Out October Open House will be the last one until next October, we’re dropping the Spring Open House for awhile, we just have too much to do. Maria has signed up the performers in her belly dancing class to come and dance at this year’s Open House, just about a month away on Columbus Day Weekend.

The dances will be here on Saturday and Sunday. So will a slew of talented artists, Ed Gulley and his farm art, Mary Kellogg and her poetry, The RISSE Soccer Team Chorus, and a van load of Mansion residents. People can meet the donkeys, listen to talks and readings and buy affordable art just a couple of months before Christmas.

Maria is stockpiling potholders and bags from India and some of my photos to sell. I will be doing herding demos with Red and Fate (maybe Gus also). The dogs will be happy to welcome visitors (please don’t bring your own dogs, thanks.)

The art is amazing, it will be on display in her Schoolhouse Studio.

A week after our Open House, we will be off to New Mexico for a week, our first real vacation ever.

The back porch has always seen a kind of living tableau of our lives – these are pumpkins from our own patch – and the belly dancers are going to perform there, it’s simpler for them than on the grass. The RISSE refugee kids will sing, the Mansion residents will say hello, two weavers will be spinning, the sheep will get shorn by our Vermont shearers.

This is our sixth (seventh?) year of the Open Houses, it is our chance to share our work and our lives. You can follow the details on Maria’s website.