AmeriOrps Week!

my title is spelled wrong intentionally. there was a HUGE typo on one of our recruitment flyers....so now it is just an inside joke among our house. i guess you had to be there....
ANYWAY.....AmeriCorps Week has come & gone....& it was actually great fun & an ever greater success! Last Monday was the big kick off day at Taylor-Bray farm and we had the whole corps there working on some different projects, as well as some school groups. Our big task for the week was to construct an 180 ft. boardwalk out to the marsh. We had a bunch of members measuring and cutting wood to construct A-frames, and other community volunteers with carpentry experience putting together the dock pieces. It was a long process, but we eventually layed down the first few sections of the boardwalk on Monday afternoon. To enjoy views at the end of the boardwalk once it was complete, phragmites (an invasive species) needed to be cleared, so we had some corps members working on that as well. It is a tiring & repetitive task, but it had to be done! I helped with that in the afternoon (I was registration in the AM) and unfortunately ran into some shrubs over run with poison ivy. I now have arms covered with patches of red, itchy poison ivy, as well as on the left side of my lower back (random, but I think its from tucking in my shirt). We had school groups learn about composting and then helped mulch the blueberry patch on the farm. The last project was construction of a raised garden bed on one of the community garden plots. It was all such a big undertaking, but I am proud to say that everything got done during the week (almost). We are currently in the process of finishing the railings for the boardwalk, but we did install all of the docking by Friday and even dedicated it to our program director, Darlene.
On Friday afternoon was our 10 year celebration. We invited alum, service partners and even a MA senator (not Kennedy....but O'Leary) to come and celebrate our decade of service. It was not the most stellar of weather, but we had a great turn out of supporters. It was also great to hear alum talk and see how they are still really close with their fellow corps members still, even though they have been out of the program for awhile.
Saturday night was the "Alumni Dinner", which we were required to attend, even though we are still members. It was mingling and eating and then sort of a "where are they now?" presentation about alum & how the program has impacted their current life. We also got sweatshirts......(we love free clothes)....& a sweet picture of the NEED building where we have our retreats. I love goodies!
Here below is my facebook photo album of the whole AmeriCorps Week for your viewing enjoyment!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2296877&id=26700157&l=dac4132ef3

peace!

spring has sprung

what a whirlwind the last few weeks have been. somehow april came & went in the blink of an eye & now we are almost half way through may. i hate it. not because i am not enjoying myself....but because I AM enjoying myself & i don't want it to end.
the first weekend in may brought MY PARENTS out to the cape for a quick adventure to see me and my americorps life....with a quick trip to boston tacked onto the end. i took them all around wellfleet....my favorite beaches....the seashore....yummy food....seeing my house & meeting my housemates! i think they were a little overwhelemed by my living situation, but were glad to see that i fit right in with the mass chaos & am loving it!
here they are at marconi station in wellfleet at the seashore....

i also took them up to Ptown for a hike up pilgrim monument with some awesome views of the town as well as the cape.....some whale watching at the beach (we saw a bunch of tails & spouts!) and then a little hike through the seashore complete with feeding chickadees! here you can see them eating out my hand & my dads.....

it was great to have them here & experience my life first hand. it was short and sweet....but wish they could have been here a bit longer, with some nicer weather to experience ALL that cape cod has to offer.

this past weekend was a little low key. braved the wind on friday night & hit the beach for some beers. saturday was spent with samantha's IP in chatham helping with "RECYCLE FEST" that she put on that included E-recycling (bringing in old TVs, computers, vcrs....etc) & a bike collection for the organization "bikes not bombs". on sunday alex & i ventured to ptown to walk the dune hike.....my legs still hurt today! it was a tiring, but gorgeous trek through the sand dunes to the atlantic side of ptown. we then hit up commercial street & had a yummy lunch at a south african restaurant. it was such beautiful weather and it was great to see people out and about!

alex on our way back on the hike....

TODAY was the start of americorps week, which is being celebrated all around the country by americorps groups this week. it is to celebrate the service we do throughout the year with our community. our celebration this year is special, in that it marks the 10th year of americorps cape cod. we are also tacking on ALUMNI weekend at the end of it....so it is truly a whole week of celebration! i have spent the last couple months at my COD day helping to plan it, so i am excited for it to finally be here. i believe i have mentioned it earlier, but we are working all week at Taylor-Bray farm in yarmouth port. the big project of the week is constructing a 180 ft. boardwalk that leads out into the marsh on the property to offer visitors some nice views of the surrounding area. we are also constructing a raised garden bed on a community garden plot so that handicapped individuals can also garden. schools groups will also be coming out to help remove invasive species on the property in hopes of restoring the natural habitat there. i am happy to say that today went really well & one person even said that it ran more smoothly than the other 2 big americorps projects (mlk day & canal clean up)....& that was out goal, so i guess we reached it!

me with our big americorps week banner......

boardwalk construction........

i am also looking forward to the end of the week because my friend TESS is coming to visit! & then my friends EMILY & JACKIE will be coming memorial day weekend. it is always exciting to share my weird world with my friends.....so i can't wait for them to come & see!

off to bed.

much love/peace....

A.