Conditions at 7:00 am: drizzle and 14*
Expected later: mix of sun and cloud and 23*

Just when we thought summer was here, mother nature pulls the plug - again! Yesterday was a beautiful day and now this morning it's cool and drizzly. But it is supposed to get nicer later so I hope they're right.

Last night I spent a couple of hours at the Welcome reception for the Lucy Maud Conference. It was actually quite a lot of fun. I'm not sure I totally understand the concept and many of these ladies have come great distances to attend. There were at least two from Melbourne, Australia - and ironically enough, they didn't know each other. Suna, the other volunteer and I put the name tags together on Tuesday and we both commented that we would have liked to tags to indicate where the person was from. So when they came to our table to pick up their conference bags, we asked them all where they were from. We asked the second girl who was from Melbourne if they were together as the first girl was standing nearby, and it turns out they didn't know each other so we introduced them to each other and they were still together later at the reception.
There were several from Japan, one lady who arrived on Wednesday and is leaving on Monday to go back. Now THAT'S dedication! (for lack of a better word!)

There were many from various parts of the US and across Canada. Not everyone registered last night and I suspect some of the more academic types will be in today. For the most part, they were quite a fun group of women, and not all of them older, as I had thought they might be.
Many are school teachers and several librarians (makes sense).

I had the pleasure of finally meeting Elizabeth Waterston. What a lovely person she is. We spoke briefly when she registered and then we had a chance to chat for while at the reception that followed registration. It was quite a lovely affair, with live musicians, a variety of finger foods and a bar. There was even a huge punch bowl for those of us who were driving.

This afternoon I'm session assistant (translate=gopher) at one of the workshops. I got to choose the one I wanted to attend, so I found one that I thought I might find interesting.
I could not imagine what these people talk about for 4 days but the session I'm attending is:

Genealogy and the Domestic Sphere:
1) "The Old Time Kitchen": Domesticity, Nature and Avonlea's Transforming Rural Economy
2)"The Nature of Nurture: Food and Tradition in Emily of New Moon
3) Emily of New Moon and the Uncanny Nature of Genealogy

That will probably be enough higher education for me for one day! I haven't actually read Emily of New Moon, so maybe I'll be prompted to after today.

Well, I'm writing this at home this morning as I forgot to plug in the laptop last night to charge, so I'm writing this before I leave for work.

Have a great (and hopefully sunny) day!