Tuesday, January 6, 2009

New Year starting....

What a busy beginning of the New Year ! If the rest of the year is as busy, I'm not sure I'll be able to maintain the momentum. But as Scarlet said, "I'll think about that tomorrow." In the meantime, I just read a devotional on planning and using time wisely: 'Plan your work and work your plan.' Great idea, with reservations. As the devotional writer muses, sometimes circumstances interfere and best laid plans have to take a detour. Or as Robert Burns penned:
"The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley..."

With the opening of the Smithsonian's "White House Gardens" exhibit at our Library coming this weekend, energy and enthusiasm is at a real high in anticipation of this exceptional event. I have to admit that I never really gave much thought to the 'gardens' at the White House. I have visited that historic building, and been privileged to be in a VIP tour group that my oldest daughter arranged several years ago. But the Gardens, per se, didn't get much of my attention. Seeing (on TV) the 'copter land on the White House grounds when the sitting president would be coming or going was exciting, and events that were televised from the Rose Garden were always nice enough. But now a whole new vista has opened for me - as I hope it will for many others as they visit the exhibit at our Library. The hardback book that accompanies the exhibit is beautifully written and describes that historic area from the time of first President George Washington to the present. The pictures and descriptions of the White House Gardens' evolution is fascinating reading.

The newsletter that I edit for the Marshall County (MS) Genealogical Society is just about all put together now for the January 2009 issue. This will be a 24-page issue thanks to the submissions of several members. The next step in the preparation is what I call "fine tuning"; getting all the pages lined up, filling white space where there's more than is necessary and spell-checking everything. It's a fun job that I have enjoyed over the seven years I've served as editor.

Then there's the DAR reports that must be made each year, summarizing the work the Chapter has done. That's a time-consumer, always. Details have to be included in the many areas of interest, with accurate accounts of programs and projects. We have gained two new members, with another application pending approval in Washington now. We lost one long-time member, though, who passed away in December. I am pleased that our Chapter now has a website, which was created and approved late in 2008.

The Annual George Washington Luncheon that our DAR Chapter hosts in February is always a nice occasion. We honor our high school DAR Good Citizen at this event, presenting him or her with a pin and certificate. The recipient had to write a timed essay in the presence of the school counselor on a subject unknown until time to actually write. I have been impressed every year with the high school senior's presentation of their response to the topic of good citizenship and preserving our heritage.

2 comments:

EYR said...

Goodness, you have a lot on your plate and now we have this annual report to do for the Friends!

Meant to tell you today, I looked in Frankfurt for a keychain or a magnet for your daughter, but to no avail. Nothing to be found...

Anne's BLOG said...

THANKS for checking about keychains. I hadn't remembered that !
Yep, the annual report will be a good idea. I'll help YOU ! :-)