Saturday, April 29, 2006

"Free"...A Round Robin Promotion

"If we shadows have offended
Think but this, and all is mended
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear."

-A Midsummer Night's Dream 5.1

We have a marvelous new Round Robin Challenge coming up in a couple weeks, the topic has been chosen by our friend Phinney, author of the journal,"Paragon," and she has decided that our next challenge subject will be, "Free."

There are tons of ways to interpret that subject. "Buy One Get One Free,"Free To Be You And Me," remember that album? Or maybe you might want to tackle the subject by sharing your thoughts on the personal freedoms we embrace in America. Freedom of Speech, Freedom Of Religion...maybe even Free Love.

One thing that occurs to me, is that summer is almost here, and one of the best things about summer in California, is all the free summer festivals and parades that take place. One of my personal favorites is the Rowell Ranch Rodeo Parade, which is held each year, on the second Saturday in May, in the town of Castro Valley. The night before the parade features a free chili cookoff, in the Castro Village shopping center. I really look forward to this event...it's a lot of fun.

Another marvelous event is the free "Shakespeare in the Park." Held each year in Golden Gate Park, the company will be celebrating their 23rd anniversary this season. I love sitting in the park, especially when I get the chance to see my favorite of Shakespeare's comedies, "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream," being performed. The schedule for this season should be posted soon, and believe me I will be circling the dates on my calendar.

Finally, I think the best way to spend a hot, summer, Friday night, is to relax in the cool sand in Santa Cruz, on the beach, where the, "Free Summer Concert Series" is happening. Greg Kihn, The Drifters, and of course my favorite performer of the series, Micky Dolenz, were just a few of the musical attractions that played there last year. I think this year we are going to try to make it to more then one concert...especially now that the curse of Santa Cruz has been lifted! LOL.

So that's just a few ideas to spark your imagination. I am sure this will be one of those challenges where I will see a lot of great interpretations by the members of the Round Robin Challenges. If you would like to join us, please feel welcome to come along. All you have to do is visit the official Round Robin Blog to find out all the details and to sign up. If you have a camera, a blog or journal to display your photos, and a little imagination, then you have everything necessary to come along for the fun. Everyone is invited. :) As always if you have any questions feel free to drop either myself or Karen an email, with "Round Robin Question" in the subject line, and we will get back to you ASAP.

Carly (Ondinemonet@AOL.com)

Karen (Mavarin@AOL.com)

-OndineMonet
"A Dream"
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, California
Summer, 2005
Twilight

4 comments:

Karen Funk Blocher said...

I've got that song from Tommy stuck in my head now:

I'm free
I'm free
And freedom taste of reality
I'm free
I'm free
And I'm waiting for you to follow me

Lead us on to freedom, Carly! ;)

Karen

Don't mind me - I'm all goofy-sleepy! Good night!

DesLily said...

what a gorgeous picture! where is it?? did you take the photo?

Suzanne R said...

I love Shakespeare -- seeing a free performance would be wonderful! I think we have had something similar in the Portland, OR area in the past but I don't know if it is still done. My late husband, Steve, and I went many years ago. Maybe I'll have to check into it this summer, although I don't generally travel in Portland at night alone.

BTW, Carly, I wasn't able to e-mail you about the sleep question as I couldn't find your e-mail address anywhere. I posted mine in the comments to the "Insomniac" post on my blog but I suspect you haven't seen it. It is SuzyQ421@aol.com -- please write me with yours as I'm very interested in your sleep info!

Tammy Brierly said...

Try the Clam Chowder cook off on the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. Yummy!