Art Immersion

The sticky August humidity has arrived early this year. Still, it's a reminder that summer is flying by and those things I always resolve to take time to do (in early May) seem to be slipping away again. So, it was really wonderful (and somewhat serendipitous) that I managed to enjoy some of those fun summer activities this weekend.

It's been an artsy past few days. Last weekend, we took the kids and headed west--ending up at an arts festival in the town square of Urbana, Ohio in Champaign County. This is small town America at its finest. From the long, winding drive out there (through little towns like "Irwin" and "Mechanicsburg") to the cute shops, local artist exhibits, $1 hot dog/chips lunch and the local dance school performances ... this is the charming rural stuff that is so deeply ingrained in me--that stumbling upon these places feels like coming home. I love this stuff.

We knew Dad & Soups were "spinning" somewhere nearby, but we didn't manage to connect with them until later. Still, we had fun (despite the Savannah-like humidity.) There was a tent of free hands-on cultural crafts for the kids (sponsored by the Champaign County Arts Council) that were fabulous. They include several beautiful Chinese-inspired projects led by young volunteers. With a little help from K. and a volunteer, A. Boston made a cute 3-dimensional paper fish. He was so proud.

Lelu started at the paper flower station, then moved to a trace & cut papercutting project that resulted in a beautiful pagoda. She stood for nearly 30 minutes, working on it--never wavering in her focus.

As we were leaving, we spied this musician-duo performing, in costume. Could there be anything more charming than this? Fun day.