Thursday, March 24

Up at 7:30, and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. Then after I was ready for the day, I packed a lunch for Hubbie and me to take to the second free film festival screening at the museum.



Today, a member of our scrapbook club went with us, but Mother, of course refused to, though I think she would have really enjoyed this video about seed swaps in our state.



The scrapbook member came to our house to ride with us to the museum about 11:30. Before the noon screening began, we toured the museum, which is currently exhibiting toys, clothing, and other memorabilia from around the 1920s to the 1970s.



The exhibits took all of us down memory lane, as we remembered special toys, like tea sets, paper dolls, and games that we once owned, and clothing styles that we wore.



Shortly before the video began, we claimed seats in the front row and enjoyed our lunches. A man who attended brought along samples of wild dock and branches from blooming red bud trees. We were invited to sample these edible plants, so the three of us did. I found that the dock tasted like a weed...maybe it's better when cooked. The red bud blossoms, to me, had no discernible taste.

The seed-swap video, about 70 minutes long, examined several seed swap meetings, where folks offered hundreds of varieties of heirloom seeds.



The purpose of exchanging seeds is to grow them, and preserve some of the seeds to exchange in future swaps. This is so people can pass on agricultural knowledge, eat healthier, locally grown food, and lead more self-sustaining lives.



Both the professor who started the project, and the filmmaker were in attendance to answer questions following the video.

At home, I went online to check out the websites for the seed swaps, and found that one was scheduled for a town near Sis, so I emailed the info to her. It's on a day that she is off work, so she's excited at the prospect of attending.

Mid-afternoon, I went downtown to our local newspaper office to search for the article that I haven't been able to locate in my files. I was able to quickly turn it up in the archives. A staff member was glad to make a copy of it for me.

Back home, I wrote and posted a blog for yesterday's activities, and started one for today, while Hubbie continued working in the yard. Later, I heated the veggie soup that Mother made yesterday, and invited her to supper.

This evening, the three of us went downtown to a movie theater renovated into a church to attend a film festival feature that followed 23 women vying for Miss Wheelchair America. The film pulled no punches in showing the trials that the women had to go through to compete.

It showed women in the most intimate circumstances...having someone dress them, and even in one instance, a woman dealing with relieving herself in the bathroom.

All women want to be beautiful, and these were no different. There was a lot of primping with makeup and hair, and choosing gowns. And as with any competition, there was discouragement and tears, and gossip, but mostly there was a whole lot of courage.

In their private lives, one woman surfs, one went skydiving, and one races cars with her husband. One had an abusive husband.

The woman who represented our state is very well-spoken, and placed fifth in the pageant. She was present for the screening tonight. As with the rest of the audience, this was her first time to see the film, and she appears in it quite often, even though the filmmaker spent more time following four other women.

This is a pageant of abilities, not beauty, though several of the contestants were young and very physically attractive. The one who won was one of those, as was the winner of the 2009 contest.

The film, and the question and answer period that followed, ended around 9 p.m., and we were home a few minutes later.

Wow, it was cool today. What happened to our nice, warm, spring weather? It was sunny, though, and everything is getting more and more beautiful. The tulip garden in our yard is gorgeous, and even as the Bradford pear and pink magnolia trees have lost their bloom, the red bud trees are lovely. I expect the dogwood to follow soon.