The Worm Word

Staying Cool While the Weather Heats Up

I hope everyone out there had a fun and safe 4th of July. I went down to Makanda to watch some fireworks after having some friends over for a BBQ. The fireworks in Makanda are definitely something I would recommend to anyone wanting a relaxed evening with a ton of explosions, I was very impressed.

Other than that it has been a quiet week here at the Worm. I hear that the orchards in the area are having a great crop of peaches this year. That freeze last spring kept me from enjoying the fresh-from-the-tree fruit that I love so much. Before long the apples will be here, I really couldn't say if I enjoy apples or peaches more, so I guess I will just have to eat them both.

Tomorrow is the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail Downtown Art and Wine Fair in Carbondale. The event goes from 4pm to 10pm at Jackson square and will have live music, food and representation from all of the 10 wineries on the wine trail.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Sezmore

OOOOOOOH, AAAAAAAAH!!!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July! You know what that means; FIREWORKS! There are few things I enjoy more than a great firework show. Shooting off your own fireworks can be dangerous and/or illegal depending on where you shoot them, here is a list of firework displays for tomorrow:

Anna - Anna City Park at dusk
Carbondale - SIUC Arena at dusk (rain date Saturday)
Carterville - Cannon Park at dusk
Christopher - City Ballpark at dusk
Goreville - City Park (rain date Saturday)
Harrisburg - Saline County Fairground at dusk
Lake of Egypt - Elks Park at dusk
Marion - Knights of Columbus Hall at dusk
           - Rent One Park (firework shows will be after the ballgames on Friday, Saturday and Sunday)
Murphysboro - Riverside Park at 9:15pm, music to begin at 7pm at the band shell
Vienna - Ball Park at dusk

Saturday there will be firework displays at:
Du Quoin - Du Quoin State Fairground at dusk
Herrin - City Park at dusk
West Frankfort - Frankfort Community Park at dusk

I hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th with family and friends. I know I will be enjoying a great day of BBQ and relaxing.

Sezmore

Summertime and the Living is Easy

I hope everyone out there has managed to avoid all of the flooding that has been happening in the area. As much as I think living by the river would be nice, I think I'm happier living away from the water right now.

It feels like summer is starting to set in with all of these warm days we have been having. It should feel like summer since the first day of summer was this past Saturday. My favorite thing about Summer in Southern Illinois is the Sunset Concerts. I love going to those every Thursday evening. Well, almost every Thursday evening, I have not been able to go to any of the concerts yet this year, but that will change tonight. Tonight The NK Band, a Afro-Latin groove rock band will be playing at Shryock on campus. The next few weeks have The Greencards, an underground folks band playing at Turley Park; Junior, a punk pop band at Shryock; Brian Wright and The Waco Tragedies, an alternative country band at Turley Park; and finally Gizzae, a reggae band at Shryock. It is going to be a great Summer.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but a month or so back there was a Downtown Wine and Art Fair scheduled in Carbondale, but it got rained out. The event has been rescheduled for Friday, July 11th and will take place at Jackson Square in Carbondale, from 4 to 10 pm. There will be music, food and representation from all of the wineries in the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail Association.

I hope everyone out there has a great weekend,

Sezmore

Return from the End of the World

I feel like I fell off the face of the Earth. Life has been a little busy for this worm and I apologize for missing some posts. I hope everyone has been out enjoying the beginning of summer. It felt like it would never come after such a strange spring.

I'm not sure where to begin on explaining everything I have been doing for the past while. I guess it started with getting things ready for HerrinFesta Italiana. Silkworm was the corporate honoree this year, which means that we had to have a representative at just about everything involved with HerrinFesta. I figured I would be the one to go to all of the fun events, but Silkworm President, Bob Chambers, took care of most of the appearances. I did get to go to the Mayor's Banquet, and I even had a brand new shirt for the evening. Some of the other team members took part in the Corporate Bocce Tournament, I hear they didn't do so well, but had a lot of fun. Another group of wormers were in the golf scramble and came in second. Congrats to them! I got to be in the Grand Parade with a team of worms throwing candy and shirts, Bob got to ride in a convertible. All-in-all it was a ton of fun to participate in all HerrinFesta had to offer.

At the same time HerrinFesta was going on I was also helping to get everything setup and ready in the Miners' store for their opening day. They have a lot of new designs and all sorts of cool souvenirs there. I highly recommend checking it out during your next trip to Rent One Park.

Next up on my list is the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life of Jackson County/Murphysboro. Silkworm always has a team and always stays all night long. Did I mention that Relay lasts from 6pm to 6am? Well it does and we party all night long while raising money for cancer research. The event will be from June 13th to the 14th at the Murphysboro High School. If you get the chance you really should come out. The opening ceremony will be at 6pm and the luminaria ceremony, where we recognize people who have had cancer, will be later at 9.

Get out and enjoy the wonderful weather as much as you can, but be sure to wear sunscreen.

Sezmore

If April Showers Bring May Flowers, What Do May Showers Bring?

This weather just can't decide if it wants to warm up all of the way or not. I'm not going to complain about rain though, I love all of the flowers that are blooming and they need the rain. Speaking of flowers, Mother's Day is this Sunday and nothing says love like flowers. Be sure to be extra nice to your mom this weekend, they deserve all of the praise they can get.

This weekend is also Graduation for SIU. Congratulations to all of those who will be walking across the stage, and to those who earned their degree, but aren't going to the ceremony. Good luck out there as you go forth to use all of your well earned knowledge.

There are so many things coming up fast. HerrinFesta Italiana will kick off on Monday, May 19th. For a full list of events you can go here. Silkworm is the Corporate Honoree, so expect to see quite a few Team Members milling about. I will be out for the Parade on Saturday, May 24th. I heard that I might even be getting a T-shirt of my own to wear.

The Southern Illinois Miners will be playing their first home game on May 24th at 7:05pm. That means you will have time to see me in the HerrinFest Parade and then go cheer on the Miners. I may have mentioned this a few times before, but I LOVE BASEBALL!!!

For those interested in art, music, wine and fun in the sun, the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail Wine and Arts Festival at Riverside Park in Murphysboro will also happen on May 24th. The festival will continue on May 25th. There will be live music, lots of art, crafts and all wineries from the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail will be there. For more information on the Wine Trail and its Wineries go here.

I hope you have a great weekend, and be sure to give your mom a hug for me!

Sezmore

Still Sleeping it Off

Last weekend was so busy and eventful that I'm just now recovered enough to type about it. I started my Saturday at the Community Yard Sale at the SIU Arena parking lot. I mostly went to see how well stuff was moving at the Silkworm tent where a couple of the friendly sales team members were selling SIU apparel. They never have anything in my size, but I am very small most of the time. They did sell a lot of stuff, making room for all sorts of new designs on www.siualumni.com. I have heard that there may be another Yard Sale like this one in August. I will keep you updated as I find out more.

From the Yard Sale I hiked up the hill by the Arena to get to the SIU Boat Dock where everyone had their cardboard boats setup. My small size came in handy since most of the boat makers let me climb on them to get a really good look. There were big boats like this tank, and smaller boats too. I love going out and watching the boats. There was even one boat that was shaped like a banana and the people in it wore monkey masks. I had a great time watching, maybe next year I will make one and go for it myself.

From the boats, I headed to Turley Park to check out the Southern Illinois Irish Festival. I did notice one thing that was a little strange there; for an Irish Festival, there sure were a lot of kilts. I was no exception to the kilt phenomenon. I'm not really Scottish, but I do enjoy my kilt. I had some shortbread and listened to some good music, then I started watching the Scottish games. I watched a sheaf toss which is where a someone takes a 14 burlap sack of twine, sticks a pitchfork in it and heaves it over a bar. I think the highest I saw someone throw the sheaf was 32 feet. Then they brought out the cabers; if you haven't ever seen a caber toss, it is pretty much a person throwing a telephone pole. It is very impressive and terrifying at the same time. By the time I had seen all the Irish Festival had to offer, I was sunburned (I swear I put sunscreen on) and very tired.

I do want to remind everyone that Relay For Life of Jackson County/Murphysboro will be on June 13th and I will be at that one. If you need more information on it you can go to www.relayforlifeofmurphysboro.com.

There is still so much stuff coming up to get excited about. This Saturday will be the first Cruise Night in Murphysboro for the year. There will be classic cars and vendors along Main Street from 6 to 9pm. The event will be happening on the first Saturday of the month through September.

This weekend is a huge weekend for being outside and enjoying a glass of wine and/or live music. It starts with the Downtown Art and Wine Fair on Main Street in Carbondale on May 2nd, from 4 to 10pm. Then Saturday and Sunday there are events going on at a few wineries on the wine trail, you can get more information on those by going here.

I am starting to get worn out just from mentioning it all. I think that I will go to SIU and watch the baseball games this weekend. The Dawgs will take on Creighton at 3pm on Friday, 2pm Saturday and 1pm Sunday. Speaking of baseball, tickets for the Southern Illinois Miners go on sale this weekend. Their season will kick off later this month.

I hope you have a great weekend,

Sezmore

Fun in the Sun

I love this time of year; the flowers and trees are blooming, the birds are singing happily and I am loving every minute of it. There is so much to get out and enjoy and I highly encourage you all to do as much of it as you can.

This past weekend I got to hang out at River To River Relay. Silkworm sends a team of volunteers to Goreville to work one of the timing stations. It was chilly, overcast, windy and rainy at times, but we had fun anyway. We were out there from 9am until about 2pm. The highlight of the day was when the Silkworm running team showed up. Jason Nugent was the team member who ran into our station and Soo-Jin Fager ran out of it. The whole volunteer team and running team hooted and hollered and cheered as Jason came up the hill and continued doing so until Soo was out of site. We also cheered for the other teams, so we weren't really playing favorites.

This weekend is starting to look like a very busy time. The fun begins on Saturday the 26th at 8am with the SIUC Civil Service Council Yard and Craft Sale at the SIU Arena. Silkworm will have a tent set up to sell SIU items. Once you have seen all the sales available in the Arena parking lot, you will want to walk over to the boat dock on campus lake to watch the cardboard boat regatta. I love going to this event, mostly to watch people sink. There are always a few boats that are amazingly well put together and make their way all around the course. Then there are the ones built to sink, those would all be trying to win the Titanic award for best sinking. There are even instant boat kits for last minute entries. A boat kit is really just a sheet of cardboard, so bring tape if you plan on entering with that group.

This weekend is also the Southern Illinois Irish Festival in Turley Park. There are so many neat vendors, yummy food and such great music. I highly recommend going and hanging out and taking in all of the sites.

I hope I have helped to make your weekend full and exciting, I know mine will be.

Sezmore

Spring is Finally Here!

It felt like it took forever, but I think Spring is finally here to stay for a while. I can't tell you just how excited I am to be able to get out and enjoy the sunny, mild days. It is a good thing too, because there is so much going on outside that I am going to be running to get to it all. It all starts this weekend with the River to River Relay; teams of 8 members run from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River taking turns running 3 mile stretches. Silkworm has a team of runners, as if that were a surprise, and I can't wait to go cheer them on from the timing station that is staffed by Silkworm volunteers. I love working the timing station; I get to hang out in the sun and cheer on all of the runners as they approach the end of their leg and the beginning of the next person's run.

I'm not really the running type, but a good walk I can get into. On May 3rd there is a 5K walk at the Southern Illinois Airport to support local Red Cross disaster relief. The cost is $25 for an adult, $100 for a team of five people, $10 for a student and $5 for kids 5-12 and you get a t-shirt. I love to go out and walk, and this one will be on the airport runway. How many times do you get the chance to walk on a runway? If you need more information you can go here.

If you need to plan your walking with lots of advance notice you might want to think about The American Cancer Society's Relay For Life of Jackson County/Murphysboro on June 13th to June 14th. Teams raise money to give to The American Cancer Society and the fundraising culminates in the overnight event of Relay For Life. This year we have an Olympic theme "One World, One Hope." There are fun and games and music all night long, and you don't have to be on a team to come out and join us. For more information, or to donate you can go here. Silkworm has a team out all night and we have a great time there.

If that isn't enough walking for you then you can head to Bald Knob in Alto Pass on June 14th, there will be a Walk for the Cross to raise money to repair the Bald Knob Cross. The cost is a donation of at least $10 per person and you get a t-shirt with that. I'll post more details as I hear them.

I hope you get out and enjoy this beautiful weather,

Sezmore

Your Shoe is Untied

Happy April Fool's Day everyone!!! I hope no one has gotten pranked too bad. I did get a bit of a shock when I went to check the discussions on www.Salukitalk.net. Though I hear the same thing happened to the Shocker board. I personally am not a big prankster myself, though I will admit that I get a good laugh out of other people's pranks.

I didn't post last week, so I didn't get the chance to tell you all about the Murphysboro Easter Egg Hunt. The Easter Bunny and I have been pretty good friends for a few years now. I got to ride on the back of a fire truck all the way from Murphy Pride Car Wash to Longfellow Park. I have to admit it was really neat. The Easter Egg hunt itself went faster than I can describe. I didn't even get the chance to find any eggs for myself. I guess it was really for the kids, but I like Easter eggs too.

SIU is having its "Outside the Box Music Festival" starting later this week. There is way too much going on for me to mention it all here. If you want to know what is going on and when go here.

Spring is starting to look like it is really here; the flowers are starting to bloom and the weather is getting warmer. Try not to get too discouraged by all of the rain; after all "April showers bring May flowers."

Sezmore

The End of Basketball Season

I have to give it to them; the Men's Basketball team played a good season. They didn't make it as far as hoped in the MVC. They played a great game against Oklahoma State in the first round of the NIT. The Arizona State team was just too much for them. I'm sure having two major team players out with injuries and it being way past any reasonable person's bedtime had a bit to do with that. I just want to give a big "THANKS" to the seniors who will be moving on and the rest of the guys that I can't wait to watch next year.

Just because Basketball season is over doesn't mean there aren't a lot of great SIU Athletic activities going on; today at 1, tomorrow at 2 and Sunday at 1 the SIU Baseball team will take on Indiana State in the MVC Opener here in Carbondale, additionally, both Men's and Ladies Tennis will be going on this weekend.

Tomorrow, Saturday, March 22 the Murphysboro Easter Egg hunt will start at 11. The event has been moved from Riverside Park to Longfellow Park. I will be out there to watch the fun so you should come too. The hunt goes really fast, so if your kids want to participate you should get there before 11.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Sezmore