At the Dietrich by Hildy Morgan
I am not a really early riser. Around 7:30 or 8:00 is when I usually get up. Probably because I go to bed late and then, even once I’m in bed, I have to catch up on Words With Friends and read a little and then, if I’m really, really lucky, I’ll go to sleep. But no matter what time I go to bed in the springtime, I wake up early.
Because of the birds. Birds warbling and chirping and squawking and long, lovely vibratos and short harsh staccatos and everything in between. They do not allow for long, languorous mornings in bed, oblivious to the world around us. No, that sort of thing is to be savored on cold wintry mornings. Cold and white. And silent.
I open my eyes and see cats sitting in the window, quivering with the desire to have a feathered creature for breakfast. “Not today, my dearies,” I tell them. Or any day for that matter, but no point in telling them such a harsh truth so early in the morning. I go over to the window and open the blinds and look across at the patch of woods, small and defenseless in farm country, where the pastels of spring are coming into full bloom.
Trees with white blossoms and pale pink, the yellow of forsythia and the green of fields that were brown only a week ago, form the impressionist painting that is spring. Is there ever a lovelier time? Well, okay. There is the sun-dappled warmth of summer, the crispness of a fiery autumn, and of course, the velvet of winter’s snow. (Oh, how in the world do people live without the four seasons?)
So. I have no segue for this. But we had a really fun day at the theater yesterday. Really fun! It turns out that The Tree Association (what a terrific group – they see that our town is blessed with healthy, strong, beautiful trees – of course, I’m a little prejudiced because my sister is a long time member) was thinking about no longer doing the strawberry shortcake. It is a huge project for such a small group. The strawberries are fresh and must be hulled and sliced. The shortcakes have to be made. If you have only a handful of people it can become burdensome. So when we heard, Erica called them to see if it was true and they were thinking of not doing it anymore and told them if that was so, then the Dietrich would surely love to take it over. They were most amenable to that and suddenly we had one terrific project to help fund our many free programs for children! Oh my goodness! There was much excitement! And the thing is we have the Chidlren’s Room where we can put so many tables, we have a full sink and running water in it and we have “Shirley’s Army” as we like to think of our treasure trove of wonderful volunteers! God bless them one and all! Without that we couldn’t even think of taking on such a project.
You can see why excitement would have been at fever pitch then, as we discussed, perhaps, adding ice-cream to the feast. Or having it in front of the theater. Or having it in front of the theater and in front of Twigs at the same time. We are just so thrilled! So, thank you Tree Association! You’re a terrific bunch!
And then Ronnie and Erica were talking about a mini-festival in the summer, (one week only) for the films that are too early for the spring but too late for the fall, and having a little ice cream social to kick off the event. How fun does that sound???
And maybe shaking up our events for airing of the quilts and…well…minds were just a-whirl yesterday with ways to help keep cultural programming going strong! Ooooh. So much fun!!!
And don’t forget the movies, folks. It’s coming up on the start of the season and we have a ton of goodies for you!
In the meantime, do enjoy the birdsong. Or, you could get a good set of ear plugs. Whichever works for you. But do treasure this gorgeous season. Aren’t we just lucky ducks to live in Pennsylvania????
See you at the Dietrich.
