The Twisted Gypsy

We started our very first Lovewell Sweden Junior this year. It is going on simultaneously with our Junior workshop in Florida. I wanted them to have a Skype call back and forth with the two groups, but it didn’t work out with the 6 hour time difference. So, they made videos instead. This one is so cool, I had to share it:

Summertime was so many things- sprinklers, bare feet, freckled nose, scrapped knees, locust singing, fireflies, blooming garden, endless days, hide and seek, popcilces, swimming pools, grandparents, fireworks, flip flops, and one very big, very important decision: what was my birthday cake going to be?

It sometimes took weeks to decide, but once I would, my mother would give it her all and make me a cake that looked exactly as I requested. We are not talking about those molds that you buy at Wal-Mart. We are talking about a designed, hand crafted, baked and sculpted piece of art. There was a cake that had a doll in the center of it and the icing and cake itself became her beautiful, flowing dress. There was a very fluffy, white kitten cake that looked similar to my own cat, Ginger, complete with whiskers and all. And, then there was my favorite, Kermit the Frog cake in 3D. Priceless. We have a picture of me standing behind that cake smiling the biggest smile, sporting a giant black eye. It just didn’t matter. It was summertime, it was my birthday and my mother had just taken my idea and brought it to life before me.

I truly believe that it is in the seemingly insignificant moments in life that we form views of the world that stay with us always. My mom created the cakes I dreamt up, she let me be a kid (perhaps for too long=) she showed me how important the little things are.  And somehow inside of all of that, she subconsciously taught me about the creative process, and for that, I am thankful.

I am rambling. I woke up this morning thinking about those cakes. 
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Last summer, in Lovewell Sweden, there was song that was written that at first I, Carrie Gilchrist, thought was too cheesy. I walked into the room where everyone was working, heard what they had so far, questioned if they were on the right track (hacking some people off) and then left. Well, needless to say, I had to eat crow. The song was finished and it turned out to be a show stopper,bringing the audience to their feet (and this was not the finale) complete with confetti being thrown at the end with a big bang (I figured, if I can’t beat them, I might as well add confetti.)

I have been harping on Nippe to record the song, because I think it captures a piece of what Lovewell truly is. So, without me knowing, he gathered a group of kids in Stockholm and did just that. He sent it to me as part of my birthday gift. So cool.  Thank you all.

You ready for some total cheese? If you don’t like cheese, this is a warning, do not listen.  I mean, take a look at the title…

LISTEN HERE dreamsandimagination
 

What? Might as well go out in Miami at 1am on a Saturday.

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

-T. S. Eliot

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The cyclone of summer of 2009 has begun.  The first 2 of the 8 summer workshops I’ve been working on are up and running.  All is well…better than well, actually.
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I am having some sleeping issues that I hope to stop myself from having.  It is silly really.  One of those things where I simply cannot turn off my brain. So, I get up and start making lists and such and then, since I am already on my computer making the lists, I float over to another program, open it and then away I go.  Yeah, yeah, “don’t open the computer.”  However, I cannot stand just laying there staring at the ceiling.  Anyway, I must conquer this and soon.  It is all in my head. 
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The Internet on Nova’s campus is limited in everyway possible.  No uploading/downloading, no Skype, MSN, or any other single purpose chat feature, no conference calls and basically, no computing.   Being limited irks me.
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Check out the Lovewell blog:

http://blog.lovewell.org/

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Shopping in South Florida…

…dog in a baby carriage.