Summer Escapes - The Plaque Goes to Pax

The privileged plaque got to visit another WAGGGS world center!

If you are tired of London, you are tired of life!  The plaque thought Buckingham Palace was awesome.  Did you know that the British Girl Guide store is on Buckingham Palace Road?  If you are ever in London, go - you can get some great souvenirs there.

The plaque begged to be admitted to the Palace, but even that lucky little piece of laminate couldn't persuade those hard-hearted Guardsmen.  Did you know Prince Harry is now working for the Guards?

Have You Registered Yet?

I'm already hearing from people that some of our workshops for 2014 are full!  That's great news for us, but if you haven't registered yet, you might want to do it now.  Go to the registration page to register; check out the workshops here.  I think this year's event is going to be the best yet!

By the way, did you notice that we have a workshop on geocaching and letterboxing this year?  Participants will also be making a rubber stamp to sign log books with!

Visiting a WAGGGS World Center

The lucky plaque has fulfilled one of my long-time ambitions!  It got to visit one of Girl Scouting/Guiding's four world centers - Our Chalet in Adelboden, Switzerland.

 

Isn't this a great view out the window of the Chalet?

Wish you all were here in the Swiss Alps! Remember that, in the words of a song written by GE committee member Kaye, "Where can you go if you're a Girl Scout?  How about anywhere!"  And did you know that Our Chalet was purchased for us by our own Helen Storrow, whose 150th birthday is coming up in September?

Summer Escapes 1

It isn't even Memorial Day, but look where the plaque has been!  In Copenhagen with Sue and the Little Mermaid - wearing a bandanna against the wind of course!

Sign of The Times

Here's a photo of a sign carried by a Mount Holyoke alumna in the school's traditional Laurel Parade on Saturday.  The holder of the sign told me that she and another woman from her business school class were the only women who entered finance - and the other one was a Wellesley grad.  To me that reinforced the idea that all-female institutions such as Girl Scouts, are still relevant and necessary. 

I started reading "Lean In" on my Kindle last week and I'm finding that although the author is 20 years younger than I, my experiences in the 70s and 80s were very similar to the examples Sandberg cites from the 1990s and beyond!

Summer Escapes - 100th Post

This is the 100th post on this blog, and so I'm going to use it to announce a series of "Summer Escapes."  The Great Escape Committee members are a peripatetic group, and as we journey around the world this summer, we'll will take a token representing the Great Escape.  We'll bring back  photographs from our escapes, whether foreign or domestic.  The token is the plaque given to us on April 10th by Girl Scouts, Eastern Massachusetts.

Right now it's somewhere in Europe with Sue!  Check back all summer to see where the lucky plaque lands as we count down the four months remaining until we see you at the Great Escape!

REGISTRATION IS OPEN

We've opened registration for 2014 at our registration page.  Mark your calendars for September 26 - 28 at beautiful Wabasso!  The workshop lineup is particularly rich this year, but many have limited capacity, so sign up now if you want to make truffles or a stained glass piece!

The food will be great and our hospitality guru Danielle is working on new luxurious touches to enhance our experience.  Music, art, crafts, fun, games, ceremonies - camp for grown up Girl Scouts!  Register before August 1st to get the Early Bird Discount!

New in 2014 - Purse from Old Jeans

The Great Escape is still upcycling, making art (or at least something useful) from something old and worn.   Update July 2014 - this workshop has been cancelled due to a schedule conflict for the presenter, but, we've still got lots of open workshops at

http://gsgreatescape.org/workshops/

2013 Memories - Part 5

GE attendees are talented poets - here's another haiku.

Loon calls, pond ripples

Gracious Living, out of doors

I need a shower.

Chicken Chalkboard Decal

A while ago I mentioned that I had 'won' a  LOOKSUGAR stick on chalkboard decal in the shape of a chicken from the blog "Creating Through Life"

I finally got around to opening the package and putting it on my fridge.  I love it!

It works really well for me since I have a 'freezer on the bottom' model, so I can easily keep a grocery list on it!

Thanks to Katherine and looksugar.