President's Letter August 2020
Leigh Fabens
Greetings, friends!
For my introductory photo in my first letter as your new President, I am suitably accessorized in my customary Covid disguise. Now you’ll know how to recognize me when you see me at the market or walking in the park…. I will unveil for a future photo, one that will show you how I will look in our Zoom meetings. Everything is different now!
When I accepted the nomination in January 2019 I didn’t expect to be writing about how we will thrive as a garden club during a pandemic, but here we are. In the past months we have learned to adapt, and we are learning how to navigate new technologies. And thank heaven for the tools that are available to us! When I joined Shaker Lakes Garden Club in 1987 the internet was an unrealized dream – no email, no Cloud, no laptops, no smart phones. Our communications were by phone and hard copy snail mail. (You are thinking “how old is this woman??!!!” Don’t think “age,” think “perspective.”)
But we have adjusted, and I am looking forward to a busy year filled with garden club activities. Jennifer Langston and Judith McMillan, our Program chairs, started planning in January to have speakers and venues lined up and ready to list in the Directory. Not long after they were forced to change everything, and they have done a fantastic job. In this newsletter you will read about our upcoming meetings, including an outdoor visit to Scott Mueller’s garden in September. And be assured that the Greens Workshop will take place in December – one way or another, you will be able to decorate your homes for the holidays.
If you haven’t already, you will be hearing from a Board member who has offered to host a small “Pop-up Patio Party” at some point in the summer. We are doing this as a way to get together for the kind of personal conversations that Zoom meetings, as successful as they are, can’t offer. We envision groups of five or six, outdoors, distanced, “accessorized” like me, in our hosts’ gardens. Ordinarily we would be gathering for the Provisional Tea in mid-July, to welcome the new Provisionals and to catch up with each other.
Enjoy the rest of the summer in your gardens and the parks we are so fortunate to have nearby. And welcome, new Provisionals! It won’t always be like this!
Leigh