Just a quick drop in to say hi, y’all!  Got some news, 3 more ATCs to be published in The Fairy Zine, Vol.3.  And I just made reservations for the Art and Soul Retreat in Hampton, VA from May 1-5,2008.  I’ve registered for 3 day-long classes with Michael DeMeng (Creative Outlets - assemblage art using an electrical outlet -what else!-as the base), Diana Traut (Acrylic Painting with Glazes - been wanting to learn this technique for ages now!) and Albie Smith (Bound Art - creating several handmade pages and then binding them in a handmade book).  I am way psyched!  Here’s a link to the website http://www.artandsoulretreat.com/VA2008.php 

 This will be my first art retreat and I can’t wait to meet my peers!  I have no classes on one day so I plan to check out the area, and since Virginia is one of the places I’m considering relocating to when I retire, I’ve also booked another 4 nights at an oceanfront motel (and this time I went for the seaview and private balcony) in Virginia Beach.  I plan to check out real estate there and see the area.  Should be fun.  Lots of things to do in the area, too.  I had planned to go back to Cape Cod again in the spring to see how it is that time of year there, but then this opportunity came along so that will have to wait until later in 2008 or in the srping of 2009.   I’ve started to gather information on the areas I’m considering relocating to after I retire.  So far, I’m looking at Cape Cod, MA, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and northern North Carolina.  If anyone has anything they’d like to share pro/con on those states with me, please do!  I’d appreciate any input I can get on those states.  I’m looking to buy a condo/townhouse that’s at most a 1/2 hr drive to the ocean, and I’d like to live in a complex that has a clubhouse and pool, and an active community. 

Well, I have something wonderful to look forward to for the next 6 months now - and that’s a good thing!