Maya Angelou in Mars Hill

I was fortunate enough to hear Dr. Maya Angelou when she spoke at Mars Hill College last Thursday evening. She is a remarkable woman. In her 70's, she sang, told stories, read a few of her poems and spoke to the assembled students, faculty, staff and community members. Her theme was, 'be the rainbow in somebody's cloud.' The things that you do - big or small - can make a difference in people's lives, even if you are not fully aware of it at the time. I was touched and inspired and very glad that I took advantage.

I participated in the PhatFiber Sampler box for April. I sent in about 50 samples of hand dyed fiber as well as about 1/2 dozen patterns for the knitter's boxes. April's theme was 'green' - either color or earth-friendly so I dyed and made up packages of my colorway 'Bronze Green,' one of my best-selling colors. I got my contributor box yesterday, but my camera batteries were most dead, so I am not blogging about that. Perhaps tomorrow! Fine goodies

On the dance front, I called the contra dance at the Greensboro Grange on Saturday night with DotDotDash, one of my favorite regional bands. They gave me their new CD! I love that dance community. They are not a big dance (75 or so people that night) that was established by the late Gene Hubert and a group of friends (including me!) back in the late 80's or early 90's. Since I live in Asheville now, I don't get down there much, so I'm always pleasantly surprised how it has continued on with many of the sdame core group, but with new people all the time. Just a mile of so from Guilford College, a number of students are regular dancers there.

Last evening I had the rare good fortune to call with Cailen Campbell and the Gypsy Hicks - He was in fine form as usual. MJ was taping, so we should see a YouTube video before too long. The dance was very crowded, but the music was excellent and the energy high! My job was to keep the dances small (like 1 square foot per person!) but varied. I also wanted to keep thing simple enough so I could stop calling and people could hear Cailen and the other gypsies (or are they hicks?). Gave me a chance to knit - just a boyfriend hat, so not a lot of thinking involved!