In the last 18 months, I have on more than one occasion, questioned my sanity or lack of it. Let me backtrack a little and explain from where this insidious suspicion came.
I live in a community. In this community we have residents, businesses, a number of schools and a community league.{sounds pretty normal huh?}The elementary school that my children attended had a playground near by. Over the years, I watched it deteriorate{things do that with age you know}. People talked about the improvements required,everyone wanted something done, but ultimately a lot of clucking and head shaking took place and little else. I, in a moment of true clarity, {gotta wonder about that one} decided to search the world {read neighbourhood} far and wide and look for a partner.
Credentials would include, the tenacity of an octopus, intelligence and wisdom to rival an owl's, elephantine heart, antlike organizational skills, and a thoroughly diplomatic command of the English language.
Diplomacy is and never has been my strong suit {my friends will get a giggle out of that one!}
I communicate much the same way I wander the web. All over the place with no apparent rhyme nor reason and yet those astute souls brave enough to open their ears to me, are able to generally glean from my babbling, the pertinent facts of my meandering conversation. {Whew}
By the way, that was a monumental consideration for me and whoever was daring enough to attempt this redevelopment project. They would have to be able to extract information from a variety of sources, including me!!
After, a couple of years of pitching the idea of redeveloping the playground, I found someone equally as demented as myself!This is how the conversation went over a cup of tea at the unsuspecting friend's apartment one bright, sunny, autumn day. "Hey what do you think?" I ventured. "About what?" my ever logical friend countered. "Want to give this playground redevelopment project thing a go or what?" I asked with my usual eloquence. "Sure why not" were the words that slipped from her lips unbidden but not quickly enough for me not to hear them! And so "The Loony Ladies Club" as we have affectionately, and at times, not so affectionately called our little committee of two, came into existance. Yeah, two. We're nuts but we're determined nuts.
Various members of my family have been enlisted to "assist" with this project as well{they'll never let me forget it either!}. It's become a real family affair or battle depending on the day. Don't let anyone ever tell you that a volunteer project of this magnitude can be pigeonholed into particular time slots. Picture a dinner table overflowing with paperwork, half an hour after dinner was ready to serve, because mom just had "one last thing" to finish before the ravenous could be fed.Imagine telling your 9 year old to clear out of the livingroom just when his favourite Saturday morning cartoon was about to commence because yet another playground meeting was to take place. I'm sure you get the idea.
Fortunately, we have been able to convince other neighbourhood loonies to assist at times with the project. Takes a little of the pressure off now and then and usually just in time to prevent the total destruction of all books, papers etcetera directly or even indirectly related to playground planning, equipment, fundraising or anything that remotely looks like it might distract mom from her real purpose in life...caring for her kids! LOL
We'll need 100 loony volunteers to help actually construct this thing this July of '99 too!
And quite confidentially,it concerns me, the number of volunteers who live in this neighbourhood. We seem to be a loony magnet as there's never a shortage when you really need them.
I would dearly love to hear ANY stories about park and playground redevelopment projects anyone has been involved in. PLEASE(with the appropriate amount of handwringing and whimpering.) We can't be the only ones who have battled bureaucracy to build a playspace.
Now
heed this warning. As soon as I can get it out of my head and down on the page, I will be sharing some of the lunacy we have experienced on the road to redevelopment. And you being volunteers {generous, goodnatured and often accused of being unstable},I know we can count on you to share our story. And maybe, just maybe, you could fit it into your already overloaded schedules, and raise a little sympathy for us?!? LOLOLOL Not too much though, I have to admit, I'm gonna miss it when it's over.
But only till the next project comes along!!
Come see what we've been stirring up!
Ideals are like stars;
You will not succeed in touching them with your hands,
But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters,
You choose them as your guides,
And following them,
You reach your destiny.
~ Carl Schurz ~
Never tell a young person that something cannot be done. God may have been waiting for centuries for somebody ignorant enough of the impossibility to do that thing.
~ Dr. J.A. Holmes ~
Children need models more than they need critics.
~ Joseph Joubert ~(1842)
It's what we learn after we think we know it all that counts.
~ Abe Martin ~
If you like carousels you just must visit this page!
Do you Remember Carousel's and Merry-go-Rounds ?
It has the most comprehensive information on carousels I have encountered.
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