for me to take my camera and roam the area. My mom has sent out a search party for me in the past to make sure I was OK since I was gone for so long.

It was my mom's birthday on Friday and my nephew turned the big 13 on Monday!!! With my sister and sister-in-law now working, it's mighty hard to coordinate anything family these days. I organized dinner for my mom using old family favorite recipes. I thought I'd be in the kitchen to coordinate, but my bro, nephew and I got involved in taking out roses in my parent's front yard. It's something my mom has wanted done for many years and it just never got done. When it came right down to it, we only took out half of the roses, then planted some flowers and added bark. Meanwhile, dinner preparations were going on in the kitchen and I had to make a couple of phone calls to ask someone to start a couple of the dishes while my brother and I were out buying bark in a nearby town to finish-up the yard project. Chaotic, but we got the project done and we had a nice dinner.

My sister and I got in a nice long walk and on the way back decided to hesitantly swing on the rope swing down at the canal. It was fabulous!!! They could hear us screaming down the street!!! Now, we can't wait to try it when there's water in the canal.

I'm off to see the movie Taken tonight. Not as light-hearted as New in Town last week - that was so cute! If you're a scrapper, you have to see it!

Joan

Delightful Mother's Day

Twenty-five of us spent the day together including my mom and family and my sister-in-law's family. We had wonderful food, superb weather - my family lives on a farm, so we ran all over 40 acres of farm land. I took a few pictures -
The lavender flowers are actually alfalfa that's past it's prime.






The building with roses is our neighbors - I liked the contrast of the roses on the rustic building.

My family was quite proud to have their oats baled on Saturday - 838 (I think) bales! My dad planted the hollyhocks many years ago and they just keep coming back year after year.

The weekend had many high points and Saturday was a day of sadness, but also a celebration of a very full and long lived life. My seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Wilson, passed away this week - she was a very strong influence on me, the members of my family and many, many others. Her husband was the principal of the very small elementary school my family attended, so we had a very tight community.

At the funeral, I saw friends from my elementary school I hadn't seen in ages and even saw my kindergarten teacher - I won't even mention how many years it's been since I've seen her - I didn't recognize her (OK, she didn't recognize me, either!). It was strange to see my 4th grade teacher, who, back in the day, seemed like a giant - when she took off her shoes, we were about the same height. A very touching part of the funeral was when the minister read part of Mrs. Wilson's life story - written by her. So much I didn't know about her...

When I began my singing lessons recently, Mrs. Wilson was on my mind - she was my singing teacher - everyone was required to take singing, so it wasn't as if I was special, but she did influence me considerably.

Over the years I have written to the Wilson's when I was not living close enough to visit - I am so glad I took the time to let them know how special they were to me.