The Worm Word

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