Ruthmere Summer Garden Party

When you live in a fairly small city, it seems like there is never anything interesting going on or fun things to do. However, if you look more closely, pay attention to local events, there are little gems hidden in what might otherwise be just another day.


One such gem is Ruthmere, an historic mansion now a museum and special event locale. Today was the annual Summer Garden Party which I never knew existed until my mom called me last night, inviting me to join her, my sister and her three daughters. I'm so glad she asked and that I accepted.

Not only was it a beautiful day, I got to see my wonderful nieces and take lots of pictures—many good things rolled into one. There were a number of small events scheduled for the party, including a magician, a puppet show, face painting and paint your own paper lantern.

First up—the magician. He was surprisingly good, and aside from the one obnoxious kid (seriously, I wanted to smack this kid) the show was a lot of fun. The kids loved it—just look at C's face! M desperately wanted to get picked to help when Steve the Magician asked for a volunteer. Alas, she was not chosen, but Steve had a couple of announcements at the end. He's available for parties, of course, but he also offers a magic camp.

Oh my goodness. I wish I could have gotten a picture of M's face when he said this. She just lit up, slowly sucked in her breath and got this look of wonder and joy on her face—not huge, not a giant grin, just pure excitement. "I want to do that SO MUCH" was so clearly written on her face, it was adorable.

Getting information for the magic camp

On to lantern painting.




M & C jumped right in, but K wasn't interested. I asked her to do one for me and she agreed. Hooray! They all were concentrating very hard and did such a good job. All three were beautiful. The staff hung string from a nearby tree so the kids could hang their freshly-painted lanterns to dry. Aren't they all so pretty together, all of them.


Here's mine. K did a lovely job!



Next up—Face painting!
C had hers done while the other two started on their lanterns, so M & K stood in line after the puppet show to get theirs.

(Yes, M has on makeup. K did it!)

What a fun day! Although there isn't as much to do in this town as I'd like, there are moments like this that make me realize that there ARE gems to be found, I just have to do a little digging.