Hello, Readers!
It's Friday night,
but here's a sunrise for you.
Pretty skies this time of year!
The orange and pink are gorgeous,
but that shade of rare morning blue is a treasure, too.
Another treasure is spring green.
The baby soft leaves are giving area trees their first pops of color.
It's a welcome sight for Erieites.
Sam's elementary school held their annual Evening of the Arts this week.
I was green with envy over the glass artist's demonstration.
I'm learning how to weld this summer so I can make some metal art,
but this live demonstration gave me a few ideas.
Now,
to find a blow torch....
I particularly love 3-dimensional art pieces.
This bluebird by an unknown elementary schooler
was a cheery favorite of Mrs. Eloise.
It kind of reminded me of Mother Bird.
She built her nest this year in a more strategic location.
The lower nest from last year still exists.
This season she built her nest on top of the wreath,
out of easy shot of my lens.
Blue Dog was one of my favorite exhibits.
Find Sam's contribution:
When I asked him what Bowling 2,400 was supposed to symbolize,
my son replied, "Positive Thoughts.
That means the eight, 300 games I'm going to bowl."
Nice thinking, Sam!
A little positivity never hurt anybody.
Our resident Youth Leader
did a great job sharing good news about our school district
with other teens in Erie County.
One of idea generated from the team's brainstorming session,
was to include more Autism Awareness activities throughout the year.
Snoopy and Eloise agree--great idea!
It works!
In April of every year,
the Lamp Post offers a lesson on the latest dish in the Autism World.
This year, I titled my post Blue.
Blue is the chosen color to represent autism,
recently popularized by the GE and Autism Speaks--
Light it Up Blue!
The world joins hands on World Autism Awareness Day on April 2nd,
and lights up buildings and monuments with blue lights,
in recognition of people on the Autism Spectrum.
As much as I love to see the growing awareness,
often April leaves me feeling blue.
Don't get me wrong--
I love the support we receive at the Erie Walk for Autism.
We had a record number of walkers this year,
and raised over $100,000 to help local individuals better their lives.
There are just SO MANY people.
So many kids.
So many young adults.
So many burdened families.
So many stressed school districts.
Eloise is half tempted to clap her hands over her ears
and make it all stop
like Julia does.
Who's Julia?
Lesson for the weekend:
She's the new Sesame Street character with autism.
Julia and Elmo are friends!
a lot!
She finds intense interest in a feather.
Julia loves to line her blocks up
and doesn't like them moved.
To see Julia's Amazing Song about Autism,
scroll to the bottom of this post and watch the shared Sesame Street video.
I love Julia and all of the gang on Sesame Street,
but DeNiro is my hero
for this Autism Awareness month.
If you missed his Today Show interview
and comments about Autism and his censored movie Vaxxed,
click the link below.
My favorite quote of DeNiro's,
who has an autistic son, Natalie's age
"If Autism continues at this rate,
in 15 years,
one out of every two people will be autistic."
Rethinking my family history with Autism over the last week
in preparation for this blog,
left me a little blue.
Awareness is improving,
but the numbers sure aren't.
The vaccine controversy is once again at the forefront,
and supporters from both sides of the issue are more entrenched than ever.
It has a left me feeling a bit tired,
stressed,
and worn out this week.
But, I've learned a few tricks to deal with stress over my 45 years.
Family and friends are one's best comforts.
Breathing techniques work.
Inhale for 7.
Hold for 4.
Exhale for 8.
And drinking my favorite drink,
from a little green bottle,
while blasting Purple Rain
helps a little bit, too.
Have a simply Amazing weekend, Readers!
ELOISE
